The Big One...

So where to start; sorry for the lack of blogging over the last two weeks. A lot has happened so this weeks blog will indeed be the Big One!!

Firstly I celebrated turning the ripe old age of 26 at the end of March; without any wine! I must admit I amazed even myself managing this great feat, as staying on the wagon has been one of the more tricky aspects of training for a marathon!! But no - no wine, or vodka, or alcohol of any sort, just a lot of lemonade and other varieties of soft drinks! I did have the most lovely birthday filled with gifts for running and treats from those who know how much I hate running. A big thank you to all those who made my birthday so scrumptious; looking forward to celebrating a little more raucously next year though!

Then following my birthday my grandparents celebrated 50 years of marriage together!! AMAZING; the whole family was so very proud of them; so although no drinking went on much eating ensued and not much running happened. The 18 mile run I had planned for the Sunday following the party turned into 8 miles due to poor preparation both mentally and physically on my part. I hate running so much and even more so when its sunny and other people are out enjoying the sunshine! So I only did 8 miles and then went off shopping with speedy for garden things! This year - post marathon - is the year of the garden for me; both finishing it and then drinking wine in the evenings after work in it!

Anyone get the feeling I'm having a cold turkey moment; apologies for the obscene number of times I mention alcohol and drinking again, I am not an alcoholic I promise!!

However although I failed to complete the 18 mile run required on the plan; and won't go into the lack of little and medium runs that have been happening I have managed to do 20 & 22 miles in the last week!!!!

So here are the stats for the past few weeks:
Alcohol: None!!! its been hell and continues to be so. I dream of Ice cold wine on a summers evening; Vodka on the rocks with a slug of Martini; the feeling of the little bubbles tickling down your neck as you sip champagne - again not that I have a problem...
Weight: not a bean of difference; hopefully post running when I can reroute my willpower to stop me putting so much in my mouth I will loose weight. Exercise is not the answer; I repeat RUNNING LOTS IS NOT THE WAY TO LOOSE WEIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Running: Lots and lots; well lots of big runs, one 20.76 mile walk that took 5hrs 57mins completed with my lovely Mummy and Moss. Poor Moss was not impressed by mile 14 and kept trying to find the car! he spent the whole of the next day sleeping; but Jane Moss who is 50 was fine! I am very lucky to have such a lovely parent who is that supportive they are prepared to walk all that way in the wind, rain and mud! Yes mud we were covered in it; which is why I walked and didn't run. The route we had planned was so muddy it was simply impossible to run without breaking your ankle or worse falling in the canal! Then finally to finish off the week I ran 22 miles; the first 20 of which was finished in 3hrs 57mins 22secs! I then had to walk the last 2 miles as got my first blisters in training. So as I write this I am tending to blisters hoping they go down before I begin my maintenance runs for the next three weeks as we count down to race day.

I also held my final fund-raising event pre-marathon. We held an Easter Book and Bake sale in Rowde village hall last Saturday and raised a further £480 for the Cancer Research UK & WHSmith Trust. A big thank you to all of those lovely people who helped on the day; donated books for sale; made cakes for sale & those who braved the rain and came along, bought books and ate cake! I really couldn't have done it without you!

So 20 days and counting till race day; I have finally ordered my race outfit!! As you know I have had the after party outfit sorted for quite some time; and was reticent to spend so much money on running clothes I will never need again post the 25th of April. However this is one area where you cannot scrimp as you'll only end up with red raw skin and blisters. So £102 later I have a running outfit; black and turquoise as planned, with highlights of sliver and white. Hopefully it will be delivered early this week so I can get a good few runs in in it before the race just to check it doesn't rub etc.
The only things left to do now pre race are:
- Get my name printed on the running vest I have bought.
- Raise as much money as possible – please go to the links at the top of the blog page to sponsor me! Every penny counts and whatever you can afford to give will be greatly appreciated!
- Run in the running outfit
- Break in the heels for the after party outfit
- Sew pockets into the running vest to hold sweets and pain killers on race day!

I think that's it; so a busy few weeks are in store for me....