BUPA Great South Run here i come…

Yes that’s right everyone, I’ve signed up to run the BUPA Great South Run on 28 October.  It’s 10 miles.  I think i’m crazy.  Let’s put that in perspective for all of you who run 10 miles before breakfast … i’ve only ever run about 7k consecutively in my whole entire life.  At school i would do pretty much anything to get out of PE lessons and here i am voluntarily strapping on trainers and pounding the pavements for 10 whole miles!  Eeek!

I decided i’m going to run in aid of a local cancer charity.  Read this post to see why.  I took this ‘hilarious’ picture of myself in my brightest work out gear (I promise i don’t go out like this everyday…yet) to go on my donations page.

I really needed a challenge and maybe it was because it was my birthday week or maybe it was being inspired by Skinny Runner running a gazillion miles in 9 days (seriously the girl is nuts but you so need to check out her blog to read about her man-up week if you haven’t already) but for one reason or another i decided to go for it.

But it doesn’t stop there – i am also putting together a relay team to run a Marathon in August with some colleagues from work (there’s no truth in the rumour i’m having it written into their annual appraisal objectives – for some reason that’s frowned upon at my work).  A friend and I are really hoping to take part in Cycletta later in the year in aid of Macmillan Cancer.  Cycletta is a women only cycling event for all abilities – there are a number of 40k rides up and down the UK.  I’m also participating in the 5K Race for Life next month for Cancer Research UK.  I’ll keep you updated on all of these and if anyone else is doing any of these then let me know.

I can only think its writing this blog and reading so many amazing other blogs by people like me that has given me the inspiration to find and sign up to these events.

The best bit is my wonderful, amazing husband bought me the Garmin Forerunner 305 for my birthday!!  Aaaahhhhhhhhh!  The eagle eyed of you will have spotted it in the photo above.  So he either listens to my constant “i wants” or he reads my blog!

Oh hello beautiful….

It’s already done two outings with me and i am in love with my husband my Garmin.

And finally…look how much Coco gives a monkey about my blog.  Apparently laps are for cats not for laptops.

Anyone else doing the Great South Run?  Anyone got an awesome 10 mile training plan they want to share?

it’s just so unexpected…

Look at this lovely thing…

The really rather wonderful findingwonderwoman has given me this lovely ABC award.  It’s so gold and shiny!  I think I’m in love.  I’m so flattered, especially as i love her blog (ok a lot of blog love going on here – bear with me), not least because she writes honestly and with bundles of humour but also because she nabbed THE best blog name in history.  Seriously why didn’t i come up with that?  If you haven’t already go check her out – you will not be disappointed.

I’m trying to remember the last time i got an award…oh yeah that’s because it was about twenty years ago at school – and that was pretty much just for turning up to  a music class – so i’m pretty pumped about receiving this one!

What has really surpassed my expectation since i started blogging is just how supportive the blogosphere is.  People you’ve never met and who may live on the other side of the world to you give you encouragement, inspire you and make you laugh on a daily basis.  It makes me smile.

So far as i can tell the rules are i have to tell you 26 things about myself in alphabetical order.  So i’ll try and keep this interesting (but it’s waaay harder than it looks):

Alice in Wonderland – fave book, hence blog title

Blogger & loving it

Colleague, love my girlys (and the guys of course) from work

Dancer (of the living room variety)

Expressive

Faddy – in music, in food, in exercise – i throw myself into one thing then get sick of it quite quickly

Girlfriend, of the platonic variety.  Never underestimate the power of your girlfriends.  I have the best.

Happy

Introvert

John – married to

Kitty lover, Coco and George wake me up at stupid o’clock most mornings by clawing my hair, they demand food whenever, wherever, they bring home dead stuff, they sit in my seat and they will only give affection when they feel like it, heck sometimes they don’t even come home but i love them

Love, one of my favourite words, i may overuse it a tad

Marathon runner wannabe, so i haven’t completed c25k yet, girl gotta dream big

Nonsense – i talk a lot of it!!

Old car owner, its 21 and i love it

Phobic of heights but not much else

Queen of cupcakes, made them about twice, now everyone thinks its my thing.  I don’t think they realise how easy they are to make…

Right, usually (ho ho)

Stubborn

Timely, if i’m anything i am ALWAYS on time, it’s annoying

Umbrella avoider, i’m too short, it’s lethal

Vinyl fan, sooo much better than CDs

Wife

Xcellent cup of tea maker (ok i cheated but i’m seriously picky about my tea so it’s got to go in somewhere)

Yapper, i talk a lot, mostly about nothing

Zoo – Jersey, one of my favourite places

I also have to pass this award on to deserving bloggers.  This was really hard, almost as hard as trying to think of 26 words.  Every blog I follow is awesome, otherwise i wouldn’t follow it.  But these are the ones i picked:

Simply. Madly. Me

Diary of a half hearted gym junkie

Sociallyfit

Msfitrunner

You might be able to see a theme running there…ooh and i got in a pun.

Happy Friday everyone x

whoop whoop! birthday running goodies!

It’s my birthday this week so i treated myself to some goodies from Wiggle.co.uk.  I tend to think of Wiggle as a cycling shop and i’ve bought cycling stuff from them before but they also have a fab running section which is super easy to use with lots of honest customer reviews on stuff and blogs with loads of useful info!  Plus the order came in about a day and a half.  Before i carry on i should say i’ve not been paid to say any of this stuff, nor did i get anything for free (more’s the pity) so this is truely my own opinion.

So, moving on, I never thought i would get this excited about new running stuff but i really am.  My PE teacher from school would be choking on her whistle!!  I guess this might make me a real runner.

Here’s my bounty:

Including a very bright Nike running skirt with integrated shorts, citrus flavour Nuun rehydration tablets, 15 Clif bars and these sexy things…

I’m very lucky in that i’ve never really experienced any injuries or proper pain from running, or any kind of exercise.  A lot of discomfort and sore muscles but no pain.  The one thing i do get is quite hot achey feet and calves after running so after reading about compression technology on loads of running sites i decided to give these a try.  I shall let you know how i get on with them.

The Nuun tablets are very yummy – i’ve popped those babies open already and they did a great job of hydrating me after my cycle ride and bodyrock workout.

Anyone noticed yet that i have a bit of a thing for bright workout gear??? That hot pink is going to go great with my turquoise Nikes.

So happy birthday to me.  There may be more treats this week – i’m hankering after a new road bike and a Garmin Forerunner for my running.  I haven’t spent any money on myself for ages so maybe this week is the week to break the bank.  I’ll keep you posted.

Also, i might have some race news to update you on shortly.  I’m getting very excited about this as there may be several races on the horizon…all the more reason for a Garmin!!

Anyone else spent way too much on themselves this week?  Who’s been registering for races?

whining while i’m winning!!

yesterday we hit up this lovely place for lunch…

It’s one of our favourite places to eat of a weekend and with views like this it’s no wonder…

I had the seafood salad.  It was more seafood than salad but it was very yummy. You can see John’s quiche in the background.  Also yummy (i can vouch for this – thanks John!).

oh hello lovely sunglasses!!  These have been getting a lot of outings since i bought them.  If you’re wondering about the weird pic it was taken through the lens of my film SLR with my digital SLR.

As for workouts this weekend – today i did the Bodyrock 420 rep challenge.  Again.  This time i did it in 38.31.  Shaving a whole 4 minutes of my last time.  A million apologies to my poor hubby who had to listen to a lot of whining throughout those 38.31 minutes (and a lot little after).

Yesterday i completed day 1 of week 6 of c25k and i loved it.  This resulted in quite a large spend on wiggle.co.uk for new running gear.  Cannot wait for that delivery to show up.

Hope you all had a fun weekend.  Anyone get any crazy workouts in?

chickpea overload?

My lunch today:

chickpea salad with houmous on the side (well on the top and the side really).  Totally yummy.  And for the record i’m pretty sure there’s no such thing as too many chickpeas!  The people who sat next to me all afternoon may disagree!

My bike computer seems to have given up the ghost and look where it got stuck:

I was sooo looking forward to seeing it flip over to 300 miles but its been stuck on 298 for two days now.  Grrrr.  Still when someone buys me a lovely Garmin for my birthday next week i won’t need it anymore!!!

That’s all i’ve got today – enjoy your Friday night.  I’m going to watch a friends band on their first outing so should be good.

It’s the weekend – whoop whoop!

new sunnies and week 5 of c25k done

last weekend i purchased new sunglasses.  the weather has subsequently turned very, very rubbish here.  the two may or may not be connected.

I’d had my eye on these Oakley’s for a long time but due to the price tag i just couldn’t decide…

one electricity bill rebate later and i finally decided to get them (well it is also my birthday next week).  They are from Oakley’s active range so they have grips on the nose and bits that go on your ears.  No idea what the techy terms are for these things but in a nutshell – they don’t fall off your face when you’re sweating like a pig in a heat wave!!  They don’t seem to fog up either.

I tested the glasses on a bike ride and a run and so far so good.  I like to think i look like a VIP in these.  I would suggest most sane people think differently!

I finished week 5 of c25k yesterday.  The last day i had to run 20 minutes straight which i was a bit nervous about but i managed it.  Actually i did stop briefly when someone’s puppy jumped all over me and a second time to blow my nose but after discussing this with my husband we concluded that (a) this wasn’t cheating and (b) i’m a nutcase for even asking!  So tomorrow it’s the start of week 6.  It looks like the runs become longer in time now so that should be interesting.  As i’m using the iphone app i don’t tend to look ahead much – i just do what it tells me to everytime i go out.  I think this is for the best for me personally, taking it one day at a time.

The weird thing is i actually enjoy running now!  And i look forward to the next one!  Who’da thunk it!

overnight oats

Last night i made overnight oats.  Now i know this isn’t a new thing but it’s new to me ok?  I’m so not trendy when it comes to my breakfast choices.  I eat porridge most weekday mornings.   Occasionally i push the boat out and enjoy a bowl of bran flakes!  I can’t really be inventive at that time of the morning so it’s almost always porridge with some kinda milk, chia seeds and some kind of fruit.  It works so i don’t mess.  Weekends are different – i’m all over the pancakes, eggs etc when i’ve got the time and i’ve shaken off the morning fuzziness.

Last night i decided to go all out and try something new (well, basically cold porridge).  The trick is to soak your oats in pretty much anything, mix it with pretty much anything and leave overnight.  It’s then all ready for you to eat the next day.  I tried half water half hazelnut milk.  Hazelnut milk is my new thing – if you haven’t tried it you’ve got to – it kinda tastes like nutella.  Yum!  I digress…then i added chia seeds, cinnamon and a whole bunch of frozen berries.  Before i went to bed it looked like this:

Then when i got up this morning it looked like this:

Don’t worry i didn’t leave the spoon in.  It was nice but those berries were seriously tart.  I should have tried them first.  I think i’ll be going back to good old fashioned porridge tomorrow.

This weekend i finished the cowl i’d been knitting.  It’s made with cashmere wool so its super soft.  I love it, although not quite winter any more so i don’t know how much wear i’ll get out of it:

I’m quite impressed that i actually finished something.  Huzzah for me!  Now what to make next…I’m hoping to make a skirt on my sewing machine so i’ll let you know how that goes.

Do you have any fab ideas for spicing up (maybe not literally) oats?  Let me know your breakfast secrets.  I’m still searching for that elusive breakfast that will keep me full until lunch.

Must go now as my lovely hubby is just finishing my dinner!

weekend frolics

last weekend was a wonderful four day weekend here in the UK.  i could so get used to those.  further to my last post re living life to the max we crammed in quite a lot.  Here is a picture diary (of sorts) of some of the stuff we got up to…

we planted veggies (toms, cucumber, lettuce) and sunflowers. At the garden centre we also impulse bought, and used, a new BBQ.  How cute is this??  Looks like a little alien!  I’ve also started composting.  Brings a whole new meaning to eating clean when your meal comes straight from your own garden.

ate ice cream (maple nut in my case) soooooo scrummy.  totally virtuous as well, because…

we ate them on a nice long cliff walk …. and i got in a quick run…still loving those awesome Nikes.

 

we chilled out…well Coco did, taking up most of the sofa.  And finally…

I made this awesome cake for my nephew.

Of course, that wasn’t all but i’m not going to bore you with a minute by minute account.  I just wanted to show that even when life gets a bit crap at times you gotta get out there and make the most of it.  No point moping around indoors.  Plus exercise releases endorphins and all that other happy stuff and you can’t argue with science my friends.

This next weekend is going to be a manic one but i hope to post about some of the more creative stuff i’m doing plus my panic at whats to come this week on week 5 of C25K.  Eeek!

let’s talk about cancer…

ok i want to get serious for one little post so please bear with me.

Cancer is a b*tch!  This week my beautiful, warm, funny, kind and much, much to young aunty lost her 18 month battle with cancer and my family and i are understandably devastated.  Sometimes in my melancholy moments i feel like cancer is picking off my loved ones like a sniper in the bushes and i am powerless to do anything about it.  Two months after we were married last year my hubby was diagnosed with a rare type of lymphoma, thankfully he recently successfully completed his treatment.  My grandpa died of pancreatic cancer within only 3 months of being diagnosed.  My wonderful colleague Pearl passed away from lung cancer.  My husbands niece is currently in hospital undergoing her treatment.  And there are countless others…

However, it is pretty pointless getting melancholy and angry and instead i’ve given myself a good talking to and i’m going to use this as a huge kick up the a** motivation and inspiration wise.  These are lessons i’m trying to take forward for myself:

* live a healthy life.  Many times John was told that having health and youth on his side was such a plus during his cancer treatment.  Well i can’t do anything about the youth bit but its important to stay as healthy as possible, not just for yourself but so that you can stick around for your loved ones for as long as possible and be strong for them.

* but you also have to live a happy life and it needs to be as fun filled as possible.  So you want a beer in the sunshine … have one.  Have that fairy cake and while you’re at it make sure you lick the last of all that cream cheese frosting.  Just do it in moderation (see first point) and while you’re at it do all the other things you’ve always wanted to do.

* spend more time with the ones you love and make sure they know they are the ones you love.  Cheesy i know but soooooo true.

* i’m also now hugely motivated to train for my 5K next month which is in aid of Cancer Research UK.  Get involved!  I’ll be keeping my eye out for many more.

In short just go out and enjoy your life!!

Sorry for the sappy post – i promise the next one will be back to normal.  Sadly the statistics are that everyone reading this will most likely have been touched by cancer so i’m sure you’ll be able to relate.

Enjoy your Easter Sunday and make sure you feel absolutely no guilt about those choccy eggs! x

jazz and monkeys

Last weekend John and I spent a long weekend in Jersey, in the Channel Islands, for the Jersey Jazz festival.  We had such an amazing time.  Jersey advertises itself as the sunniest place in the British Isles and the weather was much obliging…it was beautiful.  Sea was flat and calm for the boat trip too.

The hotel we booked into was the base for most of the jazz so very convenient but in itself not much to write home about.  The jazz on the other hand was brilliant.  I am by no means a “muso” (as my husband would verify!!) and don’t consider myself a huge jazz fan but there were some awesome bands – two favourites being Dennis “Badbone” Rollins and Velocity Trio (sooooo funky) and The Linley Weir Trio.  You should check them out.

As well as the jazz we really explored Jersey.  We didn’t get up early enough to hit breakfast at the hotel (hey … we were on holiday) but we found this fab little coffee shop called Bean Around the World where i had banana waffles and a cup of tea.  Britain hasn’t embraced the waffle like the US has and we so should.  I’d eat this everyday if (a) i could and (b) it wouldn’t make me the size of a house within weeks!

Ok now i couldn’t turn this picture over so here is my gravity defying waffles…hehe!  I so should have brushed up on some techy skills before i started a blog eh?

The main highlight of the weekend had to be a trip to Durrell (Jersey zoo).  This is not just any zoo, it’s more a conservation centre where they breed endangered species.  It’s such a wonderful place – now one of my favourites on earth.  The best bit was that during August a baby Macaque was born.  The mother was very obliging and brought the baby right out in front of us.  I only took pictures on my film SLR so you’re going to have to wait to see that little cutie I’m afraid.

On the Monday we hired bikes and cycled for hours.  Let me tell you Jersey is very hilly (very, very hilly) but it has some spectacular scenery and some gorgeous beaches.

After the weekend’s excesses i’m already back on the healthkick.  I’ll be out the door shortly for day 2 of week 4 of C25K.  This week is hard as it includes whole 5 minute running segments.  Eeek.  I’m very motivated for my 5K next month though and i can’t wait to get those trainers back on my feet.

Have you been anywhere nice recently?  

I hope you’re enjoying your long Easter weekend x