Maria Runs - Maria Runs

Sponsorship plea

Hey peeps.

Thanks for all the lovely messages on my last post- I keep going from feeling confident that I will manage the GNR, to waves of panic about not finishing and missing the train back home. Anyway, I am trying to stay in a positive frame of mind. A lovely colleague sponsored me the other day, and when I thanked her she told me that she was so impressed because of all I have been through this year. Sometimes when I refer back to my op, I feel a bit like I am making a meal out of nothing, seeing as it was a small op, no complications etc. But when I came home from the hospital I could barely walk, so I suppose the fact I am running now is a reason to celebrate, and a reason to feel proud that I have come back from that really.

Anyway, I enjoy running races, and usually just run for myself, but once a year I like to raise money for charity. This year I missed the Race for Life near me (races?), and didn’t get a place through the GNR ballot. But my Dad’s cousin worked for a charity (a branch of the Sheffield Hospitals Charity- the kidney research part)- they also run it each year (as well as doing other fund raising things) and I think the charity does really good work. Anyway, they secured me a charity place, which sorted out my charity of the year dilemma.

Last year I did a few give-aways for people who sponsored me, but this year I am going to do a Great British Bake off style giveaway, and if you sponsor me I will send you out some home-made goodies. Any donations are very much appreciated- every pound adds up after all. So in advance if you feel you can sponsor me a little bit then I sent you my thanks xx

The link is here.

(I chose My Donate because the charity gets more than it would from other donating websites- something I didn’t know before).

On the subject of running, taper time is here! Yesterday my run went well and each mile was a little quicker, and today I did just over 3 miles, and again (despite the wind) kept a faster pace. When I started back, 3 miles was taking me nearly 40 mins, but on my own it is down to about 33/34, and with Sweatshop it is a bit lower. Anyway, tomorrow I have a late meeting at work (so no Sweatshop run, boo), and Thursday is pump. Friday night we are getting the train up, so no more running before Sunday! Ahhh!

But I am in a positive frame of mind.

And thanks again if anyone does sponsor me. Maria xx

Since I’ve been back

Hey everyone- I hope you are all enjoying the Indian summer (well, last week anyway). I got back on Saturday lunch time, then Monday was back to work, and all my blog posts have been holiday ones. But I have been back to randomly taking photos (and back to running regularly too) so here is a whistlestop tour of the last week.

So, running:

Sunday- 6 miles= felt OK.

Monday- same 6 mile route after work= much harder.

Tuesday- 3 miles slow

Wednesday- Sweatshop run! Super speedy middle section (I jog there and back slowly)- 3 miles in under 30 mins!

Thursday- Body pump! I had forgotten about all those press-ups!

Friday- Rest

Saturday- 10 mile run. I took it super slow and steady, didn’t look at my Garmin (turned it around on my wrist so I was not tempted) and tried to run on “feel” more. Took me just under 2 hours, but I felt OK at the end and I think at that sort of pace I could continue for the 3 extra miles.

Sunday- Rest

Today- Just under 4 mile run after work. For some reason my plan said 7 miles! But then I remembered about the taper (I think I still get one even though I just had a holiday?) and also got home from work later.

I bet you missed seeing pictures of me just back from a run? Well here you go:

The red face is back! (I think that was after the second 6 mile run, and it was rather hot out there that day!)

I got my vest for the charity I am raising money for.

The GNR is just around the corner! Eek!

Food has been tasty:

Yummy quinoa chickpea salad with a lime/coconut dressing (well lime juice, agave and dessicated coconut), with spinach, artichoke, basil tofu and dried mango. Sort of tropical fused with Italian! Had the leftovers for 2 lunches too.

Lovely chai latte (celestial seasonings Bengal spice teabag, vanilla soya milk and a splash of syrup I think) in my new cup, plus lovely energy ball bites by Something from Sarah.

Delicious sweet potato and pb, with a spinach and fig salad (yes there is some potato under all that pb).

Lovely post run breakfast of blueberries, chia seeds and muesli soaked in almond milk, topped with mango, plus coconut water.

Yummy granola to top my soaked muesli- love all the freeze-dried fruit.

My attempt at an acai bowl. We had these loads on holiday- this one (made 2) was made with: 2 cups frozen cherries, 1 big frozen banana (slice before I freeze them), tsp cocoa powder and a tsp vanilla bean paste whizzed up in the food processor. Served with chopped papaya, blueberries and banana, sprinkled with granola and drizzled with agave. It was pretty close to the ones we enjoyed in Hawaii.

There has also been lots of tea! Especially teapigs tea, as I have been sent some samples 🙂 Lovely Earl Grey tea (the best I have had I think)

Yummy Lemongrass- so refreshing.

And warming spiced winter tea for a cool autumnal evening.

I also missed baking while I was away, and boy I made up for it this weekend! After running 10 miles, doing some work, and housework, I then made batches of white chocolate peanut butter blondies, another batch with added coconut, some peanut butter and strawberry fudge, and some dark chocolate orange brownies! Phew!

Then I bagged them up ready to take to work, to help persuade people to sponsor me. The little tags have the website on them. They covered my dining room table I cannot believe I made so many! Hopefully I will manage to raise some more funds for the charity.

Right, that is enough for now! I have been catching up on the Great British Bake Off (love it)- might try to squeeze in an episode before bed time.

Night 🙂

Maui (sunrise to sunset, mountains to beaches)

On our way to Maui, I was very excited to see the observatories at the top of the mountain!

The flight was amazing, because it was pretty low, so we had good views of the many little islands. By the time we had collected our car and driven to the west of the island, it was pretty late (I think about 11) but that meant we were out and about the next morning to see the place.

Our hotel was near to Lahaina, which is an old whaling (boo) town on the west of the island. It really reminded me of Key West- sort of older, smaller, and with a bit more history than a lot of America. It was so pretty, packed with little shops (and some chains- randomly a Lush store!), and they were all open late, so a good place to wander in the evenings.

We went for a walk around the Chinese museum (which had a temple upstairs)- our entry also included a tour (by candlelight) of an old house owned by a missionary /doctor for a long time. All worth doing- very interesting.

There was an old cookhouse at the Chinese museum, which was showing films by Edison- old ones of Hawaii and things- very interesting.

The town centre also had a large banyan tree (never heard of them before)- the trees put down runners- sort of roots from higher up the tree, and when they hit the ground they get thicker and turn into more trunks. It looked like an octopus! This one was made to be symmetrical as people hung buckets and things to train the runners.

It is hard to see, but it was interesting, and lovely and cool too.

One day we went out for a long and twisty drive, on the Road to Hana.

We saw so many beautiful waterfalls, the sea looked amazing, the jungle plants looked amazing.

We went to a black sand beach, and I am sure that the rocks are called the dragon rocks or something (made from lava, but look like a dragon reaching into the ocean).

Real coconuts!

Hello 🙂

We sat and had some lunch (well banana bread we had bought along the way, plus banana and some pretzels I think!) with another beautiful view.

Then we had to drive back! Very twisty roads, narrow bridges, but more wonderful views.

One day we got up super early (4am I think) to drive up to the mountain to see the sunrise. It was apparently a ” must see” and it was worth it!

It was totally freezing- we wore as much as we could- vest, jumper, rain coat, jeans, but it was soooooo cold!

Amazing seeing the clouds pour over the mountains.

Hello from a chilly me!

Also what was amazing was that we could see the small flat part of central Maui, the sea on each side, and some of the other mountains.

The light was amazing once the sun had risen.

The walk back to the car from the viewing bit.

Andy liked taking covert pictures of me walking!

Then we drove to the top (some people watched the sunrise from there, but we were too late and the car park was full).

More observatories!

I was reading a sign (another picture I didn’t know he took!)

I liked the long shadows- made me tall!

There was another visitors centre which had more amazing views of volcanic craters.

This was me saying “can we go home for a sleep now?” (and we did)

We had more chill out time too. I did a few runs, and on one discovered a board walk from our hotel along the beach to other hotels and shops. We loved our sunset walks on the beach.

It was a pretty beach.

And we got to see more hula dancers!

They even had some children that did a dance to the song from Lilo and Stitch (the Hawaiian song, not an Elvis one).

Maui was just fantastic- it felt quite touristy in places, but also very remote and peaceful. Seeing the sunrise from the mountain was amazing- so quiet and beautiful. The road to Hana was a crazy drive (I didn’t envy Andy driving at all) but worth it as it was so pretty, and the beaches were fab too. It was the perfect holiday – just what I needed. I could not lay on a beach all day- I like seeing and doing things, and there was enough for us to see and do that I didn’t feel like I wasted being there, but also it was so chilled out. I just loved it.

Right, again well done if you got to the end of this- I think we took nearly 1600 photos (as I took a little camera and Andy had his fancy one)- so I have condensed them a lot!

I have a few more photos (for a holiday food post, and random bits I missed), so you are nearly at the end! 🙂

Rest of the Big Island

Hello all

Gosh back to work with a bump! The routine is already back in place (just about)- seems like these photos were taken a long time ago.

So, after our trip to the Volcano National Park, we went to the west coast of the Big Island, to a resort. Not something we would usually do, but we had figured we would want a couple of days to chill out before our next move. The drive there was lovely as it was a coastal road with waterfalls coming down to the sea, and the resort was very posh- when we checked in we were given shell necklaces (lei?), sat down at a table, given an iced towel (you used to get that sort of thing on a plane) and some guava juice. Very posh indeed! But the downside- no free internet!

We walked around the grounds of the resort.

Many palm trees, beautiful views of the ocean.

Flowers in the trees

Matched my flower hair clip!

Found a wild turtle- was massive!

Loving being by the sea

We found some chairs to watch the sunset from

Then I had a wander as I saw another turtle

Then we went to one of the restaurants- perfect view of the palm trees and sea

And the flames too- I liked those torches

I went for an Earl Grey (it was a bit chilly by then) and a fruit plate- yummy fresh papaya filled with all sorts of fruits- delicious.

The next day we went up the mountain (can’t remember the name) to watch the sun set and then do some star gazing- as it was so clear when we were in Volcano we were hoping to be amazed.

The visitors centre set up telescopes- I got to see Saturn so clearly, and the moon. Then someone did a talk and explained about all the different constellations, pointed out planets (we could see Mars with our eyes and even see the orange glow compared to the blue/white glows from other stars).

I have never been somewhere so dark either!

There were turtles in our hotel- little rescue ones that live there until they are big enough to survive in the wild.

Also some sharks in some of the ponds

Post card image!

I would rather be here!

It was a lovely couple of days- except from our trip to the mountain (which was a long drive- Saddle Road (goes between mountains) was bumpy enough, and then the drive up the mountain was very steep and twisty) we did not do much except relax. Well, we had a run one morning together, and saw more turtles on the beach! I think a couple of days was enough as I am not into sunbathing or anything, but it was lovely to just totally relax.

Right, that is enough for now- well done if you made it to the end again!

🙂

Volcano!

Hey everyone!

I hope you all had a lovely summer- I cannot believe it is September already- time really has flown by.

I am back home now, but still sorting through all the photos etc, so expect to have a few more holiday related posts yet.

After Waikiki, we flew (you have to fly- no boats between islands) to Hilo on Hawaii (confusing, so most people call it “The Big Island”, as it is the biggest), and had several days in the Volcano National Park. It was amazing! I love going to National Parks- we managed lots of walks (and hikes down to the crater floors and back up again), and even managed to see flowing lava one night. We stayed in a tree house in the rainforest- it was very cool- it collected rainwater to use for the shower- and had some solar panels. Anyway, I will try to keep the photos to a minimum!

Yes there used to be a road under that- not sure how the sign survived! There were different types of lava too- some smooth, some more like rubble, some that looked like cables.

Crater with steam pouring off- the lava below heats the rainwater.

Same crater at night- the lava makes the steam glow orange and red- amazing.

Rainbow in the background! We saw lots of rainbows there!

Lava tube- I am still not 100% sure I understand how they are formed- the lava flowed through, so I think it pushed through the thinner rock, and left behind a tube? Not sure though.

Lava

Walking on the lava (there is a road buried under that somewhere)

Our tree house in the rainforest

View out of the window (lots of big trees and leaves)

View of the sea from the park

Banana trees (I think?) planted right by the sea

Where the lava stops the road

Petroglyphs (ancient carvings in the lava rock)

And more (there were loads)

Some people had rebuilt their houses on top of the lava- it was very spooky

View of the lava in the daylight- just steam was visible

Then it got very dark!

And we could see the lava glowing on the side of the hill! Amazing!

Arch created by lava flowing into the sea

More lava

Crater floor (think this is the one we walked down to, along, and back up the other side)

In the crater floor

Being windswept by the crater!

Anyway, it was fantastic there- so interesting, so much to see and do. We stayed in a little town (called Volcano), and there were only a few small restaurants cafes. We found an amazing vegetarian cafe (with a goat in the garden!)- Cafe Ono. I did take some photos but you can look forward to them later!

Right, that is enough for now- I had better get ready for work tomorrow!

🙂