Its been pretty busy the last 14 days with 24-7. Trustees meetings, an office move from Chichester to London, and a significant financial challenge have stretched the old ‘to-do’ list to the limits of what I can manage.
After seven years, we’ve left the building in Chichester that we shared with Revelation Church and a number of other ministries and businesses. Revs have been a great support to 24-7 over the years, and although the move is the right thing, its sad to be leaving behind the close working environment with the church that birthed the 24-7 Prayer movement.
Why we do what we do
Pete Greig just brought to my attention the following article on 24-7’s US website. This kind of story is a fantastic reminder of why we do what we do here at 24-7 Prayer:
“…At school, I began to pray that all thirty-three of my frat brothers would give their lives to Christ. And one by one, they did!…”
Click here to go to the full story.
There’s also an updated version on the main website – with pictures – here
Reith 2007
Really enjoying these lectures at the moment. Listen and have your thinking about the world challenged!
Great Lakes!
Not being content with trying to finish ourselves off running the Reading Half Marathon, Shirls and I decided head up to the Lake District to strain our muscles some more hiking up a few mountains.
We eased ourselves in relatively easily, with a walk up the Pike of Blisco, via Wrynose Fell. Although this wasn’t a particularly challenging walk, I could feel that my legs hadn’t recovered from their recent battering.
So, its official…
I ran the Reading Half Marathon in 1hr 55minutes and 10seconds!
Today I’m pretty sore, but doing well. Apparently Amo’s hands are as sore from the drumming as my legs are from the running!
Thanks loads to all of you out there who have been keeping up with the running updates over the last few months, and particularly to those of you who sponsored me.
There’s a few more pictures here if you’re interested. Running pictures courtesy of my house mate John!
Reading Half Marathon
So, I made it. And not only did I make it, I made it in under two hours. Wahoo! I really wasn’t expecting to be able to do a sub 2 hour time after my shoddy training efforts, but I found a good pace from early in the race and kept it up almost to the end. Total race time something in the region of 1hr 56mins. I’ll know my exact time this evening, as long as my chip timer worked.
With the clocks going forward to BST last night, Shirls and I really could have done with a little more sleep. We probably had about 6 and a half hours, but given that this was my first half marathon in about 15 years, I was nervous enough that I didn’t drop of to sleep as readily as I normally do.
The Curious Incident of the Jog in the Night Time
Last night I went for my last major jog before the half marathon. 17km, 1hour and 45 minutes later, I was pretty knackered. Knackered but elated. At that kind of distance, a half marathon is within my grasp.
Given my completely inadequate training regime (I should have started three months earlier than I did), I don’t think I’m doing bad if I just complete the distance! Add to that too little sleep the night before, a dodgy stomach and a slight case of shin splints, I think I was doing pretty well to go the distance at all last night!
So, roll on the 25th March. If my shin splints improve, maybe I’ll even get below that 2 hour target…
A different perspective
Hooray for friends! I’ve just received a wonderful gift from a friend who works for a camera lens company in the States called ‘Lensbabies’. Thanks KT!
These little beauties create wonderful hazing effects around a central point of focus in a picture. The lensbaby is bendy, so you can choose which part of the picture is in focus, and which part is distorted. I’ve only had a day or so to play, so I’ve not quite got used to the focusing yet, but here are my efforts so far…
What I learned today
1. My body doesn’t like exercise first thing in the morning. This could be a problem with the half marathon starting in the morning…
2. I like jogging in the winter. Anything warmer than about 12 degrees in the sunshine is too hot!
Get Lost
After a bit of R&R on Friday evening for Shirley’s birthday, we decided it was time to up the running stakes a little further and get down to Windsor Great Park for a training run.
Over an hour and a half later we were completely lost, hoping that we would be able to find the car at all! The complete lack of maps and the shocking signage in the park, meant that after we had returned home, it still took me about an hour with a map and satellite images to work out where we had been! Thankfully the locals blessed us by returning us the last mile or so to the car, otherwise we would still be running.
At least it was a beautiful day, and the run was between 14 and 15k, so we’re on track for the half marathon distance…