12 weeks and counting... my third trimester of sorts

I worried that my goretex Solomon shoes were a mistake - too hot and not cushioning enough, but I can't imagine running on trails this month without them! Here the toe is washed off in the puddles (more like ponds) in the road near home, but the confidence that my feet stay dry when running in deep scloochy mud is great!

Nelly's off running this week as she had to have surgery for a sebaceous cyst, so the cleanup is alot easier - you can't just toss the muddy dog in the washing machine! I've almost run 30 miles this week, but my longest is just 8 miles so the Watford Half Marathon in two weeks will be a bit of a stretch, but I think I'll be OK.

I'm still waiting for my iRiver to be delivered from Ebay. I've contacted a blind couple through a friend at work that have agreed to let me interview them about their experiences with Guide Dogs, but I need the recorder!

I've got to learn to not over-dress! The pile sweater and rain jacket that feel cosy when I step out the door are really a hassle tied around my waist for the rest of a long run. It is warming up. I need to get an exterior thermometer to check so I take the right gear. I'll have three days working from home this week, so I've got no excuses to not get my mileage up over 30 next week.

Cold and wet 13 weeks to go...

I'm been good about sticking to the John Ellis-advised moderate and consistant plan, running an hour or so every day, but very slowly. But the trails around home are incredibly muddy! Nelly is such a mess after our rund. I feel mean hosing her off with the cold garden hose, but her legs and belly are covered in mud!

I ran one day inside on the treadmill at work last week, but that was just too boring to bear. I'm really looking forward to more sunlight! (photo shows a bad post run hair day!)

I bought an iRiver on ebay so I hope to have an audio contribution for the brilliant Extra Mile Podcast very soon... well as soon as it arrives!

14 weeks to go.

I've been following John Ellis' advise - running 5 days a week for an hour or an hour and a half, keeping to an easy pace and avoiding hills to avoid inflaming my plantar fascia... so far so good. However, finding flat trails has been hard - there seems to be a road anywhere through valleys. Nelly is good on roads, but we both enjoy trails through woods and fields where its softer underfoot and crazy drivers are not a problem.

But this weekend I had to test it, so after my morning run, we we took to the hills of Surrey... yes, that leafy green, mostly very EXPENSIVE suburb of London. We found two great walks up Leith Hill and Box hill (the next day), both about 7 miles long and at least for brisk walking, I was fine. I was amazed that they felt remote - you really would not know that they were so close to London except for the jet noise from Gatwick (solved that with ipod!).The only problem we enountered was mud, particularly when the footpath merged with bridlepaths. We found a remote National Trust Car park that cleared out by 5pm, so we had a very quiet night in the campervan listening to the wind and rain in the trees. It felt pretty strange to be sleeping in the campervan less than an hour from home!

I've been very thankful of the help I've received on the fundraising front and am collecting childhood photos of all my colleages at work and plan to have some sort of event/contest where people get to try to identify who is who. And I had some of those moo minicards http://http://www.moo.com/products/minicards.php made with my just giving site address on the back. I plan to pass them out at dog training class tonight.... .. I'm still not very comfortable asking for money!!

Christmas 2007 in Pembrokeshire, Wales


In an attempt to escape from the commercialised hectic modern Christmas we rented a cottage near the Druidstone Inn on the rugged Pembrokshire coast... and got a bit more of a historic experience than we anticipated. It was damp and cold and we only had a coal burning antique Rayburn stove for heat! So we arranged our days and nights around feeding the fire and learned strategies for using paper, kindling, soft "house" coal and hard anthracite coal to master the beast! Here's Billy, our fire Master, at work, next to the rack of wet running kit that never really dried out.

But we did enjoy ourselves - knitting, playing scrabble, hearts and valiantly running in the rain. Nick fit right in with the hearty locals, running in a t-shirt and shorts in sleeting rain, while Ali and I opted for full winter gear.

We had two dark but dry days, one when we walked around St David's point, along dramatic volcanic cliffs spotting seals and sea birds.

And on Christmas day, the skys cleared and Ali and I had a spectacular run around the Marloes penninsula meeting Nick and Billy taking photos at the beach. Ali held my ipod Nano while Nelly and I had a run...and dropped it in a tidepool!

One very dead Nano... oh well. But I'll never be able to log the 25 miles I ran on the PDIP Nike+ challenge!!!

It was a memorable trip and the shared adversity made us laugh together and find simpler ways to amuse ourselves without the telly and computers. And we did learn how to knit gloves!

Countdown 17 weeks to the marathon

I'm on track with the CoolRunning.com plan that I loaded on buckeyeoutdoors.com. Listening to John Ellis' PDIP126 Base Running" today while I ran my 7 miles, I took it really slowly and vowed to dig out my Garmin from the bottom of the hall chest and start paying attention to my heart rate again.

I plotted up the remaining 17 week program on a calendar this weekend and discovered that there are a bunch of 20+ mi days scheduled ahead. I'm reading Hal Higdon's "Marathon" and his advice for newbys is keep the runs under 20 mi to reduce the risk of injury...... I think I'm going to follow that particular advice.

Nick and I are now signed up for the Watford Half Marathon on Feb 3rd 2008. Strange that I would have felt it was a pretty big deal to commit to a half marathon in only 7 weeks time, but now it is just part of the FLM training plan... no big deal. I think my mindest is already changing as I'm on my way to being a marathoner!

And the heel feels pretty good. I notice it, and have still been icing, but there is no pain.

We take off next Friday for Christmas week at the Druidstone Inn in Pembrokshire. I'm planning to do my running on the coastal trails but hope that the weather holds. Getting the miles in under sleeting horizontal rain would be pretty miserable! But I've got the gear, all I need is the motivation.

I've a place in 2008 London Marathon!

After the disappointment on Saturday of receiving my copy of Marathon News (and second time failed ballot letter), yesterday brought a very welcome email from Guide Dogs who gave me one of their Gold Bond places. Yeah!!

So now I need to get really serious about following my Buckeye Outdoor Beginner training schedule... and start thinking about fundraising.

I struggle a bit asking friends and family to contibute, I mean, I'm the one that gets to do the fun part - be in the race. So, I should just come up with the £1500 pledge money? But guide dogs for the blind really is a good cause, and fundraising seems to be an acceptable thing to do. (And I don't have £1500!!) What do I do about business contacts? Is it fair game to put something about fundraising at the end of my email signature... or is that taboo (they don't care about my personal life?). I'm not sure I want to let them know about it anyway.... they might ask what my time was!!

So I've added a widget to my blog. I wonder if I can do the same with facebook. I wish I had paid better attention to the efforts of other runner bloggers. I'm way down on the learning curve.

But the great part is I'M GOING TO RUN MY FIRST MARATHON! I know I can do it.

BAM, I'm Tagged!

Thanks to Petra , I've been challenged to share some random facts according to the Tagging rules. So, here are the Rules:

• Link to your tagger, and post these rules on your blog.

• Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

• Tag 5 people at the end of your post by their names and links to their blogs.

• Let them know they are TAGGED by leaving a comment on their blog.

Hmm. 5 facts

1. My family moved around a lot when I was a kid, and although I enjoyed "re-inventing" myself with each move, I never really bonded with a comfortable group of friends. I went to 3 high schools! Here's one of the few photos I have - I'm at the back right holding the school ID card, trying desperately to be cool in this poser group.

2. I had great aunts who were HUGE called Clover Blossom and Ruby Pearl, so I'm genetically related to giants (or cows?)

3. I made the cover of a Japanese Ski Magazine in 1972. Famous for 5 minutes and I could not even read the article! I did not pay much attention to a group of Japanese people at ski racing camp, had no idea that a photo of me in a starting gate was snapped, but by a random chance, a friend of the family spotted it in Japan. He just sent us the cover!

4. Both our kids go by their middle names, which challenges their form-filling, causes confusion at schools and generally befuddles bureaucracy.

5. I can't imagine how people work 5 days a week. I get up very early, but after spending time with my family, travelling, gardening, playing with toys (gadgets), running, making raku pots, dog training club, library volunteering, and very minimal cleaning chores.... there just is not enough time to work every day!

I have not found my 5 victims yet....