Feeling better

but it's not all it seems!

Had a better day today. Appointment with the Biomechanics Man went well this morning. I had forwarded my running video and analysis to him and it was good to go through it together - I did get the right end of the stick and he liked my shoes! The pains that I'm feeling in my left heel are understandable given the change in footwear but doesn't mean that I've bought the wrong thing - phew! I have left without a follow up appointment for the first time - up to me to go and get on with my exercises! Most excitingly however is the fact that I have made it onto his blog, and now know how C feels! It did make me smile however when he refers to running being my 'main sport'! He was either being kind or didn't want to say that running aside I'm a bit of a couch potato!

I leave feeling really positive and decide that I've had enough driving around with twenty five kilograms of old clothes on the back seat of the car and it's time they went.  The local 'shop' is still closed, but I have remembered that there's another place I can try - their rate per kilo is 20 pence less but they don't unpack them in front of you looking for unacceptable items. In the end I decide that I value my self esteem higher than a fiver and leave with £10.16 and my dignity intact. Job done!

Lovely afternoon on the sofa watching the men's time trials from the Commonwealth Games, Glasgow looking good in the sunshine, and feel well enough to go for a run with Al later on.

One of the things that I enjoy about going for a run is that it gives my mind a chance to wander and often get things in order, except that today this is where my day starts to unravel...

I'm running along thinking about feeling better today, when suddenly the reason for this bubbles to the surface, I have no memory of taking my antibiotics this morning, and sure enough when I get home and check they are still in the packet! So no, sisterofmarathongirl750 they haven't cured my ear yet!

M - 649
HM - 205
Distance covered              3.1 miles
Total Distance covered  165.9 miles

Feeling poorly

but I'm my own worst enemy

Sometimes things happen and you don't realise until later that it was all for the best.  I feel like this over last week's disappointment at not being able to start my antibiotics for five days whilst I took the steroids for my ear. If it hadn't been for my ear I would have started taking them last Wednesday which would have meant that I'd have felt like I do tonight whilst at the West Yorkshire Playhouse watching H, and I am incredibly glad that I didn't!

I have the most vile taste in my mouth and just feel rubbish and I'm only two days in to a course of seven. It's all a bit grim and I think I prefer the mumbo jumbo lavender pill approach, but I'm hoping it will all be worth it in the end. I am also holding on to the hope that if it is an infection causing the tinnitus in my ear then the antibiotics might sort it out at the same time.  C is less convinced of this theory, but as I explained to him I don't really want to know if they will or not I just want the glimmer of hope (please don't burst my bubble sisterofmarathongirl750 I know I'm clutching at straws!).

Al has been looking after me and doing anything he can to help, I just wish I knew how to help myself.... for some reason I decide that the best job to tackle today is trying to get my spreadsheet of cards sold to tally with my paper records and I am one card out.  I have checked and checked and checked again but I just can't find the error, and it is driving me to distraction.  I wish I could just fudge the figures, it really makes no difference to anything but I know I won't be able to rest until I've got it to balance and I can't help wishing  I could channel this need for perfection into my training!

Next feet are in! Cape Verde this time - good to see you're recuperating in style Halfmarathongirl make the most of it we've got some miles to start racking up on your return!

Off to see the Biomechanics Man tomorrow, heels are a little sore after yesterday's run - I hope he doesn't tell me it's my shoes!

M - 650
HM - 206
Total Distance covered  162.8 miles

Day 100

But first an apology...

I have disappointed C.  Two nights ago he was a star and it was remiss of me not to mention it yesterday so bear with me whilst I make amends...

When we put Dougal out for his last wee before going to bed it became apparent that something was lurking in the potato patch and whatever it was spooked Dougal so that he jumped all four paws off the ground. It was a real 'things that go bump in the night' moment, as Cal and I gingerly headed out with our torches trying to spot what it was before running back indoors too scared of whatever monster was out there. The more we talked about it the bigger it became, and the less likely I was to ever step foot in the garden again, I sent Al a text to tell him of our plight and he phones to talk C through what to do as the man of the house, which involved finding out what it was and then something to do with a box (and then do what with it?!) So armed with a torch and a broom handle he bravely went out to poke around in the undergrowth to determine if it was a bird, or a badger, or some mythical beast. It was the aforementioned crow. At which point we dispense with the advice from the Birdman of Tunbridge Wells and decide that neither of us are prepared to even attempt touching it - it might flutter, it might peck, and it can stay there til the morning where the rest as they say is history.

Poor C, all that bravery and apparently all he wanted was for it to be 'blogworthy', oh how our lives have changed in the past one hundred days!

One hundred days... I can't quite believe it! Some days have been easier to write than others and some have been read by more than others, although I'VE STOPPED WORRYING ABOUT IT! (I know, I know, only because I've replaced it with other things!) but I'm having fun and enjoying writing my blog especially when it initiates a response! It's making me smile to watch the audience stats reflect summer holiday locations and there's a new feet photo in from Mexico (thank you parkrun fast finisher).

I've run a PB at Edinburgh, a PB at parkrun and made small steps towards moving away from thinking about speed when it comes to distance! I'm looking forward putting what I've found out at both the Bio and Tri Mechanics men into practice and starting training proper in a month or so, and I love that this evening Al, Dougal, C and I all headed out for a run together (C was less impressed but GB boys need to cross train!).

I've sold over a hundred cards, raised close on a thousand pounds and am selling stuff I've made on the internet - and thank you Etsy Favouriter for telling C that I should celebrate EVERY sale whether I know the purchaser or not, be prepared for the 'I've sold on Etsy dance' on your return!

Forget peddling my old clothes, I'm on an up!

M - 651
HM - 207
Distance covered              3.1 miles  
Total Distance covered  162.8 miles

The wanderer returns

Not been the same here without you!

Al's home and it's lovely to see him - it was a long drive up for him from the South of England and a long day for those of us at home waiting, but plenty to do to fill the time...

First up there's an injured crow in the garden to deal with which isn't easy with a gun dog and a killer Jack Russell in the house, especially when all they want to do is not be in the house! A call to the RSPCA and for whilst I am put on the job list for the day, they would prefer it if I caught it and took it to the vets. I can't do this. Birds are fine in the sky, and at a safe distance but there is no way I could pick it up... thankfully I remember that my next door but one neighbour will a) probably be up at 8 am and b) able to deal with it for me. Caught, boxed and taken to the vets where on inspection they decide it is too badly injured to treat, it is a strange start to the day.

Not too much time to dwell however, I have a house to tidy and things to sort, all to make it look like I've done a much better job of staying on top of things whilst Al's been away than he does when I go! (Although admittedly this may have the effect of making him think he can go away more often rather than try harder when I do!). Whatever, I decided that the piles of clothes on the top landing are on the hit list and C and I head off to the delight of the clothes exchange.  It's closed, despite saying on the door (and internet) that it should be open, not to worry we live in such a lovely place that there is another one less than a mile away, so we went there instead.  I know that they ask for resalable clothes, but clearly everyone tries to hide some real rubbish half way down the bag because the lady at this one tells me that she is going to unpack and inspect every item from each of my eight bags. There was no way that I am going to stand there having someone fish out the horrors that I've hidden in front of me, so I mumbled something about not having time and stuff it all back in the car.  I am tempted to take it to a charity shop and donate the £6 per 10kg myself, but Al convinces me to try again at the first place tomorrow - think he's just legged himself with the job!

The boys who have been playing on the X-box downstairs over the past few days - supposedly to keep me company! - have retreated back upstairs and finally I get to watch some of the Commonwealth Games! I love watching athletics, and am feeling a particular unity with any comrade sporting any style of strapping!

Huge well done to Libby Clegg and Mikail Huggins winning Gold for Scotland in the T12 100 metres, to be able to run that fast whilst having to put your trust in your guide runner and in yourself to know what you can do and just go for it was amazing to watch. Not sure we'll cross the finish line in Brighton in such symmetrical style halfmarathongirl but will be good to be there together! Sisterofmarathongirl750 if we can't persuade you to run with us, which I fully understand, we will be there for you in spirit - as long as you imagine us sprinting along side you to the finish line with such graceful harmony as was witnessed this evening!

M - 652
HM - 208
Total Distance covered  159.7 miles

Ebay

Not quite the cathartic experience I was hoping for

Following a sterling performance at the Underwater Hockey Nationals last weekend C has been selected to join the Great Britain Under 19 Squad, and will be playing for GB this summer (#veryproudmumforthesecondtimethisweek). As a result he spent yesterday at a training camp and has come home full of anecdotes and motivational sayings designed to give them the winning attitude which last night he decided to apply to me!

Whether it was this, the fact that I have been inspired by sisterofmarathongirl750 having a clear out, my own desire to get on and do something, or a mixture of all three, I don't know but by nine o'clock this morning I am sending messages to my sis of what I'm going to achieve today. Nothing earth shattering but by the end of the day shoes that I've been meaning to sell for over a year will be on Ebay! Unfortunately this means cleaning them first, then photographing them, before beginning the laborious task of listing them. I had forgotten how much I hate Ebay, but at least that might excuse my tardiness!

Trying to sell the boys old shoes, my now redundant trainers, an old camera of my dad's and a hoodie of H's for a few pounds it is hard to feel anything other than sad that this is where my life has ended up. It wasn't quite the vision I ever held for myself, nor the cathartic clearing out experience I was hoping for.

I came very close to giving it up as a bad job and just putting them in the charity bag that is still on the top landing next to the ones to go and be sold for a few more pence, but the truth is that it will all add up in the end, and that if I do sell them WaterAid will benefit, and I've just remembered that the Government will match that donation if I make it before 9 September, so whatever I get will be doubled which makes me feel slightly better.

I have also sold a few more cards on Etsy today (although they are to my mother in law and the boys have banned me from my I've sold on Etsy dance until I make a 'proper' sale to someone I don't know - not sure exactly which part of yesterday's motivational talk this comes under!). It may not be quite the rush that I was hoping for but at least it is trickling in, besides which the recipient of my first Etsy order has received his cards and left nice feedback on my Facebook page which cheered me up.

So following another team talk from my new motivational coach about believing in myself I have made a decision. I will get there, I will manage to raise both £275 for WaterAid, and £2,000 for Barnardo's, I will make proper sales on Etsy and be allowed to do my dance, and if no one wants to buy my worn once Abercrombie and Fitch £5 bargain hoodie, I will wear it to the starting line of my marathon in 2016 and leave it for the charity pick up - almost tempted to unlist it just as an act of defiance!

But if nothing else it has given me something else to keep my eye on! One pair of trainers already guaranteed to sell! Whoo hoo £2 closer!

M - 653
HM - 209
Total Distance covered  159.7 miles

Thumbs up

for Team Marathongirl750

One of the numerous downsides to Al being away is that I'm spending a little bit too much time in my own company and have become somewhat introspective as a result but for once my thoughts are not entirely of a negative nature, the credit for which goes to the support network that has built and is continuing to build around me.

Go ahead from the Running Man over my shoe purchase and I'm ready for parkrun this morning, albeit feeling a little apprehensive as they still feel quite strange but once I'd left the house it was too late to change my mind.  I would like to say that they made running easier and that I flew round in my new shoes, but they didn't and nor did I, it was too hot and too much like hard work to be considered anything other than a slog BUT it felt really different, for the first time I was actually able to feel what was going on inside my shoes, I could feel where my foot was landing - and it wasn't on the heel! My ankles are still stiff, but I had no pain from my knees and instead ache in a new place altogether which I took as progress! A quick check in with the Running Man and apparently my glute medius is waking up (or in my layman terms the muscle at the outside top of my leg just below my hip!) PROGRESS! Don't really want to have to wait until Friday to go and see the Biomechanics Man to share my good news but time to get some exercises in before I go!

And that's still the hard bit. I know me, and I know how much I like the fun, interesting and exciting bit (like buying new wool, or fabric) and then am not so good at seeing the project through (there are many unfinished and not even started projects lurking under my bed!) and I am a little concerned that all this information gathering about my running technique will go the same way (and the foam roller and resistance band will be left to lurk there with the wool and fabric of yesteryear!)

I think I'm going to have to dig a little deeper to find some determination to make sure it doesn't, which is where a lovely afternoon dog walk with two of my parkrun friends (and potential Skechers converts!) comes in. Felt strange putting the world to rights on the bench in the sunshine without you Halfmarthongirl, but we did a valiant job in your absence and have been left with thoughts about what we want to have done by this time next year, which in case you've forgotten whilst sunning yourself on your hols is two half marathons down and training for the third!

My mind is oscillating between negative thoughts about why I've never really stuck at anything in the past, and optimism about things starting to come together and feeling good about the future...  I'm trying really hard to concentrate on the positives and get organised so that I do stick at it, and it does happen! All buoyed up and ready for action, I realise partly why I find it so hard to actually turn this IN to action - I cooked three separate meals at three different times this evening, which may just be another downside of Al's absence!

M - 654
HM - 210
Distance covered 3.1 miles
Total Distance covered  159.7 miles

Zola Budd

wasn't such a mad idea to run barefoot after all!

Very interesting time with the Running Man this afternoon and the closest I will ever come to any of the Strictly Come Dancing experience!

For those of you now picturing some sort of sequined outfit and perhaps a quick cha cha cha, you will be very disappointed when I tell you that it was the part of the "It Takes Two" show where one of the professional dancers comes in with video footage from the training sessions and then draws lines on the screen to point out where they are going wrong!

Having never run on a treadmill before I am not impressed with it's relentlessness! Once at the recommended pace it doesn't slow down, but carries on forcing me to maintain the speed for all of the ten minutes that I'm asked to, clearly this is not how I normally run! Then it's time to watch me in slow mo!

Oh dear! Not quite the gazelle of our wishful thinking Halfmarathongirl! My posture is dreadful, my right leg isn't working properly, my arm swing is wrong, and my cadence (number of strides per minute - I think!) is too slow, but on a positive note this is concurrent with what I've found out at the Biomechanics Man!

He also doesn't like my shoes as they are too built up and not allowing me to feel what's going on with my feet and inhibiting my brain from finding a natural footfall. I also have issues with balance and need to work on improving this so I can find that position where I am balanced quickly and then move off again, instead of wobbling about a bit and putting stress on my ankle which is what's happening at the moment. Or at least I think that's what he said - it was a lot to take in and I'm looking forward to the follow up email confirming this to be the case, or correcting me if not!

Errors pointed out it was back on the treadmill barefoot, concentrating on my posture and what a difference! My right leg was loads better and I looked a stone lighter (although he didn't seem to think this was particularly relevant!).

Next dilemma was whether to stop off in Leeds on my way home and get my new shoes which would mean that I didn't have to make a special journey and would have them for tomorrow, but meant going shopping in my running kit! In the end my hatred of shopping won, and hoping that perhaps I didn't look too out of place as most people were in shorts and t-shirts, I hid behind my sunglasses and called in to Skechers A little confused by conflicting advice from the sales assistant I went ahead and made a purchase but have asked for confirmation from the Running Man before I wear them! Why is it all such a minefield?! But hmm Doctor and running specialist or shop assistant - bit of a no brainer really!

Home and exhausted but looking forward to running tomorrow morning! Although there was one piece of advice that I really didn't want to hear... I've to stand up more, sitting isn't good for me or you for that matter, but I can't remember why just that I spend too long sat down which is a shame because right now it's all I want to do! Luckily the tea needs cooking, the garden needs watering and the dogs could do with an evening walk.... sit and watch ANY of the Commonwealth Games I don't think so!

M - 655
HM - 211
Total Distance covered  156.6 miles

Melting

But no let up of pace!

Today was always going to be busy, Al's away which is fine except I'm not used to it, and it's stressing me a bit that I'm left singlehandedly trying to get everything organised so that we can go out to see H on stage this evening at the West Yorkshire Playhouse (#veryproudmum) so I decided last night that the best thing would be to get up at half six and set my alarm accordingly. It rang, I turn it off and woke up an hour later not knowing where on earth I was... it didn't take me long to work out I'm on the sofa with the dogs after Dougal got me up at 3...


Commissioned thank you cards ready to post!

 

It is also sweltering and I don't do this kind of heat and humidity BUT the dogs have been walked, the cards are in the post, the sprinkler is doing the job of watering the greenhouse and tea is almost in the oven! You may be forgiven for thinking this is neither an achievement or newsworthy but when I feel like a limp piece of lettuce, or I'm melting or any other simile that can convey that it's just too hot for me today, trust me it is!

But running man tomorrow... so hopefully something to say that IS of interest!

In the meantime break a leg H!

M - 656
HM - 212
Total Distance covered  156.6 miles



Feeling homesick

Go Glasgow!

My day starts well... a phone call from the doctors to tell me that I have an infection in my gut and need to call to collect a prescription to sort it, and this is good news?! Absolutely it is, after over a year of various non medically recognised suggestions as to what might be wrong with me, and several different courses of 'lavender' pills (although actually they were garlic and cinnamon) finally I have something that has a name, and is treatable with real pills - sisterofmarthongirl750 will be so pleased! No more mumbo jumbo (at least for the time being).

My trip to the hospital this afternoon to have my ear looked at is less conclusive. An ear test to confirm what I already knew (that I can't hear out of it), a quick look inside which thankfully didn't result in any comment as to why it might be be singed (following my self medicating with hot olive oil) a prescription for five days worth of steroids and a place on the waiting list for an MRI scan.

And just in case I haven't learnt my lesson in patience yet the two sets of medication can't be taken together! So it's ear first and I'll have to wait a little longer for my hopefully slightly less distended stomach!

A much needed blank card delivery has arrived by the time I'm back from the hospital and I am half way through a commission for thank you cards, when I receive MY FIRST ETSY ORDER for fifteen cards! (Thank you!) This news makes me rush up to C's room to deliver the good news with the I've just sold on Etsy dance (clearly made his day as much as it did mine!) but I can't help wishing I'd spent more time getting the cards ready to assemble instead wasting so much time in the past few days worrying about whether or not any would sell, my evening suddenly got very busy!

Not least because it's the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games from Glasgow. I am so homesick and can't help but wish I was sat next to my sister in Celtic Park. I have failed miserably to keep up to date with the Tour de France and am hoping to do better with the games, but Al went on holiday today and I'm not sure it's going to be the same watching without him. GO GLASGOW!

M - 657
HM - 213
Total Distance covered  156.6 miles

Words of wisdom

from me to C and back again!

I think we've established by now that I'm not very patient, and this weeks focus for winding me up is my Etsy shop! I will try to stop going on about it soon but there was a rather poignant moment this afternoon when the roles between parent and child reversed as C tried to put my mind at ease over it!

The trouble with being a bit of a pessimist and trying desperately to bring your children up as optimists is that at some point it was going to come back to haunt me!

I was complaining that I have had 76 views since opening, but no sales. C (and to be fair Al) pointed out that perhaps people are just browsing and will come back when they need a card, and that it doesn't necessarily mean that they don't like what they've seen, and would I rather have had 76 views and no sales, or 4 views and no sales? He then asked me how many cards I have sold elsewhere since I started making them... "err, a hundred" at which point I think he lost interest in listening to my moaning!

But hearing him try and talk me round before this point I couldn't help but be a little pleased that some of what I've tried to instil in him has obviously stuck (but it was hard to resist the urge to tell him to be quiet, leave me alone and let me wallow in my own self pity - sound familiar C?!)

I have however had quite a productive day sorting out old clothes to take to sell in the next few days (all proceeds to WaterAid!). It's hardly the highest accolade of where we live that they pay the top price locally of 60p per kilo of old clothes but hey every little helps and at a rough guess we might get close to £10! But as with every clear out only time will tell how long it takes for the bags to actually make it from the top landing to the 'shop'.

It was far too hot today for me to contemplate running during the day, and this evening opted for a walk with Al and the dogs instead. We might not live in the most salubrious of places but we can walk to some beautiful fields and countryside from our door and there's little can beat it on such a beautiful summer's evening.  It is a place that sustains me and I always come away feeling better for having gone - with the exception of when the dogs find the muck heap!

I know I need to relax. I know I want everything to happen yesterday. I know that I'm losing sight of what I should be focussing on, and what is actually important. I know I need to step back and allow things time to happen, and I need to stop watching the pot as it will never boil....

(but it still needs checking every once in a while!)

M - 658
HM - 214
Total Distance covered  156.6 miles

Excited!

I've found a Running Man!


I had no idea it was going to be so hard to get my cards to sell online it's making me feel a little naïve and at the same time full of admiration for the people I know who have done it successfully, although perhaps delicious hand made chocolates that melt in your mouth and are possibly the nicest you will ever eat (www.cocoamountain.co.uk) are just more enticing than greetings cards! But thank you to everyone who has looked at my Etsy shop today (there's been 31 of you!) and fingers crossed orders will follow in due course meanwhile I will keep reminding myself that patience is a virtue!

There is however exciting news on the running front - I have made an appointment to go and have my running analysed on Friday! The man I'm going to see has been recommended by a client of the Biomechanics Man, and so I'm off to be videoed and analysed and hopefully sorted! I am looking forward to this and have high hopes that it will help get to the bottom of quite what I'm doing wrong that is making running further than 5K an issue, but having just received a generic email from the Biomechanics Man saying that he spent the day filming someone on a treadmill I am wondering what is so wrong with me that I've had to be referred elsewhere? I'm guessing time will tell.

It would be really nice if I can get to the bottom of this in the next few weeks as that would fit nicely into our Plan A of being ready to increase distance by the end of August.

Having looked in more detail at the training plan originally sent through by sisterofmarathongirl750, Halfmarathongirl and I were discussing last week that we thought we might be able to handle one with a slightly faster finishing time, although having received it this morning I'm not so sure!
I mentioned before that what we liked about the original one was it's lack of technical terms and easy to get your head round runs - a short, medium and long run each week, at slow, faster or easy pace. Deduct fifteen minutes off your projected finish time, and suddenly it gets serious... an extra run and additional ten miles per week, and the terminology used changes to speedwork, threshold and fartleking (which means speed play in Swedish but I can't help envisaging turbo boosting your run with the addition of gaseous foods to your diet!).

I haven't spoken to HM yet, but I think I may be sticking to the tortoise plan!

M - 659
HM - 215
Total Distance covered  156.6 miles

Bad Day

But getting better....

The boys had both spent yesterday at the British Underwater Hockey Junior National Championships which this year were being held about ten miles away, and last night I got the pleasure of going to pick them up. It was obviously a day for silver medals in our house: mine which was undeserved, C's which was strongly disputed and apparently should have been gold, and H's which was unexpected and therefore the only one which brought genuine pleasure!

Going into the spectators gallery of a swimming pool in this heat would have been bad under normal circumstances but with my tinnitus still ringing in my ear it was close on unbearable and I retreated to the car to wait for them wondering when this became my Saturday night?

About the time when did taking C back for training again today became my Sunday morning! It was I have to say close on the last thing I wanted to do, pipped only by the visit I had to make to return some stuff to the nearby shopping centre before waiting in the car park of the pool and having to listen to some event taking place over a loud speaker! Aaarrgghhh is there no peace to be found anywhere?!

Needless to say by the time I returned home I had overheated and was in a dreadful state.  A wide berth being the best approach to adopt at such times I went upstairs to cool down (literally) before returning to the fold and trying to salvage what was left of the day.

Perhaps then, given the circumstances, not the best idea to attempt to get a link between my Etsy shop and Facebook page working properly! I can't work out how to do it, although the link to Twitter works no problem at all. I have submitted a question to Etsy support and am trying my best to put it out of my mind until such time as I receive a response.

Too hot to contemplate my exercises (I really would melt) I have loads of other stuff to do, including a commission for ten thank you cards, but I think my craft knife may have come with a warning about being left well alone on days like these!

Oh! Etsy Support work Sundays and have just replied! Something about my listings URLs... time to go find a teenager me thinks!

M - 660
HM - 216
Total Distance covered  156.6 miles

Silver Lady

But feeling like a fraud!

So I might be a little envious of everyone going off on holiday, but one of the advantages to staying at home is that parkrun is quieter, which is just how I like it! The ghastly wet and somewhat humid weather helped in putting some people off (Al included) and the inaugural run of another local parkrun took a lot of our regular runners away, leaving just over fifty of us to brave it up our infamous hill all three and a half times!

Regularly running the same course, with by and large the same group of people, week on week you get to know and recognise faces, and you also get to know who is faster than you because you're either following, being overtaken or in some instances lapped by them on a regular basis, and it can throw your mind into disarray if for some reason you manage to overtake them. Today was just such a day. I set off too quickly (again) but managed to maintain my pace and was running well when (with possibly about a lap and a half to go) I overtook one of the aforementioned runners who is always in front of me!

A short way after it dawns on me that there is only one female runner in front of me that I know of and that perhaps today the silver medal position is mine... but I am also confused as to where the fast runner I've overtaken is and find myself having a sports commentator style dialogue in my head (please tell me I'm not alone in this!) where they have the advantage of being able to see what is going on behind me and are busy discussing the fact that I've taken on the race too early and there is no way I can run it from the front for the rest of the remaining distance, my only hope being if I've got a big finish in me. I haven't and am on the final flat stretch before the final hill when she comes past and I find myself calling out "I've been waiting for you!".

What happened next was both one of the nicest and inadvertently frustrating things to have happened at parkrun, she slowed down and coached me through the last three hundred metres, encouraging me all the way to dig deep and go for it, and let me finish in front of her.... which was just lovely and I WAS the second female to cross the line, but I know that really I was third and am only masquerading as today's silver lady.

Finishing this far up the field is entirely dependent on who else turns up (last week I was eleventh) and I did have a horrid thought for a moment that what if by some coincidence she has only ever come on weeks when there have other faster runners and I stole her opportunity to come second.... but a quick look at the results page and I can relax - she's been first on a number of occasions and was over three and a half minutes off her PB this morning which is why I was anywhere near her!

BUT the other the thing the summer holidays are good for is rewarding us stay at homers with weekly parkrun points and I may not have won fairly on the track today but I am top of the female points table! Only another forty eight weeks to maintain my position - can't help but feel I might have taken the lead too early here too!

M - 661
HM - 217
Distance covered              3.1 miles
Total Distance covered  156.6 miles

Patience

and on one front at least the waiting is over!

I was possibly a little more excited than I should have been this morning to receive an email from JustGiving telling me that I can personalise my text code... I didn't even know I had one, but I do now and it's making me smile saying

Just text ICMG75 £5 to 70070

like I'm Davina McCall (in your dreams Al!). It doesn't take C long to point out that this is yet another thing for me to get upset over when no one does, but I'm still enjoying it too much to have got there yet!

It's been a good day and as I point out to sisterofmarthongirl750 this lunchtime this has been entirely non sales related (mainly because there haven't been any!). But I had fun with C and his friend T (otherwise known as my Etsy favouriter) this morning as they helped me get a banner onto my Etsy shop (clearly the website is not at the limit of their IT knowledge) and it's beginning to take shape. I'm trying really hard to be more relaxed about it (which I think may somewhat defeat the purpose) and have only checked the stats twice this afternoon! One of the things I'm struggling with however is having no idea of what the process is after someone does buy, but I'll just have to wait to find out, although I'm not sure patience is particularly high on my list of virtues!

But at long last the English schools have broken up! I no longer need to just look at the photographs posted to Facebook of my Scottish friends on holiday with envy, I can now look at the photographs of my English friends too! We're not going away but no more school runs and all three of my boys home for six weeks will do for me, although that's not to say it wouldn't be awfully nice if the feet in the picture were mine! Alas they belong to my oldest friend from school currently sunning herself in Florida - thanks G - as envious of your tan as I am of your holiday (nice to know some things never change!).

Question now is, who and where will the next feet photo come from?!

Meanwhile a fundraising pack arrives from WaterAid this morning, included in which is some paper shapes to cut out and string... what is this obsession with bunting?! I just don't get it, but am beginning to feel like I'm the only one, so I'd best keep it in case I have some sort of triangular epiphany at some point!

M - 662
HM - 218
Total Distance covered  153.5 miles

Plan A is in place

but there's still plenty of time for a Plan B!

Having successfully weaned myself off looking at my blog readership figures on a near hourly basis I have to admit to having replaced it with an obsession about my new Etsy shop stats! C's friend very kindly 'favourited' my shop this morning (and even had an Etsy app on her phone!), but I can tell from the pattern of views that most of them are me!

I spent most of the day in the company of Halfmarathongirl who got treated to the ups and downs of my latest business venture at length and was slightly amused (but not surprised) that I've managed to find something new to beat myself up over! She goes on holiday soon and I think is hoping that I'll have scaled it down from unhealthy obsession to controlled interest by the time she returns!

I did however stop wittering on about it long enough for us to discuss our approach to training for Brighton! The training schedule we have is for twelve weeks and I suggested that I would like to have got through this once before Christmas, this would then leave us enough time to work back over the last few weeks of it again in the New Year before the actual half marathon in Feb.

The long run at the end of the first week is a six miler, and so working back it means that we have to be roughly in this sort of shape by the middle to end of September, which should be doable after HM's running ban is lifted towards the end of August!

It also means that I have about nine weeks to get myself to a point where I am ready to start increasing my distance on a weekly basis, again which should be doable but only if I can maintain my focus and get on with my exercises on a daily basis as opposed to the more ad hoc approach I'm favouring at the moment (did I really say something about a full run through of them last night?!).

School holidays start tomorrow and I am hoping that this will free up a bit of my time so that I can get into a regular routine for doing them, but quite why, when routine escapes me during term time, I think I'm going to rise to the challenge when the rest of the house is in holiday mode I'm not sure!

Part of the whole reason for embarking on this particular journey was to see if I could instigate a change in the way I organise my time and motivate me into action, not surprisingly old habits are proving hard to break!

So with a logic that I hope at least some of you will be able to relate to, I have convinced myself that if I'm showing the universe that I'm really trying hard by doing my exercises like I should, I'll be repaid in kind by sales in my shop! Which I appreciate is a load of old tosh but who cares as long as it makes me pick up that resistance band!

M - 663
HM - 219
Total Distance covered  153.5 miles

On the mend

Fingers crossed!

There was no way that I could have written my blog last night and I made the right decision in delaying it until this morning. I went to bed relatively early, slept through both my phone receiving a text from H at midnight and the alarm this morning which I think constitutes a good night's sleep!

The only trouble is that it left me playing catch up for most of the day. A bit like leaving the washing up until the morning, you end up starting the day off by finishing yesterday and it just isn't right somehow, but some days that's just the way it is. Needless to say today never seemed to get going and all I can hope for is a more productive day tomorrow - but I've just arranged to see Halfmarathongirl for lunch so I'm not sure productive is really going to describe it!  But then again we've training schedules to discuss and plans to make so perhaps it will be after all! (Which I'm somewhat looking forward to safe in the knowledge, not quite a week out of surgery, HM's been told not to run for six weeks so we won't actually have to put any of it into practice until the end of August!).

My feet are doing remarkably well to say that I ran on them yesterday and walked four miles today - so much so that I might even attempt the full compliment of my exercise programme this evening and not just the bits that I (and I use the term loosely) like! Whether this is me just getting used to my ankles aching or a sign that I'm getting better remains to be seen sisterofmarthongirl750, but I will try and look on the bright side and believe that I am actually on the mend, about time on both counts!


M - 664
HM - 220
Total Distance covered  153.5 miles

The pressure's off

with this money spinning suggestion!


After setting up my JustGiving page on Sunday (it's there under marathongirl750) and posting a link on my personal facebook page I have yet to receive any donations. This doesn't surprise or overly bother me given how long there is between now and the half marathon in February but my lack of donations has been picked up by JustGiving and I have received an email offering suggestions on how to get those all important first few in.

My biggest problem is that I am asking the same people all the time and am in need of widening my audience so clink on the link that will lead me to "their most varied and successful ways of raising money" with interest...

Bunting?!

Apparently all I have to do is download and print their bunting follow the instructions on how to cut it out, fold over the bit at the top and glue it onto a piece of string, use it to decorate my event or front room and hey presto the compliments (and presumably then money) will roll in....

Now I know I don't consider my four years studying marketing to have been the best use of my time (especially given how little I've ever done with it) but I think it does at least qualify me to suggest that perhaps this isn't going to be the most lucrative approach in the world.

So marooned at my desk (no need to hide upstairs as it was the lounge that was commandeered as team HQ) I set about opening up a shop on Etsy - the most vibrant online market place for handmade items apparently! Stretching my IT skills to the limit (it isn't quite how I want it yet)  there are cards for sale in my shop! (etsy.com/uk and search for marathongirl750). What I am now looking for are new people to market this to - so spread the word if you can!


In the meantime I am fully expecting an email from Etsy in a couple of days to tell me that I've had no visits to my shop but I'm hoping their suggestions may be slightly more helpful, although given the nature of the site perhaps they'll suggest I make bunting to sell... could be time to get the sewing machine out!

In running news Al and I added another 3.1 miles to the total distance covered this evening with an easy jog round our usual mid week circuit. Desperately trying to concentrate on my foot placement but still not really able to work out what I should or shouldn't be doing, my knees and ankles were a little sore but there is no doubt that mentally I felt better for going - even took an apple with me to eat on the post run dog walk (although this may have been to compensate for the fact that I may have pinched a few biscuits from HQ earlier!).


M - 665
HM - 221
Distance covered              3.1 miles
Total Distance covered  153.5 miles

The number of the beast...

Can this still be real or just some crazy dream?!

Operation Get Fit has not got off to the best of starts. I was just so sleepy when I got up this morning that the thought of putting myself through my squats and glute activation exercises was almost enough to send me back to bed. In the end I did manage to get up (but only because there were dogs waiting for me) and promised myself I would do my exercises later in the day - but it never works out like that...  I don't know why I pretend to myself that it will!

My ankles are bad again and yet I haven't found time today to get the foam roller out, although I have found the link that I was talking about yesterday so at least have a better idea of what I should be doing (I like this article over others I've seen because the woman actually looks like it might be hurting and her look of concentration gives the impression that she's finding these exercises quite hard - the woman from Runners World on the other hand has a level of fitness that I couldn't even aspire to and certainly not on the miniscule number of repetitions that I seem to be managing!).

I did surprise myself by getting some squats done this afternoon although I still can't shake the feeling that if I lie down to do the other exercises I won't get back up again! My diaphragm release exercises are (as I said yesterday) rather strange and involve jabbing yourself under the ribs - which was a little uncomfortable with long finger nails but at least they are done sitting down, I think it might be time for a manicure (as in me with a nail file, not the luxury of a salon!).

The thing is, I don't know when it is really going to sink in that this is my reality now, and if I want to get myself into a position where I am able to run (and not even just the longer distances) then I am going to have to put the ground work in at home, every day whether I've the energy to or not. If I can't find the discipline from somewhere then I am going to find this harder than it already is going to be!

Meanwhile whilst taking C and his friend to where the group from the last couple of weeks were meeting to discuss the next part of their project, I found myself offering up my house as their Team Headquarters, as we live the nearest to where they are planning to do their community project. Quite what I was thinking I don't know, because I have no concept of what fifteen teenagers in our house is going to be like (I have visions of me and the two dogs taking refuge upstairs, and all sitting cowering on the bed together waiting for them to go out again!).

But perhaps if we are trapped upstairs with nothing else to do, I might get on with my exercises!

M - 666
HM - 223
Total Distance covered  150.4 miles

All the fives...

I am a little overwhelmed!

Had such a lovely time at Sue's Open Garden today. The garden looked fantastic, the weather was exceptionally kind to us (after heavy rain last night), the plant stall, cake stall, tombola, loom bands (I think they're called?!) and cards all sold well, loads of lovely people took the time to come, and we made a quite unbelievable

FIVE HUNDRED AND FIFTY FIVE POUNDS!!

Which in turn means there is a whopping eight hundred and seventy five pounds in the bank! THANK YOU!

Sat on the door taking the money as people arrived, I don't feel I really worked as hard as everyone else who was helping - so a big thank you to all of them too!

I still can't quite get my head around how well we've done...

So I think instead of the day off that I was hoping for tomorrow, once I've got H on the coach tonight (although we are at least now packed!) I had better get on with some serious training!

My legs aren't happy after yesterday's run and busy afternoon, and I think this means some more time spent with the foam roller trying to sort my calf muscles out. There was a link posted recently on Facebook about how to do this properly - which involved pushing up on your hands and resting one leg on the roller whilst putting the other leg on top of that to use your body weight to push down onto the roller - I had enough trouble trying to assume the starting position let alone actually getting the roller to move!

A more concerted effort with all my exercises is definitely required and today has definitely been great for motivation, but I'm tired and really just wish I could curl up for a couple of days and get some sleep... thankfully I've been given those breathing exercises  and some strange diaphragm release thing to do - seems like a perfect place to start operation get fit!


M - 667
HM - 224
Total Distance covered  150.4 miles

Rush

it's been a crazy day!

Had a good run this morning, a million miles away from where I was on Tuesday night - must be the go faster stripes, that or the fact that I had another barcode nightmare this morning!

Got to the park and couldn't find my barcode in Al's car, there wasn't time to go home before the race but there was a chance that if I got round quickly enough I could nip home afterwards (in the car I hasten to add) and get back before the finish! (made it in the nick of time).

Running felt easier than it has done in a long while and although it was exceptionally warm, I was pleased to get round in my fastest time since Edinburgh, and consequently glad that I had gone home to get my barcode  (which is now on my shoe to avoid any more mornings like this one, oh yeah and the previous time..!).

I am hopeful that today's run is a sign that my feet are finally on the mend, although standing on them for the majority of today hasn't done me any favours at all. But forty butterfly buns, eighteen brownies, twelve blueberry muffins, and eight iced fairy cakes later I'm ready for Sue's Garden Party!

A bit of a mammoth task, but the hardest bit of all was finding places to put them to cool which were out of Dougal's reach, thankfully I did better than on previous occasions when he's eaten the tops off the cakes as they cooled in the tin, and the only risk to them making it to Sue's tomorrow is from H who has is eye on at least one... which is fine as long as he pays for it!

It's been a long day and tomorrow is going to be even longer - I've to be at Sue's for quarter past nine and we won't be finished before five (be like working a full day and I can't remember the last time I did that!). Then when I get home I've to help H pack for France (haven't even looked at the packing list) and then take him to school for 11pm

BUT no school run on Monday morning - I can't wait!

Would also be nice if at some point I got to see Al! It's our sixth (unofficial) wedding anniversary today (long story but we had two weddings three weeks apart) and other than when I ran past him this morning (yipeee) lunch, dinner and five minutes on the bench this afternoon we've hardly seen one another. But I have a feeling after beating him this morning he might be training with me again on Tuesday!

M - 668
HM - 225
Distance covered              3.1 miles
Total Distance covered  150.4 miles

M minus 669....

HM minus 226!

It's official! I have signed up for the Brighton Half Marathon on 22 February 2015... Two hundred and twenty six day away! Sisterofmarathongirl750 and Halfmarathongirl have signed up too, and I am hopeful that there may be some others joining us before we're done... come on Fellow Parkrunner bite the bullet!

I don't know if it was the excitement of doing this last night, or the decongestant tablets that I'm hoping might cure my ear ache (and was warned not to take too close to going to bed - for once I did heed the advice) but after getting to sleep at midnight I am up again at 2.30am and cannot get back to sleep. Aaarrgghh!

One of the things the Biomechanics Man suggested yesterday is to do breathing exercises - so there I am at half two this morning trying to remember if I've to pull my stomach in on my in breath or my out breath (it's the out breath) and instead of feeling all relaxed and sleepy I just get more and more frustrated as I can't remember which way round it is and I'm lying there puffing my chest in and out trying to see how this differs from breathing from my tummy and all the time thinking that I wish I'd been practising since I mentioned it all those weeks ago and how after years of Pilates this is second nature to Halfmarathongirl and yet I'm making such pigs ear of it... it's breathing for heaven's sake how hard can it be!

So I'm slightly tired today, and still trying to keep my focus on the jobs that I should be doing, but at the same time getting rather excited about going to Brighton!

I have decided to run for WaterAid. It seemed rather fitting given my attempt at increasing my water consumption and at the same time somewhat poignant that here I am struggling to drink three litres of water a day that comes out of our tap in endless supply, and there are women and girls (apparently it's not a man's job) who have to carry their own body weight in dirty water every day just to have any. The lack of clean water and sanitation is resulting in 1,400 children dying everyday through diarrhoea, and it upsets me that we live in a world where this is a reality.

So my fundraising target may have gone up by £275 but it is a challenge I am willing to accept and a cause that I believe is worth working that little bit harder for. All money raised so far for Barnardo's will still go to Barnardo's and the target for the marathon remains unchanged - I'll just have to run my fundraising along side each other, but it may take me a day or two to work out how I'm going to organise this!

Al has had a tough week at work and has come home this evening looking forward to his weekend, he's planning on spending tomorrow in the garden (after parkrun) and Sunday popping in to Sue's Open Garden. I on the other hand have so much to do before getting H onto the coach for his school trip to France at eleven o'clock on Sunday night that I don't know where to start and I can't help thinking it would have been useful if I'd worked that one out a few days ago! Or at least not got side tracked -

oh I do like to be beside the seaside oh I do like to be beside the sea....

M - 669
HM - 226
Distance covered 147.3 miles



Going Round in Circles

and getting nowhere fast!

When I said yesterday that half marathon planning would have to wait until after the weekend, I should have realised that sisterofmarthongirl750 wasn't going to wait that long! By half seven this morning there is a message to say that Brighton is her preferred choice and she has found some training plans, one perfect for the tortoise approach, and by half eleven she has emailed it to me.

This in turn means that Halfmarthongirl is denied even as much as a morning's recuperation and is on board by lunchtime (to be fair I did check to see how she was doing before hitting her with the news!). A further message goes out to Fellow Parkunner early afternoon, and it all's starting to feel quite exciting... when I look on the website and discover it's sold out for standard entry and there are only charity places available.

This then poses me with the dilemma.  Barnardo's don't have places at the Brighton Half and so I would have to commit to raise money for another charity alongside Barnardo's, although the pledge amount is a lot more feasible at around £200, and my sis is still keen to go. Charity places have never been discussed with the others and I am awaiting their response (not meant in any way to pressure either of you!) but it has highlighted the complexities of trying to arrange something when everyone has their own individual reason for wanting to do it in the first place.

For me, I like the idea of Brighton. It is high on my list of where I will run my marathon (if I don't get a place in London) and it would be good to go and get a feel for it. I also love and have very fond memories of being there, but this may change when I'm running rather than strolling along the prom and it's February and windy and wet and cold!

So having spent the majority of the day visualising being there, getting excited about going and thinking that by the end of today we might even have signed up for it, we're back at the drawing board reassessing the options! Watch this space...



In other news the tape is back! But going across my legs this time instead of straight up the sides - I'm viewing this as progress but I'm not sure if I'm not just going round in circles with this too! The Biomechanics Man is in the process of getting a recommendation for a running coach, who will be able to look at me in action and see where it's all going wrong! This can't come soon enough because I can't help feeling that I'm compounding the problem every time I run. In the meantime it's on with the squats - although I have been given a reprieve from the lunges for the time being!

And finally at a little after 8pm I can start doing what I was supposed to be doing today!

M - 670
Total distance covered  147.3 miles

The Hare and the Tortoise

Or Team Tortoise perhaps?!

After my wobble yesterday as to whether or not I ever wanted to run again (let alone take on twenty six miles in one go) sisterofmarathongirl750 is quick off the blocks this morning to ensure that my resolve is restored by telling me she is ready to start her half marathon training for next year! And for whilst I'm not quite at that stage, due to my ankles still not being completely mended, it is enough to give me something more immediate to focus on and we spend some of the day messaging each other about training plans and race requirements.

I have a half marathon training schedule that I sent off for when I got my new trainers in October last year, it is supposedly tailored for me and scares me every time I look at it! It's full of phrases that as yet have no meaning to me: threshold effort, Kenyan hills, intervals, and most scarily of all a seventy minute run at the end of week one (this would be close on longer than I have ever run for, 'easy effort' or otherwise!).

My sis offered to have a look and see whether she can find anything more suitable, albeit one for a hare and one for a tortoise... although I have to say I am increasingly becoming of the opinion that I would rather take the tortoise route to half marathon running!

What we can't decide upon is location, she favours one with sufficient spectator support to get us round and I think she may be right, but we don't know which races will meet both that criteria and be early enough in the year that we can use them as much needed motivation now!

We do however agree that the sooner we have made a decision and committed to run the better. I have a feeling that Halfmarathongirl who is this evening recovering from hand surgery will agree, and I'm hoping it might even help fuel her recovery... what can I say we're an odd lot!

So (mentally!) the run side of Team Marathongirl is back on track, but the fundraising side is going to have to take priority for the rest of the week. I had started getting my cards ready to sell on Sunday when Gardengirl very kindly bought eight of them yesterday! I'm certainly not complaining, just going to be a little busier than I thought replacing them in time!

Which leaves the physical side... had a rubbish week for doing my exercises, my ankles ache again after running yesterday, my ear is still ringing, it's affecting my balance and I've been bumping into things all day! Other than that feeling on top of the world!

M - 671
Total distance covered  147.3 miles

PS Happy Birthday C!

Ups and Downs

But not a cry for help yet!

Had a good day today - right up to the part when I went for a run and then it all just seemed to unravel a bit!

Halfmarathongirl and (with her open day coming up this weekend) Gardengirl are here for lunch, the red pesto risotto with caramelised onions (or Risotto 368 if like Fellow Parkrunner you're a Leith's Vegetarian Bible cook) is a hit and far more exciting than my usual efforts at lunchtime! Lunch stretches into the majority of the afternoon and makes a nice change of pace after the past few days.

It doesn't last long however, and once they've gone it's back to rushing round and psyching myself up to go for a run. I wouldn't have gone today except for the fact that I made a commitment with the Biomechanics Man to run four times before I see him again and to leave forty eight hours between my last run and my appointment with him, as this is on Thursday today is my last chance to stick to that plan.

It starts off OK, and I decide about a third of the way in to run a slightly different route because it will nudge the distance up ever so slightly and might make me feel like I'm making progress, having become a little disheartened on this front recently.  Not long after this slight change of course I am overtaken by another runner. This is never a good feeling, especially when Little Miss Speedy has a rather pronounced knock kneed running style - she'll learn (admittedly in about another twenty years or so when she reaches her forties!) but for today she makes me feel old and question why I am putting myself through this.

It is a long mile and half home once the seeds of doubt have been sown. The Biomechanics Man (having looked at those hideous finisher photo's from Edinburgh) has pointed out that I run with very tense shoulders. I have really been trying to address this, so why I end up with acute pins and needles in both hands this afternoon and then along the outside edge of my right foot once I've stopped is something I'll have to talk to him about, but for today just added to my misery.

There was a point, coming along the home straight where I would have happily hung up my running shoes and never run again... but I can't. I strongly advise anyone who is contemplating taking on a challenge to get your support network on board from an early stage, because day's like this will happen and when I needed something to think about to keep me going I was able to think about the fact that there is now a whole Team Marathongirl out there that I can't let down. From those who read this, to those who've bought cards, to people who've taken the time to find words of support, or come to my house for afternoon tea, to Gardengirl organising an event on my behalf - this is no longer just about me, or raising money for Barnardo's, this is about all of us and what we can achieve together, just so long as I can get my legs to run!


M - 672
Distance covered                 4 miles
Total distance covered  147.3 miles

Hop

It's a part of Hope 

(for any Boothby Graffoe fans amongt you)

I have had a blocked ear since Saturday, and suffering from tinnitus as a result (but at least it's where it should be this time!). It is driving me nuts and I am going to have to take action to try to clear it, just as soon as I can find time - it's been another busy day.

I knew yesterday that this morning was going to be different to my usual Monday and I had a lot to get through, so I spent some of the time sat in the car last night writing my to do list and working out which order I was going to do things in.

I am relatively proud of myself for a) writing the list and b) sticking to it! By lunchtime I am over half way through and enjoying my dog walk around the park when Al rings. I have completely forgotten that he had his teaching observation this morning and feel dreadful about it. I can't pretend that I haven't heard him tell me, putting the blame on my poorly ear, because we both know that I did hear but that the information hasn't stuck. So instead of feeling good about being focused and absorbed in what I'm doing, I feel rubbish that I was only interested in what I had to do, and just awful that he went off to work this morning without so much as a glimmer of recognition from me for the day ahead of him.

I can't however afford the time to dwell on it as I have cards to make this afternoon in preparation for Sunday's Open Garden at my friends, and H needs taking into Leeds for a drama lesson (the dogs enjoy a trip out in the car so I take them with us when we go). We haven't long left when Al gets home to a completely empty house (which is practically unheard of) and has to ring to find out where I am, and in that instant I am vindicated! What a relief that not paying attention to what the other's day involves is a mutual part of our relationship!

I did look up how to unblock an ear earlier and amongst the plethora of weird and wonderful suggestions are two which catch my eye... the first is putting my head on one side (poorly ear facing down) and hopping to try to get gravity to work it's magic (it doesn't) or my most favourite which is to lie on the bed (bad ear down again) and stay there for at least half an hour to give gravity a chance - sounds like the ideal excuse for an early night!

M - 673
Total distance covered  143.3 miles

Sunday - a day of rest

Not in this house!

It's a good job my commitment to follow the Tour de France was a tacit one - because I have no idea when I'm going to find the time...

Today has not gone according to plan. For whilst I don't know if I could have coped with going out at the crack of dawn to beat the road closures before waiting for several hours to see the cyclists whizz past in a couple of minutes, I am envious of a Sunday lifestyle where we would have had the time to do it.

Having volunteered yesterday at parkrun, today is a run day. I missed my opportunity to run first thing (more chatting to be done!) and the next chance I get isn't until 5pm, which is fine except that I haven't given enough forethought as to whether I should really have had a cup of tea late afternoon (my liquid intake pre run is best kept to a minimum!).



It is a warm and fairly humid afternoon, far from ideal running weather and I spend most of the run feeling like my top and bottom half don't belong to the same body. One is desperate to take fluids in, the other reminded with every jolt that it'd like to off load some! There are however, two positives to come out of this: firstly it gave me something else to concentrate on other than my disappointingly achy knees and secondly it worked wonders in keeping my stride length short!

Post run things don't get much better, as when choosing my running slot I didn't really think about how quickly I needed to be out again afterwards - a few half-hearted stretches and a quick shower later I am in the car ready to start my evenings chauffeuring duties. Believing I was going to have a half hour wait between dropping C off and picking H up I stayed in the car, when this turns into an hour and a half I begin to wish I'd found somewhere a little more comfy to wait, and by the time I get home I can barely move.

I can't help but feel that I haven't taken a word on board of what the Biomechanics Man was writing about yesterday with regard to the importance of both movement preparation and recovery in maintaining optimum performance. I have a feeling that ignoring this advice is something I will live to regret when I see him on Thursday... perhaps I need to have a date with my foam roller in the meantime (and it's not often that's viewed as the lesser of two evils!).

M - 674
Distance covered a slow and steady     3.3 miles.
Total distance covered                      143.3 miles

Tour de France

I know very little about the Tour de France and as previously mentioned have struggled to get excited about it starting in Yorkshire this year, but am genuinely happy that the sun shone and my friends have loved today!

I did, as a token gesture, put the television on to watch the start. It was nice to see aerial shots of Harewood House, having been a frequent visitor when C&H were wee boys, but I have to confess to being a little bit disappointed with what I saw of the 'race'. The cyclists snaked through the grounds of Harwood and out onto the open roads, waiting for someone, whose name I can't remember, to stand up in the car in front and drop a flag thus inviting the attack to begin - or something like that! The build up was good and I was all ready for the cyclists to whoosh past a bit like at the start of the Grand National.

Err no.  Three riders came out in front and the rest of their team held everyone back at a cruising pace, which in fairness would be faster than my flat out pace, but I couldn't help feeling just a bit let down.

I do know enough to know that the race is extremely tactical and requires different members of the various teams to support each other and provide different functions as they go along, but really right from the word go?

Everything I read about running a marathon mentions the problems of starting too quickly, that it is imperative that you know what your starting pace should be and stick to it regardless of what everyone else around you is doing... but I don't run like this! I like to set off quick and find myself a gap to settle into. The thought of being able to suppress that initial surge of adrenalin and run a tactical race from the outset is going to take some mental training.

So I have made a tacit commitment to follow the Tour this year to watch the tactics playing out and see if I can move away from my need for speed!

Watching the race and the beautiful countryside I did begin to feel a little like we were missing out on something and that perhaps we should have made the effort to go and be part of it, what I hadn't realised, until they got back from their walk, was the importance of the absence of dogs to this daydream. Sid would have barked himself hoarse at all the excitement and Dougal (after a rather unfortunate incident which resulted in him knocking a cyclist over on the Greenway) would have sooner gone for a swim than see that many bikes in one place at the one time (and he's only recently put his paws in water!).

Cycling aside, it's been a good day, felt odd not running at parkrun, but volunteering when needed is part of what makes it the event that it is, and sisterofmarthongirl750 arrived this afternoon! Great as always to see her, and stayed up way past when we should have. Which is why this is a day overdue - much as I'm enjoying writing my blog and put it before things I should really be doing instead (on a daily basis), sitting writing about how nice it was to see her rather than actually spending the time with her was a step too far even for me!

M - 675
Total distance covered still 140 miles

Gone With the Wind

(my film references are getting worse by the day here!)

Been a bit of an odd day today, nothing wrong just never seemed to really get started, and now it's almost over!

I slept through the alarm and really couldn't face my exercises when I got up, I told myself I'd do them later in the morning but I think I could already sense that I wouldn't.

Our friends got married today in Edinburgh, so for a lot of the time my thoughts were with them and I couldn't help but feel a little sad that I'm so far away. I don't know where my head is when it's not with them, but it isn't here, and I feel strangely detached for most of the day. I've done what needed to be done, but can't tell you what happened in between. I have a feeling I've spent a lot of the day staring off into the middle distance....

Oh well, nothing I can do about it now, thankfully to quote Scarlet O'Hara "tomorrow is another day " and there's not going to be enough spare time to lose track of it!

Struggling to get excited about the Tour de France departing from Yorkshire tomorrow, Al and I have volunteered at parkrun so that those who are more than excited about it (that's you fellow parkrunner) can go and be part of it all! I sincerely hope the recent parkrun problems with the timers and scanners have been fixed and it's plain sailing on the volunteer front (I'll know if I've been blamed for the scanning problem if I'm put on marshaling at the farthest corner!).

What I AM excited about is seeing sisterofmarthongirl750 (and family) tomorrow afternoon! The mint is ready to harvest, I've bought the rum and limes, now all we need is a bit of sunshine so we can enjoy our mojitos in the garden.

What I haven't yet factored in is when I'm going to run if I'm not doing it at parkrun... hmm it may have to be a Sunday morning one instead.

Al has had ipod trouble this evening, the cynical part of me thinks he may have done this on purpose to put me off wanting an iphone after hearing my plans for being brought refreshments mid run, but having seen how frustrated he was I think it's genuine... which makes me wonder if I shouldn't just stick with my old (non smart) phone that I can just about work! But like I said I've got a while to ponder this...

C has returned and gone out again (such is the social life of a soon to be sixteen year old!). I am currently waiting to hear if I am required to go pick him up later - such is the life of a mother a little too pleased to have her son home!

M - 676
Total distance covered 140 miles

Not even ET...

... could phone home on my mobile!

My mobile hasn't been working properly for a while now. It's fine except I can't make outgoing calls. I have a new SIM card to put in it, but I haven't found the time to either find out how to copy my SIM contacts onto my phone, or write out my contacts before swapping the cards (which given the level of my IT illiteracy will probably be quicker in the long run!). As I rarely make calls on my mobile this hasn't been too much of an inconvenience but think it's about time this makes it to the top of the 'to do' list!

My friend has trapped her sciatic nerve and can't accompany me on our usual walk, but I offered to take her dog with me, and decide that going somewhere familiar is probably my best bet at getting her to come back to me once I let her off the lead. So I find myself walking alone in the woods, and as I get further and further in and it's a good half hour since I've seen anyone my thoughts turn to my safety. I decide that in all probability there is a very small chance that someone is lying in wait on the off chance that some lone dog walker should pass and that hopefully the dogs would come to my rescue if there was, but perhaps having to text 'Help!' should the need arise is possibly not the best way to secure any! I would kill the boys if they had been this lax about their personal safety and decide that by the end of today I will have sorted my phone (already that might have slipped to 'by the end of tomorrow').

My thoughts then move on to think about my safety whilst running. It's fine at the moment, I'm not running far and generally someone knows which route I've gone, but I may have to give this some further consideration when I'm running further distances, and ultimately will have to consider taking my phone with me. But run with a phone and an ipod? How cumbersome...

Now let me think..... if only there was a solution to this dilemma!

How marvellous would it be if someone had invented a phone that also stored music, or better still could pick up (I think this may be called 'stream') music (at the optimum beats per minute), that could track my run, and also allow me to be tracked (so that Al could nip out in the car and meet me en route with refreshments), that had a personal trainer function (that in all honesty I would lose interest in within the week, but lets not dwell on that for the time being), and of course worked - so that should I need to I could call for help, be it for a blister that I just can't face running on any longer or because the bogey man is coming to get me and I don't have my dogs for protection!

Hmmm I think I might have seen something like this somewhere - oh yes! C has just the thing... which has UP UNTIL THIS WEEK (not that I'm keen to hear from him!) has been a permanent fixture in his hand.

I think what I'm saying is "I want an iphone" but I haven't got the money for one and it's a long time til Christmas...

But wouldn't it be lovely if I'm running far enough by then to warrant one!

M - 677
Total distance covered still 140 miles (but 4 miles walk with the dogs after running yesterday and still no additional ill effects on my ankles!)

Contrary Mary

Just no pleasing some people.

After the mental anguish of yesterday I decided to walk the dogs early so I could come home and relax! I had almost made it around the park unseen when I spotted 'always looking fabulous playgroup mum from yesteryear!' thankfully I managed to duck behind a tree until a safe distance has passed for me to walk behind - in fairness this has less to do with me not wishing to be seen in my ill fitting summer clothes and far more to do with the fact that on our last encounter Sid went for one of her dogs and I trod on the other! But by ten o'clock I am home safe and sound, and by eleven o'clock I'm bored.

C is away until Friday and to date is maintaining radio silence, Al has something on at school this evening and isn't coming home until after it's finished, and H is at school until half four at which point he is home for a couple of hours before heading out again. Having longed for a day to myself for the past two days, now that I get one I don't want it!

I wasn't in much of a mood to do my exercises when I got up this morning, but I remembered that my resistance band was due to arrive so I got them done quickly before I had to take things up a notch - a notch more like a leap! I think they have sent me a (somewhat unattractive) garter by mistake! What is supposed to go round both knees and stretch til I'm standing with my legs hip distance apart, fits around one leg.
Having just about come to terms with the number of squats I'm supposed to be doing on a daily basis I am far from impressed with the idea that I've now to do them whilst trying to keep this band stretched. It's all in an attempt to keep my right knee from caving inward and will help enormously if I can correct this problem, but I'm not quite ready to embrace a 'no pain no gain' ethos.

By way of postponing the inevitable I headed out for my first mid week run in a long time. It was good to be back on the road again. Took it nice and steady, and early prognosis on my ankles is encouraging! At the moment I don't feel any ill effects physically from having run, and mentally it has given me a bit of a lift. (I am however exhausted and this is not evident by the time Al gets in although if he think's this is bad he should have seen me pre run!).

Right, I'm off to spend some time with my husband now that he's home, and then I think there's some ironing that I MUST do this evening, will be such a shame if I run out of time to exercise....

M - 678
Distance covered 3.2 miles
Total distance covered  140 miles

Well it was an experience...

but once may have been enough!

What I hadn't realised until this morning was that my words of wisdom to which I should have paid closer attention referred not only to my need to be organised, but also to my appearance! For whilst I am relatively happy nipping into the supermarket, walking the dogs and going for the occasional run without a much thought to how I look, I am not ready to up my game and get Manchester model and casting agency ready at a moment's notice!

The problem is compounded by the nice weather, and a lack of summer clothes in my wardrobe. Rarely having the opportunity to wear them, and having reached a certain stage in my life where I look better in fabric with a bit more retaining strength to it (if you know what I mean!) there is a severe lack of options for me to choose from.

I am pondering this latest dilemma on my dog walk, when I get a phone call asking if I can help a friend out with picking up a prescription, of course I can (and do) but at the cost of my preparation time! Thankfully I'm used to getting ready in five minutes (I can hear sisterofmarathongirl750 from here saying "Please tell me you at least put some make up on and did something with your hair?!") and had a bit of a brainwave in terms of outfit remembering my black linen dress affectionately known as "the sack" - I can drive through in my summer clothes, pop the sack on over the top of them and arrive looking like I'm one of those women who can wear linen without it looking like I've slept in it - excellent!

Now all I have to worry about is finding the place. It was a close call but we made it, and immediately wished we hadn't! I don't even warrant a cursory glance from the ineffectual receptionist who hands me a form, tells me to fill it in, and when I ask if there is a pen I can borrow just says "No!". Thankfully one of the other mum's is more organised than me and lends me one, but the whole reception area is a chaotic throng of parents and children and noise. Eventually H is taken through some ominous looking black doors (along with about thirty other children) and I am left to people watch and eves drop to my hearts content - until that is someone appears back through the doors to tell us all to be quiet! They can't hear the children on the other side for all the noise the new arrivals are making on the outside. Wishy washy on reception does nothing to facilitate this request for silence and so it is left to (taking it all a bit too seriously) mum on my left to "Shhhhhhhhhh" crossly every so often! The man next to me is watching Wimbledon on his phone and I can't help but feel an umpire of sorts is called for "Quiet Please!".

H eventually reappears having smiled, pulled a funny face, a mischievous face, and said a line about the wonders of Teflon coated trousers to camera, and we can escape.... I wish him every success and clearly he was by far the best looking boy there, but I'm not sure I can cope with four days in the company of these people if he gets it.

It has however been lovely spending some time with H (that's not to say I'm not missing you C!) He doesn't often get the option of sitting in the passenger seat on a long journey and it's nice having him next to me. On the way home I start thinking about my marathon and point out when we're about twenty six miles from home - we are both horrified by how far it is. I then tell him about the West Highland Way Man. I still cannot get my head around ninety five miles in fourteen hours and whilst I am lost in a moment of wonder and awe, H breaks the silence "Why would you do that? Why would you even think that was something you wanted to do?!"

Oh to be young and not full of envy for the level of fitness whether you want to run that far or not!

M - 679
Total distance covered  136.8 miles (should have been a run day today - oops!)