Pinks story

[pinkaardvark]

Q: what is the picture about?

Pic was me after running in the snow back in March, I have a big mark on my coupon from my ronhill hat, but I was happy being out in the krumpff krumpff stillness, in the snow and ice when so many others were tucked up in bed. Running has gifted me the outdoors again and the cold is no barrier

Q: Tell us a little bit about you!

My name is Mike, PinkAardvark is a construct generated off the cuff when presented back in the last century with the hotmail account creation page and being told there were already 2 of me registered. I was thinking of the character Blue Aardvark in the Pink Panther show at the time and my brain seemed to mash it together.

I'm a 42yo Software Dev, i'm a dad of a wonderful 21mth old who made me realise I needed to get fit while I still could.

I ride a motorbike, am a qualified yacht skipper and can and love to snowboard on occasion.

I live in the flat fenlands north west of Cambridge, near St Ives but i'm a Scot abroad hence the saltire buff. I'm from Elgin in Morayshire originally but have lived in Glasgow and Germany to name a few places.

Q: How long have you been a runner?

I stopped smoking nearly 3 years ago for stoptober and started c25k that October. I completed it at xmas of the same year (2015 I guess) but then switched to going to the gym and forgot the running. So in reality I have only been properly running for 9mths after my second go around with C25k.

Q: Did you start running with a C25K programme? Why or why not?

Yes, as above. I rebooted in October 2017 and have been running since. I don't recall what introduced me to it, as mentioned it was my second time around so I did it all listening to the laura podcasts and still haven't used the app, i'm a real luddite with certain things even though I work in tech. Why I did it was to help get fitter and to help keep the weight off, as I had put on a fair bit of timber(I lost 3.5st) while waiting for the little guy to arrive.

Q: But what made you want to start running races?

I think I just needed to affirm that I could do 10k and it gave me a reason to get out the door and run for longer than 30mins. I still feel like a fraud amongst other runners and never more so at a race. I watch people stretching and looking all professional and I just shuffle around hoping i don't look too daft

Q: What's it like to run in your area?

Amazing. It's flatter than a witches tit, but I am gifted by a converted rail line that leads from my village to huntingdon through st ives in one direction and into the heart of cambridge in the other, plus the best bit is it goes through rspb wetlands and lovely farmland and fens. It is the land of the forever sky, it can be depressing for some and sure I miss the sight of the campsies and trossachs etc but I love where I am and feel joy as I move through the landscape.

Q: What is your favourite race event so far? And why?

I'm very novice in that I have only run 4 10k's so far, but my favourite was my first back in April at the Childerley estate, it was a trail event in the rain, through woods and mud. it was a real challenge and nothing like what I had expected. I think trail running is where it is at as a result

Q: What are your favourite mid-race snack, and post-race meal?

I sometimes take a Sis gel, but usually forget to eat/inhale them. If I run in the morning though I'm always fueled by porridge first

Q: Name a favourite running website (plus link, please!):

I don't do Social Media much, but spend a lot of time here on the health unlocked running forums. Probably too much time. I do like the run experience youtube vids, but I just trawl google for stuff when I need answers.

Q: What's next for you, running-wise?

Just keep getting out the door seems enough of a challenge. I struggle when I share my goals as I feel stapled to the wall with my own stapler. I am following a Marathon training program that is probably too intense and I do have some more 10k's and a HM booked. I would love to do the Norfolk coast trail Marathon but may not be ready in time for it, I will likely then just run the trail anyways. I'm thinking of exploring further in my environment and getting out on the motorbike to different trails and paths to run around Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.

[roseabi Ultramarathon]

"Running has gifted me the outdoors again and the cold is no barrier"

I love love love this post - thank you, Mike (Pink - I got my handle from Hotmail too )!! From all these posts so far I am particularly enjoying reading about your local running routes, and your racing experiences. Plus learning the other stuff you like doing...I'm getting so many ideas from it Love the snowboarding and yachting (tell us more) and the getting on the motorbike to explore pastures new!

I hope it's OK to link to this post from the original Challenge post?

Also, here is a link back to that for folks to follow (hope that also is alright?)

healthunlocked.com/marathon...

[pinkaardvark Half Marathon in reply to roseabi]

Yes no probs with you linking it. Sailing and snowboarding have taken a backseat of late due to the little boarder in training arriving, but as soon as he's big enough to stand up on a board/not fall off a yacht, we will be off on some adventures with him :). With regards to the biking i'm hoping it will be a good way to encourage me to get out to some further afield routes, I have a big tourer these days with lots of luggage room, but was quite whizzy back in the day photos.app.goo.gl/UWzXgYER8...

[roseabi Ultramarathon in reply to pinkaardvark]

Awesome, standing on a board and not falling off a yacht are excellent life skills I reckon

Ha, I learned to drive because I wanted to be able to drive to the swimming pool!

[Sqkr Half Marathon]

Hello pinkmike! It seems so long ago that we had all that snow 😳 I miss those days...but of course will swear about them when they return. Running in snow was magical though! (At least until I broke my snow grips).

I bet you must get so many birds and wild things round that way, it sounds lovely. That's something Scotland is definitely short on. We get the occasional fancy raptor further north, but not so much round here. I was really excited to see a heron the other day, they must be two a penny there!

I feel the fraud thing, I know I'm as entitled to be there as everyone else but do feel like I'm winging it pretty hard. I sometimes pretend to stretch at the startline just to fit in and look athletic. I wonder how long you have to run for to lose that?

Also, this is great news that you are a software developer because I can ask you questions if I get stuck on my coursework 😁

[pinkaardvark Half Marathon in reply to Sqkr]

Scotland short on wild things? Surely it's where the wild things live. But yes I can understand where you are may seem a bit devoid of it, but you are in the capital after all and it probably features all sorts of alternative wildlife There are so many magical places like loch lomond or the cairngorm national park just an hour or two away from you, but not sure if you drive? But if you don't you will always have your fluffball full of peep

[Sqkr Half Marathon in reply to pinkaardvark]

Oh absolutely, and it's one of the things I do in my spare time—though not so much lately as there isn't enough of that time to go round—I'm qualified to do bat and small mammal conservation work, and have done some freelance stuff up here, but it's a different climate and landscape to the one I'm trained in. Broadly speaking, the animals are bigger and angrier, and there are fewer species in the cities. That dormouse license I worked for has been lying in a drawer for some years now 😕 We do have red squirrels knocking about though so there's that at least.

I don't drive, which did hinder my thoughts about becoming a ranger at one point, I failed my test twice years ago down south and decided to skip that part of being a grown up. I am not a fan of driving at all. Luckily Mr Sqkr does, so he can ferry me about a bit in the wee silly electric car we have on subscription.

[pinkaardvark Half Marathon in reply to Sqkr]

Wow.. you're some sort of roller derby michaela strachan, running everywhere when your not in you electric noddy car. Love it

[Sqkr Half Marathon in reply to pinkaardvark]

I think the older you get the more bizarre your hobbies seem when listed! :/

[ju-ju- Marathon]

Lovely post and I love the story about your name!! Yacht skipper too... shiver me timbers....

[pinkaardvark Half Marathon in reply to ju-ju-]

I did once spend a week on a scillonian pilot cutter out of Falmouth bound for scilly Isles, but due to to too much wind for a safe anchorage there we spent the time noodling around Charlestown, Polruan and the roseland peninsula to name a few places. Being a proper wooden vessel with antique rigging we did quite a lot of timber shivering 😉Not sure if this will work dropbox.com/s/p38j93es5qh2j...

[aliboo70 Half Marathon]

Great write up! Nice to learn all about our fellow forum users!!enjoyed reading that!😊

[pinkaardvark Half Marathon in reply to aliboo70]

Thanks aliboo70

[Hidden]

I read this post some time back and thought i had commented, but it seems i hadn't. Fab post. you have a real way with words: 'Running has gifted me the outdoors again' - what a sentence! I'm in awe of you because you've done so much in a short time and are so focused.

[pinkaardvark Half Marathon in reply to Hidden]

High praise from a published author 😊. Thankyou, I do feel I have come a long way. We are often so self deprecating that we forget to praise ourselves. But I'm alway reserved in case the wheels fall off. 😂 I find everyone's journey amazing though, you with your hills, Mike with his blistering speed, Anne with her loping, Helen with her dachshund legs and our own ice cream loving sqkr. Never mind the indomitable ju-ju who gifted us all our 10k passes 👍

[Hidden]

Self deprecation is the British disease 😂