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....

Radical new haircut reflects my new resolutions I'm feeling energised! (note before and after photos!)

After running break in October, I'm back and heel pain is pretty much gone. As long as I keep a slow and steady increase in mileage, I think the plantar fasciitis problem is behind me.

1) I need to keep to the training plan on Buckeye outdoors for 24-week London Marathon training (FLM cashed my check - does that mean I have a place? Or do I need to get a charity place from Guide Dogs still?)

2) And I'm following Petra's lead and joining the P.O.M's Holiday Weightsloss Challenge with a goal of dropping from 128 to 120 lbs by Feb 1st 2008.

• Here are my rules (which I shamelessly canibalised from POM):
  1. Breakfast: oatmeal, yogurt/muesli or eggs (no toast!)
  2. Salad or veg for lunch, but cccasional whole grain bread if a sandwich is the only option.
  3. Protein and veg ONLY for dinner
  4. Wine - only once a week
  5. No white bread. Ever.
  6. No chocolate. No ice cream.
  7. Weigh self once a week only.
  8. Don't be psycho by talking about it all the time. Only blog about it. (I don' t think anyone reads this but me anyway!)

Hadrian's wall 22-27 October 2007

Roman emperor Hadrian ordered this 73 mile long, 10 ft wide wall to built across northern Britain more than 18 centuries ago (122-130AD) at the decline of the Roman empire. In hilly places it is remarkably well preserved, with linking forts and milecastles along the wall. In the valleys, the stones have migrated into farm building foundations and the only trace is a grassy lump. We enjoyed a glorious autumn day exploring after a sleepless night in a farm courtyard (right next to the dog's kennel, we discovered, who barked at a badger on the prowl all night).

The early morning mist burned off slowly as we made our way along the wall, carrying far too many warm clothes!

The next night we moved north of the tourist trail into the Northumberland National Park to the north and found a lovely campsite with a wind turbine powered hot bath - and we were the only campers there! Working out a circular walk for the next day on the computer, we printed out a map in black and white as an aide memoire, anticipating that the trails would be as well-marked as they were near Hadrian's wall.
However, the trail dissapeared in "Black Bog" and was not to be found even as we located ourselves with GPS on the suposed trail numerous times - finally we just gave up and bush-whacked on a 60 degree compass heading for miles, through bog, spongy mossy woods and recently harvested (destroyed!) forests finally coming to intersect the Pennine Way regional trail. Hard work for not much mileage - and then we still had the 5 miles to walk back to camp. We slept late the next morning in the gloriously quiet site with soft rain on the roof.

As the weather was changing, we decided to head south toward the Yorkshire Dales, which we've not yet explored, and stopped at Fountains Abbey, which has recently been made a World Heritage site. The Georgian grounds with lakes, canals, temples and formal gardens are huge and there is a spectacular ruin of a 13-century Cistercian (Benedictine offshoot) abbey, which was raided for sandstone to build the Elizabethan Fountains Hall. During the Second World War, the Hall and other estate buildings were used to house evacuee children, but, after the war, fell estate into a state of serious dilapidation and has only recently been restored.

To our suprise, dogs were allowed! We cut back to the car park skirting the deer park and watched as two magnificent stags faced off in the meadow - making really loud threatening noises at each other. One finally backed up and made his way away from the rest of the deer, complaining loudly.

My heel injury is much better and I'm back running again. Hurrah! Nick is enjoying bragging about his 10 mile runs when I'm back to cautious 2 mile runs, but slow and steady I'll be back running 10 again... someday.

Ali is back from her adventure in India, and I'm sleeping easier... I worried with her so far away! She was teaching English a Catholic university in Trichy, India called Holy Cross. She found the position through our friend from Bhimtal, Tagore, who's sister, Shanti, works there. Shanti proved to be a remarkable woman, surprisingly unconventional considering her professional success and inspiring in her commitment to her students and improving the lives of the orphans at Hope Home where she donates so much of her time and energy. Her frank and caring counsel was invaluable to Ali in making the cultural adjustments she needed to make to adapt to life in Trichy. (Restina, Shanti and Ali left to right). Ali helped Restina in the language lab. At first the girls were too shy to talk to her, but she lured them in with encouraging smiles and soon had a gaggle of girls who wanted to talk her all the time! The dress code was strict and Ali could not wear western clothes, (a likely excuse for an exotic new wardrobe!) so she learned how to wear a sari or traditional Indian trousers and a tunic. One of the highlights of her trip was an invitation to a wedding.

Ali stayed in a hostel with post-grad students from Holy Cross, and shared a room with a woman from Assam, Debbie, and one from Tibet, Namshey. Although the accommodation and food were very basic by western standards, Ali said it did not take long before she felt comfortable with the different way of life. The three became very close and Ali loved travelling with Debbie, the teachers and some of the younger students to Kerala. Debbie is an accomplished dancer and henna painted Ali's hands and feet.

Just before she returned home, Ali and Namshey travelled to visit a Tibetan settlement and monastery in Bylakuppee.

She really had an experience she will treasure, and I don't think this will be the last time she visits Trichy.

Sadly, heel pain has stopped me from training for the Mendip Muddle and Nick has to go on a field trip to Transylvania on Sunday, so we won't be racing the Phedippidation World Wide Half Marathon this weekend. But we're looking at races in November, hoping that my plantar fasciitis situation improves. I'm sad to miss the virtual race, though. Best of luck to everyone running!!

Countdown 7 weeks to go for the WWH and Mendip Muddle. Gulp. I'm right on track with training, so I'm not that worried about 20K, but the 420m of climb has me pretty intimidated. I need to start adding more hill climbs into my training...and that means not WALKING them!

Trip to Snodonia was a bit of a wash-out. All the trees and boulders in the woods are covered with moss - a pretty good indication that it rains mostly all the time. Jep, it rained mostly all the time when we were there too, and I never did see Snowdon (the highest mountain in England and Wales) for the fog.