Surfers Eye...

How bloody ridiculous; it's been ages since I actually surfed and I managed to have developed a decent case of pterygium (in both eyes). The only up-side is the fact that the other name for pterygium is 'surfers eye'. At the moment and hopefully for the future it isn't affecting my actual sight and it's just a case of something a tad annoying.

What is it....

Repeated exposure to UV, glare, wind, dust, seawater, and sand can cause damage to the conjuctiva (a clear mucous membrane on the eyeball’s surface). Over time, these irritants can result in degeneration of the collagen fibres that make up this conjuctival membrane. To make matters worse, yellowish and thicker fibers grow in its place — not exactly attractive. This new membrane (called a “pterygium”) grows from the bottom, nasal corner of the eye in a triangular or winged shape with the long corner pointing toward the cornea. If allowed to progress, the pterygium can warp the surface of the cornea and even block light from entering the eye.

How does it feel...

Dry and itchy eye (yep)

Burning sensation of the eye (yep)

Persistent redness of the eye (a little)

The feeling of a foreign object in the eye (yep)

Eye inflammation (yep)

Bloody tears (hoping I don't get this one)

Blurred or otherwise impaired vision (this would be annoying)

Hey-ho! There's not a lot I can do about it now. Apparently you can have surgery (yuck) but it's likely to reoccur soon afterwards. Think I'll just get Lisa to train me in the correct way of using eye-drops (that's the best & easiest treatment) as I seem to have real issues using the little plastic bottles - apparently dropping the fluid in from about 20cm away from the eye isn't the way to do it (that would explain why I seem to get more on my face than in the eye).

If you want to know more about it - click here.

Think I'll go wakeboarding asap to get help cheer me up. In the meantime, check this great little vid out - about Surfers Against Sewerage and what they do & why.

A spot of the white stuff...

Sometimes it feels as though Lisa and me are the only ones in the UK that love a spot of snow. After a few days of doom and gloom about 'yellow snow' warning (I don't think they're warning us of the same thing I've always been wary of) and then a few red warning, the amount of snow that actually landed was a bit of an anti-climax. Still, it was enough to create chaos and have a bit of a play in.

In other news I'm just about maintaining some sort of training routine for the London to Brighton 100km I'm doing in May. I need to hit the road and get some miles under my feet but the general training is going well. I have the Dursley Dozen in a couple of weeks and by all account that's a gnarly old run - x-coutry and a lot of hills.

Water-wise....I feel as though I'm actually starting to dry-out. It's been months since I've been either in the lake or in the sea. Aaaaaaaagh!

In order to stay sane I've been bouncing around the web as usual to find the best vids online. Cheers to Billabong for this one ...

No longer required...

Received a letter from the Bone Marrow folk earlier in the week and it looks as though I'm not longer required. Hopefully that simply means that they found a donor closer to the Dutch recipient. To be honest, I'm a little disappointed that I can't do something as cool as donate my marrow to someone (& effectively save a life) but on the up-side, I guess I no longer have to worry about a trip to the hospital and a portion of my hip being chiseled out, getting in the way of my 100km run training.

Also, I can now go back to giving blood - I was not allowed while being on the list to help someone.

If you ca, are able to or willing to give it a try, check out BLOOD and give a bit of time to maybe safe a life.

2013...

I'm sure it's not just me but where the hell did the end of 2012 go? Christmas and New Years have been and gone....thank god. I can't say I'm a huge fan of the entire experience. I like the time off but not the enforced celebrating - yes, I'm a Grinch! Now that it's 2013 I guess I'm going to have to step up my running training. I have managed to get some training in-between the drinking and eating but I just know my next gym session is going to be a painful one. When people question my upcoming 100km run (London to Brighton) they're a little confused about a couple of things - why & will I make it? Why .... needed a challenge for 2013 and 100km for Hospiscare (yep, I'm also raining sponsorship I'm afraid) for seemed like a good idea. Will I make it .... yes I will! To be a running entrant I have to complete the 100km in less than 15 hrs. I'm hoping to get it done in about 12hrs. 100km equates to about 5 1/2 marathons and with a short break for fluids/food every 25km I should be able to get it done in my 12hr target. Although saying that, my 1/2 marathon time is usually just between 1hr 45mins & 1hr 50mins, so maintaining that pace for 5 times the distance is going to be the biggest challenge.

http://www.justgiving.com/nickruns100km

In other news, it seems to have been for-ever since I got wet. No wakeboarding since the end of the summer and even though I took my boards down to my mums over Xmas, I didn't get the chance to get to the surf ... I did get to the beach but on the wrong side of the coast & only to walk the dog. The only thing keeping me sain are my small pile of DVDs and the joys of youtube etc.