Day 563

1.  Back in the gym this morning - not sure I can keep this momentum up for much longer!

2.  Fully expect and accept that the Biomechanics Man is hugely fitter and stronger than me, but really did I need to be out gymed by a clearly pregnant woman?!  Not for a minute saying that a pregnant woman shouldn't be fitter than me either, but I am an endurance athlete! Just clearly not a very strong one - yet!

3.  Thankfully fellow parkrunner gave me advance warning of her visit this afternoon, time to do my hair and make-up so as not to be caught unawares!

4.  In truth I changed out of my dog walking clothes.  Just as well I hadn't put too much effort in as I would definitely have been out styled by your shoes alone RLB! 

5.  Goodies from last week's party have been delivered - just need to clear the Underwater Hockey kit from the bath, clean it and perhaps close my eyes... and then the home spa experience can be all mine!

London -172
Total Distance covered     945.6 miles
Gym Attendance = 5 (target 12 by 20 November)

Day 562

1.  Somewhat misty run this morning...

2.  Have decided to try and enjoy the changing seasons by taking a weekly photo between now and April.  I am hoping that this will give me something else to focus on other than being swamped by what lies ahead between here and London (in truth it may take more than a weekly photo!).

3.  FMG has found a wonderful extract from a 1949 Singer Sewing Machine manual instructing sewers to look their best as they wont be able to concentrate on their sewing if worrying about a returning husband or visiting friend arriving unexpectedly and finding them without their make up on! As I said to her, Al would be far more concerned if he came home and found me wearing make up with my hair neat! But it would be following the advice to not start sewing until all domestic chores were done which would make him worry most! 

4. There is however one part that perhaps I should take heed of

"Good results are difficult when indifference dominates" 

5.  Very fortunate to experience my second distance reiki session this evening! (The reiki lady looking for some more feedback).  Different experience from the first and definitely some food for thought, but without a doubt the best thing to come out of my all but forgotten 100 Day Goal Challenge, and more specifically £15 Swap.

London -173
Distance covered                 5.1 miles
Total Distance covered     945.6 miles
Gym Attendance = 4 (target 12 by 20 November)

Day 561

1.  The Biomechanics Man has been writing about the importance of strength training for runners recently, 'playing' with some ideas in the gym and is in the process of trying to start up some training groups which I have said I would be interested in joining.

2.  Took it right back when I arrived in the gym this morning to see him lifting 130kgs!

3.  He has however suggested trying to put a group together at my "end of the spectrum!"

4. This has made me wish that I'd been to the gym more frequently since joining and hadn't wasted all that time and money not going.  Going to try really hard to turn this into action! No point regretting the past, question is where can I get to in the next five and a half months?! (20kgs?!!)

5. Goodbye Etsy - Hello Team Barnardo's! Have set up a Facebook Group so that I can chat with other members of the London Marathon team without flooding my FB newsfeed with tales of my training... there's only so much of me that I feel Facebook can take!  (This is different - you've opted in!)

London -174
Total Distance covered     940.5 miles
Gym Attendance = 4 (target 12 by 20 November)

Day 560

1.  Toyed with the idea of going to the gym this morning but opted out of necessity for the supermarket instead, followed by making a start on my pre Christmas blitz

2.  I fear I may have been a bit hasty whilst tidying up this afternoon - threw out several bottles of nail varnish bought in 2001.

3.   Oh yes! That is the level of hoarding we are dealing with here!

4.  Which is why it is such a huge and overwhelming job that may well stretch post Christmas -especially if I am tackling the job as slowly as I did today. 

5.  Meanwhile according to FB (thanks schoolfriendofMG750) there are people who have time to turn 'Cheerios' into donut treats for Santa's Elves and construct Christmas Tree decorations out of painted 'Rice Krispies'. I'm not sure if I should be feeling sorry for myself that I'm not that patient nor well organised, or grateful that I can pretend my life is full of more worthwhile ways to waste my time - like running!

London -175
Total Distance covered     940.5 miles
Gym Attendance = 3 (target 12 by 20 November)

Day 559 - Parkrun 93 and HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIS!

1.  For someone at the end of her first week of marathon training I feel about ninety two!

2.  My hamstrings have tightened up, I didn't feel at all like running and if Al and I could have thought of somewhere better to go at nine o'clock on a Saturday morning in our running kit and with the dog in tow we might just have headed the car in that direction and driven there instead.  But in the absence of any other suggestions we found ourselves at parkrun.

3.  This is where parkrun works.  There is no way without it that either of us would have run today. Instead, with or without our running mojo present, we completed the course, chalked another one up on our way to joining the 100 club and got to sit outside in a lovely bit of warm autumnal sunshine afterwards enjoying our weekly catch up with our friends.  Missed you this morning FMG and already looking forward to next week when both you and sisterofMG750 will be there!

4.  The house is a tip and, for whilst I know my sister wont care, tidying the top landing so she can actually get into her room would probably be a good start in terms of preparing for her visit, but as I don't yet know where to put the huge bag of T-shirts (my next sewing project) that are currently living there, I opted for some mental preparation instead!

5.  Fast forward to next Sunday morning and our early morning catch up over a cup of tea (but disappointingly no chocolate digestives for Mrs Milk Free) I can hear her asking me how things are going and how I am and, having known her for rather a long time, I can also hear her response to my moaning! In an attempt to pre-empt this I have taken Etsy Team Leeds off my FB newsfeed. No more am I going to torture myself on a daily basis reading about something that I couldn't get to work and didn't feel part of...

parkrun 93 - 1993

Challenge now is not to moan about the lack of notifications on my phone now it's gone!

London -176
Distance covered                 3.1 miles
Total Distance covered     940.5 miles
Gym Attendance = 3 (target 12 by 20 November)

Day 558

1.  Third gym attendance in a week!

2.  My legs are sore, and so I decided to spend the hour concentrating on foam rollering and corrective stretches in an attempt to ease things off a bit, all of which I could have done from home but this won't see me reach my self imposed target which was the only thing that motivated me to go in the first place!

3.  And talking of self imposed targets.... I HAVE REACHED THE MAGIC 50 GUESSES ON NAME THE BEAR! Or rather H has reached it for me! Whooo hoooo!!

4.  Which means only one thing - he's all yours for the other fifty FMG!

5.  Sewing machine is back out! This time so I could spend the afternoon making a hood for H's 'Arrow' Halloween party costume - before spending the evening picking him up from a drama rehearsal to take him to the party, to come home for an hour and a half before having to head out to pick him up again! Lets hope he enjoyed it!

London -177
Total Distance covered    937.4 miles
Gym Attendance = 3 (target 12 by 20 November)

Day 557

1.  The plan had been to run this morning, the weather made me postpone until this afternoon.

2.  What I hadn't factored in however was that it would be dark by the time Al was able to come with me - running in the dark is not my favourite thing (and far from Dougal's) but hey an opportunity to wear my bright yellow Liverpool Half T-shirt!

3.  Setting off already feeling rather hard done to I couldn't help but feel that I'd been persuaded to wait to run with Al under false pretences - for someone who is clearly not well and had inferred that it would be a nice slow run he ran a bit too quickly for my liking.

4.  Seriously disgruntled by the time I got home, it all paled into insignificance next to the pleasure of stepping out of the shower and into my pyjama's and it wasn't even six o'clock!

5.  A binge watch of 'This Is England '90' and I crawled into bed feeling disturbed and sad and grief stricken and desperate yet at the same time happy, hopeful, grateful and exceptionally thankful for the life I have... even if I did have to run at 8 minutes 40 per mile to share in it with you this evening Mr L!

London -178
Distance                            3.7 miles
Total Distance covered    937.4 miles
Gym Attendance = 2 (target 12 by 20 November)