Category: General ramblings

It was Andy’s birthday last week, and we have a bit of a tradition now for me to make an extra Christmas cake and keep that for his birthday.

This year I decided on a Totoro design, as I am having a bit of a Studio Ghibli phase.

I saw loads of amazing cakes on the internet, but they were all rather tricky! It took me a while but I finally found a nice simple one to copy.

Plus, as a bonus, what I thought was a pack of icing, turned out to be white marzipan, so the decorations are going to be tasty too!

Onto the new strap. My Garmin vivofit has a little “keeper” to go around the strap and make sure it doesn’t accidentally come undone. I didn’t think it needed it, but wore it anyway. But then when I fell over in the half marathon, the keeper broke, and I have missed it- a couple of times the strap has come undone- only when I have been taking my coat off or something. I knew you could get coloured straps, so I spent ages on ebay and amazon, trying to find the keepers. In the end I found a set of 3 straps, and emailed the seller asking if they included the keepers (as some reviews said they did, and some didn’t). He said they didn’t but as he had some spares he would include them with my order, which was very kind.

They came in the week so I just added the keeper to my strap, but at the weekend decided to try out a different colour.

It was so easy to un-clip the main part and clip it into a new strap- not sure why I didn’t try it sooner! A world of colour awaits (well, of three colours anyway).

After my cake decorating I fancied a walk so drove near to town and walked the mile in, got a Starbucks and walked back, listening to some podcasts for some lovely “me” time.

This week I have been on holiday still, and so have been trying to get my two portions of fresh air each day, either with a couple of walks, or a run and a walk. As I have been report writing it has been very nice to have a break and stretch my legs- I do not know how people work at computers all day for their jobs! Running has been going OK- I feel very paranoid about falling, and have been going at a very gentle pace, but I have been fine afterwards and have been stretching once I get home too. After our parkrun tourism on Saturday I had a rest day on Sunday, then on Monday morning had a nice longer run (7 miles) which was enjoyable, although I pottered around for ages first, so despite being awake at 8am, didn’t leave until about 9.30 so I was rather hungry by the time I got home for breakfast.

Part of my route is through this field, and it took me by surprise that there were horses in the field, one right by the gate. You can miss the field out, but it’s a much longer route, and the horses seemed more interested in the grass than me so I decided to go through. If it had been the cows with big horns I would have gone the long way around I think!

Taken once safely through the field!

Yesterday I had a lovely run with the club- I have not been out with them for ages, but we found a route that was just under 4 miles and completed it while catching up with each other. It was really enjoyable, and so good to finish in daylight.

But first, recovering! I heard a while back a rule of thumb is that you need 1 day to recover for every mile of hard race effort. Well, it was a hard race effort and this week I certainly felt it! On Monday I went out on a walk at lunch time as I sit down all day and didn’t want to get too stiff. After work I had a back massage which was just heavenly. I did plenty of foam rolling when I got home too as my legs were getting stiffer.

To ensure I am getting lots of liquid I have been enjoying these lovely fruity teas kindly sent to me from Pukka herbs. The Blackcurrant beauty is my favourite- I was never a Ribena fan but I really like blackcurrant in fruity teas- it seems to taste as nice as it smells which often fruity teas don’t. The Elderberry and Echinacea is good too and although I don’t think echinacea is proven to help with immunity, it can’t hurt. I think they would make lovely iced teas too, but it hasn’t been the weather for that at the moment!

On Tuesday I missed by club run as we were visiting Andy’s brand new baby niece! Very exciting! I made them a banana bread (banana’s are coming out of our ears at the moment so any suggestions welcome!) when I got home.

On Wednesday I went for a short run (about 2.5 miles), to loosen my legs a bit. It did help but I was slow! I did go on the fields which are still super boggy, so I had to walk some of it to avoid going in up to my ankles! I did get to see a gorgeous sunset, and it seems I ran at the right time as later on some of my local running pals were soaked in a storm.

On Thursday there was no Pump as the instructor was away, so I went for a run when I got home. This time I felt a bit better, and kept very impressive even pacing (10.24, 10.28, 10.24- I wasn’t aiming for that!). That felt far enough and I was pretty tired at the end.

Friday was a rest day- I met a friend after work at The Waffle House- a fab start to the weekend.

When I got home I was very excited to find a package from Tribesports! My personalised parkrun t-shirt! They sold out so quickly the first time around, and I happened to be online when they released the next batch so I didn’t hang about! You can have it plain, or add your home parkrun to the front.

(Taken in early morning light- the colour is really more like the top picture!)- the back is fab too with the parkrun design and all the super sponsors who help keep it free for everyone. They are the same cut as the milestone t’s, so I got a small which is very generous- I wore it over a long sleeved top today and it had plenty of room.

Anyway today I was off to parkrun! It was my Dad’s 50th run! I had emailed the team earlier in the week (once I had checked that Dad was coming) but when we got there they didn’t say his name. I gave him a clap anyway! We ran together which was really nice- my Dad is a lot faster than me so usually he heads off, but we chatted (and at times, he chatted to me while I focused on breathing!)- there was a flurry of snow at the start but thankfully it stopped and the weather was good. The course had dried up a lot and so even the muddier parts were so much easier to run on. We thanked the marshals on the way around, as usual (and I was taken by surprise when one of them called to me- it was one of the OH ladies but she was so bundled up I didn’t recognise her at first!), and enjoyed the scenery. I tried to push up the final hill and we even overtook someone (and someone else stormed past us)- Dad even let me cross the finish line first.

We even did a finish line selfie to commemorate the occasion!

Later on I had an email from the Panshanger team saying that the original RD had broken her arm so they needed a last minute replacement- they were very apologetic for missing the email but they asked for the photo and added my Dad to the run report from this week too.

I did some more foam rolling in my (un-festive) lounge pants, did a lot of work, before having a nice walk around town and doing some baking. A brilliant weekend so far! I am not sure how far to run tomorrow- probably around 6 or 7 miles as I have another half (this one is “for fun”…..) in a couple of weeks so need to keep the longer miles if I can. I thought 6 or 7 this weekend, 9 or 10 the weekend after, and then the half. Hopefully that will be OK and my fitness for those distances won’t be lost that quickly.

Have you had a good week? Do you run or workout with anyone from your family? Are you close to any of the parkrun milestones?

*Pukka Herbs kindly sent me the teas. All opinions are my own.

Last weekend was a good one, with parkrun and a long run (two of my favourite weekend activities). My dad picked me up for parkrun and we had a good catch up. He had been to a London one (I forget which one) last Saturday and he had enjoyed being a parkrun tourist (he has done a few before) so we were talking about maybe once a month or so visiting a different one closer to home.

He ran on ahead, and I was pleased with my time as the conditions were fairly tough, as it was quite muddy, especially in the final km which made it harder. Anyway, I looked at my token number (118)- I don’t always. I scanned it (it beeped), and then saw a few people I knew so had a little chat before we headed home. My parents had invited us over for brunch, so after a shower we headed over for pancakes (I do love my mum’s pancakes). Later my dad got his laptop out and looked at the results- my number was down as “unknown”. I emailed the people later, asking them nicely to add me to the results (and offering to send in my Strava if they needed proof- although later I was tagged by one of the run directors in a photo)- they replied really quickly and said they had updated them. But even when I checked today, I’m not on there. It was meant to be number 61, and I do understand the whole no-barcode-no-time, but I did have my barcode, and I did scan it. Anyway, I sent them another email today, saying sorry to be a pain but…, and also offering to be a marshal in a few weeks. I am hoping that one of them sees it and adds me. Otherwise did it really happen? I don’t want to be a pain as I know they are all volunteers, but at the same time I really like my page to have all my runs on there…Edited to add- they added me on Saturday morning- I got the email and everything. Thanks lovely RD team!

On Sunday I wanted to do around 11 miles, but everyone else in the club was doing shorter ones, so I decided to run to and from the meeting place, as that would add on around 3 miles. We did a new route which was fairly nice (and flatter than our usual 8 mile loop). With running there and back I managed 11.7 miles, and although I felt very thirsty when I got back (it was so mild) I felt pretty good. It has helped me to decide what to pack for Sunday too- I wore my vest and I was fine so I know I will be fine in a vest once I get going this weekend too (Brighton half).

My new favourite post-run food- slices of oranges. Which is lucky as the weekly Abel and Cole fruit box contains a huge bag! They are so refreshing. After a shower, tea and muesli I put on my festive lounge pants (which are different to pyjamas!) and my heat holder socks and ended up falling asleep listening to podcasts.

(My normal checked ones were in the wash!).  I did a lot of foam rolling too

On Monday I was fine in the morning but by the afternoon one leg (sort of up to my lower back) was really sore- we had a walk in the evening and I did some more foam rolling to try and help it. Not sure what caused it- we do normally have a walk on Sunday after a long run but we didn’t have time so I suppose I sat down a lot more than I would usually. I put some of the herbal deep heat on before I went to sleep and that seemed to help a lot.

I was a bit worried and thought I might have to give my Tuesday evening run a miss, but by the morning I was fine so I went along for a nice 5 mile catch up run.

On Wednesday I got home planning a run, but I was shattered (work was just so busy and I had been doing work until 10pm on Tuesday after my run) and we needed to walk up to the shops, so I opted for the walk instead. I went to Pump on Thursday and was careful to not go too heavy on the squats or back, but again my leg felt fine so fingers crossed. Those lunges are never easy though!

Now I need to go and pack for our weekend in Brighton- wish me luck for Sunday!

Slices oranges yes or no?

Anyone else still wearing festive gear? I did buy a woolly reindeer hat last week (for £2.40!) but I feel that is a bit too much!

Sometimes we book a little trip away for one of the half term weekends, but with house hunting at the top of our list right now, we didn’t. Although that is easier said than done, as most places around here host open houses, and even if you phone up on the day the house gets listed, often the slots are already full. It’s stressful!

Anyway, this week has been half term, and it has been just what I needed.

Saturday was house viewing after house viewing, a walk into town, some baking, some movie-watching. Sunday was a long run, recovering from the run and seeing family.

On Monday I went over to a friends house where a group of us met up. It was lovely and relaxed and great to catch up.

As two of my friends can’t eat gluten I had made this orange and almond cake which was really tasty. On my way home I popped in to see my mum, before coming home and having a walk with Andy.

On Tuesday I was meeting some friends for breakfast at The Waffle House. Last week I had a problem with the tyre pressure light on my car coming on, and due to parents evening it meant I could not get to the garage until Friday. They checked, and thought it was down to cold weather (it does keep on coming on when it’s cold), but the light came back on again on Monday. So before meeting them I went to the garage- it turned out there was a screw in my tyre, but luckily they could patch it up. I then had a lovely breakfast waffle topped with chocolate sauce, banana and hazelnuts, and had a good catch up with those friends. Then I had to rush home as we had an appointment with the solicitor in the afternoon. Luckily that didn’t take too long, and after a little lunch I made the most of being home in the daytime for an afternoon run in the sunshine. I went to the fields, and really should have worn my trail shoes. Some of the paths were covered in some sort of fine gravel, and my shoes got so heavy as they just picked up the earth.

Hard to see but there was a good cm of mud attached!

I even braved the cow field! I was going to turn back as I saw all the cows very close to the path (the path is along the right of the photo) but some people walking their dog (not on a lead, I might add, even though there are signs on all the gates asking for dogs to be kept on leads in grazing areas…..) and so I decided that if the cows were not spooked by the dog they would be OK with me. I did run through it very quickly!

Once home I had to log on to the computer, because for months now we have been wanting to sign up for the inaugural Disneyland Paris half marathon. The US Disney races always look good fun, and have the most amazing medals, but they never fit with school holidays, so they have never been an option. As soon as the date was confirmed we booked a (cancel-able) hotel nearby, and Eurostar  tickets back. You could sign up ages ago if you booked it as part of a package, but the Disney hotels are crazily expensive, plus you only got one race entry per room so it was no good for us anyway. The date to book just a race entry was also put back once (the cynic in my says they are hoping to sell as many package deals as possible to US runners), but it was finally changed to Tuesday at 4pm (because that is the morning in the US).

After a bit of frantic refreshing we both managed to book a place for the half, and then went on and quickly booked flights out for the Friday night! It’s going to be brilliant!

After my shower I did my first bit of school work for the half term- it felt great to have a few days break from all of that.

On Wednesday I was meeting another friend for a Starbucks meet- it has become a bit of a tradition for us to have a cinnamon roll when we meet up, so I had a bit of fruit for breakfast (as we weren’t meeting until half 10) and then we spent about 3 hours catching up! This break has been so needed!

I had to get a few bits in the shops, came home and had a late lunch, caught up on some more work and then headed out on a walk across the fields. It was raining a bit, and it was very cold, but I was well wrapped up, and enjoyed my fresh air fix.

On Thursday morning I went out for a run before breakfast. I would usually run on a Wednesday evening, but it was raining and cold so I left it until the morning.

I ran through the fields to a park (just under 2 miles away) and then ran up and down this hill- it’s short but pretty steep- I aimed to do 10 times, but lost count, did one “for luck”, and when I got home and counted the bumps on Strava it turned out I had done 12.

The sun was coming out and I was treated to some lovely views.

I was being watched by some geese too (luckily the nice ones).

All in all I did 5 miles- a good start to the day. After getting on with work, I had a walk in the afternoon and then baked some banana bread. I had booked on to pump, but they gym rang to say the class had been cancelled, so we had an evening in.

Today I briefly considered a run, but as I am going to parkrun tomorrow (for the first time in what feels like ages!) and doing a longer run on Sunday, I decided to have it off.

I know it’s very British to talk about the weather, but it has been pretty good this week, and although we have had some frosty starts, the days have been mostly sunny (and the wind has at least died down- it’s never fun getting my car out fro the garage in the wind as it blows the door back down)- spring might even be on the way!

Have you had a good week? Have you ever raced abroad? 

Also, I just signed up to a free trial of Strava premium- if anyone already has it- what do you do on there and do you think it’s any good?