Monday lunchtime saw me run 7 miles through the cold, icy and muddy conditions of the woodland near Newcastle Race Course. How I didn't slip over, I'll never know. In the end, I was pleased to record yet another comeback run in 1 piece.
After work, I took the opportunity to use the gym up at Complete Football (located right next to the Grandstand at Newcastle Race Course). Regular readers will know that I was granted complimentary membership by them in December. By the time I got there the gym was quite busy but not too busy that I had to wait for a treadmill. In fact, it's a well stocked gym on large premises with numerous treadmills so I can't imagine ever having to wait.
I'd never seen these kinds of treadmills before. Very modern indeed! The one I used had a touch screen with an integrated TV and fans is you wanted them. Very nice! Now the most important part! The "ride" didn't disappoint either and the cushion and comfort were just right. I found this to be quite a relief as I'll be spending quite a bit of time here over the coming months. There are some treadmills that I just don't enjoy running on. Thankfully, this wasn't one of them!
Now, that I've seen and used the facilities first hand, it's time for an unashamed plug. Membership of the gym at Complete Football starts from as little as £18 per month. If you're looking for a gym in the Gosforth area with state of the art facilities then I don't see why you would need to look any further than the gym at Complete Football. See www.completefootball.net for further details.
One final plug, which I think most parents will be glad to hear about is the football birthday parties that Complete Football do. My son Jack (pictured above), had a belated birthday party there on Saturday. He was joined by 11 of his school pals for an hour that comprised a warm up, skills coaching, a six a side game and finally a penalty shoot out.
It was bitterly cold but the bairns didn't mind one bit and they all got stuck in to the football. I was very impressed with the coach who took the party. He made sure that the sides were fair and every one got their share of shots in the penalty shootout. If I can compare it to a fitness class, I could say that it was a very "tight" session and little time was wasted to allow the bairns to get a full hour of football in.
As soon as the football was over it was inside for hot dogs, drinks, snacks, well stocked party bags and to sing "Happy Birthday". This was all secondary, when the bairns saw that highlights of all of their goals were playing on the screens above the party table (pictured above). "That one was like Rooney's last week" one bairn said.
This rounded the party off nicely for the bairns and Jack was ever so pleased to receive a very nice trophy with "I had my party at Complete Football" engraved on it. That was one 7 year old's day well and truly made I can tell you!
The price of the party was £125. We had 12 bairns there but it's the same price for up to 16. When you take into account the quality of coaching, food, party bags, cake and trophy it represents brilliant value indeed. There were 3 other parties that afternoon which is as good a recommendation as any. For further information see www.completefootball.net.
In the meantime, I'm looking forward to getting re-accquanted with the treadmill at Complete Football tomorrow after work for 7 miles. Prior to that, I've got a 6 mile run to do round the Town Moor. That will give me 41.5 miles for week 64 of USA 2011 training. To get me to the target of 50 miles, I've got a nice 8.5 mile Saturday morning run planned from Tynemouth to St Mary's Lighthouse and back. This will be done as soon as I've finished David Fairlamb's Beach Bootcamp on Tynemouth Beach (opposite the Grand Hotel) at 9 am. Busy times again! Brilliant!
