Gary Cretton joins KDW

KDW Associates independent financial planning would like to announce the newest member of their growing Financial Adviser team.

Gary Cretton Cert PFS formerly Financial Adviser for a well known High Street Bank in St Albans, St Peters Street.

Please feel free to contact Gary or KDW Associates on 07703 692773 or 01727 852299.

Marathon: DONE!

So the dust has settled on our little jolly to Barcelona, and we’ve returned with our legs aching and heads a little sore. First and foremost, we would like to thank every one of you who has supported us and donated. The support we’ve had has been great and really made everything a little more worthwhile. We’ve currently just passed the £4,500 mark which is a remarkable amount of money. We didn’t expect to get near to the £5,000 target we set ourselves if truth be told, but with more money still coming in, it’s not inconceivable that we can make it! So please, if you’d like to donate then you can at www.justgiving.com/KDWbarcelona

Barcelona is a brilliant city, and it was a fantastic backdrop for the marathon. We were all there by Saturday morning with friends, girlfriends, wives and family for support and I think it’s fair to say that the excitement and nervousness was beginning to build with all the other runners at the expo on the Saturday for registration. We did manage to sneak in a trip to the Nou Camp on Saturday night to see Barcelona beat Zaragoza, before heading back for an early night in order to refrain from even one ‘holiday’ beer that had the lethal potential to turn into many more. This wasn’t helped by the fact that the whole city was in the middle of a bank holiday party weekend and were holding a big, noisy street carnival that ran right past our hotel.

Nonetheless, we were up at 6am on Sunday for porridge, croissants and yoghurt before making our way with all the other runners to Playa de Espana for the race start.

The avenue where you began, and finished the race was not big or wide enough to accommodate all the runners, however we all managed to find an unofficial hole in the gate to force our way relatively close to the front... and before we knew it we were off to the sound of Freddy Mercury’s ‘Barcelona’.

The race itself took you past lots of Barcelona’s most famous sights – Sagrada Familia, Gaudi’s House, the Nou Camp, Las Ramblas – and the whole way round the support and turnout was great. Barcelona was warm on the day – a lot warmer than the 5 degrees we were all accustomed to. It was nice to not have your balls inverting inside yourself but it did take its toll on a lot of runners. The 5km drinks stops were a godsend and so were the wet sponges that were handed out.

You do find yourself pushing yourself more than during your training runs and I’m not sure whether the effect is positive or negative. Certainly by 19-20 miles I was wrecked; probably a combination of the heat, effort that had been put in and adrenaline wearing off! But it was good to see familiar faces cheering you on with a few miles to go. I think we all said we found we talked to ourselves during the run, trying to dig in that bit deeper and get going again. Dave even started hitting his legs like a crazy person.

We all finished in good times were in good spirits at the end of the race. Somehow you find the energy for one last sprint when you see the finish line, though the harsh reality is you are travelling no faster than a snail on holiday. For all of us, it was an emotional feeling crossing the finish line. All the training felt totally worthwhile, culminating in this one moment, and also doing it for such a good cause. It meant that brilliant afternoon and night out was well deserved and is something that will stay with us all for a long long time.

Good luck to those running marathons this year, we know the hard work that you’ve put in, so all the best and enjoy it. Thanks again for all of your support and generous donations.

Final times.

Rob Bygrave – 3:27

Dan Ainsworth – 3:41

Mark Peddle – 3:57

Chris Pearce – 4:11

Olly Hinks – 4:14

Dave Wright – 4:43

Barcelona Marathon - 13 days to go

So, metaphorically speaking, we've all just burst through 'the wall' in our training and we now have the end in our sights. There's still quite a way to go however, so we're unable to start dreaming of the sangria, sunshine, paella and the Nou Camp just yet...

We've all been on long, hard (don't be so dirty) runs in the past few weeks, smashing past the 20 mile mark. I say smashing, but I think a more accurate description of reaching this milestone in our training would be to say it's been more of a pathetic crawl. If any of you reading this are (un)fortunate enough to see any of us on one of these runs, I think it's fair to say that NO, we're not being rude by spluttering and snorting at you and no, we haven't lost our ability to form coherant words. But in this situation the brain's message to perform even the most simplest of functions will reach the intended muscle/limb invariably quite late. A combination of dehydration and pain is usually the cause, and it has been known to cripple and render useless the runner for the rest of the day. Thankfully there are some understanding partners and family out there. And it's always an easy way to wriggle out of doing something you don't want to do...

Hats off to Chris though. He managed a wild Friday alcohol fuelled night that I don't think he even remembered, as well as an early round of golf on Saturday morning and followed that up with a 22 mile run-come-trot on the Saturday night. His Saturday ended on the sofa, curled up and shivering in a blanket watching Match of the Day. Who says this running lark isn't run and good for you?

Whilst Chris has had to contend with his busy schedule, Dave has had far more pressing training concerns to worry about. Namely his training partner Mark Peddle. Just last Saturday, whilst on a 20 mile training run along the canals, Dave had moved slightly ahead of Mark and was approaching the end of the route. Not one to give up, Mark had been making a steady comeback. Nothing would come in the way of Mark's pride and glory though, oh no. Not even the small child, toddling along the canal with his dad, looking at and dreaming of the boats. In his hurry and tunnel vision, this poor young lad was swatted aside in Mark's bid to overtake Dave. Just seconds earlier, little Jonny was making boat noises and thinking how fun it would be to captain one of the barges on the canal, before the evermore sinister Mark Peddle come along that was. Thanks to Dave's quick thinking and cat-like reactions, he was able to swerve and scoop up the little boy before he was barged into the cold, icy water. Safe to say, Mark finished his run under his pace target and well ahead of Dave who had to both comfort the upset young Jonny and try and regain his stride.

There have also been claims of sabotage in the camp. In the past couple of weeks, Dave has noticed a strange feeling in his shoes while he's been running. Without making any accusations (cough*Mark*cough), it looks as though there may have been some tampering with Dave's trainers. We have photographic evidence of what at first looked like a simple shoe-rubbing injury, but upon further inspection, looks like the work of a horrible irritant. Dave thinks it may have been red ants, though nothing can be ruled out at this stage. If you are squemish, you should look away now.

On a serious note, the marathon is under 2 weeks away and we're all still putting the miles in. It hasn't been easy to keep the morale up, or force yourself to go out for 3 hours, but we have. If you haven't donated, please give even the smallest amount. We really do appreciate anything that you can give and it's for a really good cause. The link is www.justgiving.com/KDWbarcelona and it only takes 2 minutes to do.

We'll update you next week to let you know how Dave and Mark's feud has developed (at this rate I don't know what you should expect), and how we're all anticipating Barcelona.

Marathon Training Update - 4 weeks to go & Watford Half Marathon results

This weekend saw the four of us taking on the Watford Half Marathon a difficult course with the weather conditions not being to favourable very windy indeed.

Dan started of the race very strong with taking a lead from the start with Myself and Oli in hot pursuit, Mark was trailing, struggling to get into a rhythm after the beers from the night before. Dan was long gone so it was between Myself, Mark and Oli to fight it out for second and that we did. On the 6 mile point I was stretching my calf as it was starting to really tighten up Mark came along and pushed me in a ditch as a result of the incident the results are as follows:

1st Daniel Ainsworth 1:38:12
2nd Mark Peddle  1:49:23
3rd Oli Hinks 1:51:47
4th David Wright 1:53:35

Dan a clear winner but with his enourmous feet has a clear advantage over the rest of us.
Mark 'win at all cost' Peddle came in second.
Oli Heinz put in a strong performance coming in 3rd with a respectable time.
Myself on a damage limitation run made up great time after the horrific incident.


We're still raising money so give our fundraising page a visit and give generously! www.justgiving.com/KDWbarcelona

Here is some footage from the event:

                                                                  The dream team

                                   Peddle being pipped to the line after trying to trip the poor girl up

                                                        Oli Heinz rolling in at 1:51:47

                              Barnstorming finish from myself - couldn't even catch me on camera

Save money by remortgaging with KDW

Marathon Training Update - 6 weeks to go

Since our last entry on this blog it was decided (in my opinion stupidly) to attempt 18 miles!!!!  being one of the mature members of the team I can confirm that it was not one of the most comfortable of runs.  Chris Pearce did a respectable 20 miles in 2 hours 50 mins, Dan Ainsworth and myself both did the 18 miles just over the 2 hours 30 minutes.  We think Dave must have got miles confused with kilometres as he only ended up running 10 miles (no wonder he thought he was quick!!!!). 

Training has continued throughout the week, however for me at a much slower pace as the aches in my legs still haven't subsided from the weekend run, but I will soldier on!!!

Dave and Dan have invested in new trainers in the hope that this will make a difference in their speed.  Dan is actually having to have special trainers shipped in as for a relatively short (and when I say short I mean below average size) he has enourmous feet. On  a brighter note, to any women readers this is most probably a good thing!!

Barcelona Marathon 2011!

Our first blog is designed to let you know that 4 of us will be taking on the gruelling challenge of the Barcelona Marathon this year in support of SADS UK.

Last year, Mark and Dave completed the Paris Marathon in very respectable times and raised over £3,000. I think you'll agree that this was a fantastic effort. A defibrillator was donated to Marlborough School in St Albans thanks to their commitment and determination.

This year however, we want to do better! Chris and Dan will be joining Mark and Dave this year on the streets of Barcelona, along with 3 other friends. The training is well underway after a rather indulgent Christmas break. The new year panic set in after the realisation that the marathon is only a number of weeks away so everyone has been stepping up their efforts! We have Mark and Dave running home from the office, after spending the afternoon limbering up and applying the anti-chafing creams and Dan has had to adopt a rather inventive strategy to prevent further excruciating chafage in places that should not be mentioned. Chris is currently ahead in the training schedule, but he should be after his preventative methods...

In all seriousness, a lot of time and hard work goes into preparing for a marathon. It's not just the 26.2 miles on the day. It's the countless hours spent pounding the streets at 8 o'clock at night in freezing temperatures. We're running for a great cause and are looking to donate a defibrillator to St Albans City Football Club. If you'd like to know more about SADS then please give their website a look, but please visit our fundraising page and dig deep. www.justgiving.com/KDWbarcelona

We'll keep you updated on how the training progresses.

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