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!)