Just a quick post to say I am alive but that I have been busy with work field trips and now I am waiting in an airport to fly to Istanbul... It's a hard life to live(but alas it leaves little time for blogging)!! SORRY

So I am in Athens. Home of democracy, or lack of it at the moment. I have to say though, it was not a pleasant journey here. I flew Etihad which, despite deciding on putting me next to a very pretty girl(WELL DONE) appeared to have less legroom than a VW Beetle. My knees touched the seat in front of me even when they didn't lean back... for 14 hours!!! My lower legs were in terrible pain and sleep was just not going to be easy.
The second plane trip, which was only 5 hours and was a smaller plane, had more leg room. It felt like heaven.....
As such when I arrived in Athens I had a sore knee. It hurt when I fully extended it... So standing straight just felt awkward. The primary issue is that in Athens, I do a lot of walking. Even on the night I arrived I had to walk over 5km to a party and back. Yesterday I walked 2-3km to a friends place and it was all uphill. So what I have found is that my knee gets better, then as I walk and I step off a curb or something- TWANG- off it goes and it hurts. So I have been in Athens for 2 full days and have eaten like a pig and not really done any major exercise. SADNESS! So today, at 4pm I am going to try go for a run. It just depends on my knee... Stupid knees. Stupid plane!!

Over the last week I have been marking first year assignments. An imposed deadline on these meant that I was working from 8am till atleast 10pm for most days last week. It meant that running had to back seat. This is the primary issue with this whole run I have created… Life!

I can make time for exercise on a pretty regular occurance. I can sacrifice an hour or two around 4-5 days a week. The problem is, it’s just not enough! For example, in a few days time I am heading to Greece to take part in two conferences. Both conferences go for 2-3 days and one even has a 2 day field trip afterwards. It is unlikely that I will be able to run on those days as the conference will take up almost my entire day. So that’s 8 days on a 20 day trip with no running. That is a grand total of 65.6km I am missing running, or roughly 2% of my total.

I just found out recently I was accepted onto an excavation in Greece in October. It is a 6 week season. Each day, there is a 30 minute walk down a steep mountain path- then 6-7 hours worth of excavation, followed by a 45 minute walk back up the same path. This will take place 6 days a week. This is an excavation of a lifetime. I have dreamed of digging at this site for years. But it happens to be that it will take place over the last month and a bit of my year long adventure. That means, even if I caught up with my run in the next few months, which will be impossible as I am some 500km behind where I should be, I would still have to try run after what is considered to be one of the most physically tough excavations around. It won’t happen.

It dawned on me the last few days that even though I keep saying things will get easier, life will be less hectic, it won’t be. The problem is, I feel like a complete failure. Today, I have already run 9km and will do another 2+ this afternoon, it will tip me over the 1000km mark. As I said I should be around 1500km. It should be a glorious, happy, fun occasion. Instead, it feels like failure.

So ultimately, this is me saying that I will definitely, 100% not make the 3000km by November 7th. I would need to run 11km each day till then which would be fricken tough. That’s 77km a week. I feel bad as people donated money under the idea I will finish by November but hey- it’s for charity and I can’t give it back so I don’t feel too bad. However, I am not going to give up. When I come back from my conferences, I will begin training for a marathon. Who would have thought I would say that 6 months ago. I will also keep running until this damn thing is over. That means I will stop the run when I head off for my excavation, but re-start it on my return and try finish strong! But in the end, you know what has made me happy. I just worked out for the last 190 days I have run 1000km. That means I am averaging 5.2km A DAY! That is pretty massive, especially for someone who has never run long distances before. Also, ultimately, I made this event up and it doesn’t affect anyone but myself. But I have lost weight, become a million times fitter and improved my outlook on life. That is the real awesome thing about this event- it was the reason why I did it!

So folks, I apologise that I will fail in the long run. But keep following me as I run further and further and keep DONATING MONEY- REMEMBER IT’S FOR CHARITY!!! I have this website for 2 damn years so you know what, I am going to keep posting and keep running until that 3000km is ticked off. Until then, lets run a bloody marathon or two!!

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Marking done gone and busted my brainhole!
I am marking essays and they keep flooding in. Honestly, my head is about to explode! Every day I wake up with a headache and every night I go to sleep exhausted from sitting and reading. I have been marking now for 2 weeks straight and it hurts... It hurts so bad!

BLAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

At the moment, I am marking first year essays. I have around 100 essays to mark each about 2000 words long. I have to add comments, write notes and correct grammar. Marking is one of those things that takes forever and can either be great fun or a terrible pain. It is painful because you can get a few average essays in a row and it really bums you out- especially if you are reading the same thing over and over. However, strike a good one or two and you feel great for the student! I often wish I could meet these students so I can give them a high five.

But what I find interesting is the fact that despite sitting on my ass doing nothing all day and just reading- it can be exhausting. For example, the other day I marked the entire day and they just happened to be all average essays. By the time I got to the gym, I felt like I had already run 10km. My knees were aching and I was in a such bad space mentally. I ended up running at like 8km/h spliced with lots of walking.

It’s funny how physically taxing mental work is. Whenever I teach, it is usually 2-3 hours in a row in the late arvo. Now just to get through it, I usually have a litany of drinks in my bag to help pep me up. A water to start- followed by a diet coke- followed by red bull. As I walk home from class, it normally feels like my legs are dead and that I am just exhausted. Why is it that when we are mentally fatigued our body decides it wants to get in on the party?

So- I write this looking down at a box stuffed full of essays to mark. Hopefully, by the time I have run I might have gotten through 15-20 of them but it’ll more likely be less. I just hope I can fathom the run this afternoon as the next week or two gets even more hectic!

Oh well- one thing to look forward to is Game of Thrones. I have the house to myself this weekend so I plan on watching 2-3 episodes a night. Any good? Let me know!