11 weeks 'till the London Marathon!

Here's Nelly and me after Sunday's 9 mi run (note the snowdrops just to the right of Nelly!) It was a beautiful weekend, and without the rain, the birds are chirping and it feels like Spring!

I made it above 30 miles last week and although 26 miles still seems impossible, feel like I'm ready for the Watford Half Marathon that Nick and I are running next Sunday.

I lost my Blackberry while running on Sunday - what a bummer! It would be one thing if it was mine, but its from work! I went back with a flashlight to try to find it on the trail, calling occasionally in open spaces when I could not remember exactly where I ran. It rang the first few times, and then I got the message that this mobile phone has been switched off. So someone found it... now the question is whether it is someone who will call the reward number on the back or sell it on ebay. I guess I'm just carrying to much stuff - Nano, Garmin, dog poop bags, buscuits, lead, and now the Iriver too. I wish had had not just put it on the belt, but zipped it into a pocket! And I MISS IT!!! (very sad)

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.