14 miles

Went for a walk this morning. What a beautiful day!! Started off with two friends and we did about 10 miles together. I carried on because I want to up the mileage before the Trailwalker. Did another 4 miles (14.38 in total). Feel good. My feet ache a lot but on the whole they're not too bad. I covered them in Vaseline before I left which seems to help (tho need to find an alternative for the desert as sand + vaseline is obviously not a good mix!). Only thing is my little toe on my left foot is sore underneath. The skin is quite hard and unfortunately too sore to get rid of (never seems to be any different!). No blisters tho!

Running tomorrow.

Still haven't moved up the waitlist but I emailed BOM last week and Sarah told me that it was 'highly unlikely' that I wouldn't get a place. Yay. The first payments are due in September and BOM have sent an email to all competitors for next year, asking that if any want to defer their place, they should let BOM know by the first week in August (I think that's right). By then I might move up the two places necessary to be an official competitor. Can't wait for that day!

Ouch

Ouch - because the spinning has bruised me!! My legs feel okay (tho a bit tired), but I have to say that I feel a bit battered in the 'saddle' region (that's the nicest way I can think of putting it on here). Damn bike saddles. I can't understand why they don't pad them out a bit and make them slightly more comfortable!!

I went for a short run (jog). Did 4 miles and felt okay tho my legs are tired. A rest day tomorrow and then I'm either running or walking on Friday morning. Depends on what time I'm leaving to see Bon Jovi (woo hoo!!). Think I'm meeting Rach in Richmond to have something to eat before we hit Twickenham. Can't wait. Haven't actually met Rach before but we have plenty in common (obviously) and we're both called Rach. Can't be bad!!

Ellie is okay today so she's gone to school. Fingers crossed I don't get a phone call as I have thousands of birthday presents to buy (busy time of year at school as everyone has birthdays). The kids have a very good social life!!

Spinning

Good God. I've only been spinning (group cycling) once before, quite a long time ago. I remembered it being very hard.

And I wasn't wrong. It damn nearly killed me!! My legs really didn't know what had hit them. There was quite a lot of out of the saddle stuff which I will probably pay for tomorrow and the day after.

Having said that, I did enjoy it (sweated buckets!!). If I do it once a week I'm hoping the benefits will show fairly soon. I need to strengthen my legs as they seem pretty weak at the moment. I'm sure this will help!

Tomorrow I'm hoping to go for a run (depending on how the legs feel). Also depends on my youngest daughter as she's not feeling great (sore throat, flushed etc) and I'm not sure she'll be okay for school. We'll see.

I need food - I'm off!

10 miles

Did a leisurely 10 mile walk this morning. Didn't really feel like it as stomach feels crap but glad I went anyway.

Need to up the mileage as I don't feel very prepared for the Trailwalker at the moment! I'm sure in a week or two I can get back up to marathon distances and then I'll feel better about it! My feet are in surprisingly good shape tho I do have a couple of hotspots on my third and fourth toe (right foot).

I'm going to a spinning class tomorrow which will almost certainly damage me in some way. Still, it's worth a go!

Am incredibly excited to the point of practically peeing myself at the moment. I was supposed to be going to see Bon Jovi on Friday but had a nightmare with the tickets (bloody company went bust), so my dreams were shattered (how dramatic am I?). Anyway, other Rach (who I was going with) rang today to say that the tickets she was sent are seated (not Golden Circle) and did I still want one? Said it wasn't possible because of kids etc etc.....

BUT hubby is going to be home early AND has said he will pick me up afterwards. SO I'M GOING. Can't bloody believe it and am so happy!!!!

Twickenham Stadium here I come. Two Rach's, one day and one damn fine looking bloke. Aaaahhhhh!!!!

(Sorry, I know this is supposed to be a running/walking blog but this IS important).

Just a quickie

I had to take Ellie for a hospital appointment this morning, but was determined to go for a run when I got back. Almost talked myself out of it because I always feel slightly deflated when I've been there with her. Anyway, got my running gear on and went out with music blaring - it was actually Burning Heart by Survivor which helped! I managed to do 4.5 miles which wasn't too bad. I'm slightly scared at how hard running is now - I've been doing a lot of walking and need to get back into it.

I ordered Fixing Your Feet the other day (Vonhof). It came today and it has made me realise that my feet are basically what's going to carry me around the desert (no shit!) so they need taking care of. I am making a promise here and now that by the end of the summer (it will take a while), they will be like a baby's bottom. Need to get rid of the hot spots, which is basically a nicer word than callus. They are underneath my toes and are what really hurt when I get blisters underneath.

What Vonhof says in the book makes an awful lot of sense (and its pretty bloody obvious really)but I suppose, stupidly, feet can get neglected....

I may even treat myself to a date with a chiropodist (foot butcher in my opinion), and then a pedicure to top it off. I can't bear to go and have a pedicure until my toe nails have grown back tho. I don't want to make the poor soul who has to do it feel like throwing up.

Onwards and upwards!

Back to the park

I'm getting back into this walking/running lark now.... (about time). I went to the park again, with a friend today. We started off running together after we'd had our second child(ren). Neither of us had ever done any running at that time (it was January 2004) and we literally used to run for a minute, then walk for 5, run for 1 minute etc etc! We improved quite quickly! She is one of the Moonwalkers so fit anyway, but she hasn't run for a while. Anyway, we did 2 circuits of the park (which is just over 2 miles), then we walked one, ran another circuit. My friend wanted to walk at this point so I carried on and ran another. Then I walked back to meet her and we walked around again. So I did 6 circuits (4 running and 2 walking). Feel good and better than I did on Friday when I went.

I won't be doing anything tomorrow, but Friday I will go running again. I might run around the roads and see if I can do 10 miles. Although I am obviously focusing on the Trailwalker (in the short term) and the MdS I was to train well for the Dublin Marathon. I don't know if I've put this down already, but I might run/walk Dublin with my pack on. Not sure yet as I want to see where I'm at in October!

These boots were made for walking....

Monday 16th June: went out for a trawl around the sunny pavements of Bromley and West Wickham with a friend. We did 10 miles which I was pleased with AND my feet were reasonably okay. I smothered them in Vaseline before I went out because I'm trying work out what will stop me getting horrible blisters. They survived! I only have one small blister (a flat one tho) so I will be using Vaseline again! Bought some surgical spirit today so I'm going to start working on my feet, getting rid of the hard, dry skin (lovely), and getting them primed for long painful walks (Trailwalker in four weeks!!).

Off out again tomorrow. Not sure how far or whether it will consist of running or walking.....

A jaunt in the park

I wanted to go running but have lost a bit of confidence lately, so thought I'd go to the park instead. It's just a fraction over a mile all the way around the outside and quite a decent place to run. A few dog walkers about so I don't feel totally isolated!

I did 6 circuits of the park. I think in total I walked almost 2 laps and ran the rest. Felt terrible to start with as my legs are still like jelly after the bike on Tuesday. My trouble is, because I feel so crap to start with, I just want to give up (not good when you think of next year). But once I get going I'm fine. I'm really conscious of building up slowly though because I don't want injuries. Shin splints WILL rear their ugly head if I start doing too much, too soon. Dublin is still about 18 weeks away (roughly) so I've got plenty of time. I've also decided that when I start going out with the pack, I will go to the park. Partly because I want to get used to it without the world and his wife looking at me thinking I'm a complete arse, and partly because its quiet there and I can just get on with my own thing!

I will go out again on Sunday and just see how I feel. No plans for a particular distance! Monday I'll be walking, hopefully about 10 miles.

Busy weekend ahead but it should be nice as we've actually got the chance to go out for a meal together (me and hubby). Very rare!!!

Gym

I went to the gym today. Managed to do 28km on the bike. It was 28.3 to be precise and I suppose that must equal about 17ish miles so quite pleased with that. It took 1 hour and 5 mins (5 mins was the warm down). Legs were absolutely killing me. I put the bike on level 8 but I don't know how many levels it has, so no idea if that's a good thing!! Also did 2000 metres on the rowing machine.

Hoping to either go back to the gym tomorrow to go on the cross trainer, or I might run around the park, haven't decided yet.

We watched the MdS dvd kindly sent by Craig (MdS forum). The ITV4 programme I'd obviously seen before, but still great to watch. The Eurosport I hadn't seen and enjoyed it very much. Again, had tears in my eyes - can't quite believe I'm doing it!! Still no. 2 on the waitlist so I suppose there's a chance I might not be. Unlikely tho.

Thursday will be a rest day, and then Friday I'll go for another run.

Brace yourselves.....

I've actually been running! I'm pleased I've been as the last time was in the snow during the Easter holidays (so quite a while ago now). Did 4 miles but I had to walk because my legs were officially knackered! For the first time in ages tho, my feet were fine!! I know it was only 4 miles, but its a start!

I'm going to the gym tomorrow to attack one of the bikes. Then I'll run again on Wednesday and Friday.

Off to watch my MdS dvd (thanks Craig!)....

Couch Potato

I haven't written anything lately, because there's nothing to report! We were on holiday over half term in the Isle of Wight (which was lovely) and I can't say I did an awful lot of exercise while we were there. I had more skin taken from my back on Tuesday, so now I'm waiting for that to heal a bit before I start training again. Having a serious think about what I'm going to do. I'm going to start training (running) for the Dublin Marathon. I want to do well in that (better than previously) so if I start now I should have a fighting chance. In between running, I'll be walking longer distances and also going to the gym. Just have to work out a plan of what to do and when.

My back's driving me mad (as it did before). It feels sore and tight and I can lean back on it for too long. It was much better within a week last time (which was when I walked the Ridgeway), so I'm hoping that by the beginning of next week it'll be much better.

The dates are in for next year's MdS. It starts on March 27th (that's when we fly) and back on April 6th (I think). Slightly scary knowing the dates now. Makes it all the more real. Still number 2 on the waitlist and I don't think I'll relax completely until I'm an 'official' competitor. Having a good day today as far as confidence is concerned and am convinced I can do it. That could all change tomorrow!

Now that the Moonwalk is over (and I'm SOOOO glad its over!), I'm thinking that I might actually just raise money for Epilepsy Action. A few reasons really, but the main one is obviously because of my daughter, Ellie. I'm fully aware of the fact that things could be so much worse and she could be physically and/or mentally disabled or God forbid, terminally ill, but I can't always feel grateful about it because she's had to deal with so much. I can honestly say that not a day goes past when I don't look at her and feel like screaming my head off because life's so bloody unfair. She's been taking her new medication for almost two weeks (tomorrow) and it's made no difference whatsoever. Am I surprised? Not really. It's being increased tomorrow and so I'll spend the next two weeks watching her every move, wondering whether this is it. Again, I'm not holding my breath. So there you go. There's my reasoning for wanting any money I raise to go to Epilepsy Action. I've read stories about kids (and adults) who suffer terribly with Epilepsy, and the hell that parents go through trying to cope with it.

I haven't made a definite decision (and I may still raise money for a breast cancer charity), but as things stand at the moment, it may just be the one charity.