Marathon man Terry O'Connor discovered the treadmill this week. Next week he hopes to find the on button.
Sky Sports' Terry O'Connor is running the 2008 London Marathon and he's three weeks into his training and a month away from the big day. The Jelly Babies have worked, he's done a half-marathon and now he's discovered the treadmill...
Just over a month to go and I'm halfway there. Literally.
One of my mates persuaded me to run a half-marathon with him on Sunday, not an organised one, just 13 miles out on the road - and it was an absolute doddle.
Compared to the 17½-mile run the week before it was a piece of cake. And a few packets of Jelly Babies.
I took Phil Clarke's advice and ate a few on the way and I've got to say it's amazing how they do give you a burst of energy. They don't do any favours for the dry mouth you get running, but they did work.
It's probably the sugar but they also help with the boredom because it is incredibly dull and lonely when you're out there pounding the streets. But, as I've said all along, I'm going to keep it that way in the hope that when I do get to London, hearing others talking to me and having the crowd there will spur me on.
Oblivious
My family are not really getting into it. I have to say they are the most unsporty family in the world and always have been. The wife knows nothing about rugby league and I used to quite like that. It meant when we got beat I could come home and not have to talk through it all again.
As for the kids, they seem oblivious to it all. I'm out at 7am for my morning runs and they are usually in bed. They probably wonder why I head into the bathroom with shorts and trainers on, and think I've had the shower on too hot when they see me bright red and dripping wet by the time they surface, but that's it. There will be no O'Connor family trip down to London and they are pretty much leaving me to do my own thing.
I wish one of the other lads running with us would do the same. I only know him as Chip, but he keeps sending out emails telling us he's done this, he's run that and what to do. I delete them straight away, I've got to admit. Or I do after reading the first one and realising I'm way behind him!
Preccy (Steve Prescott) is going well though and although he was supposed to be injured, I am convinced Chris Joynt is a closet trainer. In fact I am convinced Chris Joynt is a closet something else as well, but that's a different blog altogether. As for Dave Lyon, he'll just be glad to get round it alive!
If people aren't coming up to you and telling you you're a bloody idiot for agreeing to run a marathon, they are always giving you advice. Someone this week - it could well have been Chip funnily enough - told me to start eating plenty of carbs.
Reinforce
Well, I'm not sure about that. I've still got a month to go and if I start doing that now, they'll need to reinforce Tower Bridge!
When I was playing rugby league on a Sunday, I'd start loading up with carbs on the Thursday through to Friday and that seemed to work, so to be honest I'll be doing the same here. Obviously if I stuff it up, I'll have got it wrong, but I really don't think a month on the carbs is what I need.
I am already a bit disappointed not to be losing any weight. People always say you shed pounds running the marathon... maybe if you did one every day. I do take my re-fuelling seriously I have to say. Maybe a box of chocolates after a five-mile run is a bit much, but it is Easter, so I do have an excuse!
I have also discovered the treadmill. One of these bright sparks told me I had to spend at least four hours on one if I was going to have a chance of finishing a marathon. Shame he didn't tell me I had to turn it on.
I will be doing 20km on one though at a gym, which shall remain nameless. It's for Clatterbridge Hospital, which is such a good cause it was impossible to say no - even if it is just two weeks before the dreaded day.
Last weekend Widnes played Skirlaugh and almost £10,000 was raised in bucket collections alone, thanks mainly to Liesa Rowlinson, whose family has been affected by cancer.
Sizable frame
Liesa is scared of heights and she is doing a parachute jump from 10,000feet, so getting my sizable frame onto a treadmill is nothing in comparison. Because of my time in rugby league and now with
Sky Sports, I am in a position to raise some money for good causes and it is the least I can do when you see what others put themselves through.
Besides, they've told me I can position my treadmill overlooking the swimming pool. So ladies, if you see some big, fat sweaty bloke looking down on you as you take your daily dip, rest assured it's all for charity.
Speaking of donations, they have not exactly been forthcoming from my colleagues here at
Sky Sports. Every time I see him, Phil Clarke manages to look incredibly busy or in deep concentration on the phone and will probably end up charging me for his 'Jelly Baby consultation'.
I am sure Eddie Hemmings, fine man that he is, will come up with a quid sooner or later, while Stevo will be good for his money as well. Whether it will be still be in circulation or not is another matter.
But there is one lad who works at
Sky who is in a different league. If you're at a game we're at and you see someone who looks like Albert Steptoe, it's him. I shan't name him yet, but he knows who he is... possibly the tightest man I have ever met.
The London Marathon is a heck of a challenge, but I am sure it will be nothing compared to getting money out of him!
To sponsor Terry, Steve, Chris or David CLICK HERE.
To find out more about Steve Prescott and the Steve Prescott Found CLICK HERE
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