Day 718

1.  Three days to go for my friends who are running the Manchester marathon on Sunday!

2.  They have both trained fantastically well, are in great shape and are going to smash it... But even for them anxieties are starting to rear their ugly head as our text conversation revealed this morning.

3.  Not to worry - one of them has run a marathon in flip flops pushing a wardrobe and still come back for more.  

4.  Only she hasn't - this was a dream (or nightmare depending on your idea of fun!) I just can't read. Either that or it was wishful thinking, by which I mean if she can do that I will be fine, not that I'd like to be a flip flopped wardrobe pusher!

5.  Although to be fair I don't care how I do it as long as I finish! 


London - 17
Total Distance covered     1185.2 miles

Day 717

1.  Uh-oh! My flippancy at Divine intervention has been met by the metaphorical lightning strike! Following my somewhat over enthusiastic cycling yesterday I have chaffed in places I would rather not have chaffed in!

2.  But it would appear that this is not punishment enough and in addition my fake tan has developed overnight and on waking this morning it became apparent from the glow in the bedroom that I have been Tango'd!

3.   Let me put this into context.  When purchasing foundation make-up that is a good match to my natural skin tone I get the choice of shade with a name like 'Alabaster' otherwise known as 'white stone'.

4.  Why then I thought my appearance at an event, at which I am going to finish looking like a tomato anyway, would be enhanced by applying fake tan all over my face is anyone's guess...

5.  Actually it might not have been so bad if it had have been 'all over' but I have streak marks round my hairline and the inverse of panda eyes, whilst my white hairs which normally sit relatively quietly against my beautifully pale skin are now beaconing out against their orange backdrop!  When is it going to dawn on me that there is NOTHING about this marathon that's going to be pretty?!

London - 18
Total Distance covered     1185.2 miles

Day 716

1.  Fellow parkrunner asked the million dollar question today "what is wrong with your foot....?" The answer recognised by millions of runners worldwide... "I don't know but I don't want to go and find out as they might ban me from running!"

2.  So in search of my own solution I headed to Boots to buy some recommended Biofreeze pain relieving roll on...  Not sure why it didn't dawn on me that the clue is in the name, but I am now taking my Count Bezukhov analogy to a previously unimagined level.... I have a frozen foot! Albeit a less sore one!

3.  Following a conversation with a friend there is now a small(!) musical theatre section on my playlist  - as well as galloping Black Beauty style I may well be sashaying across Tower Bridge flouncing my imaginary skirts being Nancy from Oliver!

4. Whilst in tribute to our time spent front of house at the local theatre schoolfriendofMG750 there are a couple of my favourites from Godspell! One about putting a stone in my shoe and calling it 'dare' as a challenge to myself - so perhaps in answer to your earlier question fellow parkrunner the correct response is "I have a pebble in it!"

5. The second is a much less symbolic but much more upbeat number, which saw me light ALL SEVEN effort level bars on the exercise bike this morning - perhaps it was Divine intervention!


London - 19
Total Distance covered     1185.2 miles

Day 715

1.  My foot has been awful today BUT I'm keeping the faith and the marathon planning continues regardless...

2.  You'll note the use of the word planning and not training! There was none of that done today!

3.  BUT our restaurant is booked for the Saturday night - lots of tasty looking pasta, potatoes and bread on the menu...

4.  AND my tub of self tanning cream was delivered this morning!  I might not be be able to run very fast, and I might look less than attractive in my Barnardo's lime green vest, BUT at least now I might look sun kissed - or orange depending on how it goes!

5.  The Business Bakery quoting Nelson Mandela today....

... let's hope I can summon up even a fraction of his fortitude.

London - 20
Total Distance covered     1185.2 miles

Day 714 - THREE

1.  Three weeks to go! I can officially start my taper! This is where I'm supposed to reduce the amount I'm exercising whilst still eating the same as when I was exercising so as to rest my legs and get some carbohydrate back into my muscles....

2.  There are a couple of problems with this... firstly if I reduce the amount I exercised last week I would in fact be doing nothing, and secondly I don't think anyone would recommend carb loading to me if they knew how much I'm already consuming!

3.  There is a word of warning that does ring true however, that if you start to feel fatigued perhaps you need to up your game slightly!  (Start to feel fatigued - it's my default position!)

4.  So back to the gym this morning.... fifty one and a half minutes, twenty two kilometres on the exercise bike and I still didn't burn off enough calories to counteract Friday's Pringle fest!  Add in the Simnel cake and I'd have had to cycled all day to break even!

5.  There is good news however! After binge watching War and Peace in Mr L's absence (but happy to report that HE'S HOME AGAIN!!) I am encouraged to learn that after marching for days and days through thick snow and icy winds, malnourished, with ill fitting boots (if any at all) a few days sleeping and you're as good as new! What's twenty six miles, fully fed and in shoes designed to go the distance compared to that?! We'll be fine sis! 

London - 21
Total Distance covered     1185.2 miles

Day 713

1.  I've done it!! I have joined the parkrun 25 volunteers club!

2.  Somewhat proud of this achievement especially as it coincided with Dewsbury parkrun's 200th event.

3.  Which, if nothing else makes the maths easy... I've volunteered at an eighth! But as they had run 50 before I'd even heard of parkrun that makes it a sixth! And in terms of the 125 Saturday's that I've spent in Crow Nest Park a fifth!

4.  Which is impressive commitment, even if I do say so myself... and simultaneously an awful lot of time on the injury bench!!

5.  Watching the runners from beneath my umbrella this morning it's getting increasingly hard to imagine ever running up that hill again - but Mr L, after taking a break from juggling to run at Perth parkrun this morning, has now run more parkrun's than me and I'm not sure how I feel about playing catchup! Actually I think we all know that however much I'm proud of him and the fact that he's turned himself into a runner, I don't like it at all! Especially as he did it in 23 minutes 19!!

London - 22
Total Distance covered     1185.2 miles

Day 712

1.  Finally I've found a way to have a guilt free lie in! Unfortunately it required having the dog sleep upstairs so that when he woke up at 7 and climbed onto the bed he then settled back down for a cuddle and the next we knew it was 9 o'clock...

2.  I'd get home soon Mr L whilst your side of the bed's still belongs to you! 

3.  There is good and bad news on the Pringles front... The good news is that there was almost a full tube left over from last night.  The bad news is that after snacking on them all day I've discovered that I've eaten well over 500 calories worth - eek!!

4.  So like a true addict trying to kick her habit I have resorted to throwing the rest of them away. 

5.  Which I think means I can have a piece of cake with all those calories I've just 'saved'!

London - 23
Total Distance covered     1185.2 miles