|
Richard Perry
|
Circus,
Handbalancing,
Skills
Back in July last year, we went to see a performance called “Block” at Raglan Castle. The performance was a joint venture between NoFit State Circus and Motionhouse and was absolutely brilliant. It was at this point that I decided I was going to run away and join the circus…well not quite. NoFit State run a number of community classes that anyone can join, and they just so happened to have a Handbalancing class on a Monday night. This sounded like a great idea so after looking into it, I decided that it could be good fun but not until after Cardiff Half Marathon (I didn’t want it to affect my training). On 03 September, NoFit State held an open day at their facilities at...
|
Richard Perry
|
George,
Milestones
George is 5 today, 5!! He has been around for 5 years already! Where does the time go?!? It seems like no time at all since I wrote the last milestone update for George, but that was 3 years ago ! Seems I have some catching up to do! I think this may be a long post so if you just want to read about his fifth year, then click here. Third Year At the start of the year, George wasn’t talking and he was referred to speech therapy by the Health Visitor. However, once he got started there was no stopping him. By the end of the year it was all we could do to stop him talking long enough to get him to...
|
Richard Perry
|
Race Reports
|
Running,
Race
This past Sunday, I ran the Lliswerry 8 Road Race for the second time. It is a fantastic race organised by Lliswerry Runners and it is absolutely flat! This picture shows me running up the only 'hill' on the entire course. The event itself was very well organised, despite the issues with the online entries (which were handled very well by the event organisers) and everything went very smoothly I think. During the race the marshalls were all very cheery and supportive and the overall atmosphere of the event was excellent. After the race, back at the stadium, there was a huge selection of cakes laid on which is always a good thing in my book. Thank you Lliswerry Runners for a great race to start off the year...
|
Richard Perry
|
Goals,
Epic Quest
Ok, so it’s been a little while since I actually wrote anything (almost 2 years!). I thought it was about time I got back into it. Given we’ve just started a new year, I thought I would set out my plans/goals for the coming year (and maybe reflect a little on last year). A lot of people seem to feel that last year was a bad year. I admit there were a large number of well liked personalities that didn’t make it to the end of the year, but I’m not willing to write the year off completely on that basis. In 2016 the following good things happened to our family: George started reading; George started school properly; George’s eczema has improved exponentially since he...
|
Richard Perry
|
Languages,
Mandarin,
Challenges
So things kind of stalled on my Mandarin Language Challenge after I finished in 2012 (actually, it stalled before the end, but that’s another story ). Since then, I’ve dipped in and out a bit here and there, but I haven’t really done anything concrete, and I haven’t kept it going for any length of time. Now it is time to actually do something about it. Since the start of the year I have been very busy with my marathon training, but now I have a lot more time and I feel it’s time for another challenge to try to kickstart my learning again. This time, I am looking at a much more concrete end goal with some mini goals in between. I will be...
|
Richard Perry
|
Race Reports
|
Challenges,
Running,
Marathon,
Epic Quest
Race Details Event Greater Manchester Marathon 2015 Date & Time 19 April 2015 09:00:00 Distance Marathon Type Road Race Time (PB) 3:23:02 (3:23:02) On Sunday 19 April 2015, after 16 weeks of training, I completed my first marathon!! I woke up early on Sunday morning to find the sky clouded over and the temperature in single digits. Perfect weather for running a marathon! I got everything sorted out and, after a mild panic over some missing Vaseline, I got a lift to the race start (thanks Mark ). Before the race I caught up with a few of the guys from the Club and we agreed a meeting point for after the race. It was then time to line up at the start line....
|
Richard Perry
|
Challenges,
Running,
Epic Quest
As mentioned previously, I am planning to run my first marathon this year. I will be running the Greater Manchester Marathon on 19 April (all being well) and as such I have been training hard to make sure I can actually cover the distance. Since the last week in December I have: run a total of 394.2 miles as part of my training (Last year it took me almost 10 months to cover that distance!); taken 40 seconds of my parkrun PB; taken 9 minutes 25 seconds off my half marathon PB; and really enjoyed the volume of running . Despite all of this, I was still a little apprehensive about actually running 26.2 miles in one go. That is until yesterday when I completed...
|
Richard Perry
|
Challenges,
Running,
Languages
Happy New Year all! I really cannot be bothered with the whole year in review thing that I did last year, so instead I’m going to write about my new challenges for the year. If you’re not interested, please feel free to leave this site now, I won’t get upset . Running My first challenge for this came about almost by accident. At the end of the summer last year, my Running Club started the ballot for who would get the 2 London Marathon places that the club were entitled to. I figured there was no harm putting my name into the ballot as I probably wouldn’t get it anyway. As it happens I was right, but my brain seemed to think that this marathon...
|
Richard Perry
|
Challenges
On the first of October, or more specifically 2 weeks before, I decided to do a 30 day Paleo Challenge. This is a diet based challenge, but obviously the purpose was not to lose weight. I don’t weigh a lot as it is! I read a lot of different blogs on a wide range of subjects and one of the ones I read a lot is called Nerd Fitness and they think the paleo diet is brilliant so after checking to make sure it wouldn’t do be any harm, I decided to give it a shot. This is my story. The 30 Day Paleo Challenge The rules of this challenge are fairly simple, follow the Paleo Diet strictly for 30 days to understand the benefits....
|
Richard Perry
Last night, Rosie and I went out, just the two of us, for an evening in Cardiff. It is the first time we have been out for a while, and we went to a book tour in a lovely, cosy little place called the Juno Lounge (can highly recommend the place for a nice evening by the way). This particular book tour was being carried out by a couple of American guys who call themselves The Minimalists. Rosie & I have been reading the essays they publish on their website for a couple of years now and thought it would be cool to meet them. Who Are The Minimalists? They are a couple of guys who spent their early 20’s climbing the corporate ladder chasing...
Back in July last year, we went to see a performance called “Block” at Raglan Castle. The performance was a joint venture between NoFit State Circus and Motionhouse and was absolutely brilliant. It was at this point that I decided I was going to run away and join the circus…well not quite. NoFit State run a number of community classes that anyone can join, and they just so happened to have a Handbalancing class on a Monday night. This sounded like a great idea so after looking into it, I decided that it could be good fun but not until after Cardiff Half Marathon (I didn’t want it to affect my training). On 03 September, NoFit State held an open day at their facilities at...
George is 5 today, 5!! He has been around for 5 years already! Where does the time go?!? It seems like no time at all since I wrote the last milestone update for George, but that was 3 years ago 
! Seems I have some catching up to do! I think this may be a long post so if you just want to read about his fifth year, then click here. Third Year At the start of the year, George wasn’t talking and he was referred to speech therapy by the Health Visitor. However, once he got started there was no stopping him. By the end of the year it was all we could do to stop him talking long enough to get him to...
This past Sunday, I ran the Lliswerry 8 Road Race for the second time. It is a fantastic race organised by Lliswerry Runners and it is absolutely flat! This picture shows me running up the only 'hill' on the entire course. The event itself was very well organised, despite the issues with the online entries (which were handled very well by the event organisers) and everything went very smoothly I think. During the race the marshalls were all very cheery and supportive and the overall atmosphere of the event was excellent. After the race, back at the stadium, there was a huge selection of cakes laid on which is always a good thing in my book. Thank you Lliswerry Runners for a great race to start off the year...
Ok, so it’s been a little while since I actually wrote anything (almost 2 years!). I thought it was about time I got back into it. Given we’ve just started a new year, I thought I would set out my plans/goals for the coming year (and maybe reflect a little on last year). A lot of people seem to feel that last year was a bad year. I admit there were a large number of well liked personalities that didn’t make it to the end of the year, but I’m not willing to write the year off completely on that basis. In 2016 the following good things happened to our family: George started reading; George started school properly; George’s eczema has improved exponentially since he...
So things kind of stalled on my Mandarin Language Challenge after I finished in 2012 (actually, it stalled before the end, but that’s another story 
). Since then, I’ve dipped in and out a bit here and there, but I haven’t really done anything concrete, and I haven’t kept it going for any length of time. Now it is time to actually do something about it. Since the start of the year I have been very busy with my marathon training, but now I have a lot more time and I feel it’s time for another challenge to try to kickstart my learning again. This time, I am looking at a much more concrete end goal with some mini goals in between. I will be...
Race Details Event Greater Manchester Marathon 2015 Date & Time 19 April 2015 09:00:00 Distance Marathon Type Road Race Time (PB) 3:23:02 (3:23:02) On Sunday 19 April 2015, after 16 weeks of training, I completed my first marathon!! I woke up early on Sunday morning to find the sky clouded over and the temperature in single digits. Perfect weather for running a marathon! I got everything sorted out and, after a mild panic over some missing Vaseline, I got a lift to the race start (thanks Mark 
). Before the race I caught up with a few of the guys from the Club and we agreed a meeting point for after the race. It was then time to line up at the start line....
Last night, Rosie and I went out, just the two of us, for an evening in Cardiff. It is the first time we have been out for a while, and we went to a book tour in a lovely, cosy little place called the Juno Lounge (can highly recommend the place for a nice evening by the way). This particular book tour was being carried out by a couple of American guys who call themselves The Minimalists. Rosie & I have been reading the essays they publish on their website for a couple of years now and thought it would be cool to meet them. Who Are The Minimalists? They are a couple of guys who spent their early 20’s climbing the corporate ladder chasing...