Green Day

Monday
Distance: 3.25 miles
Time: 30m04s
Mile 1 - 9m10s
Mile 2 - 9m11s
Mile 3 - 9m10s
0.25m - 2m32s


Tuesday
Hair: vibrant green
Time: about an hour

Today
Distance: 2.08 miles
Time: 20m22s
Mile 1 - 9m17s
Mile 2 - 10m20s
425ft - 0m45s

On Monday I went out for a 30 minute recovery run. The plan was to take it gently, but since it's not less than a week until the London Marathon - I was too keyed up to run slowly. I made it round three laps of the village in a pretty consistent pace, and then slackened off for the last couple of minutes to reach the 30 minute point. I don't understand how I can run faster than I plan to to get the run over more quickly when I'm being a bit over enthusiastic. I can't make a 30 minute run go any faster, I just end up covering more distance... Anyway, that was Monday out of the way. Busy social commitments this week prevented my blogging it sooner!


Now to yesterday. Green Day. I'd had a mad idea - well a second mad idea after the one to run the marathon in the first place. This mad idea was to have my hair dyed green. Initially I was just going to get a spray-in dye from a chemist and do it myself. But when I realised that these run when your hair gets wet, I thought it a bad idea. I don't want to run with streaks of dye down my face... so then I spoke to one of my sister's friends who works in a hair salon, and asked her advice. She said it would be possible to dye it green properly, but I should go and have a proper consultation to check. I made an appointment and explained what I wanted. They booked me in for a bleach & dye job which I went and had done yesterday.


I turned up a few minutes early for my appointment, only a bit nervous about what I'd decided to let myself in for. But no going back now. I want green hair. I'm going to have green hair. Why green? Well a) I'm as mad as a box of frogs, so green is appropriate and b) so I stand out a bit and people can see me. Oh, and c) so I can raise some more sponsorship! When I pulled out of the 2008 Marathon, I went along as a spectator. I stood in a good vantage point in Docklands for about an hour and watched the runners pass by. I was on the lookout for about 5 people I'd "met" through Facebook, though only one had I encountered face to face. During the hour I spotted exactly none of them. I realised how hard it is when there is a constant stream of faces passing you just how difficult it is to see someone you know - let alone someone you are trying to spot from their profile pic! I did spot the Masai Warriors and Kate Lawler (BB3 winner), a bloke in a mankini and loads of people dressed up as eggs, Mr Men, beer bottles. But your average runner looked much the same as the next. If I want people to spot me on the telly, or better still as I pass them on the day, I decided I needed to stand out from the crowd a bit.


Back to the salon - Headlines in Wantage - and Kirsty came out with the bleach and before I could change my mind she started applying it to the back of my head. My nerves soon left me, although she said I looked petrified. I tried to relax a bit. Before long my head is covered in the gloop that will turn my hair white blond. I need to have a light base colour so that the green will take, otherwise it won't show up. By the time she finished applying the bleach to the top of my hair, I can already see that the left side of my head is a very light yellow. I commented that I haven't been this blond for about 30 years! They stick a polythene cap over my head and let the bleach set to work on colouring my hair a very white shade of blond.







After about half an hour I move to the basins to have my hair washed by Rachel, the trainee who is going to help colour my hair. Whilst it was being bleached I was in front of the mirror, so I could see what was going on. Once my hair is clean of the bleach, Kirsty & Rachel set to with the green dye, and I can't see what's happening. It doesn't take long, and they're done. It's now a bright shade of blueish green, and needs 10-15 minutes to set. When that's done, Rachel washed my hair again and then I could get a good look at the finished effect.
It's perhaps a bit bluer than the "lime" green I was expecting, but I'm still chuffed that it has come out so well. I hope my vibrant colour will help my friends and family spot me on race day.


Rachel (left) and Kirsty (right) from Headlines in Wantage.

Then after a curry in the evening with some friends from work (last non-pasta dinner before Sunday) we went to a pub quiz, and I was perhaps a little disappointed not to turn more heads. However when I went to chat to the Quiz Mistress after the event (in which we came a rather average 4th), two of the members of the winning team commented on my beard not matching the natural colour of my hair. So I explained why I'd gone green, running the London Marathon and all that. They wished me well, and then both decided to donate their quiz winnings to my charity - Volunteer Reading Help - so hurrah for that! And a huge thanks to both of you if you happen to be reading this. I can't remember the full name of the team, but it was something about there being no F in Brian I think...

Today - a short gentle lunchtime jog with my colleague who is over from India. We set off perhaps a bit faster than he's used to running, but the pace seemed quite easy for the two of us. On the second mile however, we slowed down a bit. I'm not used to running with someone else, so it felt a bit weird adjusting my pace to suit the both of us. I guess this is something I'll need to get used to as I hope to join a running club after the marathon is over- in order to keep my motivation up once the big day is over and done.


So that's it for the training. It's all over now. Only a very very gentle 10 minute jog on Saturday morning before I head off to London. Oh, and I'm going to the Expo tomorrow to fetch my running number and running chip. I shall pop by the Realbuzz, Running Free & Justgiving stands. So if any of you fellow runners see me and recognise me from my green hair, please say hello!