Sorted

(for a whole two and half weeks!)

I really needed a good night's sleep last night - unfortunately Dougal had other ideas!
4am and he was barking to go outside, upon which he made a bee line for the honeysuckle, his plant of choice if he wants to munch on something in order to make himself sick.
Such a lovely start the day!

Chomping away, the heavens opened and he darted back into the house for cover - his need to vomit outweighed by his overwhelming desire to stay dry! He never was sick, which I suppose is a good thing and I got to hear the dawn chorus, which was an added bonus but I would rather have been tucked up in my bed asleep - it's Al's turn to get up if he wakes us tonight!

By the time we make it to the park it is clear that Dougal has woken up with the devil in him this morning.  After overwhelming some poor man with his exuberance he spots his next victims across the field and away he goes.  He has got increasingly better at coming back, not so this morning.  Nothing was going to entice him away, he was having way too much fun! So I began the walk of shame to attempt the retrieval of my badly behaved dog, wondering what it was about this particular Border Terrier that warranted such a display of disobedience.... it was Maurice, the aforementioned 50 Club parkrunner!  (I hasten to add that Maurice was being walked by a dog walker - I would have recognised John!)

Watching the dogs chase, spar and enjoy each others company it was good to see that the ethos of the parkrun family has transcended to the canine world!

It was a morning for meeting people, next up a woman I haven't seen for at least three years, whose son used to be at playgroup with H.  She is one of those lovely people who you can't help but like even though you kind of wish you hadn't bumped into her - because in the twelve years I've known her I have never seen her looking anything other than perfect! This morning was no exception as she walked along with her three dogs trotting along at her heels, whilst I tried to keep Sid the slightly cantankerous old dog out of the way and awaited the arrival of Dougal in all his shambolic glory! After a quick catch up she told me that she hadn't been feeling well recently and was disappointed as this was curtailing her fitness drive, I'd like to think this comment was in response to my youthful athleticism but in reality I think it was my cue to enlighten her as to what disasters had befallen me in the past three years that would explain my appearance!

I remind myself that the recent outbreak of acne is part of my detox, console myself with the knowledge that in three weeks time I'm going to look ten years younger, and head home to write my plan!

It's not finished, but it is started! Avoiding the temptation to spend most of the day writing out something aesthetically pleasing, a procrastination tactic I am fond of applying, I opt for the back of an envelope, map out the next two and a half weeks til Edinburgh and work out some sort of running schedule.  Having done this I am then able to arrange my long dog walk with my friend for next week so it doesn't coincide with a run day, and already I'm feeling much happier.

By the time I'm back from my run I feel better still and am ready to tackle a job off the list, albeit a rather small and sedate one! Time to input my 5x50 activity log which is 10 days out of date.

It is then I discover that over the past 38 days I have spent in excess of 38 hours exercising - no wonder I don't have time to tidy!


M - 734
Distance covered               3.6 miles
Total Distance covered    62.2 miles

Here we go again!

"Would you tell me, please which I way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to."
"I don't much care where -"
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go."

Lewis Carroll


For the first time since starting this blog, I am struggling to write it. Why? Because what I want to write I have heard myself saying so many times before, and for whilst I may not have bored you with it yet, believe me you'll get there!

But it really is the singular most important thing to come out of today....

I need a plan!

The tenacity I demonstrated yesterday is sorely lacking when it comes to housework and getting my life in order.  By and large it doesn't matter what I do with my time as long as there is food in the house, clean clothes to wear, and the dogs have been walked.  Actually if Al came home and I hadn't done any of that he would just get on with it - I am SO lucky but it doesn't make me very motivated! The boys don't notice if the house is tidy or not and I get absolutely no satisfaction from cleaning the bathroom - only for them to come in and dirty it!

But clearly it bothers me as I keep coming back to it! (And we're only two weeks in!)

I have been stuck in the vicious circle of not being bothered and then berating myself for being disorganised for longer than I care to admit, which is fine when it's only me listening (although it would be nice if it stopped) but not something that I want to subject you to over the next two years!

Time to set some goals, work out a schedule and devise a training plan! This way I will know what I am supposed to be doing and will thus (in theory at least) avoid days like today where I ended up arranging a long dog walk on a day I should have been running and going out for lunch when I needed to be in the supermarket!

As a consequence I've had to miss my evening run with Al which makes me feel sad, and a little bit guilty that I didn't just go and put my kit on and get out there, but I'm trying hard to be sensible and not over do things (besides which I'm exhausted!).  I just wish I'd planned my day better.

So yes sisterofmarathongirl750 I know you've heard it all before but it really is time to
put up or shut up! 


M - 745
Distance covered                 4 miles (walk)
Total Distance covered   58.6 miles

Birdwatching, Bluebells

and a Blackberry I don't know how to work properly!

I feel like I have aged overnight when I wake up this morning! We were late getting to bed and my infuriatingly accurate internal alarm clock won't let me sleep past 7, the result of which is that I awoke tired -  but also very achy. My right knee has locked and every joint seems to creek and crack as I get myself moving.  I have a sore head and am surprisingly thirsty - it feels like I have woken up in a different body to the one I went to sleep in!

What is unclear is what has caused this change in fortunes.  Perhaps detox only takes two days if it's all you're doing, perhaps if you're just drinking more water but still consuming the same amount of (not always as healthy as it should be) food it takes a little longer...

Or could it be that I am suffering from a more psychosomatic illness this morning based on the fact that C went to his first proper party last night? Another milestone passed on his journey into adulthood and guaranteed to make me feel every one of the 28 years since it was me heading out with a smuggled bottle of Martini Extra Dry!

As the 5x50 challenge enters the penultimate week, sitting on the sofa for the day is unfortunately not an option. Fighting every desire to curl up and snooze the Bank Holiday away, Al and I head out to the woods with the dogs.  I am determined to be more alert, observant and at one with nature today! The bluebells are out in force, we spot a robin, some birds nesting in a dead tree, and best of all an OWL... who wanted lambs anyway?!

I'm enjoying myself now, when I become consumed with the somewhat modern phenomenon of the need to share -  pictorially. Quite why I think seeing photos of my day is going to make it anymore noteworthy to me or interesting to you is beside the point - I'm in full photo mode. But without my beloved camera! I take a picture of Dougal on my phone although I'm struggling to get one of Sid. I am not by any means a spontaneous photographer and spend the next 10 minutes chasing after the poor old dog trying to get him to pose for the perfect picture. Al starts suggesting that we perhaps just enjoy the walk but can see that I am not going to let it go, so mentions he has his ipod! A selfie of us and a fab picture of Sid (taken by Al!) we head for home...

The rest of the afternoon is consumed with trying to work out how to get the picture from my phone onto my pc! I know that really this isn't worth the effort, that there are a hundred and one better ways I could be spending my afternoon but I am relentless, this is not about a photo of my dog and some bluebells this is about being beaten.

This is a test of the sheer bloody mindedness I am hoping will see me through training and every step of those 26.2 miles...

Ta Da!!!!!

M - 736
Distance covered                 4 miles (walk)
Total Distance covered   54.6 miles

Take 5

Observation and Reflection

I run or walk the dogs every day, sometimes I do both. Relatively speaking that is quite a lot of time spent in the great outdoors, yet it would appear that I am not exactly in touch with nature.

Running past a field this morning, a rather loud "baaaaaaaa" jolted my brain into gear (my thought process moving quicker than my feet!) sheep, spring, LAMBS! I like lambs, I'm not sure who doesn't, but I was rather shocked to discover that these baby sheep were well past the frolicking stage! Admittedly Liversedge isn't the sheep capital of world, but there are a few fields with sheep in that I walk past on a fairly regular basis, and yet I've missed the lambing season. I clearly spend too much time staring at the road in front of me, worried about tripping on a curbstone or stepping in dog poo to notice what it going on.

And so the seed of today's blog was sown... a piece on my tunnel vision, blinkered to the wonders of the world happening around me. How did I notice the blossom on the trees but not the arrival of the leaves? How can I walk through the same field almost daily and not notice that the grass has grown until one day, for no apparent reason, it's almost knee high? And how, once in a while, we should take five to look up and really see what we're looking at at...
When it dawns on me that I've missed my turning, and not even looked in the fields I've just passed!

I am no better when I get home. C is making scrambled eggs for brunch and asks me to watch them for a minute whilst he goes to entice H out of his room with the promise of food, by the time he returns they have separated and would be best served with a slotted spoon. I don't think today is the day for my sermon on being observant and fully present in the moment!

So perhaps I'll take five to reflect on this week's progress instead.

I ran 5.1 miles today. Almost a fifth of the required distance. I enjoyed the run and think the pain in my knees has shifted a bit, which I hope is as a result of my exercises and not a figment of my imagination! I am however in need of some local advice. Part of my route this morning involved running on the Greenway (which for non local readers is a tarmacked disused railway line) and my question to local readers is this - is the surface on the Greenway (which may not actually be tarmac) exceptionally unforgiving cause I am increasing less fond of running on it?

The total distance I have covered is now 50.6 miles. I am really chuffed with this!

The total number of page views for my blog will be over 500 if the same number of you read this today as read last Sunday's installment!  The numbers reading varies daily, but I am really pleased that by and large it looks like you're sticking with me THANK YOU!

It would appear that the Universe too is following what's going on, heard my initial thoughts for today's chapter and did it's best to provide what it thought I needed most. Firstly Dougal returned from his walk a true beast of the field and stinkiest dog in the world - nothing like the pungent smell of cow manure to sharpen the senses! And then a text from Vision Express to say my new glasses were ready - at least now when I do look up things will be in focus!

M - 747
Distance covered             5.1 miles
Total Distance covered  50.6 miles

Bronze Medal Position

I may never see this day again!


Parkrun, as you may have gathered, is a big thing in my life at the moment.  It has been the single biggest motivator in keeping me running and making me want to run better.  It is free, run by volunteers, takes place every Saturday morning come rain or shine, and all you are required to do is turn up and run... oh and bring your barcode with you!

Each runner has their own individual barcode which is scanned at the end of the run and matched up with the times recorded as you cross the finish line to produce the results. Parkrun make it very clear  "No Barcode. No Time. No Exception."
Can you see where this is heading?

Al and I arrived at the park this morning about twenty minutes before the start (time for a quick warm up, a pre race catch up with friends, and the all important last wee) when I realised that I hadn't brought my barcode.  I had four options

1. Run without it and forgo my time
2. Volunteer but it was a bit too cold to stand around in my new birthday running skirt!
3. Beg Tom (the Run Director) to give me my time without my barcode (but the only leverage I have is sharing a birthday with him and somehow I don't think that would be enough to swing it)
4. Go home and get my barcode.

No contest really - go home and hope I can get back in time.

It was a close call but I made it! My warm up now a run from the car into the park, it was then either chat or wee, and the sad reality is that I have reached a certain age when going to the toilet takes precedence over talking - especially on what has become water week!

Race Time! Al and I have had a couple of good runs this week and today continued in the same vein. It was a glorious morning, beautiful sunshine but not too warm, perfect running weather and we felt like we had run the perfect race until our friend beat us on the last hill! But we managed to cross the finish line together having run PB's. Doesn't get much better than that...

Except it could. It is the curse of the runner to always wonder if you can go faster, and at 24.01 there was definitely thoughts of "if only I'd pushed myself just that little bit more I could have gone sub 24" swiftly followed by "next week!"  I have been trying to break that mentality, playing a longer game rather than chasing a second (or two) off my PB, but it doesn't come naturally! I want to run faster, I want to get below 24 minutes and I will - I just have to accept that it might not be next week (but I want it to be!).

Now I know I said I was going to refrain from a weekly stats analysis... but it did get better

I WAS THE THIRD WOMAN ACROSS THE FINISH!!

I know this is entirely due to the fact that the parkrun youth were almost all missing today and a fair few of the other regulars who run quicker than me were enjoying the Bank Holiday weekend elsewhere, but for today at least the Bronze Medal is mine!

And I'm VERY glad I went back to get my barcode!

M - 738
Distance covered            3.1 miles
Total distance covered  45.5 miles

The Sound of Music

Thanks for the earworm* Paddy!

(* an earworm is defined as a catchy piece of music that continually repeats through a person's mind after it is no longer playing, it may come as no surprise to learn that I talk to mine!)


Our house is a tip.  There is so much tidying to do that I don't know where to start.  Pondering this whilst I look around trying to reach a decision my earworm very kindly starts singing to me...

"Lets start at the very beginning, a very good place to start, when you read you begin with A-B-C, when you sing you begin with do-re- mi...."

And it's off, trilling along in my ear, forcing me to join in with it (completely against my will of course!). Hopefully it'll get bored soon, please tell me it's forgotten that I once went out dressed as a nun to Sing-a-long-a Sound of Music, surely it can't have remembered the super extended version we sang in the Eaglesham Primary School Choir that was too long for even the wonderful Antwerp Station Flashmob (I'll post a link later - save you looking it up) to use? It would appear not, it is relentless for the entire time I am walking the dogs and even now hours later I know it's lurking around ready to start up again at anytime...

I'm blaming Patrick Kielty! Standing in for Steve Wright on Radio 2 this week he had Julie Andrews on his show yesterday, I didn't even hear the interview (and still I'm stuck with this?!) but he was discussing whether the old singalong tunes are better than the new ones, I didn't hear the outcome of the discussion either but I'm guessing it all comes down to if you know the words and can in fact singalong!

I have a similar problem with my running playlist on my ipod.  There is no doubt that I run with a spring in my step when certain songs come on whilst others make me slow down, I have been known to sing out loud to 'Heart of Glass' yet other songs make me wish I could reach the skip button (without having to faff around getting my ipod out of the pocket in my running top!).

I think a cull, reorganisation, and some new sounds are called for! In fairness Al has been suggesting this for months (if it wasn't due to the fact that lack of breath renders this impossible I would be beginning to wonder if I'm singing out loud to more than I realise!).

I have read that I should be trying to maintain a tempo of 85-90 strides per minute and a quick internet search informs me that there are many lists of songs available that will fulfill my needs - but like with everything else associated with this journey upward of 5K it is yet another minefield! Which ones are any good, do I have to pay to download these, where will I find songs that I have even heard of?! And do I ditch my old favourites in favour of new songs that have the right tempo but I don't know so well?

I guess that the approach to this latest problem is going to be the same as with the others I've come across so far. Keep it simple. Do what I can. Don't get overwhelmed by the things that I can't. Find the first step and take it. Delete those slow songs, forget about beats per minute for the time being and just get out and enjoy the run singalong tune after singalong tune!


M - 739
Distance covered              3.2 miles
Total Distance covered   42.4 miles

Detox

There are better ways to feel this bad!

3 litres of water - I suppose it was inevitable that a large part of today would be spent going to the loo! What I hadn't banked on (although in hindsight perhaps it too should have been obvious) was the headache that would accompany my sudden increase in water intake.

The closest I've come to detoxing in the past has been a seaweed body wrap at a beauty salon! Covered in some nice smelling mineral rich mud, wrapped in giant cling film and popped under a duvet to cook for half an hour, I have been left to relax to the sound of waves gently crashing on the shore whilst the hard work was done for me.  By comparison this definitely feels like I've drawn the short straw, but it is considerably cheaper!

I've read that the headaches associated with detox usually last a couple of days which doesn't bode well for tomorrow but fingers crossed it will have gone by parkrun!

The response to yesterday's blog about biomechanics has been a text from my friend keen to know more because she thinks it sounds interesting, and a phone call from my sister keen to know more in an attempt to ascertain if I was told a load of mumbo jumbo!

Always with my best interests at heart, my sister has been very patient throughout my many dalliances with alternative therapies, and whilst unquestionably supportive I think it would be fair to say she is somewhat adept at being able to impart her skepticism! This is not helped by the fact that her knowledge of anatomy and physiology is far superior to mine. The result of which is that during conversations like we had today, as I flounder around looking for words to explain what I thought I understood, I end up sounding increasingly like I'm talking rubbish! However whether my pelvis is out of alignment or not, we both agree that anything that tones and strengthens my muscles will be a good thing in the long run! (Besides which I have since been and had a look in the mirror and I can SEE that my legs don't line up - so there!).

It is unfortunate then, that I have struggled to find time to do my new exercises. One of them involves single leg raises held for twenty seconds, three repeats on each leg a grand total of TWO MINUTES!
What have I possibly done with my day that meant I couldn't find time to do these? My only excuse is that they are done sitting down and I've spent most of the day on my feet! Nevertheless I'm cross with myself for not doing them and am full of resolve to do better tomorrow.

On the plus side I now know what is in the freezer and have written a shopping list for the morning! Progress!!

M - 740
Distance covered                 4 miles (walk)
Total distance covered    39.2 miles