Category: Running

Afternoon all

So yesterday was a little sad really, as it always is on the last day of term- it is weird really because I look forward to the summer holidays, but also by the end of the year it is sad to say goodbye to the lovely children (and their lovely parents).

I was given these sweet pea flowers in the morning by a child in my class- his mum said he had been growing them for weeks and had decided they were for me on the last day of term- how sweet. He even whispered to me “the butterfly is not real“- love it! What a lovely final day anyway. They smell so amazing and the scent is still filling the living room today. 🙂

To celebrate I met up with a couple of friends from other schools- we met in Starbucks where I had a chai tea (not a latte, just a tea) and a cinnamon swirl- yum. The perfect start to the holidays!

After that we had a picnic dinner at home;

I got some walnut and rye bread (amazing), and finished the Wensleydale and cranberry cheese, and an easy peasy “salad” of lettuce, grapes and pink righteous dressing. Love that dressing.

Anyway, what I wanted to say about today was what I listen to when I run. When I first started out, I did not listen to anything. I was following a walk/run plan, and I used my mobile phone to time each section as I did not have a watch or anything! But once I realised I liked it, Andy got for me a little mp3 player which was light enough to stick in my pocket. I used to listen to music- I still have a long list on there which includes A, Ash, Hard Fi, High School Musical (yeah I like the cheesy stuff too), Kasabian, Lilo and Stitch (my fave Disney movie and with Elvis tracks, what’s not to love??), Maroon 5, Muse, Radiohead, The Killers, Weezer and Foo Fighters. I love upbeat music generally, and I did used to sometimes find myself singing along! Luckily I was generally alone! What I did find was that I would try to run to the beat, so that I would pick up my speed in faster songs, and really slow down during slower ones. I was recommended talking podcasts as a way to keep a steady speed, and it seems to help me.

So now I tend to listen to podcasts. You all know my love for marathon talk– I think it is lighthearted but also interesting- a range of chat, interviews and news. I also load up from the bbc podcasts website:

The Food Programme– this sometimes looks at companies, or a specific food, or sometimes food in a certain country.

Friday Night Comedy– I prefer the news quiz, but now it is “The now show” which I think can be hit and miss, but often funny enough.

Americana– the topics on this range each week- they had a special about the space programme, they look at things like green issues, the death penalty and things like that.

Excess Baggage– this is a travel programme from a different slant. A few weeks ago they had a really interesting show about cycling- they had someone who had cycled all over the world, and another person (Matt Carroll) who has written a book about cycle rides in the UK.

The Infinite Monkey Cage-This is a sort of science show, but funny and presented by Prof. Brian Cox. 🙂

I have also listened to things like the Ricky Gervais podcasts (from when he was on XFM) or the Adam and Joe show, but they are so funny that I sometimes laugh too much and it stops me running!

So, what do you listen to when you run?

Onto today, after breakfast and some jobs I went out for a run. I was pleased as I managed my furthest ever since the marathon- 10 miles. It was hard work, and I had some twinges in my legs (but I could not decide if I was imagining them as I was a bit tired)- took me 1hr48, which I am alright with. I think I have slowed down a lot, but then in a couple of weeks I have a holiday, and I am hoping that the break will do me good and I will be able to improve on that time before the Great South run in October.

After my run I had my last bloggie swap clif bar- chocolate chip peanut crunch- which I loved! It was like the pb ones we get over here, but with added chocolate chips, and maybe a slight saltier flavour- always good after a run. Plus some coconut water with passion fruit to help rehydrate- this was tasty too.

Plus a Food Doctor pitta (thanks to Leigh for pointing out that Tescos have them on offer for 49p so we have rather a lot of them!!!) with lovely pb, apple and pear. Mmmmm.

This afternoon I have been baking and doing more jobs around the house, so more photos tomorrow I think! That is enough for now!

Bye 🙂

Hey peeps

So Monday when I left work it was teaming it down with rain again. I had a run planned, but during the drive home I talked myself into staying at home and doing a DVD (shoes in the airing cupboard drying- thanks Jessica for the hairdryer idea), but then as I got closer to home the sun was trying to come out, and the rain eased off, so I decided to just go for it as I knew the fresh air would make me feel better. Although I did decide on a few pieces of white chocolate fudge would give me an energy boost- note to self, fudge is not a good pre run snack unless you want to feel sick for half the run.  Anyway, I did over 4 miles, in 43 mins, so for me (especially recently where I seem to have slower loads) was a good pace. And it did not rain during my whole run so my trainers stayed nice and dry!

Look! These are my garden blueberries!!!! They were delicious 🙂

And I got a new toy!

I was ordering some other things from Lakeland (gifts, not for me) and I saw this strawberry thing, which gets the green spiders out of strawberries! So nifty! Normally I use a knife but then cut off half the strawberry, but this you push in and it grabs the green bits, then you twist it and it pulls them out! Magic! I was trying to take a picture of me using it but it needs 2 hands! And the brownies I made the other day are lovely- had one with cherries and strawberries, and even though it smelled like banana, it did not taste like it. Phew.

Today was not aerobics as I had a work thing, but I did manage in between meetings to pop to Waitrose and get some treats for me.

Actually I do not think quinoa is a treat! But I saw these bars on Lucy’s blog the other day- seedy, nutty and grain bars (they had none of the squashed fruit bars), and they were still on offer so I decided to get them. I also got some Montezuma’s chocolate- have not had this in ages and decided that those 2 flavours (minty and with cocoa nibs) sounded lovely. Then I was most excited to see that Rude Health now do “thins”. I never like rice cakes, but I used to get them as they were lovely spread with toppings. Anyway, they do oaty thins (which I got-made of 50% oats and 50% spelt, 24 cals per thin), multigrain ones with quinoa and brown rice and stuff (which I nearly got, and possibly were gluten free) and rice ones too. I am very excited to try these- I bet they will go super well with peanut butter 🙂

So, fave rice cake/ oat cake topping? I think I will have to go with pb and raspberry jam/spread. Yum.

Afternoon peeps, hope you are all having a lovely weekend.

Yesterday after work we went into London for a picnic concert! What a great idea! It was at Kenwood house, which is somewhere in London (we parked at a tube station and then there were free buses to take us to the park), and we sat in the park on a picnic blanket, while an orchestra (I think it was the London philharmonic but am not sure) played music from films- we had Star Wars, The Great Escape, Psycho, Jaws, and loads of others. It was a brilliant way to spend an evening.

Today it was time for a run, and I was a little nervous because of cutting short my Monday run. I did try to take a “before” picture, but this was my most successful attempt. The flash kept going off and I have no idea how to turn it off, and Andy was out running so he could not take it for me.

Anyway it was supposed to show that I was giving my marathon t shirt it’s first outing 🙂 And also my tennis visor as it was gently raining at that point, and that is meant to keep the rain off my glasses.

Well, the run started out just fine. It was raining but my legs were feeling good and I was running consistently, and not feeling too tired or anything like that. I passed the poor regiment fitness people crawling under nets in the muddy grass, and went through Welwyn town centre, and was even contemplating running for longer. Then, 5 miles in the rain changed from gentle/hard rain, to bucketing down. I was drenched in less than a minute- I could feel my socks soaking up water, I could hear my trainers squelching with every step, my t-shirt and capris were heavy and dragging because of the water. To top that off an orange van drove past and caused a tidal wave of muddy disgusting road water to smack into me. I was no longer a happy bunny. I was basically furthest from home there- no chance of a short cut, so I just had to get my head down and try to get home as fast as possible. I did wave thanks to the nice drivers who either let me cross the road when I was waiting (there were so many that just drove on- come on people you are warm and dry in your cars) or who pulled out to avoid splashing me. But there were several more drivers who drenched me. Well, I think I was at saturation point already but you get my point. I mean, just because I am out running in the rain, does not mean I want to get any wetter!

Not sure if you can see how wet I am but I was dripping all over the place (I had to take them off after this and put them in a bag so avoid soaking the carpet etc!)- and my t-shirt was stuck to me with all the water! (Andy took this picture having got home right after I left and missed all the rain basically! If only I could run that far before breakfast). Andy had even put his phone off silent in case I rang him (although I did not take mine with me oops!).

I jumped straight in the shower (very unusual for me as normally I have some drink and food first) and my hair was so wet I could have just put on the shampoo straight away. I was so cold!

Anyway, after that I had another treat from my bloggie swap box;

Another delicious Clif bar (chocolate almond fudge), and some Kara coconut milk and nesquick.

Yum look how dark and chocolatey it is 🙂 Sorry it is a bit blurred!

Right, for the rest of the weekend I have a fudge making extravaganza planned (as gifts for people at work)- I am thinking dark chocolate mint, and some kind of coconut one (would white chocolate go with coconut?). And maybe those tofu brownies that Katie made and Rachel has converted into UK weight measurements. Oh, and hopefully get to see Bridesmaids as this weather is perfect cinema going weather in my opinion!

So, running in the rain- yay or nay? Do you get rain rage?

And exciting weekend plans?