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November 30, 2007
I'm Mrs Santa!
What a strange day. I counted the seconds. I counted the minutes, and as per normal, I counted the hours. The weekend had to arrive. I'm far to excited about the weekend.
You see, on Sunday I'm doing a Santa Dash. I'm going to run 5km in a Santa suit. And for some reason this makes me as excited as a kid in a candy store. Andy is coming along and many pictures might have to be taken along the way. After all, there's only 7000 odd people that will be around us in identical suits. A sea of red and white heading around the streets of Liverpool.
I honestly cannot wait.
And with this, I say goodbye to NaBloPoMo 2007! We shall now return to irregularly scheduled irregular posts :)
Posted by karinm at 7:33 PM | Comments (1)
NabloPomo
Posted by karinm at 4:25 PM | Comments (0)
November 29, 2007
I Just Realised
NaBloPoMo finishes tomorrow!
Posted by karinm at 9:02 PM | Comments (0)
Well, THAT was Unexpected
Yeah, unexpected. I'm talking about the pace that my run took tonight.
I was supposed to do between 4 and 5 miles at 10:15 - 10:30 pace... and somewhere, 4 miles @ 9:35 popped out. And I could've gone another mile if I didn't have a cramp in my leg since mile 2 and after 4 miles decided that it was enough with the pain thing. I felt so incredibly comfortable, but my legs were more than happy to go a bit faster than usual, even when we hit my half-a-mile hill and headed up it.
Once finished it hit me that I had run steady, but far faster than I was supposed to.
38:26? Yeah. Ok. I'll take that.
Even if it was a tad unexpected.
Posted by karinm at 8:24 PM | Comments (0)
Marie Curie Cancer Care Fundraising
Right, got the page setup for the Marie Curie Cancer Care fundraising :
http://www.justgiving.com/karin-runs-london
In due time there'll be a different pic - preferably one from the Santa run this upcoming weekend :)
Posted by karinm at 12:11 PM | Comments (0)
November 28, 2007
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Wow. Really. Wow.
I fell asleep last night. Just after 10. And I slept through until 8am. That's 10 hours worth of sleep! I woke up twice because I was thirsty and went straight back to sleep after I had some of the water in the bottle next to the bed. But I slept like the dead. And I enjoyed it. So much that I wanted to carry on sleeping when I woke up. Was it not for the fact that the man that starts work at 7:30am was still in bed, I probably would've. I nudged Andy out of bed and got myself some coffee and then I just had to stay out of the bed.
I'm far more awake today :)
Posted by karinm at 8:49 AM | Comments (0)
November 27, 2007
The Greed of the Charities
Charities are a strange phenomenon. Yesterday I received my confirmation that I would be doing the London Marathon in 2008. As I got my entry through the ballot and it isn't a Golden Bond entry through a charity, I technically don't have to attempt to raise money for any charity, but I decided that I would run for a charity and do some fundraising in any case.
I went through the list of charities in the magazine and online and finally have 4 in mind that was close to my heart. I ordered them according to preference and this morning phoned up the first one. I spoke to a very nice lady who informed me that, even though I had my own place, I would have to commit to raising £2000 if I wanted to run for them.
What if I couldn't raise £2000?
I'd have to pay in the difference.
Right, not running for them then.
I phoned the second charity. Once again, a very nice girl at the other side told me that I'd have to commit to raising at least £1500.
Oh dear. Things weren't looking good.
I phoned the third charity. An elderly lady, by the sound of her voice, answered. I told her I had my own entry. Then asked her whether I had to commit to raising a certain amount if I wanted to run for them. Oh, yes. £1500. Unfortunately. She didn't agree with it, but rules are rules.
A bit demotivated I phoned the fourth charity. This time it was a male voice that answered. I repeated the process of telling him that I wanted to run for a charity, that I had my own place and would I have to commit to a certain amount.
Oh the joy and surprise when he said 'No, any amount you raise is great. Even if it is just £20'. So, I'm running for Marie Curie Cancer Care. And I get a deely bopper to decorate myself with on the day. I'll have to setup the page this afternoon, but at least now I feel like I'm doing something nice while enjoying something that I like doing.
Posted by karinm at 11:59 AM | Comments (5)
I didn't Sleep
Right, after feeling sleepy at 10pm last night, I went to bed and couldn't fall asleep again. So I got up again and lay on the couch, watching all kinds of strange channels and the strangest one I found, was one advertising a mail order bride site. I was pretty sure that I was asleep at the time I watched it, but then I decided (in my dreamy wisdom) to press the record button and went to bed. This morning, sure as the sun comes up in the east, I looked at the planner and found an hour of the channel recorded.
I'm not one to judge, but I do find it a tad strange that some people will find wives (they even followed one of the past brides around with her husband for a month before and after the wedding) by watching this channel, then hopping to the site and picking someone who they have never met as a potential bride.
Its just a tad too weird for me.
I'm going to hope that I fall asleep earlier tonight. If I don't get more than 3 hours of sleep soon, I'm going to go mental and start doing things that shouldn't be done in public, in private or at all. I'm going to go crazy. Honestly.
Time for a shower and getting to work.
Posted by karinm at 8:22 AM | Comments (0)
November 26, 2007
London Marathon 2008 Here I Come
Lunchtime was a good time.
I got a Flora London Marathon 2008 confirmed entry! My acceptance letter and magazine arrived this afternoon and I whooped and hollered and nearly did some cartwheels around the room when I found out that I got an entry.
So tonight I shall celebrate. Because the third time was a charm :) And because, 6 weeks after the LA marathon, I'll be doing the London marathon :)
Posted by karinm at 3:31 PM | Comments (1)
Insomnia
I don't know why I get the urge to start every post with 'Its a strange ...' I guess that's just my thing and there's not much I can do about it.
I couldn't sleep again last night. Insomnia kept me awake until the wee hours of the morning and by the time I fell asleep it was close enough to my wake-up time and I didn't get much quality sleep in any case. So I'm tired and kranky and not in the mood to do much either way.
Thankfully the day is already half done or I would probably go from kranky to murderous within a few short hours and then life would become hell on earth.
This morning has been pretty uneventful, something I can only be thankful for. Shortly after getting to work I started suffering from the dreaded I-want-to-fall-asleep syndrome and I am considering using lunch to catch a power nap. Home is only 5 minutes away :)
The worst that could happen is that I fall asleep and don't manage to wake up from said nap until well after working hours have finished.
That should be fun :)
Posted by karinm at 11:53 AM | Comments (0)
November 25, 2007
5 More Weeks
Quote of the Day:
Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.
--Albert Einstein
5 weeks to the end of the year. Only 5 weeks. And its going to be a fabulous 5 weeks with lots going on in this life - my brother and his girlfriend will be arriving from South Africa, my birthday is around the corner, work has an xmas party, friends have xmas parties, new years parties and a whole lot of other events that have to be taken care of.
Personally, I'd like this year to end. The quicker, the better. 2007 wasn't exactly my favourite year, but hopefully that'll change a tad between now and December 31st :)
Posted by karinm at 5:36 PM | Comments (0)
November 24, 2007
Saturday Caught me Again
Lazy Saturdays are a good thing when you're sleepy and have a house to clean after something created a hole in your ceiling. I slept most of the day away before I got up and did some housework and then realised that it was 7pm and I hadn't gone for a cycle or run yet. At least I carried a lot of things around, ran up and down the stairs and got other things in the house done.
In a few minutes I'll fall over and sleep and then tomorrow morning I'll go hunting to find the Clowne Half Marathon. If I can find the spot where it starts from, I'll take part and then tomorrow you'll have a whole race report to read :)
Posted by karinm at 9:20 PM | Comments (0)
November 23, 2007
One more Week
After today there is only 7 days of NaBloPoMo left. Woot! And so far I've kept it up. Barely. I've made so many nonsense posts that it could not possibly be rectified within the next year, but that's ok.
I've had blue sky to look at all day - quite a change from the past couple of weeks where rainy weather, snowy weather, fog, overcast weather and just general miserable weather had taken the sky hostage and made it terribly grey.
Tonight is a rest evening, but I'm considering heading out for a smallish 3 or 4 mile run to see whether my left leg is in need of a massage or some other form of treatment, or whether it will finally behave in a manner suited for legs that want to run a marathon in March.
But before then, I still have to get home and enjoy the sunset. :)
Posted by karinm at 3:40 PM | Comments (1)
November 22, 2007
Quote of the Day
Quote of the Day:
The happiest people don't necessarily have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything
--Anonymous
Posted by karinm at 8:38 PM | Comments (0)
Running in rain...Again
Well, that sucks. I went out for a run tonight again, and it rained. And it was quite cold with the wind blowing and all that. And I very nearly had a repeat of Tuesday evening's events with contorted muscles and all. I felt the niggling, but thankfully it didn't hurt. I slowed down when it started niggling and it seemed to stay at that point in time.
Andy was next to me during the whole of the run. He kept checking on me with 'Are you okay?' and 'Is your leg ok?' and 'Are you hurting?' I'm pretty sure that if I answered that it hurt or that I wasn't okay at any stage he was going to make me stop and drag my butt back home.
So, with the rain falling outside, me wondering about the London Marathon (despite the fact that I'm definitely doing LA), and Angel on the television, I bid you farewell for tonight. I have ice to put on my leg and stretching to do.
Posted by karinm at 8:16 PM | Comments (0)
London Marathon Online Ballot
Dear Flora London Marathon online ballot entrant,
As one of 10,000 people who entered the 2008 Flora London Marathon online ballot in August, you will be waiting anxiously to find out whether or not you have successfully secured a place in the 2008 marathon.
We are pleased to announce that you will find out whether or not you have been successful by postal notification between 30th November and 10th December. Results will also be available online from 10th December and we will let you have details about how you can do this nearer the time.
Please note that if you entered via the online ballot and receive an Accepted notification but have not yet paid your entry fee, you must make your payment by Friday 21st December to guarantee your place - so please don't forget.
We will also email you again soon to remind you between now and then.
Good luck and happy running!
The London Marathon Team
P.S. Don't forget there are many charities who would love to have your support by running for them on 13th April 2008, so why not pick one from the list below?
They might as well have waited. I nearly had a semi-heart attack when I saw the email in my inbox. Then I thought, what if? I opened it and the page couldn't load quick enough.... only for me to get yet another reminder that I have to wait until the end of November ... at least ... to find out whether I got rejected for the third year in a row.
Posted by karinm at 4:11 PM | Comments (0)
November 21, 2007
Hills & Podcasts
I've spent most of the past week at work, working and listening to podcasts. I find it strange that one of the podcasts that I enjoy most is Ironman Talk as I mostly enjoy ones with music instead of people talking about training and gadgets and age-groupers. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I had to download all the episodes and listen through all of them.
I'm not exactly sure why I've taken to it :)
My left leg feels okay this morning, but to be on the safe side, I'm giving it another few hours to rest before going for another run tonight. Last night I lay awake, wondering where I can find a half-mile hill to run. Unfortunately, unlike where we lived before, our current house isn't in a very hilly area and I'm in need of hills to run.
The longest hill we have near us is about 200m. So up and down is a quarter of a mile and to get to a mile, I'd have to run 4 of them. Which means that to get to 6 half-a-mile "hills", I'd have to run 24 of them. I don't think so. But if push comes to shove, I guess it'll have to do.
That's all for now. I have to do some work and recover from the shock that there is now a hole in the ceiling of our lounge.
Posted by karinm at 11:17 AM | Comments (0)
November 20, 2007
You Put Your Left Foot In
It was once again, cold tonight. And I went for a run. Thankfully with Andy in tow, so he could inspire me to run.
As we ran, I felt quite okay for the first 2 miles. And then my left calf cramped. And then my shins. And then the right side of my quad on my left leg. And my leg felt all contorted and weird and incredibly, mind-numbing, paralyzing, sore. So just over half a mile later, I was at my front door and out of my shoes and on the floor, stretching with a bag of ice in my hands.
Ouch.
I don't know why it happened, but I sure hope it doesn't happen tomorrow morning. I want to run tomorrow morning. And running with a leg that pulls the wrong way while the muscles work on their own instead of together - well, that isn't a good thing. Not by a far stretch.
While writing this, I was listening to "Ironmantalk Episode 3" by Bevan James Eyles and 'Coach' John Newsom
Quote of the Day:
False freedom leaves a man free to do what he likes; true freedom, to do what he ought.
--Anonymous
Posted by karinm at 8:15 PM | Comments (0)
I'm having a bad hairday
I have long hair. Irritatingly long hair at the moment. And I can't have it cut, because I cannot find a hairdresser that doesn't feel like he has creative license on my hair and ends up cutting it either so short that I can't wear it up in a pony when running or does that feather cut thing where, when my hair gets longer, it looks like I've tried to put my hair through a shredder before realising that it is attached to my head.
This morning I've had enough. My hair just looks awful, and not in a bad hairday kind of way. Its reached a point where I can't wear it loose anymore because of the shredder look. And I can't wear it up all the time because then it doesn't dry through the day. And if I wear it up, the ends still look remarkably bad because of the feather cut that someone decided I needed.
I'm looking for a hairdresser, and contemplating flying 9000km to Port Elizabeth in South Africa to go to the only person who has ever understood WHY I don't want my hair cut in a certain style. The only person that hasn't started cutting without asking me and the only hairdresser that I've ever found that has the frizz problem that I have.
But it'll have to wait until the end of January. And until then I'm stuck with the mop.
Posted by karinm at 1:20 PM | Comments (0)
November 19, 2007
The Snow be Gone
| Week | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| Km | 0 | 3.01 | 47.07 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The snow is gone. And I slept until 8h00. Which meant that there was no running for this gal this morning. Instead I had a mug of coffee, a shake and watched Just Shoot Me. Its a strange start to the week, because even though it is 8h15 now, it is still relatively dark outside and its a strange darkness. The weather is completely and utterly weird.
I'll head out to the gym tonight and grab a treadmill (I'm pretty sure that if I get there before 6 I'll get one of those without having to wait). At least the gym should be warmer than it is outside :)
Posted by karinm at 8:24 AM | Comments (0)
November 18, 2007
Settled Snow!
We have 2 inches of settled snow outside. Does this mean I get to go run on the treadmill in the gym tomorrow? Please, sir?
I honestly cannot wait for the morning to arrive so I can see whether we have more snow or whether overnight rain is going to wash it all away.
WE HAVE SNOW!
(Just so you know, I didn't grow up with the white stuff)
This is the earliest its ever snowed since I've arrived in the UK.
I'm in love with this.
Honestly.
I
love
snow.
Posted by karinm at 9:59 PM | Comments (0)
Winter Snow
Running. Running in the rain. Running.
And then, just as I thought I had gotten used to the rain, the weather decided to throw me a new curve ball. Snow. No more rain. Just snow. Cold. Icy. Soft. Snow.
My toes are frozen. My legs are frozen. My knees are frozen. And no amount of hot water or wheat bags or fluffy duvets are going to warm me up. No way no how. I am too cold to ever heat up ever again. And tomorrow the second week starts.
Posted by karinm at 6:26 PM | Comments (1)
A tad Lethargic today
I'm listening to older podcasts and sitting upstairs, considering going downstairs, finding all my running gear and heading out into the cold, to run. My body fears the cold. It honestly does. I don't like being out in the cold and feeling like I am going to keel over because my lungs don't like the cold.
Which is probably why I'm considering the craziness of running 8 miles on a treadmill. My toes might like that more than running in the rain. The icy rain. The cold rain. The wet rain.
Yes, I know anyone can run in dry, comfortable weather, but its Sunday and I want to take a day out from the bad weather :)
While writing this, I was listening to "Ironman Talk Episode 2" by Bevan James Eyles and 'Coach' John Newsom
Posted by karinm at 12:54 PM | Comments (0)
November 17, 2007
Escaping
I don't quite know where to start with this one, but ever since being tagged by Jeff and subsequently receiving a comment that I might have to give more details, I've been wondering how to put this into words.
I guess the start is a good idea.
I was 20-ish and I'd just started working at an accounting firm in my hometown. I had a really good friend and we would spend many a night in a local pool hall, trying to improve on my non-existent game, having beers and talking about nonsense in general. I had stopped running about a year before and didn't particularly care about anything.
One night a guy caught my eye. He just had something about him. My friend's sister was there and she had caught his eye, which turned out just dandy. I introduced the two of them and encouraged them to exchange phone numbers. As it turns out, they went for a lunch date, but didn't quite hit it off and the next night that we saw him, I started chatting to him.
Long story short, I started seeing him on a rather casual basis and it took me 4 or 5 months to find out that he was also seeing someone else. I don't know, something in me snapped a tad, but since I was spending more time with him that she was, and she never seemed to be at his place at night, it didn't particularly bother me. Especially because of his false promises. I guess I wanted to believe everything he was saying and just believe that I didn't, once again, misjudge a guy. I hadn't had the best of luck with guys at this point of my life and I just once wanted to be right about someone's character.
Yes. Stupid me.
One night, we were talking about something and the words escaped his lips :
'The worst mistake in life that I made was cheating on my girlfriend.... with you.'
Whatever snapped earlier, broke. I was so angry that I left. I didn't say a word. I just left. I walked the 4 miles home. I got home, showered, cried and got so incredibly upset with my stupidity that I wanted to hurt someone.
Later that day he phoned me, apologized, uttered a few more false promises. And stupid and naive that I was, I believed every sodding word he fed me.
It took about 3 more times of him saying something along these lines, me walking home and then forgiving him again ... and one night, instead of walking home, I walked to a local bus stop and took the bus to as close as I could to my parent's house. I packed a bag, showered, cried some more and realised somewhere inside that if I didn't get away from him, I was going to kill myself.
Now I have to mention something else. During the last month and a half of this, he got me to try cocaine with him. Not a lot at first, but the last couple of weeks it was probably 2 or 3 nights a week. It was never something that really hooked me and I knew that it wasn't something I would have difficulty leaving behind. Just another reason I had to get away from him.
I called my doctor and asked him to arrange for me to get a place in a local institution. Then I got a ride to the institution and walked in. Considering that I couldn't exactly put 'the abuse I'm suffering mentally from this relationship is going to drive me to suicide' on the form, I put down 'cocaine addiction'. This meant that they would have to do a compulsory test.
I knew I would test positive. I knew I wouldn't suffer withdrawal symptoms. I knew that the first few days I would be sleeping away as they try to purify me. I knew that I would not be able to go near this guy for the 2 following weeks, and then I would be supervised and not allowed to leave my supervisor 's(who turned out to be my parents) house for the following 6 months. And he wasn't going to come near my house.
The doctor realised relatively quick that I didn't check myself in because I had an addiction to a drug. More like an addiction to a destructive relationship. But because I was honest with him during our sessions at the centre, he didn't tell anyone. Its probably somewhere on my files, locked away where no-one else can see it.
I only took one negative from the whole experience though. My best friend's mom worked in a local hospital and did some work for the institution. She found out I was there and somehow found out the reason I was there. Within 6 months most of my fair-weather friends were gone. I guess its not a complete negative as I found out who my true friends were. Even the person I saw as my best friend disappeared for a year before daring to talk to me.
I admit that it didn't bother me that much.
I came out a stronger person and grew from the experience far more than anyone will ever know.
Posted by karinm at 8:52 PM | Comments (0)
iCrash
Going for a bike ride on a Saturday morning is supposed to be relatively relaxing, stress-free and quiet. This morning I found myself outside, wrapped up warm in a long-sleeved shirt, with long gloves and in fresh air.
It was a nice day outside for winter. -3 degrees. No rain (yet). No snow (yet). No ice (well, maybe on the grass).
I was relaxed. I was happy. I was going along at a nice speed, once again marvelling at the fact that there are so many tough hills around where we live now. You can't go more than a mile from our house without hitting a hill of some sort... and the further away you get, the worse the hills.
But I managed. And I enjoyed it.
And then I got on a straight. It wasn't a hill. It wasn't a downhill. It was flat and I was in a 60mph zone which I knew I wasn't going to hit, but it did make the likelihood of a lot of traffic a lot less and I knew there would be no cars parked in the road.
So I was having fun.
I spotted a policeman and thought to myself 'Ooer! I don't have to slow down because there is NO way I could be over the speed limit!'. In fact, I wasn't even going 30mph at this stage. I considered waving at him, but then had a rethink and just smiled.
As luck would have it, 150m or so later, still at a great than 20mph speed, but smaller than a 30mph speed, I had to break and swerve. Next to this road there are houses built. And from one of these properties ran a toddler. A small child that seemed very determined to make like a chicken and get to the other side of the road.
As she was running toward my right, I figured that braking and swerving to the left (this was an instant decision) was probably the more logical of things to do. I braked and swerved, only to find the mother figure of said child running out of the property as well. At this stage, I grabbed my front brake and squeezed with all the might in my hand.
As it goes, this meant that my back wheel wasn't going to be happy with staying on the road. I tumbled. And turned. And felt my helmet hit the ground and then my back and oh no! my feet are no longer inside my shoes...
Somewhere in-between all this someone started screaming like mad. Motherly figure was standing relatively close by, screaming at me as if I was the one that had just done an utterly irresponsible thing. I wasn't the one that just ran into a road!
My head was hurting and I wasn't really sure of what was happening, but I heard a male voice tell the female to keep quiet and calm down. Then the same male voice asked me if I was ok. Did I need a doctor? An ambulance? The policeman had come to my aid. As I said that yes, I was ok, I didn't need a doctor and no, I didn't need an ambulance, mother hen started yapping and yelling away again.
I pulled myself onto the curb and started inspecting my bike which had my shoes still attached to it. It was ok. Phew! I didn't have to phone Andy to get him to pick me up. I was going to be able to peddle back home without help. I wasn't giving the hysterical woman much notice at this stage, because honestly, I was afraid I might say something that I shouldn't.
The policeman made sure I was ok and then walked over to the mother, who was clutching her child to her side. I can't recall the exact words, but he said something in the region of 'If she was driving a car instead of a bike, you both would be dead now.' I hadn't thought about that, but oh my word, that would've been awful.
Ten minutes later I was on my way home. My back stinging and my arms feeling like they had just been used to clean all the dishes in a small hotel. I got home and Andy inspected me. I somehow managed to not have 1 single scratch on me, other than the ones on my helmet. Thank you for small miracles!
I can understand that the woman acted out of maternal instinct to protect her young ones, but maybe they should invest in a good, strong gate and keep the kids inside. I hate to think what could've happened if there was a car right behind me, or if I was driving a car. But everyone's ok, and that I can be thankful for.
Posted by karinm at 1:53 PM | Comments (2)
Cyanide and Happiness
Because they're constantly not politically correct, I do enjoy reading them. Then Andy showed me that there's a fair few videos on YouTube and I ended up spending the past half an hour watching the cartoons :)
Posted by karinm at 9:24 AM | Comments (0)
November 16, 2007
Fridays are my Favourite
[sighs]
Its almost weekend. 1 day of torture at work in an attempt to do the impossible and then I have 2 days of relative freedom and rest and relaxation. It should be a fun weekend - its the only free one we have for the next 6 weeks and I'm going to relax and sleep in and do things that won't get done for the next month and a half.
The next couple of weeks work out like this:
25/11 - Friend's Birthday
02/12 - Santa Fun Run in Liverpool
08/12 - Pick up my brother from Heathrow & Keyworth Turkey Trot
15/12 - Birthday weekend - supper and night out arranged
22/12 - Xmas party with friends
29/12 - New Years parties weekend
A tad insane, but at least the first weekend in January is free :)
Posted by karinm at 8:11 AM | Comments (0)
November 15, 2007
Sleeping Already
I'm tired tonight. I worked from home this afternoon and my head feels like its about to explode for no reason at all.
Right now my mind is a mush of nothingness that has one thought and only one thought on it - I need to go to sleep. The first week of early mornings have really worked on me and I'm going to enjoy the upcoming weekend. No, I'm not allowed to lie in, but there's another benefit to the weekend that I don't get during the week - afternoon naps. Yes. I like afternoon naps. 1 Hour or 2 Hours of relaxing snoozing with an open magazine on my chest and loud snoring travelling down the stairs and assuring Andy that I am indeed still awake.
Only 1 working day until that become a lovely reality.
Have a fun day today and a great Friday tomorrow!
Posted by karinm at 7:16 PM | Comments (0)
November 14, 2007
-9?!?!
The weather forecast for tonight indicates that by tomorrow morning at 7am, it will be -9 degrees outside. And I'm supposed to go run. At 6:30am. Did insanity finally claim me as a victim because I am not even contemplating pulling out of this run?
Posted by karinm at 4:23 PM | Comments (1)
I Shall Run
I found this in Vanilla's blog and although its pretty awesome how two people fight it out, what stuck with me, was the closing words on the video : the difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.
Last night I went to bed, fuming at an email I received from someone that I don't know and right now, really hope I never get to know. Without knowing me, he tried to give me advice that I didn't ask for and as it turns out, he's a bit of an elitist jogger. You know, one of those that finish a marathon sub-3:00 and figure that anyone that can't run a marathon sub 3:30 shouldn't be allowed to take part.
This morning I woke up and figured that I wasn't going to give him a direct response. If he wants to believe that the taking part doesn't count, then he is entitled to his opinion, but he's not someone that I want to talk to. I enjoy running and plodding and just because I don't run 10 miles every morning, it doesn't make me any less of a runner.
Now I'm off for a run.
Posted by karinm at 7:39 AM | Comments (1)
November 13, 2007
Day 2? Check!
6 Miles. Day 2. And I did it! I finished my second training session this week ... in cold weather, with my shoes a tad too tight, my garmin on my wrist, my gloves on my hands, my hat on my head. And this time I forgot the light. I was completely blind in the darkness of the run, but oh boy was it fun!
I pretended that I was sneaking up on people and had to restrain myself from trying to scare them as I approached them. A few dogs gave me some snarls, but thankfully they were on leashes and couldn't get their teeth at me.
The air wasn't as cold as yesterday, but my body still felt the chill. Afterwards the shower was such a welcome treat.
They're expecting a very cold morning tomorrow morning. Something tells me my double layer of clothing isn't going to be enough...
Posted by karinm at 7:35 PM | Comments (0)
November 12, 2007
Sub Zero
| Week | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Total |
| Km | 0 | 3.01 | 5.23 | 8.24 |
This morning seemed like a good time to start running in the early mornings. Well, it seemed like a good morning last night while I was crawling into my lovely and warm bed and I hadn't seen the weather forecast.
Andy mentioned something about below zero, but I didn't really listen and this morning I woke up to a really cold morning. I mean, REALLY COLD. -3 degrees outside and ready to get colder by the looks of it. Was it not for the lovely, beautiful sun rising at 7am, it probably would've gotten colder too.
No problem, right?
I grabbed my long tights, a long-sleeved shirt another shirt to put on over that, my iPod, my garmin and I was ready. I started running and at first the garmin was a tad shellshocked at my decision to use it. It took roughly 250m to find a signal in the clear skies and then started telling me how slowly I was poodling along.
One thing I noticed this morning was the amount of early-morning dog walkers we have in our neighbourhood. I encountered 4 or 5 owners that could control their canines and another 5 or 6 that couldn't. Thankfully their dogs were small enough for me to not be completely terrified of them and I was able to escape unharmed.
As I finished my run, I started feeling a tad like I was drowning. My lungs had obviously had enough of the freezing air and felt like they were shut. I got home and took a 20 minute shower to heat myself up, but I could feel that I was outside.
Dressing made me feel a bit like the Michelin man. I put on the clothes I was wearing to work, a huge coat and then wrapped myself in a duvet for a good 20 minutes before I felt human enough to get off the couch and out the door and off to work.
But the run is done. The first one for the next 16 weeks.
Posted by karinm at 9:36 AM | Comments (1)
November 11, 2007
We Rode off into the Sunset
Whoever thinks that riding off into the Sunset sounds like a happy ending has obviously never ridden off into the sunset.
This afternoon we drove home from the in-laws and as luck would have it... the sun was setting ... and we were driving into this spectacular bright light that was at the end of the highway. Of course I was in the driver's seat and being a tad blind, the sun's glare was enhanced by my glasses that I was wearing.
Everytime we went underneath a bridge my eyes would burst into song for the relief it was getting, only for me to suffer a temporary 3 second blindness and star spell when we came out from under the bridge.
Needless to say, I mentioned this to Andy and he instantly started to suffer from white-knuckle syndrome I was so thankful when some clouds decided to save the day that I instantly stopped at the nearest Primo Coffee and got something to drink.
Unfortunately the time of day and sub-zero temperatures has kept me inside for most of the day and the only part of my body that's been doing any running since Wednesday has been my nose. Thankfully it decided to start taking a rest since this afternoon and I'm feeling a ton better now.
I'm sitting upstairs, too lazy to go to the lounge, considering getting out the dvd that's been in my bag since Friday and doze off even though it is only 7pm. I've already set my alarm for the new regime that kicks in tomorrow - an early morning swim followed by some work ... followed by a run.
I've run out of excuses, now the work starts.
Posted by karinm at 6:59 PM | Comments (0)
November 10, 2007
Another Runless Day
The bad news is that I didn't run today. The good news is that there is a 75% possibility I will run tomorrow. My head cold seems to have reached its last legs without reaching my chest and it is slowly disappearing from this world.
Tonight we're heading out with Andy's parents for supper in honour of his mum's birthday which takes place on the 13th, followed by some hot chocolate and then a lot of sleep until tomorrow morning when I'll most probably wake up to the most delicious smell of lunch being prepared. Its not that I sleep that late, its just that his mum starts preparing lunch that early.
After lunch we'll zip home (well, its an hour and a half's drive) and Andy'll accompany on the bike while I go running.
I have to mention that outside it is 2 degrees Celsius. Thank heavens for gloves and hats and various other warm pieces of clothing!
Posted by karinm at 6:45 PM | Comments (0)
I've been Tagged!
rules:
• link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
• share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
• tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
• let them know they are TAGGED by leaving a comment on their blog.
My tagger:
amazing hip - the most amazing, up-beat, inspiring person I know in the universe. You can't help but be happy around him.
Random facts about me:
- When I was 20 I booked myself into rehab to get away from an abusive relationship. The relationship wasn't the reason I gave for booking myself into rehab.
- When I was 23 I fell pregnant and found out that I can never have kids. Essentially my body poisons itself when I fall pregnant and the doctors figure I have a 5% of carrying full-term without dying.
- I moved from South Africa to the UK in 2004 and have never looked back. I can't stand being in SA for more than 2 weeks at a time now - after that amount of time the violence I read about in the papers and hear about on the news becomes too much for me. The common disrespect that most people in South Africa seems to have for each other gets to me and I want to scream out at them that there are bigger issues than the ones they face every day.
- I wanted to study medicine (a 7 year course)after school until the morning that I stood in a queue to register for the course and realised that the IT course was only 3 years and looked a lot more fun than blood and guts. So I switched queues.
- If I could go back in time I'd go to when I was 16 years old and tell myself to tell my parents that I wanted to stay at boarding school until the end of my school career. Then I'd go tell my parents to listen to my 16-year old self and save myself a lot of heartache.
You've been tagged:
Warriorwoman , Jack , Dawnie , Angie , Ali
These bloggers might not even know that I follow their blogs :)
Posted by karinm at 9:42 AM | Comments (2)
November 9, 2007
Having a Winter Cold
I'm a sucker for punishment. I am. And this morning I'm wondering why I'm sitting on the couch at 7:45am with a blocked nose and feeling like I should be crawling undernearth a duvet and staying there until summer comes out. So far, I've managed to keep this cold/flu from heading down to my chest (that's good, right?), but I'm still not well.
I'm dosed up on so much vitamins and minerals that they could probably establish a small mine in my blood system at the moment.
My nose is not my friend today :)
Maybe I'll be able to get back on the wagon like the amazing hip by this weekend or coming week... here's to hoping :)
Posted by karinm at 7:53 AM | Comments (3)
November 8, 2007
Winter is Here!
| Week | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| Km | 0 | 3 |
This morning I realised precisely how far into winter we had come when I looked out the window and saw a tree half full of yellow leaves and half full of empty leaves. Its even cold in the house and the heating only kicked in a few minutes ago which means that it is time for me to get ready for work, but right now I just don't care. I'm on my second mug of coffee because I can't wake up. I have a mild cold. Yes. Classical winter symptoms.
Every winter I become sluggish as I attempt to stay in bed for every minute I can, have 2 mugs of coffee before work and end up with a smallish cold because I'm supposed to be the first person in the family to have a winter's cold. But I end up being ok by Christmas and able to enjoy some beautiful winter's mornings.
Posted by karinm at 8:10 AM | Comments (0)
November 7, 2007
Last Night was the Last Night
Andy comes home tonight!
Andy comes home tonight!
Andy comes home tonight!
Andy comes home tonight!
Andy comes home tonight!
Ok, so I'm a tad excited because last night I started hearing imaginary noises while I was lying in bed, alone, in the dark house. I ended up finding a can of Deep Freeze spray and putting it next to the bed in an attempt to have some makeshift mace. This morning I woke up and realised that it was probably not the best idea in the world - the can has a childproof cap on and it wouldn't have been easy to get that off in a hurry. But it was the feel-good-thought that counted at the time I guess.
I slept like a log :)
Its a wonderfully cold morning with a lot of clouds and even more leaves off the trees this morning.
Quote of the Day:
A thing is not necessarily true because badly uttered, nor false because spoken magnificently.
--Saint Augustine of Hippo
Posted by karinm at 8:28 AM | Comments (1)
November 6, 2007
QOTD
Quote of the Day:
Fear is something to be moved through, not something to be turned from.
--Peter McWilliams
Posted by karinm at 9:05 PM | Comments (1)
One Small Victory
When Andy's away I usually find myself in the awkward position of being unable to eat healthy. Thankfully I wasn't really able to eat yesterday, but as soon as I realised I was ok today, I knew there was going to be trouble. With a pizza place, Indian takeaway, Chinese place and a fish'nchips shop so close to our house.... I tend to be too lazy to cook just for myself and end up in a vicious grip of 'fast-food-want-now' mania.
So this afternoon I decided. Today was going to be different. I was going to get home, go to the gym and as soon as I got back, switch on the oven... and make a jacket potato with salad. I'm not going to have some fast food.
So it all went well. I came home, had tea, went to the gym ... and on the way home the little devil appeared on my shoulder. It urged me to go to the Fish 'n Chips shop. Surely one night won't make a difference? Waiting for an hour for a potato to cook was too long! Making the salad is a hassle!
The outcome?
Well, I resisted. The oven is on and there's a potato in it, happily cooking and the salad is made.
This is one small victory for me.
Posted by karinm at 7:17 PM | Comments (0)
Guy Fawkes is Over and I love NaBloPoMo
I like NaBloPoMo. Its great to wake up this morning at 7h30 and when I opened up my RSS reader... it was full of wonderful posts written by wonderful people and I just love that.
After all the fireworks last night, it is amazingly quiet this morning and there is no smoke in the air. I was quite surprised at the amount of smoke that the fireworks kick up. I imagine its just like a very colorful warzone during Guy Fawkes. Except with less death, and with less burnwounds (although I imagine some hospitals got their fair share of idiots that lit fireworks in their hands or got hit by one of the flares).
I fell asleep just after 22h00 last night and I do believe I'm in a very good mood this morning, except for a sore throat (which I imagine is just an after effect of Sunday and Monday). I'm hoping that the change-of-season flu will skip me and that this is just a sore throat and no more. It'll be the first time in 3 years that it skips me, but there is always hoping :)
Time to get ready for work I guess :)
Keep on Writing!
Posted by karinm at 7:57 AM | Comments (0)
November 5, 2007
Alone and a Tad Better
I had to drop Andy off at the station this morning. I didn't particularly feel like it as I'm still woozy after yesterday and the 5am wakeup that I got didn't quite fit it with my immune system. I don't like taking him to the station in any case - it means that he'll be away for a few days and I end up missing him so much.
But I did and then I came home and in an attempt to keep myself busy started working remotely. I ended up not going to the office because I'm still not completely well and right now I've done what I was supposed to do today, feeling like I'm going to pass out and about to take a small nap to get through the day.
I'm feeling better than yesterday though - I've managed to eat some dry toast and have a few mugs of tea inbetween the sips of water. Hopefully I'll manage some clean chicken tonight - I'm starting to get a tad hungry, which is probably a good sign. I had hoped that I'd be ok to run today, but I don't think I'm going to end up doing that until tomorrow.
Back to doing a tad of work... I might end up ahead of schedule tomorrow!
Posted by karinm at 1:05 PM | Comments (0)
November 4, 2007
How Sick Am I?
I've not had the best of days, been sick since this morning and thusfar dropped about 4lbs just during the day. We phoned up NHS Direct and they figure it's just a virus that'll work itself out within 24 hours.
I don't like feeling like this. :(
Posted by karinm at 7:50 PM | Comments (0)
November 3, 2007
Far too Lazy for my own Good
Quote of the Day:
Sincerity is the highest compliment you can pay.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
Lazy Saturdays are an absolutely wonderful thing. Especially when you get to watch old movies like The Hollow Man (Kevin Bacon etc.). Somewhere in my mind I was lazy enough to just lounge around on the couch for a few hours after breakfast and go through everything that we've recorded in the last 3 weeks, but not had the chance to watch yet. I was supposed to go to WH Smith sometime to get a few things, but somewhere between laziness and lethargy, I didn't get to do it. Not that it bothers me, you know me.
Andy played Football Manager while we watched these programs ... the way a typical Sunday should be spent, but after the week we've both had, it was a welcome rest day. I still have to get off the couch and do some form of exercise before the day is done. I'm not going to get any fitter lying on my backside all day. Thankfully the bike is setup so I could technically just go downstairs and do that for a while... I might even find some movie that I could watch while I'm on the bike.
Its a pity there's no sport on today, I would've liked to watch a good rugby or football match today. :)
Tonight we're heading out to a local restaurant to wish a friend happy birthday and have some rather unhealthy food. Then I have to come back and find a channel to watch the New York Marathon on. I think Eurosport UK might cover it, but with the football season, you never know.
Have a great day everyone!
Posted by karinm at 3:05 PM | Comments (1)
November 2, 2007
TGIF!!
Its a cold morning but a good one nonetheless because
- Its Friday
- The sun is shining brightly
After surviving a week of getting home in the dark, I'm really happy that this morning I'll be able to take a walk to work in the sun. I don't like the fact that the sun starts going down by 4 and that it is dark by 5 these days. I have to put on far too many gadgets to make sure that drivers see me, even if I stay on the pavement.
I sometimes feel like I'm a target with all those on. You never know when some crazy person might pass you and see it as a challenge to see how many times he can hit a flashing-light bearing yellow vest wearing runner. Especially on a bad night.
There's only a month now until the Santa rush in Liverpool - I can't wait to see Andy in a Santa suit. I have to set a reminder to take my dinky camera to make sure I can take piccies on the run. Its 5km, so I don't mind carrying it around. And its not like we'll be rushing anywhere :)
Right, walking to work time.
Posted by karinm at 7:49 AM | Comments (1)
November 1, 2007
Winter Morning Swim
Waking up at 6:30am is never easy. Waking up at 6:30, having coffee, and being at the pool at 7:00 is even harder. But I managed to do it this morning and once I got to the pool felt sufficiently lazy enough to not want to get in. I found myself a spot in the ‘medium pace’ lane and started swimming. After one or two lengths I started feeling fine and enjoyed just taking a slow swim.
Every 6 lengths I would take a short break and observe the people around me. There were quite a few old ladies in the slow lane with a few old men and even the woman that doesn’t like to get her hair wet. She was in true form again – keeping her head so high above the water that there was NO way she would even get the tips of her hair in the water.
What made my morning though, was when I got out of the pool and headed to the showers. As I went into the showers, this particular specimen of female came out... with her hair in a towel. She had washed her hair... which wouldn’t be unusual, but after the care she took to NOT get her hair wet, it was mildly amusing that she then went and washed it just after she swam.
I guess its one of those things I won’t understand for the life of me, but it did make me smile.
Posted by karinm at 9:27 AM | Comments (1)