August 18, 2008
So yesterday I decided to push myself little further with my running and did a 7.66km loop down the canal to Waverton and back along the A41. The furthest I have run in the past is around 5.4km, though with ease. I must admit that it was a little hard, though it was my knees that hurt more than the lack of energy.
I had wanted to do the 10km run for Cancer Research UK this year, but I found the £19.50 entry fee a bit steep… I’d rather that money went to the charity than on a cheesy t-shirt and plastic medal, so I intend to run my own 10km for charity around Chester on the same day (21st September 2008). Considering I have never run 10km and I only have four weeks in which to get up-to speed, including the niggles I have been having in my knees, I’m only a little apprehensive. I know I’m capable of the distance fitness wise, my main concern is my right knee.
Visit www.justgiving.co.uk/juliankimmings and dig deep!
daily / fitness || PERMALINK
August 14, 2008
Truly inspiring work from Eduardo Recife. Visit his commercial portfolio at www.eduardorecife.com or visit misprintedtype.com
artwork / enjoying || PERMALINK
August 12, 2008
ok, so Mother Nature stuck two very big fingers up at us all this weekend. On a hilltop, overlooking the Irish Sea with torrential rain and high winds, I think she also dumped on our Persian rug and rubbed it in. Needless to say our new tent was tested to the limits, thankfully (mercifully) we survived fairly unscathed. It has to be expected really, camping and UK weather really don’t mix if you expect glorious sunshine one hundred percent of the time. If you’re gonna camp in the UK, sunshine should be a bonus and not part of your success criteria.
We all still had a good time despite everything - as long as the kids are happy, so am I.
daily || PERMALINK
August 8, 2008
I went out and did a 5km run this morning at 6:15. My knee only twinged a little half way round and I think that was due to me tense running style due to the sloping pavement - running on the road when the pavement gets bad seemed to remedy that. I feel so relieved.
Today is camping day - we set off mid afternoon but I have 101 things to do before then. The weather turned bad yesterday but again this morning it’s sunny and warm (everything crossed it holds out til we at least have the tent up).
p.s. I noticed that I still have some work to do on the other pages of the website - i’m just too excited about camping to care.
daily || PERMALINK
August 7, 2008
I’m having some real indecisions about what to do with this website. It seems right now that every morning I get up I have a new idea about how I want the thing to look and act. In an ideal world I would be posting regular paintings a sketches - but in reality I don’t have the time to do any painting right now… which is really pissing me off. It’s one of those laws of life where everything falls on your plate at the same time. Oh well.
I’d like to think that I’ll have time to doodle over the weekend - we’re off camping again, but I doubt that with three kids to entertain and keep an eye on. Still I am looking forward to a bit of wilderness (or at least a less suburban outlook) for three days. We woke this morning to a fresh day, clear skies and an optimistic feel - let’s hope that this good weather holds til Sunday at least!
daily || PERMALINK
I was having a discussion with a guy at work today who seemed convinced that you couldn’t create a distance calculator using GoogleMaps because the UK postcode databases are copyrighted. You can I said, quite sure of myself… because I have.
The link below uses the basics (haversine formula) provided by P Jenkins but instead of some dodgey old database I’ve used the longitude and latitude provided by a Google GeoPos search… my version calculates the distance in Miles based upon the radius of the Earth provided my wikipedia from a postcode just north of London. It was originally created for a client some time ago but never got used. Please feel free to rip off as much as the code I have - have fun (obviously apply for your own google maps api.
postcode distance calculation with googlemaps
geek || PERMALINK
August 5, 2008
It doesn’t matter what mood I’m in, if I put on the headphones and listen to Bob Marley, I always end up with a smile on my face! God bless you Bob!
daily || PERMALINK
August 4, 2008
It’s Monday again. Every Monday throughout summer I have taken the day off to spend time with the kids. All three of them, and just me. This may seem like the act of a total lunatic, especially considering I have little or no control over their actions at the best of times, but it’s actually a little enlightening. I just have to let go of my control freak urges and ‘go with the flow’. So what if the kids are painting the walls pink. What do I care if they have fused every electrical item in the house by jamming foreign objects into the DVD player.
This morning started with lots of crying, screaming and shouting - and that was just me. My mantra for the day “Remember what it was like to be a child”.
daily || PERMALINK
August 3, 2008
I was ill the first couple of days last week, probably some sort of virus, which meant that I wasn’t able to do my three weekly runs at lunch. I could start to feel the pounds pile back on, the jeans were getting tight, even my trainers started to feel tighter.
So this morning I went on my first run for over a week. The route I chose was different from the usual loop round the block, chosen using mapmyrun.co.uk. I’ve been keen to venture further afield and push myself, the normal three to five km run has become quite comfortable and I’m getting more comfortable in my own ability. The route itself was slightly longer, about 4.5 miles starting with 1/3 up hill, 1/3 down hill (same sort of gradient) and the the final 1/3 up a steady incline.
I barely got past the first third when I got a ‘twinge’ in my right knee. I tried to adjust my running speed, slowing down slightly and loosening up a bit (I tense up too much) but after about 500m I had to stop before my knee exploded. I kept pressing on down hill but decided to abandon the running and walked back home along the canal. Think I’ll need to book myself in with the physio at work this week.
I’m hoping that it’s nothing too serious, I probably just need a new pair of running shoes (after all I’ve had them for yonks).One the positive side I started my one hundred push ups workout again last week after a miserable failure the first attempt brought on partly by drinking beer in the evenings. This time I’m determined to see it trough to the end… already I’m seeing an improvement.
daily / fitness / gutted || PERMALINK
