Owen abroad

Archive for May, 2004

After a vasectomy, you have to give two semen samples, two weeks apart, to confirm that the operation has been a success. In a small number of vasectomies, the tubes join themselves back together; and it takes some time for the sperm to be cleared out of the system, so you need to do this to confirm that you can have unprotected sex.

And yesterday, I had confirmation that I am firing blanks.

So to summarise:
- I have no pain – even running a marathon in a PB time
- and I am now firing blanks
- and Grethe can come off the pill.

All those men who think it is not manly to have a vasectomy, but think it OK to make your partners take pills which put their life in danger, shame on you. This is a safe procedure, which has been undergone by tens of millions of men around the world.

In 1998, I made a New Year's resolution to run a marathon in less than 3 hours. It has taken me six years to achieve this goal.

I've tried many different approaches to training; looked for shortcuts; made mistakes; and learned lessons. I have learned a lot from books, magazines and articles; but I have learned most of all from my friends who run, who have patiently acquired immense wisdom and have been generous enough to share it.

On May 16th 2004, I finally achieved my goal, running 2:53:28 in the Copenhagen Marathon. In this article, I've tried to capture what I've learned from my experiences, in the form of seven habits for effective marathon training.

Some of you will know all of this (indeed, some of you will have taught it to me in the first place). I hope that others will find it useful.

Read the full article here.