. . . Now where was I?
Aaaahhhhh yes, running round the village in tights, feeling ever so slightly self concious!.
Now it would appear, despite my descriptions Jan had vastly overestimated the speed of the lope because as I said 'go' she shot off and was half way to the pond before I had reached the end of the track. I wasn't particularly worried, I had been 'marathon training' for some weeks longer than she had so I smiled a knowing kind of smile to myself and thought, she's gone too fast, she'll regret it later on.
Realising I wasn't behind her she turned around and ran back to me,
'is this the lope?' she asked
'yes' I said 'this is it'.
'you don't speed up at all?' she asked, like she thought there must be a second gear.
'no' I said 'this is it'
'ok' she said, the reality of just what we were dealing with setting in now.
'you shouldn't start too quickly anyway' I said like I was Haile Gebrselassie running mate
'No' she called as she started to pull away again
I continued to plod along at my usual pace as Jan trotted off on her toes like a thoroughbred pony in a dressage competition, she would go so far and then bounce about on the spot like Mohamed Ali on speed while she waited for me to catch up. At times she ran back and attempted to lope with me for a few paces before pulling away again, other times she walked alongside me, still managing to keep up and told me that she actually found it easier to go faster!. I got to the end of the Mall where she had stopped (I've broken her I thought) 'we'll go up and down again' I panted (again smiling inwardly) 'ok' she yelled behind her as she shot off again on her toes up the hill. On the way down on her third or fourth trip back for me she started flapping her arms up and down telling me it helped geese to get off the ground, it really didn't help me and it wasn't - at the time - particularly funny either.
We made it home and I think reality struck for both of us. Jan was aiming for sub-4hrs (which I think means under 4 hours?) I was aiming at anything ahead of the dustcart's, we were either going to have to work out a compromise or all our 'crossing the finish line' training we had done Christmas night was going to go to waste because we wouldn't be finishing together!
Yesterday before Jan left for home we went out again, I recited over and over 'it's easier to go faster, it's easier to go faster' . . . it wasn't, I just got out of breathe quicker and had to walk a couple of times in order to breathe. On our return we held a meeting on the patio and it was decided that my cardio vascular system needs a great deal more training. This I now realise is where the 'fartlek' training comes in. It's all about doing short bursts flat out and this is what increases your capacity to train, meaning you are building each time you go out to go further, faster and recovering more quickly - at least I think that's what it does???.
So, I'm here on my own now, contemplating a little bit of 'Fartlek' for the afternoon but I feel I've left it a little late, all I want to do is put something daft on the TV and curl up in front of it but I know I can't do that, I must get out there. Next week Jan will be doing 'bootcamp' 3 mornings a week which means she will get fitter and stronger and probably go even faster. I can't afford bootcamp and the only personal trainer I have is called 'google' so I have to work harder and for longer. I really don't know about sub-4 but I am determined now to run this thing and not lope it!!!!!.
Running for health, happiness and a good laugh whatever your age, size or fitness level
Wednesday, 28 December 2011
Tuesday, 27 December 2011
Christmas with the Kanharn's
Many years ago I used to have a dream about Christmas, I guess it's very similar to the dreams that millions of us have, pick any of the Christmas adverts which involves family and you're more or less there, the big house, farmhouse kitchen, huge Christmas tree that doesn't take over the room, spare bedrooms with matching bedding for all our guests, a never ending stream of home-cooked delights perfectly prepared in all my spare time leading up to the big day, a table that everyone can fit round on proper 'matching' chairs to eat a perfectly cooked Christmas dinner with carefully chosen wine, using 'matching' china, glasses and cutlery. A new little designer number to go with the perfectly wrapped 'tiny' gifts - I'm sure you've all been there and for some of you possibly the dream came true. For us, at least, materially, we are still waiting. That's not to say I am not grateful for what we have, we have a huge amount more than many, many people and we have each other and that just about aces everything else and besides that where would be the fun?
In Contrast . . .
Our Christmas started with 48 hours of 'cramming' the house had to be sorted from top to bottom, bedding (not matching) had to be organised and weeks of cooking was 'built' in just a few hours, the result being a reasonably successful Christmas trifle and a pavlova that looked like a scene from casualty! I spent an hour or so playing the fridge game trying to fit everything in alongside the 2, yes 2 turkey's (another 'online' mishap!) while Andrew played the airbed game, inflating one after the other and lining the walls of the hall and landing until it resembled the inside of a padded cell . . . . I would imagine, I've never actually been in one - !!!.
For the first year ever we cut out the middle man, Andrew drank the whiskey, oddly I wasn't in the mood for a carrot so I had a couple of celebrations and we cleared away the glass and the papers before we went to bed assuming no one was in the least bit fooled any more by the empty glass and carrot stalks in the morning - oh, how I hung on to that one!. Once in bed we waited for the keys in the door before finally wishing each other a Happy Christmas and going to sleep.
We were both up before the kids and had to coax them out of bed in order that timings could be adhered to, they arrived in various states of hang over and we opened the presents which is always fun and was made even more fun this year by a little idea that Madi had some time ago. She decided to buy us each an animal 'onesy' so ten minutes in we were all opening our presents in a variety of animal suits which was funny but took on a whole different perspective when an hour later I was a little cross that Andrew was sitting reading a book while I was running around the house and I, dressed as a penguin was doing the 'I'm dashing about like an idiot while you're sat reading and there's so much to do' bit to Andrew who was dressed as the devil complete with tail and horns!!!!. I discovered that cross penguins do look a little ridiculous and people just laugh at you!. Goodness only knows what the neighbours must have thought when he went to collect mum and dad and his mum still in his devil suit. I think it will take some time to forget the picture of him walking up the garden path, car keys in hand with his tail swinging from side to side - I just can't stay cross with him for very long!.
Anyway, following the arrival of Jan (marathon partner) and nephew Jack the day became ever more chaotic. Dinner in fairness, was ok but as always, quite late, somehow we all got round the table but once again, as we all struggled to sit down, the wonderful Peter Kay and his 'emergency chairs' sketch popped into my head. After dinner there was the 'tree present' pantomime followed by an attempt at a few games though we had a slight problem getting the Tesco 'blue stripe' jam to stick the marshmallows to our noses - don't even go there!!!!. Then there was the highlight of the entire day - those lucky enough to have a bed to go to disappeared like first class 'titanic' passengers and left us, in second class to grab an airbed, a bedding pack and fight each other for a space to lay it out. As usual Andrew and I got the one with the leak and were slowly eaten during the course of the night so that when we woke in the morning we were rather more in the airbed than on it. Getting up from said airbed is possibly the most excitement we have experienced in a bed for several years leading to much laughter and screaming which in turn led to a lot of 'Sssshhhhhhh' 'shut up' & 'do you minds' from those in first class. Eventually I managed to extract myself from the clutches of the airbed and crawl out into the landing which was the only place I had to go. I went back to attempt to rescue Andrew who without my weight next to him was at risk of being completely devoured, he had already hit the floor and was disappearing beneath layers of rubber . After a lot more pulling, pushing, laughing, screaming and hushing from first class we managed to surf down the stairs where we were able to re-construct our spines ready for day 2!
After breakfast I changed into my new 'running tights' complete with high vis stripes, my new running 'vest' and a fairly reasonable hat in preparation for my first run with my marathon mate. Now to be honest, after several weeks of training on my part I was fairly confident that I was some ways ahead . . . after a quick warm up we set off - it's now well past midnight so the next bit will have to be continued later, but I promise, it will be worth the wait.
To be continued . . . . .
In Contrast . . .
Our Christmas started with 48 hours of 'cramming' the house had to be sorted from top to bottom, bedding (not matching) had to be organised and weeks of cooking was 'built' in just a few hours, the result being a reasonably successful Christmas trifle and a pavlova that looked like a scene from casualty! I spent an hour or so playing the fridge game trying to fit everything in alongside the 2, yes 2 turkey's (another 'online' mishap!) while Andrew played the airbed game, inflating one after the other and lining the walls of the hall and landing until it resembled the inside of a padded cell . . . . I would imagine, I've never actually been in one - !!!.
For the first year ever we cut out the middle man, Andrew drank the whiskey, oddly I wasn't in the mood for a carrot so I had a couple of celebrations and we cleared away the glass and the papers before we went to bed assuming no one was in the least bit fooled any more by the empty glass and carrot stalks in the morning - oh, how I hung on to that one!. Once in bed we waited for the keys in the door before finally wishing each other a Happy Christmas and going to sleep.
We were both up before the kids and had to coax them out of bed in order that timings could be adhered to, they arrived in various states of hang over and we opened the presents which is always fun and was made even more fun this year by a little idea that Madi had some time ago. She decided to buy us each an animal 'onesy' so ten minutes in we were all opening our presents in a variety of animal suits which was funny but took on a whole different perspective when an hour later I was a little cross that Andrew was sitting reading a book while I was running around the house and I, dressed as a penguin was doing the 'I'm dashing about like an idiot while you're sat reading and there's so much to do' bit to Andrew who was dressed as the devil complete with tail and horns!!!!. I discovered that cross penguins do look a little ridiculous and people just laugh at you!. Goodness only knows what the neighbours must have thought when he went to collect mum and dad and his mum still in his devil suit. I think it will take some time to forget the picture of him walking up the garden path, car keys in hand with his tail swinging from side to side - I just can't stay cross with him for very long!.
Anyway, following the arrival of Jan (marathon partner) and nephew Jack the day became ever more chaotic. Dinner in fairness, was ok but as always, quite late, somehow we all got round the table but once again, as we all struggled to sit down, the wonderful Peter Kay and his 'emergency chairs' sketch popped into my head. After dinner there was the 'tree present' pantomime followed by an attempt at a few games though we had a slight problem getting the Tesco 'blue stripe' jam to stick the marshmallows to our noses - don't even go there!!!!. Then there was the highlight of the entire day - those lucky enough to have a bed to go to disappeared like first class 'titanic' passengers and left us, in second class to grab an airbed, a bedding pack and fight each other for a space to lay it out. As usual Andrew and I got the one with the leak and were slowly eaten during the course of the night so that when we woke in the morning we were rather more in the airbed than on it. Getting up from said airbed is possibly the most excitement we have experienced in a bed for several years leading to much laughter and screaming which in turn led to a lot of 'Sssshhhhhhh' 'shut up' & 'do you minds' from those in first class. Eventually I managed to extract myself from the clutches of the airbed and crawl out into the landing which was the only place I had to go. I went back to attempt to rescue Andrew who without my weight next to him was at risk of being completely devoured, he had already hit the floor and was disappearing beneath layers of rubber . After a lot more pulling, pushing, laughing, screaming and hushing from first class we managed to surf down the stairs where we were able to re-construct our spines ready for day 2!
After breakfast I changed into my new 'running tights' complete with high vis stripes, my new running 'vest' and a fairly reasonable hat in preparation for my first run with my marathon mate. Now to be honest, after several weeks of training on my part I was fairly confident that I was some ways ahead . . . after a quick warm up we set off - it's now well past midnight so the next bit will have to be continued later, but I promise, it will be worth the wait.
To be continued . . . . .
Saturday, 24 December 2011
My very own Mr Motivator
Well, I have finally acquired my very own, cut price, Mr Motivator. I've had to adapt my route as his bike has no lights, two flat tyres and it's stuck in first gear so we have to stay well away from traffic and people. I also have to keep a close eye on him as, rather unconventionally, he is usually behind me and his lack of steering, oh and brakes - forgot to mention the brakes - could lead to a very nasty accident!. He offers lots of motivational words of encouragement, at least downhill - uphill he's far too out of breathe!.
Jokes apart, and just 'cause it's Christmas Eve, it's great to have him with me and I appreciate it so much. It's so much easier when I'm not on my own and I have achieved 2 x 30 minutes over the last 2 days. Rest day tomorrow and then it begins in earnest, for the next 4 months this will be my life!!.
Anyway, it is Christmas Eve, just me and Mr Motivator sat watching TV, all the kids are out, very tired but it will be the early hours before I get to sleep, I used to think when the children were little and woke us up in the early hours that there would be a time when I wouldn't see 4 am on Christmas morning but as your kids get older you just see it from the other end, counting the keys in the door and then just to make doubly sure, sneaking downstairs to count the shoes, 3 pairs - IT'S CHRISTMAS!!! and I say a little prayer to whoever it is that deemed that little old me should get to another Christmas with everything that is truly important in this world 'intact'. I hope that everyone who reads this blog has got to this point intact, happy and healthy.
Jokes apart, and just 'cause it's Christmas Eve, it's great to have him with me and I appreciate it so much. It's so much easier when I'm not on my own and I have achieved 2 x 30 minutes over the last 2 days. Rest day tomorrow and then it begins in earnest, for the next 4 months this will be my life!!.
Anyway, it is Christmas Eve, just me and Mr Motivator sat watching TV, all the kids are out, very tired but it will be the early hours before I get to sleep, I used to think when the children were little and woke us up in the early hours that there would be a time when I wouldn't see 4 am on Christmas morning but as your kids get older you just see it from the other end, counting the keys in the door and then just to make doubly sure, sneaking downstairs to count the shoes, 3 pairs - IT'S CHRISTMAS!!! and I say a little prayer to whoever it is that deemed that little old me should get to another Christmas with everything that is truly important in this world 'intact'. I hope that everyone who reads this blog has got to this point intact, happy and healthy.
HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE
Wednesday, 21 December 2011
Monday, 19 December 2011
Positive Thoughts
Ok, I started the day on a positive, my resting heart rate was 'excellent' - obviously good at resting, not too much practice needed there then. Felt a little more energetic this morning and although we only did 25 minutes I felt we upped the pace ever so slightly. My heart rate at the end of this 25 minutes was in the 'good' zone . . . just!
I'm trying to train myself to think positive thoughts while I run, this morning I was just 'loving' the refreshingly icy water that was peppering my face, and when I got the hop, skip and jumps around the large puddles wrong and landed square in the middle of one causing a tidal wave of freezing mud to soak my jogging bottoms I thought 'where in the world would you rather be?' I think I have to accept that the brain training is just as important as all the other training, believing it's possible, having the confidence to believe that I, me . . . who can't really do very much very well, can and will do this, the rest is just effort, commitment and time. What was it Henry Ford said
I'm trying to train myself to think positive thoughts while I run, this morning I was just 'loving' the refreshingly icy water that was peppering my face, and when I got the hop, skip and jumps around the large puddles wrong and landed square in the middle of one causing a tidal wave of freezing mud to soak my jogging bottoms I thought 'where in the world would you rather be?' I think I have to accept that the brain training is just as important as all the other training, believing it's possible, having the confidence to believe that I, me . . . who can't really do very much very well, can and will do this, the rest is just effort, commitment and time. What was it Henry Ford said
'Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right'
Sunday, 18 December 2011
This is more complicated than I thought?
This marathon running is really weird - you can never consider that just because you have achieved a particular time or so many miles, you have it in the bag!. On Monday and then again on Wednesday I managed 50 minutes, since then though I have struggled with 20 minutes. The weather has definitely 'turned' and suddenly I'm dealing with 'wind chill' - I think I have discovered where that daft thing your mum used to say when you pulled a silly face, came from - you know the one, 'the wind will change and you'll get stuck like that', because when you run and it's icy cold, your body does warm up but your face freezes! I only notice it when I pass a dog walker and I attempt to smile and it comes out as an odd kind of grimace!.
Anyway, along with wind chill the roads have been a bit slippy, on Friday there was snow, I have a mountain of washing that I can't do until I can get the wet stuff dry, a dryer that just won't work fast enough, another mountain of ironing, a house to clean, presents to wrap, cards still to write, a christmas dinner to give at least 5 minutes thought to - oh and work - until Thursday. The knee is beginning to niggle ever so slightly again and I don't feel great, nothing I can really put my finger on, just a tiny bit shattered - but these are all excuses and I really don't have time for excuses.
I have, over the weeks given this training a great deal of thought and come to the conclusion that whilst on one level it is quite simple, as I have mentioned previously, it's just a case of putting one foot in front of the other constantly over a distance of just over 26 miles at a pace just above a fast walk. But when you begin to look deeper it is so much more than this. You have to be able to control your breathing over this time, I think they call this 'cardio vascular' training. You have to build your muscles up so they are capable of carrying you round, not sure what they call this?. You need to put the right type and quantity of fuel inside your body to assist you getting round, diet. Hopefully too you will arrive at the start feeling healthy, well and without injury - then of course there's Will!. The skill is making all of these things come together at the same time, if one element is missing then it all goes very wrong, very quickly as I seem to find out frequently.
I have done a bit more investigating online regarding diet, the amount of veg and fruit you are supposed to eat is really quite scary, in order to get it all in I think I shall have to start putting veg on my cereal. Anyway, the diet, the cardio vascular thingy, the muscles are all things I know how to do something about, it's the 'will' that I seem to have no control over. I guess if you can afford a personal coach then you are effectively buying a certain amount of 'will' to run along beside you but I can't afford to buy any 'will' so I somehow have to summon it all for myself and that's hard when your ears are frozen, your knee hurts and you're ever so slightly scared of the large dog coming towards you off it's lead!.
I have decided that over the next week or so I am just going to keep myself ticking over, if I can do 20 - 25 minutes a day that will be fine. I have discovered yet another training programme that actually explains why you're doing what you're doing. It's by breakthrough, it also tells you how to test your fitness levels by measuring your resting heart rate and then again when you've exercised. It's over 16 weeks so starts on 2.1.12. Over the next week and a bit I'm going to find Will, somehow, I have to start 2012 with Will by my side!.
Anyway, along with wind chill the roads have been a bit slippy, on Friday there was snow, I have a mountain of washing that I can't do until I can get the wet stuff dry, a dryer that just won't work fast enough, another mountain of ironing, a house to clean, presents to wrap, cards still to write, a christmas dinner to give at least 5 minutes thought to - oh and work - until Thursday. The knee is beginning to niggle ever so slightly again and I don't feel great, nothing I can really put my finger on, just a tiny bit shattered - but these are all excuses and I really don't have time for excuses.
I have, over the weeks given this training a great deal of thought and come to the conclusion that whilst on one level it is quite simple, as I have mentioned previously, it's just a case of putting one foot in front of the other constantly over a distance of just over 26 miles at a pace just above a fast walk. But when you begin to look deeper it is so much more than this. You have to be able to control your breathing over this time, I think they call this 'cardio vascular' training. You have to build your muscles up so they are capable of carrying you round, not sure what they call this?. You need to put the right type and quantity of fuel inside your body to assist you getting round, diet. Hopefully too you will arrive at the start feeling healthy, well and without injury - then of course there's Will!. The skill is making all of these things come together at the same time, if one element is missing then it all goes very wrong, very quickly as I seem to find out frequently.
I have done a bit more investigating online regarding diet, the amount of veg and fruit you are supposed to eat is really quite scary, in order to get it all in I think I shall have to start putting veg on my cereal. Anyway, the diet, the cardio vascular thingy, the muscles are all things I know how to do something about, it's the 'will' that I seem to have no control over. I guess if you can afford a personal coach then you are effectively buying a certain amount of 'will' to run along beside you but I can't afford to buy any 'will' so I somehow have to summon it all for myself and that's hard when your ears are frozen, your knee hurts and you're ever so slightly scared of the large dog coming towards you off it's lead!.
I have decided that over the next week or so I am just going to keep myself ticking over, if I can do 20 - 25 minutes a day that will be fine. I have discovered yet another training programme that actually explains why you're doing what you're doing. It's by breakthrough, it also tells you how to test your fitness levels by measuring your resting heart rate and then again when you've exercised. It's over 16 weeks so starts on 2.1.12. Over the next week and a bit I'm going to find Will, somehow, I have to start 2012 with Will by my side!.
Monday, 12 December 2011
A Good, Good Day
Yes, finally, I actually believe that I can achieve this. I am aiming high for the end of the week so I need to push hard and today I did 49 minutes and 15 seconds - why not 50 minutes I hear you ask, that's because I got to the front door and had no where left to run, but that's ok, I'm going forward and although I was totally shattered I felt there was more there.
Tomorrow is an enforced rest day, there just aren't enough hours in the day to fit everything in so Wednesday will be another push, who knows I might just crack the hour which will be huge. When I think that just 8 weeks ago I was struggling to lope for 30 seconds!.
Just what is involved in that iron man thing????????.......
Tomorrow is an enforced rest day, there just aren't enough hours in the day to fit everything in so Wednesday will be another push, who knows I might just crack the hour which will be huge. When I think that just 8 weeks ago I was struggling to lope for 30 seconds!.
Just what is involved in that iron man thing????????.......
Sunday, 11 December 2011
Thank you
Just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who has sponsored me so far. If you can I would be so grateful if you could support Isabel Hospice. You can sponsor me at:
www.virginmoneygiving.com/VivienneKanharn
Thank you
Word of advice for any mothers of teenage daughter's . . .
. . . Never, Never, Never - under any circumstances . . . borrow their shoes!.
To be fair, I had borrowed these particular shoes before but there wasn't a great deal of walking involved when I wore them previously. I chose them last night because they were the highest I could lay my hands on and I felt that each inch might make my 'big legs' appear smaller. I have to say (and I may as well, no-one else did) I looked ok when I teetered out of the Hotel room and down to reception where I learned - to my horror - that the venue was 'only a five minute walk away' and with that the couple in the know (and in the sensible shoes) took off with Andrew trying to stay in visual contact and me trying to stay in . . . well in grabbing contact!.
The walk was ever so slightly, uphill and pavements are not. as I learned - flat. They slope towards the road and then, just as you've got you're balance sorted they change and slope the other way. When you think you've mastered the paving stones Birmingham has placed these areas covered in raised rocks, then there are the pedestrian crossings with little green men who have clearly never worn heels and wait 'till you hit the middle of the road before turning red!
Now Birmingham holds a German market at this time of year which, in wellies is quite festive!. This market is obviously open later than the shops because crowds of people were still leaving the city centre armed with bags of shopping, as we hit the 'cobbled streets' where the market is held, my ankles, simultaneously gave way and my legs came to a very abrupt stop unfortunately/fortunately, I don't know, I guess it could have been worse but I was still holding onto Andrew's arm and he, in an effort to keep the sensible shoe brigade in sight was still moving forward - I'm sure you can visualize where this left me! the worst of this was the looks I was getting from the Christmas shoppers, I could feel them thinking 'fancy being in that state so early' as hard as I tried, at the speed we were going I just couldn't get the shoes back under the soles of my feet - I must have looked like bambi on ice and the fact that Andrew arrived with 2 sleeves attached to his jacket was a miracle!.
When we finally reached the hotel we were directed to the wrong bar, which was just as well because I fell through the door. The 'right' bar was still fairly empty and Andrew was able to position me in the corner while he went to get a drink, I don't often drink but I decided that as I had the appearance of a drunk I may as well have a couple!. Thankfully it wasn't long before we went in to eat and I was able to sit down and restore a little dignity. Of course the inevitable eventually happened and I had to pay a visit to the ladies, for this I was on my own and staggered across the wide open space like a circus tightrope walker. When I got back Andrew said one of the daftest things I have ever heard him say 'shall we dance' - dance! - I couldn't stand. He wasn't taking no and I was pulled up, dragged to the middle of the dance floor and balanced there like a stack of jenga bricks fairly close the end of the game. I figured that if I kept both feet on the floor, bounced and moved my arms I was probably giving the illusion that I was dancing. So long as I took no knocks from anyone else on the floor and Andrew stayed within falling distance I would be ok.
Of course, we had to get home - did I mention we arrived unhill! . . . quite! it was also ever so slightly icy underfoot, I felt as though I was going downhill, on ice with a pair of syrup tins loosely tied to my feet, I could see my marathon hopes fading fast as I hobbled along. Now there was a lot of work going on over night in the city centre with workmen and cranes all over the place and at one stage we were stopped while a crane lifted a large concrete block over the pavement. This was just long enough for a small crowd to gather behind us giving the added feeling of 'holding people up' not only that, but I could again feel the disapproving looks 'a woman of her age' 'how could she' . . . it was at this stage and within sight of the hotel, that I rather lost it. I threw my handbag at Andrew, hopped about a lot while I tried to extract my swollen feet from these shoes and ranted: 'next time you intend starting a bleep night out with a bleep cross country trek maybe you could let me bleeping well know and I'll wear my bleep hiking boots - once a year, once a bleeping year we go out and I wear something other than jeans and we are so bleep poor we can't even run to a bleep taxi' 'Thank you' I smiled to the doorman who opened the door for me!
When I got back to the room I actually sat and analysed the shoes just to check I wasn't wearing the inside out or upside down! I think in future I will be going for comfort - my days of 4 inch heels are well and truly over.
Anyway, that was my annual 'big night out' which, forgetting the shoes was actually a good night, stayed in a nice hotel, 'do' was in a nice hotel, meal was lovely, people were friendly and it did make a change to get a bit dressed up, but now it's serious, according to fb Jan did an 'easy' 40 minutes (don't you just hate that - good in a headband and 40 minutes is 'easy') took a rest day today but next Sunday I'm aiming high, so lots of work to do this week.
To be fair, I had borrowed these particular shoes before but there wasn't a great deal of walking involved when I wore them previously. I chose them last night because they were the highest I could lay my hands on and I felt that each inch might make my 'big legs' appear smaller. I have to say (and I may as well, no-one else did) I looked ok when I teetered out of the Hotel room and down to reception where I learned - to my horror - that the venue was 'only a five minute walk away' and with that the couple in the know (and in the sensible shoes) took off with Andrew trying to stay in visual contact and me trying to stay in . . . well in grabbing contact!.
The walk was ever so slightly, uphill and pavements are not. as I learned - flat. They slope towards the road and then, just as you've got you're balance sorted they change and slope the other way. When you think you've mastered the paving stones Birmingham has placed these areas covered in raised rocks, then there are the pedestrian crossings with little green men who have clearly never worn heels and wait 'till you hit the middle of the road before turning red!
Now Birmingham holds a German market at this time of year which, in wellies is quite festive!. This market is obviously open later than the shops because crowds of people were still leaving the city centre armed with bags of shopping, as we hit the 'cobbled streets' where the market is held, my ankles, simultaneously gave way and my legs came to a very abrupt stop unfortunately/fortunately, I don't know, I guess it could have been worse but I was still holding onto Andrew's arm and he, in an effort to keep the sensible shoe brigade in sight was still moving forward - I'm sure you can visualize where this left me! the worst of this was the looks I was getting from the Christmas shoppers, I could feel them thinking 'fancy being in that state so early' as hard as I tried, at the speed we were going I just couldn't get the shoes back under the soles of my feet - I must have looked like bambi on ice and the fact that Andrew arrived with 2 sleeves attached to his jacket was a miracle!.
When we finally reached the hotel we were directed to the wrong bar, which was just as well because I fell through the door. The 'right' bar was still fairly empty and Andrew was able to position me in the corner while he went to get a drink, I don't often drink but I decided that as I had the appearance of a drunk I may as well have a couple!. Thankfully it wasn't long before we went in to eat and I was able to sit down and restore a little dignity. Of course the inevitable eventually happened and I had to pay a visit to the ladies, for this I was on my own and staggered across the wide open space like a circus tightrope walker. When I got back Andrew said one of the daftest things I have ever heard him say 'shall we dance' - dance! - I couldn't stand. He wasn't taking no and I was pulled up, dragged to the middle of the dance floor and balanced there like a stack of jenga bricks fairly close the end of the game. I figured that if I kept both feet on the floor, bounced and moved my arms I was probably giving the illusion that I was dancing. So long as I took no knocks from anyone else on the floor and Andrew stayed within falling distance I would be ok.
Of course, we had to get home - did I mention we arrived unhill! . . . quite! it was also ever so slightly icy underfoot, I felt as though I was going downhill, on ice with a pair of syrup tins loosely tied to my feet, I could see my marathon hopes fading fast as I hobbled along. Now there was a lot of work going on over night in the city centre with workmen and cranes all over the place and at one stage we were stopped while a crane lifted a large concrete block over the pavement. This was just long enough for a small crowd to gather behind us giving the added feeling of 'holding people up' not only that, but I could again feel the disapproving looks 'a woman of her age' 'how could she' . . . it was at this stage and within sight of the hotel, that I rather lost it. I threw my handbag at Andrew, hopped about a lot while I tried to extract my swollen feet from these shoes and ranted: 'next time you intend starting a bleep night out with a bleep cross country trek maybe you could let me bleeping well know and I'll wear my bleep hiking boots - once a year, once a bleeping year we go out and I wear something other than jeans and we are so bleep poor we can't even run to a bleep taxi' 'Thank you' I smiled to the doorman who opened the door for me!
When I got back to the room I actually sat and analysed the shoes just to check I wasn't wearing the inside out or upside down! I think in future I will be going for comfort - my days of 4 inch heels are well and truly over.
Anyway, that was my annual 'big night out' which, forgetting the shoes was actually a good night, stayed in a nice hotel, 'do' was in a nice hotel, meal was lovely, people were friendly and it did make a change to get a bit dressed up, but now it's serious, according to fb Jan did an 'easy' 40 minutes (don't you just hate that - good in a headband and 40 minutes is 'easy') took a rest day today but next Sunday I'm aiming high, so lots of work to do this week.
Ran out of time . . .
Had to dash off yesterday but before I went I did manage another 40 minutes so that was 80 minutes in under 24 hours. There will be no more backwards steps!
Saturday, 10 December 2011
Going forwards again . . . about time!
Well, despite the cold, the wind, the puddles and the fact that I was on my own I finally achieved 40 minutes, which puts me back to where I was before the blood incident. I think I'm officially 3 weeks behind schedule, but at least I'm going in the right direction again.
I did hear from two people this week who really pushed me forward, the first was a person I work with who is also doing the marathon next year, but she was a bit of a runner anyway. She gave me some really useful advice that I put into practice yesterday and it helped. We are also going to meet up and run together but she's already up to 10 miles so I need to catch up a bit.
The second was my sister Jan (wears a headband well) she now has a place in the marathon running for one of the cancer charities. She also does a bit of running and gym visiting so once again - a bit of catching up to do. I won't now look like 'Billy no mates' on the day and hopefully we can get each other round.
So, this morning . . . intake of fuel! - another 40 minute run (I can do it), 20 sit-ups (last minute cramming for the little black dress), weekends housework crammed into 2 hours, shower, packing and in the car by 1 pm for trip to Birmingham - where's my fairy godmother when I need her???
I did hear from two people this week who really pushed me forward, the first was a person I work with who is also doing the marathon next year, but she was a bit of a runner anyway. She gave me some really useful advice that I put into practice yesterday and it helped. We are also going to meet up and run together but she's already up to 10 miles so I need to catch up a bit.
The second was my sister Jan (wears a headband well) she now has a place in the marathon running for one of the cancer charities. She also does a bit of running and gym visiting so once again - a bit of catching up to do. I won't now look like 'Billy no mates' on the day and hopefully we can get each other round.
So, this morning . . . intake of fuel! - another 40 minute run (I can do it), 20 sit-ups (last minute cramming for the little black dress), weekends housework crammed into 2 hours, shower, packing and in the car by 1 pm for trip to Birmingham - where's my fairy godmother when I need her???
Thursday, 8 December 2011
And to think I could be singing . . .
I think I have mentioned before that I belong to a choir, well when I say choir that possibly gives slightly the wrong idea, 'singing group' might be a better description. I have watched and fallen in love with the wonderful Gareth Malone since he first appeared on our TV screens and longed for the opportunity to join a group of people who get together to sing under the supervision of a talented and inspirational 'choir master' so in January of this year when a friend told me about Discord - I was there.
Following the previous year which had been personally sad and financially disastrous I went along on the first night a rather morose, bitter old bag and for the first time in months I laughed until I ached which was a relatively new experience. We are incredibly lucky in our own 'Gareth' - Michael Dann who is, not only talented but week after week arrives with a laugh and a joke and turns each 'sing-a-long' into a party. Over the weeks, in my head, I have starred in musicals, I've won x-factor, sung at Wembley and entertained Royalty. Singularly, I still can't sing but I sound absolutely amazing when I'm being dragged along by another 40 odd people, the majority of whom can at the very least 'hold a tune' I come away with my heart lifted and each week Gareth's message that singing is good for the soul rings ever truer. I believe singing should be available on prescription, it should form the basis of every political parties manifesto and every office, factory, school etc. should start the day with a song!!
I can however categorically confirm that if it was not your destiny to sing then no amount of practice will improve the noise you make. I have put this to the test every week since I started. I sing along with everyone else thinking 'God, I'm good' - we leave, I drop off the two friends I go with and as I turn onto the main road I go for it, whatever we were singing last I belt out my very own 'a cappella' version because each week I believe I've turned into Leona Lewis and every week I'm gutted to discover I still sound like the worst of the x-factor rejects.
This Saturday will be the first meeting of the 4 different Discord groups, they will come together, nearly 100 of them, in a little concert along with 5 ladies who really can sing, the Merely Divas. they will be singing loads of Christmas songs and it will sound incredible - and me, well I will be squeezed into a very snug little black dress wishing that I didn't have quite such 'big legs' and wishing that I was there borrowing their combined voices to kid myself I can sing.
To anyone from Discord who reads this, I wish you lots of luck, but you won't need it because it will sound amazing, so have lots of fun, enjoy!
Viv xx
Following the previous year which had been personally sad and financially disastrous I went along on the first night a rather morose, bitter old bag and for the first time in months I laughed until I ached which was a relatively new experience. We are incredibly lucky in our own 'Gareth' - Michael Dann who is, not only talented but week after week arrives with a laugh and a joke and turns each 'sing-a-long' into a party. Over the weeks, in my head, I have starred in musicals, I've won x-factor, sung at Wembley and entertained Royalty. Singularly, I still can't sing but I sound absolutely amazing when I'm being dragged along by another 40 odd people, the majority of whom can at the very least 'hold a tune' I come away with my heart lifted and each week Gareth's message that singing is good for the soul rings ever truer. I believe singing should be available on prescription, it should form the basis of every political parties manifesto and every office, factory, school etc. should start the day with a song!!
I can however categorically confirm that if it was not your destiny to sing then no amount of practice will improve the noise you make. I have put this to the test every week since I started. I sing along with everyone else thinking 'God, I'm good' - we leave, I drop off the two friends I go with and as I turn onto the main road I go for it, whatever we were singing last I belt out my very own 'a cappella' version because each week I believe I've turned into Leona Lewis and every week I'm gutted to discover I still sound like the worst of the x-factor rejects.
This Saturday will be the first meeting of the 4 different Discord groups, they will come together, nearly 100 of them, in a little concert along with 5 ladies who really can sing, the Merely Divas. they will be singing loads of Christmas songs and it will sound incredible - and me, well I will be squeezed into a very snug little black dress wishing that I didn't have quite such 'big legs' and wishing that I was there borrowing their combined voices to kid myself I can sing.
To anyone from Discord who reads this, I wish you lots of luck, but you won't need it because it will sound amazing, so have lots of fun, enjoy!
Viv xx
Wednesday, 7 December 2011
A Little Black Dress
It has to be said, the passion has rather gone out of my marriage, don't get me wrong, I love him to bits but we have become like side by side pairs of cosy old slippers!!!. This Saturday we are off for our 'once a year' night out - I mean we 'visit' throughout the year, we go for the occasional pub lunch and this year, during our summer holiday we went by tube to the theatre and took the park and ride into Cambridge for the day and we went upstairs (on the bus!), which, after years of rationing loo roll was comparable to being whisked off to Paris for the weekend. This Saturday however, is a 'posh frock' affair and that is a very rare event in our calendar. There is a ritual to the buying of the frock, it starts with . . .
'I'm not going to buy a new dress, I won't wear it again' Then we move to:
'I'll wear the same one I wore last year, we can't afford a new one' Then I look online and browse whilst making it clear that I am 'only looking'
eventually I place an order, but only because I've found one that is such a bargain I have to see if it's for real and I can always send it back!. The dress in question arrived but because I was obviously made up from the spare parts of 2 people and my top half bares no relation to my lower half the bottom bit fitted perfectly whilst the top hung off me like a bag of wet washing. I ordered the smaller size but only out of curiosity, it arrived during my lounge lope today (goodness knows what the poor delivery man thought I was up to behind the closed curtains but my bright red face, sweat marks and breathlessness must have led him to some interesting conclusions) anyway, late tonight I felt the time was right to try on the dress. The top was as expected, fine whilst the bottom bit was . . . well, snug! and being snug meant that it ended some ways further up than the larger size. I analysed it from every angle, did that yes it's great - no, it looks completely ridiculous thing, pulled it, pushed it, twisted it down a bit at the bottom and hoisted it up a bit at the top, I held my stomach in as tight as I could and pinned my arms to my sides so that the flabby bits under my arms didn't show and then walked, well, 'moved' downstairs to see what Andrew thought, well when I say to see what he thought, I wanted to see what he thought provided it was positive. I guess my mistake was to enter the room saying 'now I want the truth - really, what do you think' but come on, every man knows that doesn't mean 'tell me what you think' well, not Andrew. I paraded up and down the room thinking 'this is taking a while' his face was worrying now, 'this is taking far too long' eventually he said:
'Maybe it's because I haven't seen your legs for so long' . . . steady
'But I didn't realise, I didn't think . . . I mean, well' . . . 'No, go on, be honest, what do you think' (provided it's you look absolutely gorgeous)
'Well, I didn't realise . . . that - they were so big'
SO BIG????. . . so now I am not only boobless and shapeless but I have big legs!
'You have to remember' I said calmly through gritted teeth 'that I will be wearing heels' cue walking on toes up and down the lounge
'Of course' he said 'Oh that's different again, yes, that looks really good, it's nice . . . suits you'
Oh well that's ok then, 'cause it 'suits me' - soooo looking forward to Saturday night!!!!
'I'm not going to buy a new dress, I won't wear it again' Then we move to:
'I'll wear the same one I wore last year, we can't afford a new one' Then I look online and browse whilst making it clear that I am 'only looking'
eventually I place an order, but only because I've found one that is such a bargain I have to see if it's for real and I can always send it back!. The dress in question arrived but because I was obviously made up from the spare parts of 2 people and my top half bares no relation to my lower half the bottom bit fitted perfectly whilst the top hung off me like a bag of wet washing. I ordered the smaller size but only out of curiosity, it arrived during my lounge lope today (goodness knows what the poor delivery man thought I was up to behind the closed curtains but my bright red face, sweat marks and breathlessness must have led him to some interesting conclusions) anyway, late tonight I felt the time was right to try on the dress. The top was as expected, fine whilst the bottom bit was . . . well, snug! and being snug meant that it ended some ways further up than the larger size. I analysed it from every angle, did that yes it's great - no, it looks completely ridiculous thing, pulled it, pushed it, twisted it down a bit at the bottom and hoisted it up a bit at the top, I held my stomach in as tight as I could and pinned my arms to my sides so that the flabby bits under my arms didn't show and then walked, well, 'moved' downstairs to see what Andrew thought, well when I say to see what he thought, I wanted to see what he thought provided it was positive. I guess my mistake was to enter the room saying 'now I want the truth - really, what do you think' but come on, every man knows that doesn't mean 'tell me what you think' well, not Andrew. I paraded up and down the room thinking 'this is taking a while' his face was worrying now, 'this is taking far too long' eventually he said:
'Maybe it's because I haven't seen your legs for so long' . . . steady
'But I didn't realise, I didn't think . . . I mean, well' . . . 'No, go on, be honest, what do you think' (provided it's you look absolutely gorgeous)
'Well, I didn't realise . . . that - they were so big'
SO BIG????. . . so now I am not only boobless and shapeless but I have big legs!
'You have to remember' I said calmly through gritted teeth 'that I will be wearing heels' cue walking on toes up and down the lounge
'Of course' he said 'Oh that's different again, yes, that looks really good, it's nice . . . suits you'
Oh well that's ok then, 'cause it 'suits me' - soooo looking forward to Saturday night!!!!
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
Would you believe it . . . I'm big in Russia!
Well, when I say 'big' what I mean is that over the last few days my Russian audience has been larger than my UK audience!. So I would like to say a very big thank you to everyone who reads this but in particular to the people in Russia, I hope you enjoy what I write and I would love to hear from you, especially if you can offer me any advice - so long as it's not 'don't do it'.
Ok, over the last week and a half there has been a great deal of soul searching, a lot of muttering and shouting at myself, a lot of reading and a lot of . . . walking!!! yes, not gone too well but after the blood incident I wasn't really expecting that it would. I've been on the iron tablets, I've discovered proteins and carbs and now I'm filling myself with wholegrain rice, pasta, bread, bagals - and bananas, loads and loads of bananas. My last online shop resulted in the purchase of 48 bananas and a miniature birthday cake between 8 of us for my mother in laws 90th birthday. Most weeks there is some sort of problem with my online shop, one week it was bags of castor sugar, another week we were overwhelmed by pork chops. You have to wonder what my 'picker' must of thought while she was piling the trolley with bananas - maybe she thought I was holding a tennis tournament, or I kept monkeys! unfortunately Andrew didn't quite see the funny side when I suggested that we spray them gold and hang them on the Christmas tree, he just couldn't see past the £9.00 I had spent on bananas that totally smashed the shopping budget this week.
Alongside the bananas, the carbs, the protein and the iron every cupboard door in the kitchen is now covered with inspirational words, there are poems, thoughts and sayings. My favourite, and I'm serious now, is one by Mohammad Ali, it goes:
Champions aren't made in gyms.
Champions are made from something they have deep inside them:
A desire, a dream, a vision.
They have to have last minute stamina, they have to be a little faster,
they have to have the skill and the will.
But the will must be stronger than the skill.
With this in mind I have been attempting to take this bloke Will out with me for the last week or so but at the crucial moments he seems to desert me and all I come up with is an ever growing list of excuses. The blood incident has become a huge excuse ... 'I can't do it because I gave blood and the internet says you won't be able to run' dogs, on or off leads are another excuse . . . 'you can't run past a dog, it'll chase you' being on my own - that is a truly pathetic excuse . . . 'I never run as well when I'm on my own' and then this week, the best yet . . . a puddle, yes, you heard right, I stopped because of a puddle. It was a rather large puddle and I could hear a car coming, I thought, for goodness sake Viv's you're a runner go through it, would Paula Radcliffe stop? - unfortunately though, and I just couldn't stop it, this picture of Dawn French in the Vicar of Dibley came into my head, when she playfully jumped in a puddle infront of this chap she was madly in love with and ended up neck deep in mud! I had to stop and wait until the car past before I could navigate my way around it and then I shouted at my legs 'RUN' - 'you've stopped now' they replied. 'MOVE' - 'not a chance' they said 'you can't stop and start at the drop of a hat'. Where for goodness sake was Will??
I have though changed my training programme, greatest respect to the marathon's programme, I'm sure they know what they are doing but it works in minutes and I wanted to have some idea of how far I was running, after all, the marathon is a distance race. I go so slowly that when I eventually try to run a distance it could be a dreadful disappointment. So now we are regularly going out to run 3 miles and on Sunday we did 4 - although we didn't run a great deal of it = failure, we are doing longer distances week by week = success, so it does feel as though we are moving forwards, we do also try to walk quite fast, infact my coach is convinced I walk faster than I lope?? Yesterday however, we did walk more than we ran which was really annoying my coach so I decided to do a bit of lounge loping on my rest day today in an effort to catch up. I loped for 40 minutes which is roughly the time it took us to walk/lope the 3 miles, I'm going to do this again tomorrow and then go out again on Thursday, I'm hoping something inside my brain will say 'you can lope for 40 minutes inside and outside is no different so you can do this' I just can't see why it is so different inside.
Hopefully some day soon I shall come across Will while I'm out running and I will begin to toughen up a bit and stop wasting time inventing excuses.
If you can, I would be really grateful if you would sponsor me, my very first blog 'To this Point' explains who I am doing this for and why. You can sponsor me at:
www.virginmoneygiving.com/VivienneKanharn
Thank you
Ok, over the last week and a half there has been a great deal of soul searching, a lot of muttering and shouting at myself, a lot of reading and a lot of . . . walking!!! yes, not gone too well but after the blood incident I wasn't really expecting that it would. I've been on the iron tablets, I've discovered proteins and carbs and now I'm filling myself with wholegrain rice, pasta, bread, bagals - and bananas, loads and loads of bananas. My last online shop resulted in the purchase of 48 bananas and a miniature birthday cake between 8 of us for my mother in laws 90th birthday. Most weeks there is some sort of problem with my online shop, one week it was bags of castor sugar, another week we were overwhelmed by pork chops. You have to wonder what my 'picker' must of thought while she was piling the trolley with bananas - maybe she thought I was holding a tennis tournament, or I kept monkeys! unfortunately Andrew didn't quite see the funny side when I suggested that we spray them gold and hang them on the Christmas tree, he just couldn't see past the £9.00 I had spent on bananas that totally smashed the shopping budget this week.
Alongside the bananas, the carbs, the protein and the iron every cupboard door in the kitchen is now covered with inspirational words, there are poems, thoughts and sayings. My favourite, and I'm serious now, is one by Mohammad Ali, it goes:
Champions aren't made in gyms.
Champions are made from something they have deep inside them:
A desire, a dream, a vision.
They have to have last minute stamina, they have to be a little faster,
they have to have the skill and the will.
But the will must be stronger than the skill.
With this in mind I have been attempting to take this bloke Will out with me for the last week or so but at the crucial moments he seems to desert me and all I come up with is an ever growing list of excuses. The blood incident has become a huge excuse ... 'I can't do it because I gave blood and the internet says you won't be able to run' dogs, on or off leads are another excuse . . . 'you can't run past a dog, it'll chase you' being on my own - that is a truly pathetic excuse . . . 'I never run as well when I'm on my own' and then this week, the best yet . . . a puddle, yes, you heard right, I stopped because of a puddle. It was a rather large puddle and I could hear a car coming, I thought, for goodness sake Viv's you're a runner go through it, would Paula Radcliffe stop? - unfortunately though, and I just couldn't stop it, this picture of Dawn French in the Vicar of Dibley came into my head, when she playfully jumped in a puddle infront of this chap she was madly in love with and ended up neck deep in mud! I had to stop and wait until the car past before I could navigate my way around it and then I shouted at my legs 'RUN' - 'you've stopped now' they replied. 'MOVE' - 'not a chance' they said 'you can't stop and start at the drop of a hat'. Where for goodness sake was Will??
I have though changed my training programme, greatest respect to the marathon's programme, I'm sure they know what they are doing but it works in minutes and I wanted to have some idea of how far I was running, after all, the marathon is a distance race. I go so slowly that when I eventually try to run a distance it could be a dreadful disappointment. So now we are regularly going out to run 3 miles and on Sunday we did 4 - although we didn't run a great deal of it = failure, we are doing longer distances week by week = success, so it does feel as though we are moving forwards, we do also try to walk quite fast, infact my coach is convinced I walk faster than I lope?? Yesterday however, we did walk more than we ran which was really annoying my coach so I decided to do a bit of lounge loping on my rest day today in an effort to catch up. I loped for 40 minutes which is roughly the time it took us to walk/lope the 3 miles, I'm going to do this again tomorrow and then go out again on Thursday, I'm hoping something inside my brain will say 'you can lope for 40 minutes inside and outside is no different so you can do this' I just can't see why it is so different inside.
Hopefully some day soon I shall come across Will while I'm out running and I will begin to toughen up a bit and stop wasting time inventing excuses.
If you can, I would be really grateful if you would sponsor me, my very first blog 'To this Point' explains who I am doing this for and why. You can sponsor me at:
www.virginmoneygiving.com/VivienneKanharn
Thank you
Monday, 28 November 2011
On we go again . . .
Firstly, and most importantly I must say one thing, if you can give blood it is very important that you do. I don't want anything I have said to stop anyone giving blood. It didn't hurt, the people are lovely and it saves lives, just time it right if you're planning on doing anything that requires a bit more energy than normal. I will definitely be back again once I've got my breathe back after 22nd April next year.
I didn't even attempt to go out yesterday, I could hardly get up the stairs so I felt 50 minutes would be a bit beyond me. It was an odd sort of a day, it was Charlie's birthday but he's in Leeds at uni having a great time so for the first time since the birth of our first son we had a birthday without a child!. I didn't know if we should still put up the usual banner and light the candles on a cake but I decided not to and made do with singing happy birthday on the speaker phone and a couple of messages on facebook. It all felt very strange but I guess we will have to get used to it. Anyway, together with my training locked in reverse gear, the day felt very flat!
Not knowing quite what to do in training terms I made the decision to go back by 2 weeks from today which meant a 15 minute lope at lunchtime. We did achieve it which is good and I must look on it as a success because the only option is that every day from now is a failure and that just won't work. I shall have to make up the two weeks gradually over the coming months. I'm feeling a little more optimistic as the day has gone on, I'm not beat yet.
I didn't even attempt to go out yesterday, I could hardly get up the stairs so I felt 50 minutes would be a bit beyond me. It was an odd sort of a day, it was Charlie's birthday but he's in Leeds at uni having a great time so for the first time since the birth of our first son we had a birthday without a child!. I didn't know if we should still put up the usual banner and light the candles on a cake but I decided not to and made do with singing happy birthday on the speaker phone and a couple of messages on facebook. It all felt very strange but I guess we will have to get used to it. Anyway, together with my training locked in reverse gear, the day felt very flat!
Not knowing quite what to do in training terms I made the decision to go back by 2 weeks from today which meant a 15 minute lope at lunchtime. We did achieve it which is good and I must look on it as a success because the only option is that every day from now is a failure and that just won't work. I shall have to make up the two weeks gradually over the coming months. I'm feeling a little more optimistic as the day has gone on, I'm not beat yet.
Saturday, 26 November 2011
Good News and Bad News
Well the good news is that I have discovered why I am struggling so much. The bad news is that it could take another 6 to 8 weeks before it gets better!. I have to be the most stupid person in the entire history of people, why oh why after 53 years of excuses did I choose this time in my life to donate blood?
Searching for a reason for my complete failure this week I googled 'giving blood whilst marathon training' or something similar. There were many answers, all said basically, not a good idea but one explained why, it read:
donating red blood cells, either through a whole blood donation or through an automated process, will have a negative impact on any endurance activity. The reason is red blood cells carry oxygen in your blood. Without those, your muscles will tire extremely quickly. It takes about 8 weeks for red blood cells to regenerate. Unfortunately, I learned this the hard way!
. . . bit like me then!
What an idiot, why didn't I investigate first - because I never do. At least though I Know why and I won't be quite so hard on myself over the next few weeks.
Searching for a reason for my complete failure this week I googled 'giving blood whilst marathon training' or something similar. There were many answers, all said basically, not a good idea but one explained why, it read:
donating red blood cells, either through a whole blood donation or through an automated process, will have a negative impact on any endurance activity. The reason is red blood cells carry oxygen in your blood. Without those, your muscles will tire extremely quickly. It takes about 8 weeks for red blood cells to regenerate. Unfortunately, I learned this the hard way!
. . . bit like me then!
What an idiot, why didn't I investigate first - because I never do. At least though I Know why and I won't be quite so hard on myself over the next few weeks.
Friday, 25 November 2011
OK, so it's not just Wednesday's
. . . it's me! I'm sorry Mr Patton but I wouldn't have been a great deal of use to you in the war, I would have been waving the white flag long before we had left the barracks. I failed, with a massive 32 minutes remaining to 'hold on' for. I seem to be 2 or 3 miles in and I've already 'hit the wall'.
This week I have failed for 50% of my training and not just by the odd minute or so, by huge amounts - and to think I could have done a sponsored silence or sat in a bean bath for a week, no, not me, I went straight to the top and somewhere in my stupid head I thought that running a marathon would be a good idea!!!.
There are thousands of people of all ages, from all walks of life who succeed with this every year so why is it beyond me?.
If anyone has any 'positive' tips for me I would be enormously grateful.
This week I have failed for 50% of my training and not just by the odd minute or so, by huge amounts - and to think I could have done a sponsored silence or sat in a bean bath for a week, no, not me, I went straight to the top and somewhere in my stupid head I thought that running a marathon would be a good idea!!!.
There are thousands of people of all ages, from all walks of life who succeed with this every year so why is it beyond me?.
If anyone has any 'positive' tips for me I would be enormously grateful.
Thursday, 24 November 2011
Quote of the Week
'Courage is fear holding on a minute longer'
George Patton
World War 2 General
Now that's what I call a quote. Simple, short and so absolutely relevant for anything that you try to do in life. I shall take this with me for the rest of the climb.
What is it with Wednesday's?
I have never been too partial to Wednesday's. It began many many years ago when I was at Ballet School. All day Wednesday's we had Miss Kelly, first for contemporary dance and then for character. She had the blackest eye's I have ever seen and a temper like you wouldn't believe - she absolutely terrified me and turned Tuesday's into a nightmare of foreboding and Wednesday evenings into a weekly celebration at having survived to live another day. For three years it always seemed to be Wednesday!.
Through the years I obviously haven't had to suffer the trauma of Miss Kelly but Wednesday's have never been my favourite days, neither one thing nor the other, not Monday enough to be really depressed at the working week ahead but not quite Friday enough to open the champagne.
I thought that I had banished these feelings to an extent, when in January I joined a choir! - it's held on a Wednesday - and no, I sing as well as I run but that's kind of the point!. It turned Wednesday's into a day to look forward to and I thought 'I'm cured'.
But now, I appear to be back with the Wednesday phobia. My training week goes like this . . . I have a rest day on Saturday, the longest run on Sunday, which is hard but following Saturday I have, to date, achieved my goals. Monday and Tuesday's are shorter recovery runs and then on a Wednesday it starts to build up again. Wednesdays and Fridays are kind of split runs, for example this Wednesday I should have jogged (read lope) for 10 minutes, run (read jog) for 10 minutes, walk (stagger) for 5 minutes, run (jog) for 5, jog (lope) for 10. Well I got to the first 'run' and I said 'legs, run' . . . nothing!. I said 'legs, go faster' . . . again, nothing. Now once again, Madi was at work so I was on my own - but that is a ridiculous excuse, I don't think they allow fun runners to bring along a pacemaker? if that's the problem I really have to get over it. I did also give blood on Tuesday and having never done it before I do wonder just how long it takes to get back to normal?. If that was the problem I can live with that because it will get better.
Anyway, today Madi was back and we did a very hard 25 minutes but we did it. Tomorrow we will attempt another split run, hopefully it will work this time because on Sunday I have 50 minutes to go and that seems like a very very long time!
Through the years I obviously haven't had to suffer the trauma of Miss Kelly but Wednesday's have never been my favourite days, neither one thing nor the other, not Monday enough to be really depressed at the working week ahead but not quite Friday enough to open the champagne.
I thought that I had banished these feelings to an extent, when in January I joined a choir! - it's held on a Wednesday - and no, I sing as well as I run but that's kind of the point!. It turned Wednesday's into a day to look forward to and I thought 'I'm cured'.
But now, I appear to be back with the Wednesday phobia. My training week goes like this . . . I have a rest day on Saturday, the longest run on Sunday, which is hard but following Saturday I have, to date, achieved my goals. Monday and Tuesday's are shorter recovery runs and then on a Wednesday it starts to build up again. Wednesdays and Fridays are kind of split runs, for example this Wednesday I should have jogged (read lope) for 10 minutes, run (read jog) for 10 minutes, walk (stagger) for 5 minutes, run (jog) for 5, jog (lope) for 10. Well I got to the first 'run' and I said 'legs, run' . . . nothing!. I said 'legs, go faster' . . . again, nothing. Now once again, Madi was at work so I was on my own - but that is a ridiculous excuse, I don't think they allow fun runners to bring along a pacemaker? if that's the problem I really have to get over it. I did also give blood on Tuesday and having never done it before I do wonder just how long it takes to get back to normal?. If that was the problem I can live with that because it will get better.
Anyway, today Madi was back and we did a very hard 25 minutes but we did it. Tomorrow we will attempt another split run, hopefully it will work this time because on Sunday I have 50 minutes to go and that seems like a very very long time!
Monday, 21 November 2011
Anyone want to buy a stopwatch?
Unique Selling Points
- times all sports activities,
- times single events and unlimited splits
- has a 40" nylon lanyard????
- Oh, and it's aesthetically pleasing!
Only used once and only slightly faulty - the alarm goes off every five minutes!... but it's not that annoying and if you can read Bengali you could quite possibly re-set it.
I was looking for a simple way to time the different splits on my '24 week beginners guide' but to be honest it would be easier to take my phone and have someone call me at ten minute intervals - it's a bit tricky to run and read the instructions at the same time??. Andrew has done a bit of investigating tonight and it seems what I need is an 'ironman triathlon strap watch' and when I win the lottery I shall invest in one.
By the way, I did the 40 minutes on Sunday, I was so pleased
back on track!
Saturday, 19 November 2011
Do I need a Whistle?
. . . . now this slightly off the wall question came about following a series of events that went as follows:
On Thursday after my Wednesday episode I went out with the coach determined to do 25 minutes. We started loping as we hit the first bit of pavement outside the drive to our house (somehow that sounds very grand and not wanting to mislead you 'dirt track' might be more accurate). We ran up the road, turned left at the top and then came down what I now refer to as 'The Mall' this is because it's slightly downhill so we always try to arrange to be coming down it rather than up it, at the end of a run and I visualise coming along the Mall towards the finish. If we time it right at the weekend and Diss are playing at home and they are about to score a try we even get the sound of a cheering crowd as we 'round the bend onto the Mall'. As we got to the bottom coach said stop, we had done 25 minutes - success!. On Friday I was on my own and decided that I didn't want to have to keep looking at the time, there's nothing worse than waiting for the minutes to tick by so I planned to start at the same spot and attempt to come back to the same spot, this would increase the distance and hopefully mean I would lope for around 30 minutes. I managed this but when I looked at my phone at the end I had only done 27 minutes - now either I had speeded up quite considerably - highly unlikely - or timing has not been terribly accurate up till now (I'm not pointing any fingers here!!!!!)
'I need a stopwatch' I declared to Andrew when he got home and I relayed my little story to him. When the kids had all gone out we sat on the sofa together and set about ordering the stopwatch (this is the closest we come to romance in our house on a Friday night!). I went onto 'that' site and discovered that there are thousands of stopwatches ranging in price from a fiver up to £400 plus. I went for one around £20.00, the particular one I was looking at listed among it's 'unique selling points' the ability to time all sports activities, to time single events and unlimited splits. These things I felt were probably all I really needed in a stopwatch, I couldn't think of any other requirements.
Half asleep, Andrew then said 'There's one there for £4.95' . . . now I had been waiting for this, I'm always waiting for this. As I browse through the rails in Wallis or Next Andrew will always ask 'have you looked in Primark?' and then give me that 'What' face like he really has no idea what he has just said, and that is the problem, he really has no idea what he has just said.
To humour him I looked at the £4.95 stopwatch knowing full well there would be something - anything wrong with it. Among it's list of 'unique selling points' it could . . . time all sports activities, time single events and unlimited splits. I noticed though that someone had left a review and they had pointed out that the buttons over time became a bit loose and would 'double bounce'???.
'I don't want any double bouncing' I argued 'I could be gone for days thinking this is a very long 40 minutes!'
As we always do, we compromised and I went for one priced at £6.99 but reduced to £6.98?. this one listed it's 'unique selling points' as . . . it could time all sports activities, time single events and unlimited splits. It also is, evidently, 'aesthetically pleasing' - I'm sure this will be useful, anything that might help! and also has a 40" nylon lanyard, I really have no idea what that might be for????. Anyway, I was about to order it when 'that' site thought I needed to know that of the 100 or so people who had bought this item, nearly half had also bought a whistle, now my only excuse for what followed is that I don't normally drink these days but I had just poured myself a small glass of wine which is all I can think prompted the very silly conversation that went something like this:
Me: 'do you think I need a whistle'
Andrew: 'Why would you need a whistle'
Me: 'I don't know, but lots of people who bought this stopwatch needed a whistle'
Andrew: 'but why would you need one'
Me: 'well, I suppose, should I collapse on my way round and I'm on my own I could 'whistle' for help'
Andrew: 'do you think anyone would notice'
Me: 'I don't know but why else would I need a whistle'
Andrew: 'You don't need a whistle'
I have decided to go without the whistle for now, if it becomes apparent that I do need one for some reason in the weeks to come I will order myself one . . . if anyone can think of a reason why I might need one please let me know.
Rest day today and 40 minute tomorrow which feels like a very long time, that's longer than an entire episode of Eastenders!!!!!
On Thursday after my Wednesday episode I went out with the coach determined to do 25 minutes. We started loping as we hit the first bit of pavement outside the drive to our house (somehow that sounds very grand and not wanting to mislead you 'dirt track' might be more accurate). We ran up the road, turned left at the top and then came down what I now refer to as 'The Mall' this is because it's slightly downhill so we always try to arrange to be coming down it rather than up it, at the end of a run and I visualise coming along the Mall towards the finish. If we time it right at the weekend and Diss are playing at home and they are about to score a try we even get the sound of a cheering crowd as we 'round the bend onto the Mall'. As we got to the bottom coach said stop, we had done 25 minutes - success!. On Friday I was on my own and decided that I didn't want to have to keep looking at the time, there's nothing worse than waiting for the minutes to tick by so I planned to start at the same spot and attempt to come back to the same spot, this would increase the distance and hopefully mean I would lope for around 30 minutes. I managed this but when I looked at my phone at the end I had only done 27 minutes - now either I had speeded up quite considerably - highly unlikely - or timing has not been terribly accurate up till now (I'm not pointing any fingers here!!!!!)
'I need a stopwatch' I declared to Andrew when he got home and I relayed my little story to him. When the kids had all gone out we sat on the sofa together and set about ordering the stopwatch (this is the closest we come to romance in our house on a Friday night!). I went onto 'that' site and discovered that there are thousands of stopwatches ranging in price from a fiver up to £400 plus. I went for one around £20.00, the particular one I was looking at listed among it's 'unique selling points' the ability to time all sports activities, to time single events and unlimited splits. These things I felt were probably all I really needed in a stopwatch, I couldn't think of any other requirements.
Half asleep, Andrew then said 'There's one there for £4.95' . . . now I had been waiting for this, I'm always waiting for this. As I browse through the rails in Wallis or Next Andrew will always ask 'have you looked in Primark?' and then give me that 'What' face like he really has no idea what he has just said, and that is the problem, he really has no idea what he has just said.
To humour him I looked at the £4.95 stopwatch knowing full well there would be something - anything wrong with it. Among it's list of 'unique selling points' it could . . . time all sports activities, time single events and unlimited splits. I noticed though that someone had left a review and they had pointed out that the buttons over time became a bit loose and would 'double bounce'???.
'I don't want any double bouncing' I argued 'I could be gone for days thinking this is a very long 40 minutes!'
As we always do, we compromised and I went for one priced at £6.99 but reduced to £6.98?. this one listed it's 'unique selling points' as . . . it could time all sports activities, time single events and unlimited splits. It also is, evidently, 'aesthetically pleasing' - I'm sure this will be useful, anything that might help! and also has a 40" nylon lanyard, I really have no idea what that might be for????. Anyway, I was about to order it when 'that' site thought I needed to know that of the 100 or so people who had bought this item, nearly half had also bought a whistle, now my only excuse for what followed is that I don't normally drink these days but I had just poured myself a small glass of wine which is all I can think prompted the very silly conversation that went something like this:
Me: 'do you think I need a whistle'
Andrew: 'Why would you need a whistle'
Me: 'I don't know, but lots of people who bought this stopwatch needed a whistle'
Andrew: 'but why would you need one'
Me: 'well, I suppose, should I collapse on my way round and I'm on my own I could 'whistle' for help'
Andrew: 'do you think anyone would notice'
Me: 'I don't know but why else would I need a whistle'
Andrew: 'You don't need a whistle'
I have decided to go without the whistle for now, if it becomes apparent that I do need one for some reason in the weeks to come I will order myself one . . . if anyone can think of a reason why I might need one please let me know.
Rest day today and 40 minute tomorrow which feels like a very long time, that's longer than an entire episode of Eastenders!!!!!
Thursday, 17 November 2011
Disaster of a Day
I'm not going to start this with 'this is so hard' like I said, I expect that now. I don't know if it's the fact that my training was interrupted this week which threw the programme out the window completely or if it's the fact that I haven't felt great for a while but yesterday when I went out I felt like the guy in the lead diving suit and for the first time in five and a half weeks I well and truly failed to achieve my goal.
We did a great 30 minutes on Sunday, I was so chuffed. I even found a fairly local 10 mile run for the end of January that we can do which falls in perfectly with the programme. On Monday when I got home I did a 20 minute 'lope in the lounge'. I can't go out in the dark as I have no fluorescent gear so no-one would see me and I really don't fancy it at all - is that really pathetic?, anyway, I decided on 'lounge loping' in bare feet (trainers are quite dirty now) within a couple of minutes I realised the value of the mid-foot support system, I had pains in parts of my legs I didn't know existed before, I wasn't sure at the end if I had gone forwards or backwards in training terms. Tuesday when I got in I felt awful and just couldn't face loping anywhere under any circumstances so I declared a rest day and sat in front of the fire.
Yesterday was supposed to see the introduction of 'running'. I should have jogged 10 minutes, run for 5 then jogged for 15. I decided that it might be best to do the day before's 25 minute lope and bring in the running the next day. I was on my own as the coach was at work. 10 minutes in I wanted to take off my jacket and that's when it all started to go wrong. I couldn't lope and extract my hand from the sleeve whilst trying to hang on to my phone - I use the phone for timing, I don't make calls on the way round!.
I was doing this weird kind of sideways crab lope to try to swing the sleeve off but it wasn't working so I stopped for a few seconds to organise myself but when I set off again my legs did that 'Uuurrrrhh, nope' thing again, my brain said 'Oh yes you are' and the legs went 'not a chance - not another step' I then had quite a long, rather dejected walk to get home. I must have looked a bit sad, all done up in my running gear, walking! I could feel the sympathy every time I passed someone along the road, even the ducks looked embarrassed when I passed them!. Oh dear I thought, not a runner after all. I was truly gutted, I thought that's it - funny how you feel the failures so much harder then the successes.
In the evening I went in search of inspiration, I looked on the discussion groups under 'lead legs' I came up with a few odd groups but eventually I found what I was looking for, it would appear many new and old runners suffer from this problem. There were lots of encouraging words but again the answer which leaped out at me said 'sounds like you're not up to it, maybe you could defer your entry until the next year'
I decided to go in search of a quote, I like a good quote and there are many 'quotes for runners' my favourite, for this particular moment, was this:
'Believe that you can run farther and faster. Believe that you're young enough, old enough, strong enough and so on to accomplish everything you want to do. Don't let worn out beliefs stop you from moving beyond yourself'
John Bingham
With this quote in my head we went off again today and we cracked the 25 minutes. So, on we go again, me, Madi and my new mate, John Bingham ......
We did a great 30 minutes on Sunday, I was so chuffed. I even found a fairly local 10 mile run for the end of January that we can do which falls in perfectly with the programme. On Monday when I got home I did a 20 minute 'lope in the lounge'. I can't go out in the dark as I have no fluorescent gear so no-one would see me and I really don't fancy it at all - is that really pathetic?, anyway, I decided on 'lounge loping' in bare feet (trainers are quite dirty now) within a couple of minutes I realised the value of the mid-foot support system, I had pains in parts of my legs I didn't know existed before, I wasn't sure at the end if I had gone forwards or backwards in training terms. Tuesday when I got in I felt awful and just couldn't face loping anywhere under any circumstances so I declared a rest day and sat in front of the fire.
Yesterday was supposed to see the introduction of 'running'. I should have jogged 10 minutes, run for 5 then jogged for 15. I decided that it might be best to do the day before's 25 minute lope and bring in the running the next day. I was on my own as the coach was at work. 10 minutes in I wanted to take off my jacket and that's when it all started to go wrong. I couldn't lope and extract my hand from the sleeve whilst trying to hang on to my phone - I use the phone for timing, I don't make calls on the way round!.
I was doing this weird kind of sideways crab lope to try to swing the sleeve off but it wasn't working so I stopped for a few seconds to organise myself but when I set off again my legs did that 'Uuurrrrhh, nope' thing again, my brain said 'Oh yes you are' and the legs went 'not a chance - not another step' I then had quite a long, rather dejected walk to get home. I must have looked a bit sad, all done up in my running gear, walking! I could feel the sympathy every time I passed someone along the road, even the ducks looked embarrassed when I passed them!. Oh dear I thought, not a runner after all. I was truly gutted, I thought that's it - funny how you feel the failures so much harder then the successes.
In the evening I went in search of inspiration, I looked on the discussion groups under 'lead legs' I came up with a few odd groups but eventually I found what I was looking for, it would appear many new and old runners suffer from this problem. There were lots of encouraging words but again the answer which leaped out at me said 'sounds like you're not up to it, maybe you could defer your entry until the next year'
I decided to go in search of a quote, I like a good quote and there are many 'quotes for runners' my favourite, for this particular moment, was this:
'Believe that you can run farther and faster. Believe that you're young enough, old enough, strong enough and so on to accomplish everything you want to do. Don't let worn out beliefs stop you from moving beyond yourself'
John Bingham
With this quote in my head we went off again today and we cracked the 25 minutes. So, on we go again, me, Madi and my new mate, John Bingham ......
Sunday, 13 November 2011
Thank you
Just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who has sponsored me, we have already collected for the hospice around . . .
£300.00
This is just incredible and gives me so much encouragement to carry on
Thank you
Mind Games
Well I normally start each week with some reference about how hard the training is getting but I'm not going to say that any more. I think I have got the idea now, there are no easy weeks, it's only going to get harder. I did think that there would be a 'eureka' moment when suddenly I was a jogger and I could just go out and jog for as long as I fancied or had time for but that isn't the case. I'm coming to realise that all the training isn't about making it easier, it's about getting your body to accept the pain for longer and longer. So, I'm at the end of week 2 of the Marathon 24 week beginner training plan, and what have I learned? Well lots this week....
I have come to realise that the start of the Marathon isn't on 22nd April next year, the gun has already gone off, April will just be the final stage.
I've learned that the pain comes in waves, five minutes in I can be really struggling to breathe but ten minutes later it passes, so when it really hurts it's always worth hanging on.
I've learned that occupying your mind is just as important as getting your breathing right and that there are positive brain fillers and negative brain fillers. Contemplating this blog is a positive brain filler as is imagining sprinting down the Mall next April, but thinking 'I have a huge pile of ironing to go back to' or 'what can we eat tonight' is not a positive brain filler and the one brain filler that causes total chaos is 'breathe properly' this is guaranteed to start me gasping for air and the more I think 'don't think about breathing' the more I think 'I can't breathe'
Today I've learned that I can 'lope' for 30 minutes which is a whole lap of our little run which is a huge landmark.
I've also learned that I could not have got this far without my gorgeous Madi, even if she does look so much better than me in a headband!
This week will play havoc with the programme, I have to go into the office tomorrow and Tuesday so I will be forced to lope around the lounge when I get home, I really don't want to go out in the dark, I shall be back on the road on Wednesday and hopefully all will be well.
I have come to realise that the start of the Marathon isn't on 22nd April next year, the gun has already gone off, April will just be the final stage.
I've learned that the pain comes in waves, five minutes in I can be really struggling to breathe but ten minutes later it passes, so when it really hurts it's always worth hanging on.
I've learned that occupying your mind is just as important as getting your breathing right and that there are positive brain fillers and negative brain fillers. Contemplating this blog is a positive brain filler as is imagining sprinting down the Mall next April, but thinking 'I have a huge pile of ironing to go back to' or 'what can we eat tonight' is not a positive brain filler and the one brain filler that causes total chaos is 'breathe properly' this is guaranteed to start me gasping for air and the more I think 'don't think about breathing' the more I think 'I can't breathe'
Today I've learned that I can 'lope' for 30 minutes which is a whole lap of our little run which is a huge landmark.
I've also learned that I could not have got this far without my gorgeous Madi, even if she does look so much better than me in a headband!
This week will play havoc with the programme, I have to go into the office tomorrow and Tuesday so I will be forced to lope around the lounge when I get home, I really don't want to go out in the dark, I shall be back on the road on Wednesday and hopefully all will be well.
Comfort Zone's
I had a lot to fit in this week, as well as the training, work and the usual things that have to be done to keep a home going I had to fit in a couple of trips to Norwich. Working from home is great but it does make you ever so slightly reclusive. Sitting at home every day in your comfy slippers without your face on can very quickly become your 'comfort zone' so a trip out can be a bit traumatic in our house, especially when time is short. The first trip out with Madi was particularly difficult because there is no car park so, hanging over my head, all the way there, is the possibility, on our arrival of the 'parallel park'. So hopeless am I at this manoeuvre that the fear of it turns me into some kind of demoniacally possessed lunatic. I worry about it, have nightmares about it and shout about the stupidity of the lack of proper car parking for a good two or three days before each visit. So, add to this a cash machine, a petrol station and the need for change for the meter before we left Diss and you will begin to understand just how high my stress levels were .... I don't get out much!.
Anyway, having tackled the first minor hurdles and thinking that there was only one major one potentially left, we set off. Gradually we began to notice that the heater wasn't performing the one duty it was designed for, it wasn't getting hot. Now I remember this happening once before, heater stopped, some time later car made a loud noise then, just as I got to the most inconvenient spot along the sea front in Cromer, car stopped! Terrified history was about to repeat itself we did what I always do in such situations, we called Andrew. He said to watch the temperature and to put water in the car asap. I stopped at the co op in Long Stratton, shot out the car and walked straight passed the door into the trolley park! I get this kind of temporary blindness when I get nervous and we were running late. When I eventually found the way in I raced up and down the isles like a contestant in 'Supermarket Sweep' shouting 'water' every time I passed an assistant. Eventually I found it, people waved me to the front of the queue at the checkout, and I took the water outside. Madi was on the phone to Andrew who talked us through 'opening the bonnet' and we went from 'Supermarket Sweep' to the 'Golden Shot'
'up a bit, left a bit, over to the right, the one at the top, no it's at the bottom'
'I'll stick it in here'
'NO, don't put it there'
'I'll put it in this one then'
'NO, that's the wrong one'
It was at this moment that a little face appeared around the side of the car and a lady asked us 'have you got a flat tyre?' Now I know nothing about cars, absolutely nothing but I do know you don't change a tyre via the engine with a litre of mineral water. There was a moment when we all just stood and stared at each other, then it all started again
'it's the one at the back, not that one, that's the windscreen wipers'
'it must be this one'
'no, that's brake fluid'
'are you sure, what's this one then'
The woman helpfully dragged her husband over who looked at the engine and muttered 'It's not been looked at for a long time' brilliant I thought, he clearly knows where it goes 'where does it go then?' I asked him 'I don't know' he shrugged as he sloped off - in retrospect I think what he meant was that my engine, unlike his, was not polished!!!!. I would imaging, when the sales man pointed out what was under the bonnet it would have been the level of shine and not the level of engineering that impressed this man.
Luckily for us a leather clad motor cyclist who I'm sure will regret stopping for that cigarette, stepped into the farce, not that he knew any more than we did but he was braver than we were at unscrewing caps, he took all the tops off so we could peer inside and decide which one looked most like water. In the end I made a 'kill or cure' decision, 'I'm going to put it in this one' I said to the hushed crowd. Madi reported on the phone to Andrew 'she's putting it in, it's going in' when I looked up to thank the useless crowd they had all gone!
Anyway, it appeared to work, we got there, I didn't have to parallel park although we could have done without the walk!. We even got home again and took ourselves off for a relaxing run and it felt very comfortable, not the run but the simplicity of it - there's not a lot that can go wrong provided you keep putting one foot in front of the other, I'm beginning to think this running quite suits me.
Anyway, having tackled the first minor hurdles and thinking that there was only one major one potentially left, we set off. Gradually we began to notice that the heater wasn't performing the one duty it was designed for, it wasn't getting hot. Now I remember this happening once before, heater stopped, some time later car made a loud noise then, just as I got to the most inconvenient spot along the sea front in Cromer, car stopped! Terrified history was about to repeat itself we did what I always do in such situations, we called Andrew. He said to watch the temperature and to put water in the car asap. I stopped at the co op in Long Stratton, shot out the car and walked straight passed the door into the trolley park! I get this kind of temporary blindness when I get nervous and we were running late. When I eventually found the way in I raced up and down the isles like a contestant in 'Supermarket Sweep' shouting 'water' every time I passed an assistant. Eventually I found it, people waved me to the front of the queue at the checkout, and I took the water outside. Madi was on the phone to Andrew who talked us through 'opening the bonnet' and we went from 'Supermarket Sweep' to the 'Golden Shot'
'up a bit, left a bit, over to the right, the one at the top, no it's at the bottom'
'I'll stick it in here'
'NO, don't put it there'
'I'll put it in this one then'
'NO, that's the wrong one'
It was at this moment that a little face appeared around the side of the car and a lady asked us 'have you got a flat tyre?' Now I know nothing about cars, absolutely nothing but I do know you don't change a tyre via the engine with a litre of mineral water. There was a moment when we all just stood and stared at each other, then it all started again
'it's the one at the back, not that one, that's the windscreen wipers'
'it must be this one'
'no, that's brake fluid'
'are you sure, what's this one then'
The woman helpfully dragged her husband over who looked at the engine and muttered 'It's not been looked at for a long time' brilliant I thought, he clearly knows where it goes 'where does it go then?' I asked him 'I don't know' he shrugged as he sloped off - in retrospect I think what he meant was that my engine, unlike his, was not polished!!!!. I would imaging, when the sales man pointed out what was under the bonnet it would have been the level of shine and not the level of engineering that impressed this man.
Luckily for us a leather clad motor cyclist who I'm sure will regret stopping for that cigarette, stepped into the farce, not that he knew any more than we did but he was braver than we were at unscrewing caps, he took all the tops off so we could peer inside and decide which one looked most like water. In the end I made a 'kill or cure' decision, 'I'm going to put it in this one' I said to the hushed crowd. Madi reported on the phone to Andrew 'she's putting it in, it's going in' when I looked up to thank the useless crowd they had all gone!
Anyway, it appeared to work, we got there, I didn't have to parallel park although we could have done without the walk!. We even got home again and took ourselves off for a relaxing run and it felt very comfortable, not the run but the simplicity of it - there's not a lot that can go wrong provided you keep putting one foot in front of the other, I'm beginning to think this running quite suits me.
Sunday, 6 November 2011
Hats . . . again!
On Friday afternoon my sister called in to see me which was nice, we don't see nearly enough of each other. Having read my Hats blog she had brought me a gift. It was one of those sporty looking headbands that are shaped at the sides to accommodate your ears. She explained that she wore it for skiing which I knew because I remembered seeing a rather stunning photo of her, clearly on the piste (well isn't that what they call it?), wearing said headband. She looked like a celebrity, with her lovely straight, white smile, dark glasses and skiing sticks??. Anyway, I had to wait a little while until the house was empty before I took the new headband upstairs to give it a go. I decided that, as with any piece of sporting attire it needed to be adorned casually and in an easy manner that enabled one to do it mid-conversation, without the need for a mirror.
I got into character. . . Take one, I imagined I was at the start of some run or another, deep in conversation with my new running chums, no doubt discussing the virtues of the mid-sole support system, when I would whip out my headband and drag it nonchalantly over my head. I took a crafty look in the mirror and took it off immediately. I looked like a Welsh international about to enter a scrum at Twickenham!. It was so tight that it pushed my eyebrows down until they nearly met my eyelids, the flatness of the top half of my head was in stark contrast with the roundness of the bottom half and looked, to put it mildly, idiotic. There had to be another way to wear this thing . . .
Take two, back into character, this time I hung the band around my neck like it had just grown there, at an opportune moment (when I had everyone's attention) I flung my head forward, pulled up the band, under my hair and threw my head back again glancing a peek in the mirror - I looked like a carrot! all I needed was to dye my hair green, wear an orange catsuit and I had my costume but, even had I wanted to wear a costume on the big day going as a vegetable hadn't been among my short-list of possibilities.
OK, this was serious now, I scoured the house for as many hair grips as I could find and gripped all my hair back, anticipating that it will grow before April I decided that I could wear it in a pony tail which, if pulled tightly enough also gave the added advantage of giving some of the attributes of a DIY facelift - that surprised kind of look!. Once again I pulled up the headband, I was no longer in character, this would require hours of work in the mirror and a couple of cans of hairspray. Again, bitter disappointment, I had been going for Katie Price but was getting more Les Dawson!.
I have now put the headband away and decided to try it again when I have some make up on, maybe it needs mascara. For now though, I'm back to the bright blue ear-muffs, which reminds me - I had best get out there, 20 minutes to get run this morning!
Saturday, 5 November 2011
Up's and Down's
It's been a funny kind of week, so what have I learned?
That training for a Marathon is a case of 2 steps forward, 1 step (occasionally 3 steps) backwards!
On Monday, as you will have seen we did our first 15 minutes in one hit and it went incredibly well, when my coach said stop I hadn't been waiting for the last minutes to tick by, I thought 'cracked it - let's go for the 26 now' which was odd because the day before I had really struggled with a 2 minute lope/1 minute walk. The next day was a repeat of the 15 minutes and it was a completely different story, I was struggling from the off. Wednesday I was on my own, I loped for 10, walked for 10 then loped for 5, again, a real struggle. Thursday took me back to 15 minutes, which was OK until the last few minutes.
Then there was Friday (cue scary music, dramatic lighting and lightening sound effects) RAIN!!!!!. Now I'm not a wimp but this was heavy, continuous rain of the very wet variety and at present I have no waterproof clothing other than a purple mac and a brolly which I couldn't quite see would work. The jacket I wear for the first few minutes of my lope and then casually tie around my waist is quite heavy and I felt that once wet would take on the role of a little person that I would then have to carry.
There was more though, I also have a little niggle in my right knee which seems to have swollen ever so slightly. I did a bit of self diagnoses online and the resulting opinions appeared to be that it will either need to be amputated, operated on, or a couple of ibuprofen and a bag of frozen peas should clear it up in a day or two. I decided to go down the ibuprofen/frozen pea route. Some of the online discussion groups also suggested that running on grass should be easier to begin with as tarmac is hard - you don't say!!!!. All things considered I made the decision that Fridays training should be held indoors, on carpet (well it's a bit like grass). I did a 15 minute lope, 5 minute walk, 10 minute lope, diagonally up and down my lounge whilst trying to work out the ever so complicated relationship of five people yelling at each other on the Jeremy Kyle show. It's very weird how much easier loping indoors is, I can't work out quite why that should be. My dad suggested that you can't build up a lot of speed when you only have the length of the lounge 'how many strides can you fit in the length of your lounge' he said - Oh, you would be surprised just how many strides 'I' can fit in any length without actually going backwards, I rather think he is vastly underestimating the speed I go at when I'm outside!
Maybe, it's the carpet, does it really make that much difference? if it does there could be a little business opportunity here - trainers with carpeted soles??. I know what your thinking - wrong horse again! Back to the job in hand .....
Today is a rest day which is just as well because it's still raining, the ibuprofen and frozen peas seem to have helped a little but we shall see for sure tomorrow when rain or shine I will go out and do my first 20 minutes!
That training for a Marathon is a case of 2 steps forward, 1 step (occasionally 3 steps) backwards!
On Monday, as you will have seen we did our first 15 minutes in one hit and it went incredibly well, when my coach said stop I hadn't been waiting for the last minutes to tick by, I thought 'cracked it - let's go for the 26 now' which was odd because the day before I had really struggled with a 2 minute lope/1 minute walk. The next day was a repeat of the 15 minutes and it was a completely different story, I was struggling from the off. Wednesday I was on my own, I loped for 10, walked for 10 then loped for 5, again, a real struggle. Thursday took me back to 15 minutes, which was OK until the last few minutes.
Then there was Friday (cue scary music, dramatic lighting and lightening sound effects) RAIN!!!!!. Now I'm not a wimp but this was heavy, continuous rain of the very wet variety and at present I have no waterproof clothing other than a purple mac and a brolly which I couldn't quite see would work. The jacket I wear for the first few minutes of my lope and then casually tie around my waist is quite heavy and I felt that once wet would take on the role of a little person that I would then have to carry.
There was more though, I also have a little niggle in my right knee which seems to have swollen ever so slightly. I did a bit of self diagnoses online and the resulting opinions appeared to be that it will either need to be amputated, operated on, or a couple of ibuprofen and a bag of frozen peas should clear it up in a day or two. I decided to go down the ibuprofen/frozen pea route. Some of the online discussion groups also suggested that running on grass should be easier to begin with as tarmac is hard - you don't say!!!!. All things considered I made the decision that Fridays training should be held indoors, on carpet (well it's a bit like grass). I did a 15 minute lope, 5 minute walk, 10 minute lope, diagonally up and down my lounge whilst trying to work out the ever so complicated relationship of five people yelling at each other on the Jeremy Kyle show. It's very weird how much easier loping indoors is, I can't work out quite why that should be. My dad suggested that you can't build up a lot of speed when you only have the length of the lounge 'how many strides can you fit in the length of your lounge' he said - Oh, you would be surprised just how many strides 'I' can fit in any length without actually going backwards, I rather think he is vastly underestimating the speed I go at when I'm outside!
Maybe, it's the carpet, does it really make that much difference? if it does there could be a little business opportunity here - trainers with carpeted soles??. I know what your thinking - wrong horse again! Back to the job in hand .....
Today is a rest day which is just as well because it's still raining, the ibuprofen and frozen peas seem to have helped a little but we shall see for sure tomorrow when rain or shine I will go out and do my first 20 minutes!
Monday, 31 October 2011
Sunday, 30 October 2011
Graduation Day
Huge progress over this weekend although today's 'recovery run' was harder than it should have been but that was my fault because I can't count!.
Yesterday's instructions read, jog (read lope) for 4 minutes followed by a 1 minute walk, 6 times making a total of 30 minutes. Now I had to go out with Andrew yesterday because my running buddy was at work and he can't count like me, he can't run either but luckily he can walk as fast as I can lope so we managed. At some point as my brain became starved of oxygen I believed there were eight five minutes in half an hour and Andrew didn't argue with me. Imagine my devastation when at what I believed to be 29 minutes and despite my 'belief' my 'inner battle' and my 'dogged determination' my legs simply said 'eerrrrr nope - not doing this any more'. For the first time in three weeks I had failed to achieve my target. It was some time later when I had just about managed to get my breathing back under control that I found myself in front of the kitchen clock counting how many 5 minutes there are in half an hour - 6! I went back to my instructions and sure enough I was aiming for 6 not 8, so I wasn't 1 minute under my goal I was in fact 9 minutes over which was possibly a step too far.
Anyway, by far the biggest leap forward this weekend was that today I did the 'recovery run' by myself, I can't begin to tell you just how huge that is, I was really dreading this step but it was OK - no one laughed, well only the ducks in that quaky sort of way that they do every time we go past the pond. I didn't get attacked and only one dog barked at me and he was behind a fence so that was OK.
It is now time to graduate onto the marathons 24 week training programme. Tomorrow I have to jog for 15 minutes which is quite scary but I will give it my best shot. I do think I'm making progress but it's slow - very, very slow.
Yesterday's instructions read, jog (read lope) for 4 minutes followed by a 1 minute walk, 6 times making a total of 30 minutes. Now I had to go out with Andrew yesterday because my running buddy was at work and he can't count like me, he can't run either but luckily he can walk as fast as I can lope so we managed. At some point as my brain became starved of oxygen I believed there were eight five minutes in half an hour and Andrew didn't argue with me. Imagine my devastation when at what I believed to be 29 minutes and despite my 'belief' my 'inner battle' and my 'dogged determination' my legs simply said 'eerrrrr nope - not doing this any more'. For the first time in three weeks I had failed to achieve my target. It was some time later when I had just about managed to get my breathing back under control that I found myself in front of the kitchen clock counting how many 5 minutes there are in half an hour - 6! I went back to my instructions and sure enough I was aiming for 6 not 8, so I wasn't 1 minute under my goal I was in fact 9 minutes over which was possibly a step too far.
Anyway, by far the biggest leap forward this weekend was that today I did the 'recovery run' by myself, I can't begin to tell you just how huge that is, I was really dreading this step but it was OK - no one laughed, well only the ducks in that quaky sort of way that they do every time we go past the pond. I didn't get attacked and only one dog barked at me and he was behind a fence so that was OK.
It is now time to graduate onto the marathons 24 week training programme. Tomorrow I have to jog for 15 minutes which is quite scary but I will give it my best shot. I do think I'm making progress but it's slow - very, very slow.
Saturday, 29 October 2011
Good Guys, Bad Guys and a Cure for Insomnia
Now, in order to illustrate my point I have to first share with you something that is neither very interesting nor in the least bit funny but stay with me, I promise I'll be brief.
There are many things that keep us awake at night and I've had my share over the years of being wide awake at 3 am with the full weight of the world on my shoulders, usually as daylight breaks the problems shrink in order that normal service can be resumed, at least until the early hours of the following morning when the problems queue up once again for brain space.
I started last year with a little dream, many years ago it was quite a large dream but it had diminished with each passing year until all I wanted was to earn a small percentage of my income doing something I loved - photography. By anyone's standards this was hardly huge and should have been achievable. I have to mention at this point that both Andrew and I have an uncanny knack of always backing the wrong horse so to speak - not always in the same race, we can do this simultaneously at several different meetings!. Anyway, I happened to stumble upon a local company who offered a photography franchise. For what to us was a huge sum of money they could help me achieve my dream, I won't go into quite how they were going to do this, frankly there isn't a lot to tell, yes I was a bit stupid but in my defence so were many others - I feel you're probably getting ahead of me at this stage . . . . yes, it was a complete non-starter, there weren't enough hours in the day to cover what I had to pay them let alone pay me anything. The resulting fall out from this monumental catastrophe led to numerous early morning appointments with one unanswerable question 'how can I make this right' of course I can't and still to this day pay to keep rich blokes in golf clubs.
Now there is one very positive observation I have made from all of this - The nett result, when I take the year as a whole, is that there are far more good guys in this world than bad and that if I measure the worth of my life on this basis rather than by how much money I have then I am very wealthy.
Anyway, back to my point. I had tried books, storing TV programmes I missed to watch in the early hours, lavender oil, bath before bed, anything to stop thoughts getting to my brain but nothing really worked - until now, after 3 weeks of loping I am sleeping like a log, I turn out the light and within a few minutes I'm away and I don't know another thing until I wake up in the morning. So, for anyone with a troubled brain - lope with me, it doesn't cost anything, if you need to it can help with loosing a bit of weight, plenty of fresh air and no more sleepless nights . . . . win/win!
There are many things that keep us awake at night and I've had my share over the years of being wide awake at 3 am with the full weight of the world on my shoulders, usually as daylight breaks the problems shrink in order that normal service can be resumed, at least until the early hours of the following morning when the problems queue up once again for brain space.
I started last year with a little dream, many years ago it was quite a large dream but it had diminished with each passing year until all I wanted was to earn a small percentage of my income doing something I loved - photography. By anyone's standards this was hardly huge and should have been achievable. I have to mention at this point that both Andrew and I have an uncanny knack of always backing the wrong horse so to speak - not always in the same race, we can do this simultaneously at several different meetings!. Anyway, I happened to stumble upon a local company who offered a photography franchise. For what to us was a huge sum of money they could help me achieve my dream, I won't go into quite how they were going to do this, frankly there isn't a lot to tell, yes I was a bit stupid but in my defence so were many others - I feel you're probably getting ahead of me at this stage . . . . yes, it was a complete non-starter, there weren't enough hours in the day to cover what I had to pay them let alone pay me anything. The resulting fall out from this monumental catastrophe led to numerous early morning appointments with one unanswerable question 'how can I make this right' of course I can't and still to this day pay to keep rich blokes in golf clubs.
Now there is one very positive observation I have made from all of this - The nett result, when I take the year as a whole, is that there are far more good guys in this world than bad and that if I measure the worth of my life on this basis rather than by how much money I have then I am very wealthy.
Anyway, back to my point. I had tried books, storing TV programmes I missed to watch in the early hours, lavender oil, bath before bed, anything to stop thoughts getting to my brain but nothing really worked - until now, after 3 weeks of loping I am sleeping like a log, I turn out the light and within a few minutes I'm away and I don't know another thing until I wake up in the morning. So, for anyone with a troubled brain - lope with me, it doesn't cost anything, if you need to it can help with loosing a bit of weight, plenty of fresh air and no more sleepless nights . . . . win/win!
Sunday, 23 October 2011
Hats!
So, the end of week two and what have I learned.
That this gets no easier, only harder and I just have to accept that or jump ship!.
That there really is another speed between what I was calling jogging and walking, I have come to know this as 'loping'.
Out of curiosity I took a little look at what was to come when I eventually graduate to the beginners guide - I know, no surprises, a lot more jogging! no, the bit that worried me is that at the end of week 7 it reads 'jog for 75 minutes' it may as well read 'morph yourself into a chimpanzee' just how will this ever be possible?
My beginners, beginners guide has lots of useful advice, it said, if you are still out of breathe during the jogging sections - I am - very, try slowing down. It was at this point that I discovered loping, it's a kind of slow walk with a bit of a bounce. I'm really hoping that once I can master this for an hour or so (lol!) I might be able to pick up the speed a little. I really hope so because at the moment dog walkers are overtaking me, and that's embarrassing. Having a pensioner in Burberry and wellies try to break into coversation as they stride passed makes me wonder just what my midfoot support system is up to!
I had a funny conversation this week with my husband, there are many but this one particularly stood out. He's a very 'make do' sort of person? He's also, possibly, becoming not very interested in the endless stories about my 'journey' anyway, I was concerned after one particular jog - urrr, lope on a bit of a chilly day (it's going to get a lot colder - he said encouragingly) that my ears were hurting more than any other bit? after all what do they do - they only come 'cause they have to, they make no other contribution. I need a hat I said thinking of something suitably sporty that I had seen on the endless site's I have visited whilst trying to pick out my outfit for the day (no back end of a cow suit for me). You've got one he said. Now I may not have all the gear at this time and I am prepared to put up with the primark tee shirts and the old, handmedown joggers until we have established that this is not a passing faze but I draw the line at loping in a deerstalker!!! if I am ever to be taken seriously I feel I have to maintain a certain standard of attire. For the time being my coach has loaned me a pair of ear-muffs which at the very least give me the appearance of being obviously funny. Maybe when I get paid I can invest in some kind of suitable headgear.
So, to week three, by the end of this I should be jogging for 30 minutes correction, I WILL be jogging for 30 minutes (possibly loping)
That this gets no easier, only harder and I just have to accept that or jump ship!.
That there really is another speed between what I was calling jogging and walking, I have come to know this as 'loping'.
Out of curiosity I took a little look at what was to come when I eventually graduate to the beginners guide - I know, no surprises, a lot more jogging! no, the bit that worried me is that at the end of week 7 it reads 'jog for 75 minutes' it may as well read 'morph yourself into a chimpanzee' just how will this ever be possible?
My beginners, beginners guide has lots of useful advice, it said, if you are still out of breathe during the jogging sections - I am - very, try slowing down. It was at this point that I discovered loping, it's a kind of slow walk with a bit of a bounce. I'm really hoping that once I can master this for an hour or so (lol!) I might be able to pick up the speed a little. I really hope so because at the moment dog walkers are overtaking me, and that's embarrassing. Having a pensioner in Burberry and wellies try to break into coversation as they stride passed makes me wonder just what my midfoot support system is up to!
I had a funny conversation this week with my husband, there are many but this one particularly stood out. He's a very 'make do' sort of person? He's also, possibly, becoming not very interested in the endless stories about my 'journey' anyway, I was concerned after one particular jog - urrr, lope on a bit of a chilly day (it's going to get a lot colder - he said encouragingly) that my ears were hurting more than any other bit? after all what do they do - they only come 'cause they have to, they make no other contribution. I need a hat I said thinking of something suitably sporty that I had seen on the endless site's I have visited whilst trying to pick out my outfit for the day (no back end of a cow suit for me). You've got one he said. Now I may not have all the gear at this time and I am prepared to put up with the primark tee shirts and the old, handmedown joggers until we have established that this is not a passing faze but I draw the line at loping in a deerstalker!!! if I am ever to be taken seriously I feel I have to maintain a certain standard of attire. For the time being my coach has loaned me a pair of ear-muffs which at the very least give me the appearance of being obviously funny. Maybe when I get paid I can invest in some kind of suitable headgear.
So, to week three, by the end of this I should be jogging for 30 minutes correction, I WILL be jogging for 30 minutes (possibly loping)
Sunday, 16 October 2011
This is hard
So, at the end of week one just what can I say I've learned ....... that marathon runners are completely nuts, that's what I've learned. On Monday, I finally ran out of excuses - the trainers arrived. I had no idea there was so much to buying a pair of trainers, my main concern was that I didn't want black!. These shoes however are not made, they are 'engineered'. I went with Andrew to the local sports shop where I tried on a black pair, I bounced about it bit and said 'they're comfy' but I really had no idea if the midfoot support system or the impact control was going to be of any help to me at all. Gel was mentioned in the description which sounded a bit good but where it went or what it did I really had no idea but having seen it I felt I probably needed it!. Unfortunately they only had black and I would have gone without the gel if it meant having a pink pair but they didn't have any 'comfy' one's in pink so we came away and got them online, albeit, they are blue but at least they aren't black - I didn't want black!.
Next I had to rummage through my wardrobe for something to wear, I just about managed the trainers, an outfit is out of the question. Money is a bit tight!. I needed something that said 'I'm a bit serious about this' but that won't look rediculous when I collapse at the side of the road. I managed to find a pair of tracksuit bottoms, in blue! and a selection of primark T-shirts. The lycra, nose clip and long socks can wait for now.
Next I needed a training programme, I managed to find a beginners guide on the marathon site, unfortunately though I'm not quite up to the standard of the start of the beginners guide so I had to search on line for a guide to get me to the start of the beginners guide. I found one, it uses the walk a minute, jog a minute method and builds up the time you jog gradually - easy I thought!.
Next I needed a coach, like I said money is tight, but my seventeen year old daughter is at home most days and she's done a bit of jogging - job done!
On Monday we did a workout with Jessie Wallace, we'de made up our minds before the trainers arrived that's what we would do and I'm not very good at being spontaneous. Tuesday was the big day when we ventured outside, we had to walk a minute and jog a minute, five times - Madi was on timing, well, I had hardly started and I was gasping for air. In total we can't have gone more than half a mile and I already had the bendy legs. If anyone tries to tell me again that Norfolk is flat I will tell them different, it's the only place I know where you can go up and down the same road and each way is up hill!!!!. Four days later and I have progressed to jogging for two minutes, walking for one, five times then jogging for one minute walking for one minute, five times. It's no easier, I'm still out of breath from almost the first step, does it ever get any easier or is it just this hard for the whole twenty six miles?. Surely this can't be beyond me, there are other normal people who run this thing?
To This Point
I meant to start this blog on day one but haven't quite got around to it, in my head I have written some hilarious, moving and down right brilliant pieces but I was never in a position to write it down. So here is a very quick catch up, a background that will hopefully explain why at 53, having not exercised for many years I am going to run my first marathon!
My name is Viv, it has to be said that last year was not the best for any of my family but whatever had happened previously became completely insignificant when we learned that my brother had cancer. I thought when he first called to tell me that it was probably early days and there would be something they could do, there is so much they can do these days. When he and his wife visited some weeks later however, I knew the instant I opened my door that there was nothing they could do, this was a fight he would not win.
It was just three months from the phone call to the day he died. It was the saddest of days but it has to be said that I remember it with warmth. The reason for that is because of where he died, he spent his last two weeks at Isabel Hospice in Welwyn Garden City. Following weeks in Harlow and later a London Hospital where the emphasis was on cure the hospice was a place of calm, quiet acceptance. It was a little oasis in the middle of chaos where it felt as though time stood still. The staff had an intuitive ability to always be there when they were needed without ever taking over. As a family we will be eternally grateful to the wonderful people at Isabel Hospice. For that reason, when I got the letter to say that I had been successful in the ballot for the Marathon, there was no question that I wouldn't do it and, as it was the day before what would have been my brothers 58th birthday it seems absolutely right that I will run it for the hospice.
So, for all the extraordinary people at Isabel Hospice and for my lovely, courageous brother - this is for you .........
If you would like to support Isabel Hospice and sponsor me you can do so by visiting:
www.virginmoneygiving.com/VivienneKanharn
Thank you
If you would like to support Isabel Hospice and sponsor me you can do so by visiting:
www.virginmoneygiving.com/VivienneKanharn
Thank you
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