50. Achieve 10 medals for running

When it comes to running I’m not having much luck with weather. As the last few events have been bloody hot! So trust me to enter a 10k on the record breaking hottest August bank holiday weekend.

When I was looking at events a while ago I had earmarked the Runthrough 10k in Greenwich Park, mainly as it was local. My girls also wanted to the the 5k one for the same reason.

Anyway, it would be fair to say I was a little unprepared. I hadn’t run for a month, as I was concentrating on my cycling for Ride London, and I’d been on holiday. I had a done a quick training run a few days before, but wasn’t exactly in the best shape. At least that’s what I felt.

The course that runthrough choose is slightly different to ones that I’ve helped steward at. On this one, you have to do 3 laps of the park. For those that know Greenwich Park, will know that means “that hill” three times!! Bad enough on a normal day, but when the temperature was around 26°c at 1000, you can imagine how bad it was.

Normally on a 10k I don’t need to take in water, but this time I did at the end of the second lap. I was sweating so hot that the letters that were printed on my vest actually fell off!!!

But I somehow managed to post a very respectable time, of 50mins 18secs. Got to admit I was shocked at that. I does make me wonder what I could have done on a flatter course, cooler day, and not been on holiday.

So, another running event completed, and another medal to add to the collection. Just another 8 to go until I chalk off this goal.

43. Eat at 7 different restaurants with Claire.

When I originally set this goal I’d completely forgotten about our holiday coming up. It honestly hadn’t even come into my thinking. Maybe that’s because for the first time in 20yrs, Claire & I went on holiday, as just the two of us.

We spent a glorious week in Ibiza! Not we did we do a fair bit of letting our hair down, we also ate a number of different restaurants. So as to not make this goal too easy, I set a ground rule…. we had to eat a minimum of two courses, and a drink obviously.

This rule actually discounted the first three places that we ate at for dinner.

They were Ibiza Rocks Bar, El Gaucho, and Peppers. At the first two we only ordered mains. However, at Peppers we’re even stricter as we did actually have a starter and main. But this was more of a bar, it was billed as Thai Street Food, we were watching football, and then there was shots at the end. The less said about the “Gas Chamber” one the better.

So, to the first restaurant that I counted. The famous Cafe Mambo! A stunning seafront view, awesome food and amazing cocktails. It was a gloriously hot evening, and after dinner were stunned by the sunset we witness as we walked around San Antonio bay, back to our hotel.

The next night (Friday) we had already planned on going “out out” so wanted to have a meal of sustenance. My thought was a paella. Well, we were on a Spanish Island after all. We found a nice cafe nearby, on our first night that did nice meals. But one evening I spotted from our balcony a restaurant called Restaurant Pyrenees. I checked it out, and it looked great! A proper Mediterranean style restaurant.

A nice light starter of flatbreads, with olives and alioli, was followed by a mixed paella. It was also washed down by a lovely sangria too!! But, oh my god was we full at the end of the meal!

On our penultimate night we were in a dilemma. We had spent the afternoon in a bar watching the day’s football unfold, and were planning on going back to the rock bar, Can Rock, later. But we had a bit of a crave in for pizza. Literally a minute away from the bar we were in was a rustic pizzeria. Why count a pizzeria? Well it cooked wood fired artisan pizzas and calzones, and we had starters too. Calamari for me, and Croquettes for Claire. The pizzas were awesome! Fresh, wood fired, and full of flavour. Because of that we counted it.

I had always planned on having a special last night meal. So had to a little research on locations. As I said in a previous post, it was our 20th Wedding anniversary, which made this holiday the 20th anniversary of our honeymoon too. Well, I struck gold!! Just a 5 minute walk from our hotel was restaurant Es Virot. Another bay side location, but a lot quieter than Cafe Mambo.

As it was a celebration I ordered a bottle of cava, to accompany the meal, which was wonderful.

The food, the setting, and that we got to eat while watching the sun set, was the perfect way to end our holiday. The perfect end to a perfect week.

So that’s four more restaurants ticked off on goal 43. Just one more required.

It’s been about six week since my last crossbow competition, and today I had the last one of the outdoor season for 2019. The short drive up to Nuneaton once again, followed this time by the Nationals.

The weather was even worse than last time I shot here, with the tail end of the previous day’s storm, making conditions extremely windy. But what didn’t help was some very heavy showers either!! My 55m & 45m scores were well under par my PB’s. But somehow I managed to equal my PB at 35m’s! Still not sure how that happened! I finished the comp with 470/600, which all things considered is very good.

So that’s my outdoor title was retained! I’m the GB national champion for a fourth consecutive year.

That’s also more progress made to goals 36 & 38.

I am now eagerly awaiting the updated world rankings to see if I can move up from my current position at number 3. My fingers are well and truly crossed.

No. 32 Learn 10 songs on my ukulele.

Originally when I set this goal, I thought that this would take some time to achieve. The main reason is that with all my commitments, I don’t actually get much chance to play, and when I do I’ll either play my bass, or acoustic guitar.

Recently, as part of a plan to increase the usage of my old scout group’s church, my old cub leader set up a ukulele club. This was great!! a superb opportunity for me to join others a play. I had my first session this week, which was the group’s second, and there was a mix of expertise levels from complete beginners to experienced players. I would categorise myself as an intermediate.

That session covered a few chords, and 3 songs. When the saints go marching in, Jambalaya, and He’s got the whole world in his hands.

Now, I’m not actually going to count these 3 songs in my challenge. Why? well that’s mainly because of what happened next.

After the session I started surfing on YouTube, and found a lot of play along songs. Because of this I not only nailed my 10 songs, I actually learned about 20!!

So here is the complete this of ukulele songs that I learned:

Can’t help falling in love. Sweet Caroline. I’m Yours. Hound Dog. You’re the one that I want. Take me home country road. Can you feel the love tonight. American Pie. Someone you loved. Count on Me. Shotgun. Delilah. It’s my life. Shake it off. Dumb ways to die. This is me. A million dreams. I wanna be like you. Stitches. And finally, You’ve got a friend in me.

I have started a few more, but they are work in progress. However, for now goal no.32 is complete.

90. Celebrate our 20th Wedding Anniversary in style.

The 7th August 2019 marked exactly 20 years since mine & Claire’s. The last couple of years have been a bit rocky, it would be an understatement to say, but things between us now are stronger than they’ve been for a long time. So, as this was a big landmark anniversary, I decided to pull out all the stops.

The first thing I had to source was an appropriate gift. For 20yrs the traditional gift is china, but the modern day gift is platinum. Trying to find a suitable gift with those restrictions that I placed on myself  wasn’t easy. But I struck gold! (pardon the pun). I found a company that makes personalised gold & platinum song discs. So I got one made up with our first dance song.

Claire loved it!

But I still had to make it more special.

About 3 years ago we went as a family to the OXO Tower restaurant, to celebrate Laurie’s GCSE success. It was such an amazing meal, that we vowed to go back. But, for special celebrations only and I couldn’t think of any better.

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It was a wonderful meal, and a perfect way to celebrate our anniversary.

But, the celebrations didn’t end there, as we decided to make a second day of it too. The next morning, despite riding 100 miles on my bike a few days before, dusted off my old hybrid bike and had a leisurely ride into Greenwich. There we had a lovely light pub lunch, before riding back home. It may not sound much, but it was a lovely relaxing day, and the first time we’ve been out riding together. Which, will prove useful as Claire has agreed to do London to Brighton with me next year, in my new Team Mr Men and Little Miss. But more about that next year. 

Goal no 90, completed. 

61. Complete my second Ride London 100.

Well, I did it!! This year there was no emergency diversions, taking out a few miles, and the weather was so much nicer. All 100 miles, both of the big climbs conquered (Leith Hill and Box Hill), in a very quick time of 6hrs 50mins 44secs.

I crossed the start line at 0820, and kept and extremely fast average pace of around 19mph, for 40 miles! I shocked myself with that. But as it was a warm day, I was drinking a fair bit so needed a pee stop. I’m glad I did, as just 2 miles later I ground to a halt with some serious congestion. I basically had to walk a mile due to the sheer volume of riders. This held me up for about 40mins. After last it was plain sailing.

I completed all of the big climbs without stopping, and in fact didn’t stop at all for the remainder of the ride.

As I came round the final bend, with the finish line in front of me, I could see my support squad of Claire, Laurie & Holly, cheering me on. I was buzzing! My legs were on fire, and aching like made after caning the last 30miles to ensure I got under 7hrs, but I was on top of the world!

After I’d collected my medal and kit bag, I met up with them at Mind’s meeting point. Here I met with the charity’s events team for a good a chat, and pics. What a great day, and I am so glad I hit my fundraising target for them.

Goal 61. Complete!

As a footnote to this ride, much like my London to Brighton one, there is one last thing to add. Mind have been a great support to, and not just for Ride London. Their support and help for my own mental health problems, caused by that sudden life change last year, made even being here to do the ride possible. As a result my justgiving page will remain open for further donations at: justgiving.com/simon-emmett-rl2019.

Even though I’ve hit my personal fundraising target, I still made a further donation to them, and will continue to champion them. This now my second personal donation to a charity, and further progress towards goal no 54.

It’s been a very busy month with work, which is why I haven’t been able to blog much. In fact, during July, I worked a spell of 20 shifts, in just 23 days. This also included 12hr weekend shifts, and night shifts!!

Anyway, despite this I’ve still progressed a few items on my list. So here’s what I’ve been doing.

12. Buy flowers once a month. July flowers bought for Claire on 12th July. A lovely bunch of mixed roses.

18. Successfully obtain my Private Pilot’s Licence. The hours are clocking up quite nicely now. I’ve got 15hrs 35mins in the log book, and flying in circuits. So, plenty of take offs and landings! Still lots more to go.

29. Learn how to swim up to 750m. Steady progress with this. I’ve had a few lessons now, and my technique is improving a lot. I can now swim 50m without stopping; which for me is a massive step forward. My lessons have taken a bit of a snag for the summer. Better Leisure, in their infinite wisdom have changed my lesson time from 7pm, to 7am!!!!! So it doesn’t look like I’ll get many lessons in for the duration of the summer.

41. Be confirmed at Church. I have had a meeting with my local vicar, Father Clive at The Ascension, in Plumstead. The ball is now rolling, and I have a fair bit of reading to do in preparation for it.

One last update, and I decided to leave this one until last despite doing the others in number order.

10. Beat my eating disorder, and get my weight up to 10.5 stone. This has been going well. The therapy that I have received, along with the support from my family and close friends, has been amazing. Coupled with the complete blocking of the toxic individual that led to me developing the disorder, I am well on the road to recovery. One friend being a family member of that individual, who has cut them off too because of their actions, has also been a great support. This has helped my weight to increase to 9st 6.5lbs. (up from the low on 7th April of 8st 13lbs). All positive.

So, as you can see there is lots going on, with lots more planned over the next few weeks.