Goodbye for now and thank you

Wishing all Janathoners the very best til we see you again.  And wishing many thanks to Cathy for making it all happen.  I hope you all enjoyed your month of blogging and running.  If there was a competition for the number of underground stairs climbed, perhaps I would have been a contender.

Honor taking the exercise

Hopeless .. what's it been now since I blogged?  At least a couple of days.  Just looked - the 18th to be precise!  Breaking my resolutions like everyone else.
Mmm and that's just the bloggin - have I taken any exercise? Nope.  Took an aeroplane ... up to Edinburgh on Thursday.  Met a fantastic bunch of people who invest in businesses called Par Equity. https://www.parequity.com/profile/our-business/
Not often you hear a bunch of investors described so positively.  But they're not your typical investment types.  Yes they're dead clever and switched on, but they've all got hands on personal experience of running businesses so they know what it's like at the coal face, they get properly involved and actually help advise the people running the business (not just giving them a hard time for not hitting targets), they are amazingly well connected and can introduce you to almost anyone you care to name .. and best of all they seem like a bunch of really nice, interesting people.  So as and when we look for investment, they'll be our first port of call.
And Friday was even more hopeless on the health front but very enjoyable .. back in time for lunch with my dear friend Jen who is MD of super brilliant brand and design agency Start Creative: http://www.startcreative.com/.  We shared the joys and woes of running businesses over a large glass of wine to celebrate her birthday.  Then onto a very cool new barrrr and restaurant called 86: http://www.86restaurant.co.uk/ to meet with our very well connected, super clever, NED, Simon Holden.  So more drinking .. and still no exercise.
And today, more action at the laptop relieved by an hour of watching Honor in her new role of goal keeper ... at which she is brilliant;  she was voted "man of the match". She saved more goals than I could count.   Pity I didn't manage to capture her in action but here she is all kitted up. Usual comment from all the parents  .. "well in my day we didn't have so much as a shin pad between us".
Good news tho .. we're back for some more miles of the South Ups tomorrow .. which will go some way to making amends for such a poor week!

The late late breakfast show and Phil

Still no exercise .. still stiff.  But probably no excuse not to tomorrow.  I'll see if I can drag Honor back onto her bike and save some money.  Just filled up the car .. £94!!!!  Time to change the AudioFuel car.

Despite remarkable (more of that later) technological difficulties I managed to see 4 of the 5 'gorgeous presenters' at a networking event called the Late Late Breakfast Show this evening.   It's hosted by a very amusing man called Bernie J Mitchell.  http://www.berniejmitchell.com/

We learnt about the importance of being remarkable rather than 'very good' from Lucy Payne;  the benefits of making a total f**k up from Julie Hall; that happiness lies in setting realistic goals you can achieve from leadership expert William Montgomery (http://www.askten.co.uk/A_our_company_leader.asp).  Really interesting guy with a pretty extraordinary past that includes being a commanding officer in the navy.  And from Phil Szomzor we learnt about brilliant initiatives like Janathon and what excellent grass roots marketing opportunities they offer for a company like AudioFuel.  Thank you Phil.

And not just for making Janathon and AudioFuel the focus of his case study this evening .. but for an unbelievably long list of ways in which he has supported AudioFuel.  As someone who should know an awful lot more about public relations than I do, Phil has been a complete godsend.  As the head of Citigate Dewe Rogerson's digital practice, he not only knows how to do the 'old style' stuff (print), but how to combine it with digital expertise. He has been a constant source of good advice, and provided an enormous amount of hands on help with Twitter and Facebook.  Here is his blog where he writes about technology, social media and  pr.  http://www.theredrocket.co.uk/blog/

And to top it all off, his girlfriend Jo (who also runs) has the sharpest eye I've ever come across for grammatical errors and kindly passed an eye over our entire website.   Lots of editing required.   Here's her blog:  http://irunbecauseilovefood.wordpress.com/

Big thanks to Phil and to Jo.

Blog bonkers

Having been so reluctant to do any kind of blogging, I now have two blogs!
http://thesouthups2011.blogspot.com/2011/01/start-of-south-ups.html
I mention this, because the other blog accounts for lack of Janathon blogging .. and also accounts for taking some exercise.  Alot of exercise: Honor and I walked 12 miles of the South Downs Way yesterday - the first 12 miles of the 100 miles which we will complete in 2011.
I am now so crippled by riding a horse on Friday and walking 12 miles on Sunday .. that I couldn't even walk up to the tube today.  Yup .. I drove! Nope I do not feel ashamed.  I am still feeling virtuous. And I've  just eaten a chocolate too.
The other very exciting thing is that we're doing our walk to fund raise for a wonderful charity  that I support called the Place2Be and it's been a real thrill to see the loolah start to come in.  Silly really - the fund raiser I organised a few years ago for MacMillan generated over £200,000 .. but it's somehow more exciting to see the a couple of hundred pounds mount up in our Virgin Money Giving account.
 

Riding in Richmond Park

For the first time in nearly a year I got back on a horse and had a lovely hour trotting and cantering on Solomon around Richmond Park.  Most enjoyable exercise since the start of Janathon.  Rachel, from Stag Lodge, who took me out was delightful company too.
I'd recommend Stag Lodge as the most conveniently located stables for Richmond Park, and if Solomon is anything to go by the horses are well schooled.
http://www.ridinginlondon.com/
And from the summer there'll have even better facilities - an indoor and outdoor school just a bit further down the A3, 50 more horses and cross country jumps .. so I'm told.

Back to school and bicycling

Phew .. it's all speeding up again. Well over 100 emails today.  Honor's back to school now so we were on our bikes by 7.40am to do the 2 mile ride across Clapham Common.  


A new type of exercise tomorrow .. done walking, running, stair climbing, cycling ... and next up riding. 

More stairs ... more tributes ..

Angela Kennedy has supported us since that evening in 2008 when I conducted a focus group to explore how AudioFuel's first track (Keep Movin') compared with other running music (Pod Runner, MP3 Running) and mainstream music.  She was one of several runners who gave us really useful feedback ... and an honest steer that running to the beat seemed like a good idea.


And since then there has been so much that Angela has done to help us; advice on social media activity, testing out AudioFuel products, beautifully demonstrating the Three Step Interval Training Programme at the launch in Matt Robert's Chelsea Club. Click on the first link on this page to see her in action, http://www.audiofuel.co.uk/development/dev5/index.html; and most recently she very kindly turned up at the London Running Show to help us man the stand.


There are no words to thank her properly .. but it's an excellent subject for my blog entry today.


Thank you Angela.

Slip up

.. I ran but I didn't blog yesterday!  Bother.  Another go with 'Thru the Gears" round the streets of Clapham. Loving it more each time I hear it.

Had a long chat with the lovely Shayna Main.  If anyone needs help to think through their next career move, she's the person to help you.  http://www.s2associates.co.uk/home.htm

Off to the Kit Kat club in the evening to hear Kinvara Balfour speak about how to be cool.  She used to be the London Editor of Daily Candy http://www.dailycandy.com/mediakit/pdf/uk/Independent.pdf.   If you are not naturally cool by about the age of forty you probably need to grow out of trying!

Here's an instance of me being uncool and enormously gullible.  Honor managed to convince me that these sweeties light up when you put them in your mouth. Duh .. it's all in the tongs.

London

Look at that - bright blue sky day and the Houses of Parliament glinting magnificently in the winter sun.  Our exercise for today was to pedal up from Clapham to Covent Garden to buy all the maps we need to walk the full100 miles of the South Downs Way: our mission for 2011.  

We ate a delicious lunch at Wahaca - v popular Mexican joint - excellent value too.  Then Honor found seventh heaven .. Snog next door to Cyber Candy.

It's been a weekend of good food.  H cooked her first roast chicken and her first apple pie on Saturday night.  Fabulous.  

Dehyrdation

I have just been to see the film The King's Speech: absolutely brilliant and very moving.   Hence I'm a bit de-hydrated and need of a cup of tea. You really cannot miss seeing it - truly excellent.

Exercise today consisted of throwing a frisbee for Monty on Clapham Common .. and taking out the Christmas tree  and wrestling with the b***dy lights.

Stairs, One Alfred Place and Slice the Pie

What a miserably cold wet day .. no chance I was going to get up and out at 5.45am today!  In fact at the current time I think it highly unlikely I will get out at all .. which was why I chose to walk up all 136 steps at Goodge Street Underground station.  My exercise for today.


...  on my way to London's top club for business people, One Alfred Place, and where they make the best cup of coffee you can buy ....  in my opinion.   

One Alfred Place was set up by entrepreneur Rob Shreeve as a club specifically designed to cater for business people:  it's a beautifully designed space in which to work and hold meetings with all the facilities you need like wi fi and meeting rooms, the service provided by the staff is 5*,  the sensationally good food served around the clock is cooked by their genius chef Duncan and it's very conveniently located 2 minutes walk from Goodge Street station.  Let me know if you want a tour (I'm lucky enough to be on the committee).


One of the reasons for tipping up there today was the meet Slice the Pie - have a look.  If you're interested in music you get to hear, rate and review new compositions.  If you're an artist, it's a  great way to get some useful feedback from Jo Public and, potentially, source the  money to create an EP.  Great concept.  And the sister "Sound Out" concepts are even more brilliant.


Another reason to love my job .. I meet so many interesting people doing interesting things.

Inspiration

I bounced out of bed at 5.45am with excitement:  a new 15 minute track from Howie to test out.  Despite the dark and the rain I was out the door and happily doing the usual route round Clapham Common fuelled by Thru the Gears.  Love it.  Then down to Poole to interview Liz and Martin Yelling.   Seriously kind, generous and good fun people.  If you want to pull Sean's leg, ask him where you catch the train to get from London to Poole.  Surprisingly and fortuitously, you can get there from Paddington too!

Excuses, dogs and the car

My mother is coming up to town ... I'll make up for it tomorrow!  In the meantime, look at my lovely clean shiny car .. and Monty.

Feelin Free, U got me feelin', and the AudioFuel artists

What I love about our business, is that every time I use our product I genuinely love it and think that it's brilliant.  I feel I can say that because I don't actually do the making of it .. you try out U got me feelin and tell me if it isn't one of the all time greatest tracks to run to. In fact if you send me an email by the end of January  I'll send you a link to download it as long as you promise to blog about it.  


So who are these geniuses?  Well top of the pile, obviously, is our third co founder Howie (he's the creative one who thought up the brilliant name).  I can still remember meeting him for the first time and being definitely over awed - he lives up to all expectations of how cool people can be in the music industry.  But having now worked with him for over 2 years, I can say for sure that he is not only utterly cool, but also fantastically talented and extraordinarily kind .. and very funny.  And lots of other stuff too .. but I'll start sounding sycophantic so I'll stop there.  If you've seen the Matrix you've heard Howie.  Here's a bit about him and his band Lunatic Calm on Wiki.


Then there's Seb Taylor who has composed some wicked tunes for us .. in fact no offence Howie but I have to admit that Take Flight has often been my top AudioFuel tune.   You can have a listen to it  here.  And click here to his myspace page - we love the Kaya Project.


Then there's Charlie Casey - another classic AudioFuel tune no. 2 on Feelin Free comes from Charlie and we love it.  Have a listen to this cool track Calipornia here.  


And finally, for now anyway, there's the wonderful Dom Wood of OneManBand.  Click through to this page with tracks from the Martin Yelling interval training programme and listen to Energise and Halcyon to check out his tunes.  And here are some funky one of his own. 


Oh and the running ... I definitely do good thinking when I run .. listening to AudioFuel.  Sean will be pleased that I agree with him that we should provide three different free samples from our website .. and I have a plan for what they should be.  And yesterday I came up with an idea for re-packaging some of our current programmes to provide a start to run pack for those who need to mix up walking with running to get started.    (shhh only 20 minutes, round Battersea Park once, but I enjoyed it)


And then I got my car clean .. here's the before pictures.  It really is a whole lot filthier than it looks and I'm worried about the impact on our brand ...  no really I just like going to the car washing guys at the end of my road.  They call me 'sweetie' which makes a nice change from my work nickname .. Miss Whiplash!  

Winter Wonderland

First time I've got up and out to run before breakfast for some time ... all credit to the motivating powers of Janathon.  I feel I deserve extra Janathon points today for being persuaded to go on the 'Black Hole' rollercoaster ride at Winter Wonderland.  What was I thinking!? ... well I know what I was thinking .. that I must not become one of those boring mothers who always say no.  Still waiting for my stomach to find its rightful place.  It's back on the ever increasing list of things to always say no to.

Walk in the Park

Day 2 .. the dog to walk again, and Honor to convince. We settled on the AudioFuel 40 minute Walk in the Park programme for some brisk beats up to Clapham Common and back.  

On the Beach

It was lovely to revisit one of my favourite AudioFuel programmes On the Beach that we launched with, and even nicer to having Howie's voice to 'coach' me. It's a 30 minute mid intensity timed session with some top AudioFuel tunes including "Keep Movin'" which was the first track ever written for AudioFuel.

In due course we'll have a coach to meet your every need (be that a 'Bootcamp Bill" or a "Yoga babe Yolanda") but I think I'll always be loyal to the cross over DJ/coach approach that is all Howie's .. keeping me calm while I pick up (yup that's always the pleasant start to any exercising of a dog) ... keeping me calm when I nearly dropped my brand new shiny iPhone in it ...  keeping my smiling at my daughter Honor while she yelled at me from her bike to run faster .. recovering not from an intentional sprint but necessary sprint to prevent dog from leaving park. So it wasn't a run history I'd want to share .. but at least we've completed Janathon day 1 with two big fat ticks; exercise done, blog done.

Why the blog …? Why Nine Yards and Some?

Happy new year and welcome to my blog 

To the short answer.   I’m signed up to to Janathon a new competition that challenges people to run and blog every day in January. And it’s sponsored by ‘us’ – AudioFuel – and Talk to Talk.  Nice prizes - a Garmin Forerunner 405 (worth £200) and £100 vouchers awarded to the best performers, and you don’t have to run - walking, cycling, rowing, jumping puddles, building snowmen all count – as long you do it every day and blog about it.

To the longer answers ..  AudioFuel and the NineYardsandSome.  I’m working my way towards achieving a lifelong ambition which is to help create a business with an innovative  proposition and a respected brand.  Nine yards and some .. because that’s what it’s taking ... and it resonates with the first focus for AudioFuel which is running.  A quick recap:  I started my first business fresh out of university, sold it for a dime two years later; set out on a decade of interesting and enjoyable learning with consultants SRU; then went client side to spend a fantastic half dozen years taking the ‘screw it let’s do it’ approach to setting up businesses for the Virgin Group; in parallel I set myself the challenge of creating a fund raising initiative for Macmillan Cancer Support in 2006 (partly driven by philanthropy, partly as a test for my entrepreneurial skills), and with the help of a brilliant committee, raised over £200,000 in 2007.

In 2008, my friend and now co-founder Sean told me about an idea he’s had around creating music with a beat to match the running stride … and the brilliant name that our other co founder, Howie, had come up for it … and AudioFuel was born. 

It’s now a small, often challenging but exciting 2 year old with lots of potential.  At the heart of the proposition is the music. You wouldn’t go out and run wearing a pair of sandals would you?  If you wanted to perform at your best and enjoy the experience you’d be wearing a pair of trainers specifically designed for the activity.   I believe that music designed for specific sporting activity, will soon become standard, with AudioFuel as the market leading provider.

We currently focus on walking, jogging and running and by combining coaching with the custom composed music, we provide our customers with ready made programmes (playlists).  They can be used by people across all age groups and fitness levels: whether they are looking to make the taking of gentle exercise easier, more enjoyable and more effective; or training to run in a half or full marathon distance.

In the coming year, we intend to start applying this concept across an increasing number of exercise and sporting activities.

Enough of the theory … and onto the exercise; my 11 year old on her new bike and I, listening to AudioFuel on my shiny new iPhone,  will be moving at post indulgence speed around Battersea Park in between chasing after our dog Monty, later today. 

Ps.  My current blog background is a small tribute to my hugely talented colleague Sean who designed this brilliant stand for the London Running Show.