Thankyou for taking the time to read this journal. From now until October I will be updating as regularly as I can on my successes and failures in getting fit and completing El Camino Frances within the 6 day target I have set myself. I’m now nearly 3 weeks into this challenge. I decided running would (as it always has) give me instant results in a bit of weight loss, fitness and self belief. A size 14 kick start if you will. So how’s it going? Hmmmmm….

Well first thing I did was route through the old iphone menus to find a running app I had started to use a while ago. I remembered being quite impressed with it when I first used it. The app uses GPS to track your distance/time and maps your route. It also shows your speed throughout so you can see on the map where you stopped to rest or walk. There’s no escaping yourself!! Buying a new set of headphones to hook on my ears this time really brought this app to life. I put together a few playlists in itunes and found that running to music really helps if the tempo matches your stride. the music mutes with updates and a voice tells you when you’ve completed another mile, approaching your quickest time or when you’ve run further than before. (I’m sure it tells you other things but I’m only using the basic run setting at the moment.) The app is Nike+GPS and is pretty good for what I need it for. I’m uploading the results of each run to Facebook and my Twitter feed so I won’t bore you with the results of each run on here as posts, my feed will be on this page from my twitter feed anyway! It’s not easy this running lark is it? Just to reiterate I really am doing this from a starting point of couch potato. My first runs were run/walk and only daily near death experiences have pushed me to plod further and further. I’m struggling more with my wasted muscles than my lungs which really surprises me. I’ll save that for another post…. If you are also couch potato why not take up the challenge?

This blog: Tony Hemans and Glen Eccles will be cycling the Camino Frances from St jean Pied de Port in France to Santiago de Compostela covering 800km in 6 days in October 2012. Tony hopes to raise a little for charity along the way as he prepares for the journey. His charities are; SANDS – Stillbirth and neonatal death charity, website: http://www.uk-sands.org/About-Sands.html and; CLIC sargent – for children with cancer, website: http://www.clicsargent.org.uk/Aboutus I’m not just bothering people for charity either so if you are trying to get fit, planning an adventure, long distance cyclist or just curious about my mid-life crisis then subscribe and share!