This year my fund-raising for MND Scotland involves running four marathons in Wales (Llanelli), Scotland (Edinburgh), England (Chester) and Ireland (Dublin).
Last weekend saw the first of these.
Ross (Admin)
Apr 202012
Apr 192012
As you will have seen from my previous posts, I was growing a mustache for MND Scotland
All it would have taken is £10 / day for me to keep the ‘tache.
Mar 222012
Since Christmas I have been sporting a new look – now it’s the time to announce why!
I have been raising money for various charities by running (I’m doing 4 marathons this year for MND Scotland) but I have finally found a way where your donations can impact ME as well as helping MND sufferers and their families in Scotland.
On Monday the 2nd of April my tache will be “born”.
I will keep my tache for as long as there are donations to support it.
My tache expects £10 per day – if the total raised is £100 then my tache will “live” until 10 days after the 2nd of April.
The more you give the longer it lives – once it’s gone it’s gone !
Mar 182012
I have never been a fast runner – but parkrun has always been a competitive event for me.
If I have not been chasing a personal best (PB), I have at least been trying to shave a few seconds off my time for the previous week or trying to pass the runner just in front (truth be told I always aim for the person two in front, to make sure I PASS the person in front of me).
This year, what with a series of coughs, colds, splutters, work commitments and various slight injuries; my running has really suffered and my head has not been in the right place either so I have really neglected my marathon training schedule.
I was supposed to be tail running at Strathclyde parkrun event 99 but John Edge asked if he could take my place – he is tactically planning to run his 50th parkrun at our 100th event next Saturday. This left me free to run the event at my own pace! I’m still nursing a slight pull to my hamstring and I was supposed to be running the Alloa half marathon the following day, this left me free to pick my own pace.
Just as we started there was that ominous sound from my Garmin – No Battery, my watch died. Nothing left for it but to just run and listen to my body – run at a nice comfortable pace and enjoy the view and enjoy the company.
This resulted in one of my best parkrun running experiences ever – comfortable enough to have a conversation and enjoy the view. Running in a different part of the field from normal allows you to meet completely new runners, I’m privileged to be a regular volunteer so I do get to see most of the runners but maybe not have as long a chat as I would like.
So why don’t you try it – experience a parkrun at a completely different pace!
Disclaimer : I’m on the core team for Strathclyde parkrun and am always on the lookout for new runners to join our event or do one of the easy volunteer roles that enable our events to be enjoyed by so many.
Mar 142012
photo credit: aye_shamus
After my first ever #parkrun DNF (Did Not Finish) due to pulling my hamstring I have finally LEARNED my lesson.
A Warmup/Cooldown and stretching regime is MANDATORY!
My question is this:
What do you consider to be the “best” options?
- A gentle run
- Static stretches
- dynamic stretches
Feel free to send links to YouTube etc as appropriate.
Social Media – there are so many sites out there all wanting my input.
There are so many other web sites that produce content that want me to read their content.
You can see what my plumbing looks like here.
Continue reading »
Dec 162011
Thanks to Marathon-Photos.com
For those that don’t know, my eldest daughter Emma Berry Goodman passed away in September 2008 from Motor Neurone Disease. Whilst she was with us we were greatly helped by three fantastic charities: MND Scotland, Marie Curie Cancer Care and the Childrens Hospice Association Scotland (CHAS).
For the last three years I have dedicated a years fundraising to each of these charities. This year my challenge was to run 1,000km in 2011 for Marie Curie Cancer Care.
If everything goes to plan then I will achieve my 1,000th kilometer when I run in Strathclyde Parkrun - event number 86 on Saturday 17th December.
I know that this is an expensive time of year but if you could see your way to giving a donation at https://www.justgiving.com/1000k-in-2011 or by texting “Ross70 £5″ to 70070 – feel free to adjust the amount as you see fit!
Every £20 raised helps to provide 1 hour of nursing care and I can personally vouch for how invaluable the Marie Curie are!
Thank you all for your donations and your support and encouragement in this past year!
If you would like to see just how far 1,000km actually is have a look here.
Dec 022011
As you should know I set myself the challenge of running 1,000km in 2012 to raise money for the fabulous folks at Marie Curie Cancer Care. I have been slightly tardy with my updates but I am please to report that I’m getting close: I have just 110 km to go. i.e. I have run 89% of the planned distance with one month to go.
I had hoped to be able to raise £1000. Every £20 raise helps provide an hour’s nursing, £1,000 would equate to 50 hours care! Unfortunately I’m only at £766 or 76% of target. I am putting a big push in, I’m planning to run every day in December to guarantee that I hit my km target but I need some help from you to make sure that I hit my £ target!
I understand that these are financially trying times and December is an expensive month but this is exactly when we should be thinking of others. Any donations at all will be gratefully received at https://www.justgiving.com/1000k-in-2011 or you can donate via your mobile phone by texting “Ross70 £5” to 70070
Those that know me will agree that I’m a bit of a “geek”.
Whilst I don’t always chase the latest and greatest geek toys or gadgets I do like to try and find a practical application of how technology can help me. This is a side effect of being a Business Intelligence consultant where I am striving to maximise (and measure) the benefits for my clients.
During a quiet moment I pondered – If I was to build a dashboard to measure/motivate/incentivise “ME” what would be on it?
Oct 132011
Just found an interesting feature in SQL Developer 3
I created a dataset that contained two columns of numbers that I wanted to quickly get into excel. I choose, export in CSV format to clipboard so that I could quickly paste it into an existing spreadsheet.
My dataset contained:
1234, 5678
2345, 6789
3456, 7890
The data that was exported was:
12,345,678
23,456,789
34,567,890
Have to export to an xls file, open it then copy and paste – YAWN !
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