More dedication and commitment!

Well I`m ashamed to say that I didn`t do my run after work on wednesday night, I felt tired and hungry and I was going out in an hour blah, blah, blah.....
I did though manage to complete my during my lunchbreak yesterday. I ran a mile, walked for a quarter of a mile and then ran a mile back, to top that off I ran another mile at about 10 o`clock last night. So in fact I ran a 5k yesterday though it was in 3 parts. I really need to push on further, I want to run a 5k comfortably and then push on towards running a 10k, I know that this requires a bit more dedication and commitment on my part. Having said all of that I do feel pretty good this morning and not as tired as thought that I would be, so the next planned run will be on sunday night at about 6-30ish.
I went to the driving range on wednesday night and I`ve lost any direction which I may have had, I need to watch my instruction dvd again and get some new ideas.
After the golfing nightmare I played some snooker with a friend of mine, the table which we played on was extremely tight (tighter even than pro tables) but I played quite well. I totally reduced the amount of side that I used because I had to be so accurate and it seemed to work. I wish that I had done this more often when i was playing seriously.
I`m going to ceroc tonight at Orpington, I hope it goes better then it did last week when tragically a man there had a heart attck and died.
One of my goals for next week is to start going to bed a bit earlier, preferably by 11 and definately before 12. I`ve been struggling to get up this week and didn`t arrive at work until 8-25 this morning (the poor old cleaner had been waiting outside for me since 8 o`clock).

Back on track!

I need to get back on track, I`ve been doing pretty well with my running lately ( well up until last thursday anyway!) but sometimes life just gets in the way. My kids stayed over friday and most of saturday and I went ceroc on saturday night at Orpington. I worked sunday daytime and met up with some work colleagues to watch the BDO world darts final in the evening. On monday I went to the masters snooker at wembley arena with a friend of mine and had a really good time and after spending some tim with my boys on tuesday I played pool for my pool team( we won 7-3 by the way). If I was nitpicking I could say that I could have got up early on any of these days and done my run then but getting up early isn`t too thrilling for me. But after work today I`m going to repeat leg 1 of week 6 of the `c25k`, so wish me luck.

Leg 1 completed.

I did my run run last night as I said I would and it felt fairly easy apart from the last half mile. I intend to do leg 2 of week 5 (c25k) on sunday night. I went ceroc last night and it was ok but I feel that Ive done my time dancing wise, I`m not really enjoying it like I used to so it could be time to try something different.

Happy new year.

I went to the ceroc new years eve party on wednesday night and had a really good time. I wasn`t really sure what to expect and even considered not going but luckily there were plenty of people that I knew there. I danced constantly and even ended up doing the conga at the end. One of the barmaids looked like Anastacia(well a little bit anyway) and I have to admit that I quite fancied her, but this time I didn`t do anything about it.

Im going to start the c25k training plan this week, which is designed to get anybody running a 5k within a nine week period. http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml Im fairly fit already so I`m going to enter at week 5 of 9.

5

workout 1
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:
Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)

workout 2
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:
Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes)
Walk 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes)

Workout 3
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog two miles (or 20 minutes) with no walking

The plan is to do workout 1 straight after work tonight. Lets see how it goes -

2009 is going to be great!!

I`m determined that this coming year will be a great year, as always its up to me to make sure of that. These are my goals for this coming year in no particular order.

1. To maintain and improve my running - I have spells where I go running regularly, I hadnt done a run for months but have done two 1 mile runs in the last five days and it felt quite easy, I think this is mainly down to the dance classes. I`ve thought about joining a running club (there is one in Beckenham which meets up on a wednesday) for quite a while but mainly because of my introvertedness and shyness I haven`t found the bottle up to go. I also want to run a 10k race or even a half marathon, I think this would be good for me.
2. To date more - I meet a lot of girls which I like and seem to like me and because of bad experiences I`ve had I look for reasons not to go out with. Dating is fun, much more exciting than a relationship and I need to get back on the wheel.
3. To be more social - I`m not a good mingler, it just dosen`t come naturally to me. I need to be a bit more bolder and go up to people and start more conversations, they won`t always be friendly back but that life. I need to be more chatty in pubs and at ceroc.
4. to keep trying to improve my golf - I`m not a great golfer but I could be much better. My swing needs working on and I sometimes get a little down with myself when I seem to be getting nowhere but I have to persevere. I still haven`t broken 45 around magpie but that is easily attainable this year.
5. To go to at least 2 new countries this year - Last year my holidays consisted of 2 weeks in Greece. It was a chill but it wasn`t me, it was a place for clubbers and I felt about 15 years too old. This year I`d like to go somewhere which would excite me a bit more. We will see.
6. To make better use of my freetime - I do keep myself busy but I still waste a lot of my sparetime. The house could be tidier, I could be fitter and I could go out more than I already do. But nobody is perfect!

7. To maintain my blog - My blog is one of ways that helps to give my life a direction and help me do the things that I really should be doing to be totally happy.

8. To be a better dad - I think I`m a good dad but I could be better. I spend a fair amount of time with my boys and try to make them happy. Sometimes work and other things get in the way and I can be a bit grumpy when I`m tired.

9. To smile more - you can never smile enough, thats for sure. I need to smile more and I do smile a lot more than I used to.

I`m Back!

I got a bit disillusioned with blogging and maybe I`ve lost a bit of my discipline aswell. My computer access has been a bit more limited lately and I was extremely busy at work during August.
My golf hasn`t improved scorewise though Gary feels that my swing is a lot better(he says that my backswing is pretty good but I drop the club on my backswing rather than returning it down its original path).
I had two weeks in Greece in early september which were ok and my fitness regime has come to a complete halt.
Ive got a new car aswell which drives really nicely.
I`ve not been dancing as much lately for a number of different reasons but I haven`t totally given that up either.

49 at Brnehurst.

Ive been to a couple of cerocs this weekend. On saturday night I went to Bromley with a couple of friends, there was a nice crowd there and the music was pretty good aswell. I didn`t get as involved as I could but still had a good night. On sunday night I went to Penge which was incredibly hot, apparently they`ve been planning to get air conditioning installed but it hasn`t happened as yet and I think this has affected the numbers. Hopefully it will be sorted soon because Penge is probably the friendliest of all the ceroc venues.

I played golf last night with my ex nextdoor neighbour at Barnehurst. I shot 49 despite some really awful golf including a 9 at the par 5 2nd. I managed back to back pars and was nearly achieved another of my goals of making 3 pars in a nine hole round. One problem that I have is that I really struggle on par 3s.
Hole...Par..Score.
...1........3.......5.....
...2........5.......9...
...3........3.......4..
...4........3.......6...
...5........4.......4...
...6........4.......4..
...7........4.......7..
...8........4.......5..
...9........4.......5..
............34.....49

Good night at Orpington!

I went to Hayes ceroc on monday night, it was another of those ok nights when I didn`t really get that involved.
Ive been to the driving range twice this week, on monday I was at Bromley after I finished I started watching the guy on the bay next to me who had a very nice swing. He was using a mirror to check his backswing and I then realised how short my backswing was in comparison. With this in mind I went to the driving range at Sidcup I experimented with a longer backswing with the aim of gaining some extra distance on my shots, it was a bit of a disaster and hopefully it hasn`t messed my head up.
I went to Orpington ceroc last night and it was really good, I danced much more than I have been which is good.
I did another 2 mile run yesterday and it was incredibly hard, it was very hot and I hadn`t had a run for aboutfive days. I wanted to stop after about half a mile but
On the betting front Ive backed Eduard Romero for the British Seniors Open at 14-1 and I think he has got a real chance.

Hold-em or Omaha?

Yesterday I left work with the intension of picking the boys up and taking them to the park or the driving range but unfortunately it was raining quite heavily so with the consent of their mother we postponed it until wednesday. I had intended to go up driving range myself after and then go for a run aswell but had to have a bit of a rethink because of the weather. I decided to have a quick game of poker on the internet which I haven`t done for a while. I found a tournament that was starting soon and with an entry fee of only $10. Unfortunately I had mistakenly entered a pot limit omaha tournament (I usually play texas hold-em), I have watched omaha being played on the television before and it`s similar to hold-em (in omaha you start with four hole cards instead of two) but I wasn`t sure which starting hands to play and which to fold and at one point a friend of mine called me on the phone and I totally misread my hand. I think I ended up finishing 17th out of 36 players which is reasonable for a first attempt. I may have another game at some point this week.
The rain subsided after a couple of hours and I went up the driving range after all. I was swinging really well. I then went to Hayes ceroc and had a pretty good night.

Rafa wins classic final.

Ive had a pretty good weekend. My boys stayed over on saturday night as usual and we watched an episode of `Hustle` with some microwave popcorn.

On sunday we popped to the driving range in the morning and George hit his 7 iron over 70 yards on more than one occasion, he was putting his right foot at an unusually wide angle but I didn`t want to tell him as he was playing so well. Ben was hitting the ball fairly well aswell and he behaved a lot better too.

After that I took the boys and one of their cousins to see `Kung-Fu Panda` at Greenwich cinema, it was a pretty good film which they all seemed to enjoy despite the usual trip to the toilet halfway through the film. I then took them to my brothers house to play with their cousins for a few hours before dropping them back at their mothers.

In the evening I had planned to go ceroc wth my friend but because of a rain delay the mens singles final was still going at wimbledon, we watched the end of it in `The Goose` with Rafa Nadal winning a classic final 9-7 in the 5th set.

My goals for July.

Ive not really thought too much about my goals for this month but I would like to stick to whatever I come up with here because last month I got back into some bad habits. Maybe my first goal should be to stick to my goals.
Golf
To realise that the most important thing is to enjoy the game.
To try and hit my irons better and swing slower and smoother(ie a good tempo).
To get onto the green with some of my tee shots at the par 3s.
To drive the ball a little better.
To make at least 3 pars in one 9 hole round.
To improve my short game(ie putting and chipping)
To keep on developing my knowledge of the game
Ok, so I`ve really got into my golf lately.
Dancing
To always try to make sure that I have a good night.
To ask more `strangers` to dance with me
To be more chatty generally and mingle better.
To learn some more moves
Fitness
To run more often and further than last month and get up to running 2- 2.5 miles regularly
General
To be more tolerant with people
To tidy upstairs indoors

Drive for consistency!

My friend and I intended to go Sutton ceroc for a change last night but it didn`t quite work out like that. When we got to the venue there was only about enough room to swing a cat so instead we went to a pub in the town centre, it was still a good night.
I had a day off today and after a trip to Bromley I went to the driving range. I was trying to hit some straighter drives and it made a change to be able to take my time. After that I spent a lot of time putting and chipping but I still lack consistency.
I joined my friend in O`neills in Beckenham later on before we had a few games of pool and a couple of drinks in the Elmer Lodge. It was a good day all round.

Super sunday.

I had a good day sunday with the boys, we started with the usual McDonalds breakfast (I really need to get them out of that habit) and then we came back home and they played the playstation3 whilst I tidied up. Our neighbour then kindly offered to take the boys to the park with his two boys to play football. After that we drove to my mum and dads for dinner.
In the evening my friend and I popped to the goose for a couple of hours (I had one eye on the Italy - Spain match which Spain won on penalties) before we came back to my house to watch a film called `The killing of John Lennon`, which turned out to be a very good film.
On monday I went to Hayes for ceroc and had a fairly good night, there was some nice people there and a quite a few dances.
Yesterday I got my fingers burned on the tennis, I had £40 on Mahut to beat tursonov at roughly 11/10 but unfortunately tursunov won in 5 sets.

Diet comes to a halt.

Ive lost just 3lbs in two weeks despite running about a mile virutally everyday, eating better and much less and hardly drinking. I can see now how people get frustated when they fail to lose much even with considerable effort and changes in their lifestyle. I will continue for another two weeks and then see where I am then. There may have to be a rethink.
I went to O`neills in Beckenham last night with my friend, it was a good night and there is a good atmosphere in the pub. They have replaced the karaoke with a 70s/80s disco which is a bit of a shame, I preferred the karaoke.
Tonight there is a freestyle ceroc night in Orpington called `Gazzabash` which should be a fun night. These occur once a month and the proceeds go to charity which is another good reason to make an appearance.

Well played maximus!

I played my friend at golf this morning and duly won. I played pretty well and shot a 48(9 holes) which was better than I expected but to be honest Mick didn`t play very well. I hit the ball farly straight and a bit longer than I am used, chipped well but putted poorly. I also took 2 to get out of a bunker(I genuinely have no idea how to get out of a bunker). Being positive again I did have 2 pars and had putts for a couple of others.

Hole yardage par score
1 .............267........ 4...... 5
2 .............272........ 4...... 4
3 .............159.... ....3..... 4
4 .............346........ 4..... 5
5 .............138........ 3..... 5
6 .............465........ 5..... 8
7 .............351........ 4...... 6
8 .............365........ 4..... 7
9 .............289........ 4..... 4
...............................35... 48

As you can see I struggle with the last four holes but that is something which I can improve. My putting can improve for sure and my bunker play really must get better.

I took the boys to the driving range last night and they had a good time. George hit the ball a bit better, theres a target at the yard point which I was trying to get him to hit and he managed to once. Ben is slowly getting out of the habit of standing too close to the ball and he hit some good shots too. We did a little bit of putting after but Ben was getting a bit bored by then so we didn`t stay too long.
I went ceroc last night but I was very tired and struggled to get into it, my friend loved it and she had a great time. Its quite a long drive on a week night so we may not go again for a while.
My bet for Euro 2008 Romania were eliminated last night after losing 2-0 to Holland so its back to the drawing board.

Game on!

I`m playing golf tomorrow with Mick from work, we usually play nine holes of matchplay before work. I think we played six times last year and I`ve yet to win though I was 3up through 3 holes once and still managed to lose. It would help if I could hit the ball further and chip a bit better. Maybe things will be different tomorrow, we`ll see.
I`m going to ceroc tonight at Inn on the Park and will definately dance tonight after last weeks sit out. I haven`t been ceroc for over a week now which is along time away for me.
Also my bet for Euro 2008 - Romania need to beat Holland tonight to guarantee qualifying for the quarter finals, Holland are already through and should play a weakened side so the omens are good.

The Goose

It was close, my friend wanted to go Penge ceroc last night and I sort of did too but we didn`t quite make it. The idea was too have a drink in the goose and then go to ceroc for just the freestyle which nomally begins at about 8-30 but then we didn`t fancy it so we just watched a film instead called`he was a quiet man` starring Christian Slater which was just about as bad as it gets.
I did another run last night and another this morning so the new fitness regime is starting to gain pace.

Drink or dance?

I went to ceroc at Inn on the Park on tuesday but didn`t make the dancefloor. When we got there they played a couple of dodgy tunes which put my friend off so we just had a few drinks instead. The music improved to be fair and we later found out that it goes on until midnight which appealed to us aswell. First impressions can be deceiving so we will definately have to go again and dance next time too.

Lazy sunday.

Sunday was a lazy day for me, I just stayed indoors most of the day watching the tennis(Nadal destoyed Federer in the french open final) and some of the football(Austria v Croatia). I did managed to do another mile run as I did yesterday too.
In the evening my friend and I went to Penge ceroc. I had a pretty good night but didn`t have as many dances as I have had lately partly because I was a bit tired and also because the venue was very hot (they are getting some portable air con units in the next couple of weeks). The music was good as it usually is at Penge.
My tip for euro 2008, Romania drew their first match 0-0 with France yesterday though I`m not so keen on their chances now as they were very defensive in their approach.

Rochester danceathon.

After I finished work yesterday I did a mile run and the last half a mile or so was a real struggle but I didn`t stop. I currently weigh 14st10 and want to get down to about 13st7 in about 5 or 6 weeks time. I think that is an achievable target.
After that my friend and I went to ceroc at Rochester and I had really good night. The night started fairly slowly and the music wasn`t always that great, but my friend challenged me to dance with 15 people who I had not danced with before. I managed 12 which is pretty good for a shy guy like me and I probably did about 30 dances in all which is way above my average. All the girls I danced with were good fun and not too serious so all in all it was a terrific night.