weeklyjohn-blog

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A man who had no bitterness towards those who oppressed and imprisoned him, when many would forgive any grudge he may have held, he released this bitterness, realising how this would hold back any progress for peace and true reconciliation. Here are some of his many many quotes that are no doubt inspirational, however inspiration only exists when followed by action. I truly hope people will reflect on the impact that Nelson Mandela has had but most importantly I hope that people use their reflections to act for justice and peace throughout the world. Find a way to do your part. "Great anger and violence can never build a nation. We are striving to proceed in a manner and towards a result, which will ensure that all our people, both black and white, emerge as victors.” (Speech to European Parliament, 1990) "Reconciliation means working together to correct the legacy of past injustice.” (December 16, 1995) "I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended." (From Long Walk to Freedom, 1995) “It is never my custom to use words lightly. If twenty-seven years in prison have done anything to us, it was to use the silence of solitude to make us understand how precious words are and how real speech is in its impact on the way people live and die.” (South Africa, July 14, 2000) “When people are determined they can overcome anything.” (Johannesburg, South Africa, Nov. 14, 2006) “When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in peace.” (Interview for Mandela, 1994)

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Crazy post-run hair and timings for today's run photos.

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Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.

Benjamin Franklin (via cacollective)

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Countdown 22: John is Busking out all over!

As one of the 14 members of the Disaster Emergency Committee, Christian Aid have been heavily involved in the response to the people of the Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan. Please do what you can. To read more and find out how you can help, follow these links:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/philippines/10441606/Disasters-Emergency-Committee-launch-appeal-for-survivors-of-Typhoon-Haiyan.html

www.dec.org.uk

Thanks.

This week has been an exciting one as I think about potential fundraising ideas. I’ve been grateful for the many ideas I’ve received and the people who have offered their support to help make some events happen. If you’ve got some ideas, no matter how crazy then let me know!

So 2 that are being organised at the moment are a brass group playing in Douglas, Isle of Man over Christmas and a carol singing group on Buchanan Street Glasgow. Thanks to my friends at Rushen Silver Band, I will have access to carol books and personnel to brave the winter elements with me on 4 occasions in Douglas. I already have my licence for the following slots:

Come see us on Regent Street: Saturday 21 December 9-11am, Sunday 22nd December 10-12noon, Monday 23rd from 2pm. Christmas Eve (Tuesday) from 2pm.

The date for what I hope will become ‘The Great Carol Sing’ will be Monday 16th December on Buchanan Street, Glasgow. All will be welcome to come an join in! Thanks to the lovely people at Christain Aid Scotland, they have helped me put in an application to collect money in Glasgow, one that I have already been penciled in for, just need the application to confirm.

As well as those events, I will be looking to host a couple of quiz nights, probably in the New Year, so look out for them.

I am also keen to do ‘Dare Me for Cash’, where I am dared to place a Chrsitian Aid sticker somewhere or on someone for a donation!

On the training front it’s been a good week, went for a 9 mile run on Saturday and felt really good after, so only need to times that by 3 and I’ll be home dry! I’ll be off out again a couple more times this week and also have Badminton and strength training to look forward to.

Thanks for reading.

Please Donate: www.virginmoneygiving/johnk

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Countdown 23: More falling over!

Ouch!

Ok so it's a cut on my hand and I'll live, but falling over while running in the balmy temperature of 4C was not pleasant, although on the plus side I realised I must have been running at a good pace due to the distance I travelled from slip to ground! This time I know what happened- my foot slipped on leaves as I ran up a kerb and of course there was plenty of traffic around to spot me decking it. I have been encouraged this week as my marathon pack from Christian aid arrived giving me all the info I needed to focus both my training and fundraising.

I now know how people can donate using cash, cheques and electronic bank transfer and I've got some proper posters and sponsor forms if anyone would like some. I'm meeting with Amy from Christian Aid Scotland on Thursday to discuss some ideas and I've had encouraging support from Phil, the IOM Christian Aid worker. Watch this space for some Christmas fundraising on the Isle of Man and in Glasgow! Plus I hope to some fundraising around Scotland- I learned that there are 3 Christian Aid runners in Scotland, one in Edinburgh, one in Dumfries and Galloway and of course me. Training over winter is going to be tough- not just the cold and rain but the wind too- it takes so much out of you. Today I bought some new kit, a base layer for both upper and lower body and a reflective long sleeved top. As modelled here:

Really impressed with the base layers, didn't feel the cold at all during my run tonight. So, my motivation to keep on plodding on over the next few months will be centred around 3 things. The first is the fact that no matter how tough it is for me to do this it is nothing compared to what the people living in extreme poverty go through daily. The second is the donations I receive- whenever a donation comes in it gives me a real boost, so thank you. The final motivation is the chance to say I will have completed the London Marathon and hopefully in a good time- I'm aiming for 3 1/2 hours but I'll be happy with 3 3/4 hours. Over the last week I've run twice - 7.7 miles today and 6.7 miles on Sunday. As well as the running I played 11s football on Saturday morning for the first time in months- really enjoyed it although we lost 5-4 to the last kick of the game. Boo. On Friday morning I did some Bokwa and Meta-Fit and Wednesday I did some strength training. I'm resigning myself to hobbling around on sore muscles for the next few months! It'll be worth it though- I would love to smash my £2000 target and with your help I can. Thanks for reading. Please Donate: www.virginmoneygiving.com/johnk

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Simple but effective message.

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Marathon pack has arrived!

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Giraffes everywhere.

So Facebook has gone Giraffe crazy. I’ve not bothered with the riddle myself, it has a few flaws, but hey let’s have some perspective on life. If you have no idea what I’m going on about then don’t worry, just smile and move on.

Anyway last night was the Church House (where I do my youth work job thing) Halloween Party and with no time to sort out a proper costume I ended up heading out and buying myself a novelty onesie! Guess what I ended up with…

Yes a GIRAFFE!

Don’t I look great. Thanks. During the party I went up to a group of kids and intended to do the daft - make the noise of the costume you’re wearing, only I discovered a slight problem with that though: What noise does a Giraffe make? That is a much greater riddle than the Facebook one!

I also realised that wearing a Giraffe Onesie, apart from looking super cool, involved getting really hot! That led me to thinking that I have an enormous amount of respect for those people who (wait for it here comes the tenuous running link) take part in marathons in fancy dress. I struggle enough with being hot and sweaty just training in shorts and T-Shirt, never mind wearing a Divers suit, onesie or whatever. I did wonder whether they make running material Onesies, that would probably be the only way you’d get me to run the marathon in ‘Fancy Dress’.

Anyway enough waffling-thanks for reading, keeping up to date on my progress and supporting my effort.

Please Donate: www.virginmoneygiving.com/johnk

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Countdown 24: Falling off bike and strengthening up

24 weeks to go till the London Marathon and 1 week gone on the training/fundraising.  

I only went out twice last week for a run (the previous 2 weeks of not caring what I ate certainly had an impact on my stamina) - once last Monday, 2.5 miles back from dropping the car off for a service and the other, a nice 4 miles on Sunday morning around Strathclyde loch.  

On Monday I cycled my way back to get the car from its Service, and half way there fell off my bike!  I'm not entirely sure what happened but one moment I was merrily cycling along and the next I was heading in to the kerb - so realising that I couldn't get back in control, my only option was to bail out in a way that wasn't going to hurt.  Thankfully at that point on the road, what I was able to bail out onto was grass and not pavement - so I jumped off my snaking bike and ended up doing a kind of Klinsmann dive across the grass.  

I got up and looked back to find my bike had left itself horizontally across the road, blocking cars.  No car stopped to see if I was ok, however that might have been because I kept my head down, realising how embarrassing that moment was - it probably looked like I'd jumped off my bike for the sake of it.  Anyway I was ok and so was the bike after I put the chain back on and realigned the brake block and mudguard, so I got back on and pedalled up the road to pick up the car.

Thanks to Mr Matt Grady for letting me take his Saturday morning up to help me learn some Strength Training exercises.  I'm now ready to get started on my squats/split squats/lunges/dead lifts/planks and much more.  Even doing 2 squats without any weights, with the correct form of course, I could almost hear certain muscles waking up saying 'what, what, what's going on' as they scrabbled about looking for a snooze button.  They won't know what's hit them!

On Sunday morning I dragged myself out of bed at 06:30 as having looked at the weather forecast the previous day I knew that early morning would be the best of the day - and it was. 

I went for the first time for a run around Strathclyde Loch (4 miles) - I had intended to go around twice, however running past the car was a very difficult thing to do at that time of the day and I realised I probably wasn't fuelled properly to go around again (excuses, excuses!)

This morning I went back on the Wii and found that even though I hadn't done as much fitness as I would have liked, I certainly ate well as I lost 3 of the 4 lbs that I had put on.  Also my Wii Fit Age had decreased!  Although when it told me I was 32 it said I was in Good Shape.  Now it tells me I have the body of a 28 year old, I'm in 'relatively good condition'.  Work that one out.

I also contacted Christian Aid as I hadn't recieved my fundraising and training pack or running vest from them and they replied to say it was being sent this week - so hopefully I'll be able to model my vest for you very soon.  Easy ladies, easy!

Please Donate:   www.virginmoneygiving.com/johnk

Thanks!

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Inappropriate playlist suggestions for running. Keep them coming!

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Got any Leftovers from Lunch? Put them in an envelope and send them to Africa!

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Inappropriate Playlist

I was thinking about music to listen to while training and I realised I had a few songs which were inappropriately titled for running! Shoot the Runner - Kasabian, Highway to Hell - AC/DC, Gimme Shelter - Rolling Stones, Harder to Breathe - Maroon 5, Long Road to Ruin - Foo Fighters, Take me to the Hospital - The Prodigy. Got any suggestions for inappropriate/appropriate song titles?

www.virginmoneygiving.com/johnk

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Running shoes want to play!

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Targets...

Thinking about setting targets for both fundraising and training - having never done anything like this before it's difficult to know what to expect.  I know my training target will be easier because I can control that - my aim is to be comfortably running 20 miles by January.  That gives me 2 months to add the other 6 - pah easy(!)  On the fundraising side this time of the year is probably difficult to get people to donate, mainly due to Christmas coming and the finance that it requires, however I'm hoping to have £600-£750 in the bank around Christmas and then stepping up the fundraising in the New Year.  We'll see - I'm excited but nervous!  When my training and fundraising pack arrives from Christian Aid (hopefully in the next couple of days), I can then start to make wider contacts - Christian Aid might have guidelines for fundraising - don't want to break any of them!

If anyone regularly donates to Christian Aid, or knows churches or other organisations that donate to Christian Aid and they would be happy to donate their money through me then let me know - I'll be grateful!

For more information about the work that Christian Aid does, have a look at their website. 

www.christianaid.org.uk

and of course for those in Scotland:

www.christianaid.org.uk/scotland

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Online facebooklessness survival

What to do when facebook crashes - www.weeklyjohn.tumblr.com Check my blog out!

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Sorry World...

Think I broke Facebook with my new page setup and trying to integrate blog in it. You'll get your lives back soon :)

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So after 2 weeks of no running and indulgence in special crisps (big bags of kettle chips, doritos etc), takeaways and a few bottles of Staropramen I am back on the fitness wagon. It just so happened that our car was due a service today so after dropping it up the road, I ran back - only 2.5 miles...