'Show me the money........'

So I have now been writing about my training and making you all laugh (hopefully!) for 14 weeks and this has all been for one reason: TO RAISE LOTS OF MONEY FOR CHARITY.

There has to be a good reason for embarrassing myself publicly week after week and it is indeed to make the world a bit of a better place by raising money for charities I feel do valuable work within our communities.

So this week I will blog mid week on my progress but for the moment the blog is a begging letter to you all!!

If you have read the blog; had a giggle or even if it just made you smile one rainy Tuesday morning please dig deep and donate to one of the charities I will be running the London marathon in aid of.

Cancer research UK: To sponsor me in aid of Cancer Reserch UK please click on the following link to my just giving page and make a donation: http://www.justgiving.com/Emma-Burbidge

WHSmith Trust: To sponsor me in aid of the WHSmith Trust please click on the following link to my just giving page and make a donation: http://www.justgiving.com/Emma-Burbidge0

For now I'll leave you guessing if I did the milage - if I've lost weight and how much alcohol I drank in the last week. Come on people 'SHOW ME THE MONEY.......' that should really read 'SHOW THE CHARITIES YOUR MONEY....' and in return I'll show you my weeks progress!!

What I think about when I think about talking about running...

Unlike Haruki Murakami my musings whilst plodding round the bypass tend to be quite trivial; in no way intellectual and I have no plans to run again post this marathon - ever! I am beginning to resent the running; not only is it an awful amount of effort for no gain as far as I can see at the moment; it is also having a hugely detrimental effect on my social life and in turn my state of mind!

A regular on the social circuit before I unwittingly signed up to run a marathon I am having serious withdrawal symptoms! Normally I would see at least two friends during the week for coffee; dinner or a cinema visit. Aside from the fact I am not drinking coffee at the moment; the only time I am seeing friends is if they are mad enough to run with me in the evenings - Thank you Leah for patiently plodding round the bypass at my pace and keeping me going! (& Jude for offering to run with me, I will get back to you with dates I promise!!!) If I finish the marathon it will be largely due to your support and pushing.

But the most worrying result of my lack of social butterflyness at the moment is I am getting a bit board of Speedy's company! Love him as I do we never spend this much time together and I'm beginning to notice things about him that annoy me incessantly. I spend a lot of my time running thinking about these annoyances and ways I can annoy him back. For example he tends to just wash his clothes! Not normally something that bothers me; as I am aware of the fact I am blessed to have married a man that washes at all. It still annoys me a lot he does his washing first; but cleverly puts in two pairs of my knickers so he can't be accused of not doing my washing! Sneaky – and he wonders why I sometimes think he’s gay! Now not that this matters in the grand scheme of things; as if I'm honest I have enough in my wardrobe to wear something different every day for a month and not have to do washing! Its just all my favourite things are languishing in the bottom of the wash basket whilst I make do with what the wardrobe has to offer. And this also means I’m down to my uncomfy pants and uncomfy bras; which are causing problems whilst running. On Wednesday I was so uncomfortable on my speed walk/jog with the lovely Jo I nearly took them off! But we were walking past the police Head Quarters and being the contentious citizen I am, bearing all in front of this building wouldn’t be appropriate. Well as my mother would say ‘At least he doesn’t beat you up!’ which he doesn’t so one can’t moan about a bit of dirty washing! And he did give me the loveliest Amy Wooster Gold charm necklace for Valentines Day so some brownie points were picked up here.

I am also longing to update my facebook status with something other than a run distance and time - if I didn't put this I’d be leaving it blank and as the running is ruining my social life this is my only real link to the fun all my friends are having I must remain on the facebook radar to ensure I don’t disappear completely!!

The benefit to all this running and no fun is my bank balance is not nearly as scary as it normally is this close to pay day; and with the lack of washing on Speedy’s part I am discovering things I’d forgotten about in the back of the wardrobe so no need to go shopping – much – a silver lining you might say. And seeing as the silver lining of weight loss is yet to materialise I’ll go with improved financial status as my SL for the moment!

So this week’s results are as follows:
Running: in total 27.3miles with one long 11.3 mile run on Sunday. The big run was painful this week; I hated every second, it was hard and hurt with every step. The McDonalds an hour before setting out probably didn’t help; and I’m sure the bag of ‘Percy Pigs’, box of Jelly Beans and half bag of Mint Crumbles weren’t that useful either!!! All in all, a good running week by my standards.
Weight: non-descript – according to friends my shape is changing. But this is not something me or my clothes are noticing yet; Again I’m sure the food listed above is helping my weight loss no end!
Alcohol: None! Woo! Back on the wagon! Set to fall off again this weekend and next! Another thing that isn’t going to help the weight loss; I may give up on the weight loss? I am married after all!

This week I am going to try my hardest not to eat crap! (Excluding Tuesday as its pancake day!!) Oh and running of course……

Hit the Shops Running

So with 10 weeks to go (or 62 days; I'm sticking with 10 weeks it sounds less scary and further away) this week my thoughts have turned back to shopping and the very important matter of what to wear on Race day. This was mostly inspired by the e-mail from the marathon people saying its best to have your name on the back of your top. If you want them to do this for you, the deadline is looming of when they must have received your chosen running attire by, so that they can print and return it to you in time for the race.

With my After Party outfit picked and purchase some months ago now; an outfit for the actual race needs to be decided upon and purchased quickly! Now I do have the most beautiful Stella McCartney for Adidas running top bought for me by my lovely Glamazon friends this Christmas; however I'm not sure I wish to bastardise this beautiful thing with my name across the back! As much as I don't plan to ever run again post Marathon day; I may go to the gym from time to time and this top is a very suitable 'fashionista' top for going to excersise classes with Yummy mummys and the likes at my local gym.

So after much consideration and internet browsing - god knows where you go on the high street to find this running stuff - I have decided what I want to wear. I now just need to fund the purchase as this is clothing I will never use again and I don't want to spend a lot - not that that has ever stopped me spending large amounts in the past - but this is running attire not a black wet look sequin jacket!
So the planned outfit is: 3/4 length black leggins; A half sleeve black fitted T-shirt & finally a Turquoise sleeveless vest top to be worn over thr T-shirt with my name printed on it in silver. I now just need to find this little outfit; and at a bargain price; currently it is coming in at a tear inducing £106!! For Running clothes! I think I should resort back to the original kit of Top Shop Leggins and Wham t-shirt - cheap and original in my mind!

Along with the actual clothing I need to consider how I will carry water with me during training and need to solve this issue pretty quickly! on this weeks mega run I nearly stopped a child passing on a bike to ask for water as I have stupidly embarked on a 11.3 mile run without any type of running fuel or water! Thirtsy wasn't the word for it and after 11.3 miles I burst through the front door like a super hero making a b-line for the tap, head underneath it lapping away like our dog does when we turn the hose pipe on! In fact if the hose pipe had been nearer than the kitchen tap I'd have been lapping at that so parched was I after 11.3 miles.
Those of you that are regulars on this blog will know I struggle to run whilst holding something in my hand; so carrying a water bottle is out. Beth, Sarah & Amy cover your ears and eyes now! as I think for this purpose only I may have to purchase a running belt or a running rucksack! The sin of all fashion sins I know but hopefully the fact I'm going to get one to match the planned running outfit may soften the blow! Fingers crossed dear friends you can overlook this sin and forget about it post marathon; as of the 25th of April I promise you'll never see such items attached to me again!!

So the scores on the doors this week are as follows:
Running: Now you may have noticed I ran 11.3 miles on Saturday this week! it was an accident! The running plan asked me to do 10 miles; I did bad maths and thought I'd done 10.4 miles by running round the bypass three times. In the cold light of Monday morning whilst contemplating the cripling pain in my calves and how the pain was caused I realised I had actually run 11.3 miles. Now when I say run I obviously don't mean I ran like a real runner. I am still doing my Run/Walk style of running. However I must be running about 70-80% of the distance covered now & even towards the end of the runs manage to make myself run again so its not all bad. I think I am destined to be a Run/Walker instead of a proper runner! This weeks total is a personal best of 25.3 miles! Made up of 3 x 3 miles runs (2 outside & 1 inside) 1 x 5 mile run inside and 1 x 11.3 mile run outside + Dog walking of unknown milage = lots of miles on my feet this week!
Alcohol: so hopefully the 11.3 mile achievement will make up for the fact that 5 weeks of dryness on the alcohol front was broken with a bang this Saturday evening! I did indeed fall off the wagon; but fear not I managed to clamber back on before I was too far down the road to get back on, and still managed to run 5 miles on Sunday. This week I am firmly belted to the wagon I promise! and no one can really be cross as I did warn you I'd be pushed off! I just thought it was beTter to jump before being pushed!
Weight: surprisingly even with the impressive milage total - my bindge eating to make up for the lack of alcohol(I had malteasers for breakfast on Wednesday last week) and the reappearance of alcohol in my life on Saturday has resulted in a big fat 0 on the weightloss front!

So plans for this week: run at least what the running plan asks for (by run I mean run/walk/ complete by moving legs) and Shopping!!!!!!!!!!! Well find and buy running outfit this is not classed as shopping in my world its not fun!

When the Sh*t hits the Wall..

So this week has literally been a Sh*ty week; I don't like to use this word too often as it isn't lady like and I don't wish to give the wrong impression to those of you who don't know me well. But this week there is simply no other word for it; well ‘pooey’ I suppose - but now I sound like a three year old!

The week began badly with no running on Monday or Tuesday and the blog being two days late finally getting posted on Wednesday. So Wednesday was my come back run! And it was not a glorious come back to the running scene! About a mile and a half in I really needed the toilet; so badly it was giving me pains in my stomach. I had planned to run 4 miles and doing my business on the bypass was not an option so this run was cut short. Someone did suggest I should have 'gone' on the bypass just in case it happened on the day 'Good practice in case it happens during the marathon' 'no' I said 'not good practice! I am not going to practice going on the bypass just in case is happens on race day! Firstly I'm pretty sure its illegal!' as there is no way I would be pointing my bottom in the direction of the hedge row; my previous experiences with nature would dissuade me form that and I think pointing a white bottom in the direction of the traffic half way round the bypass in Calne may be considered indecent exposure!! So first run a bit of a disaster; no arrests though so there’s a silver lining to the tale!

So on Thursday the second come back was attempted; this time I thought I'd take the dog with me! he was home alone and I took pity on him. Thinking the stop for him to have a run around in the field halfway would be a welcome rest for me! Well unlike me the dog didn't have a problem going to the toilet 1 mile into our run on the bypass!! So like a good citizen I picked up his offering in a poo bag and looked for a bin. No Bin anywhere to be seen! And I didn't think it would be acceptable to put it in someones wheelie bin - imagine being caught 'what are you doing?' 'umm putting dog poo in your bin!?!' really this is only something you would do to your worst enemies and even then they would have had to have been really quite horrid for me to stoop to this level of childish behaviour. So with no other option I carried it for 1.8 miles around the bypass until I came to a bin! Running with a dog lead in one hand is tricky; running with a dog lead in one hand and a dog poo in a Sainsbury’s bag in the other hand is unbearable. Once the poo had been binned I was done. Moss had a quick run in the field and we went home for me to scrub my hand - a lot! So another unsuccessful run cut short.

Now they say things happen in threes; and this week I have found this to be the case. Third time lucky on the comeback run! No Third time unlucky; the third bad run in a row!! 2 miles into this come back run I had to abandon the plan due to a pulled ligament in my ankle and sKulked off to Sue’s house to wait for Darren to come and drive me home!

So we're three runs into the week and my comeback is about as successful as Britney Spears's comeback performance on the X-Factor!! A day off running was required if only to rest and recuperate the poorly foot. And fear not this is where the misery ends.

Sunday came; a leisurely 3 mile walk with Speedy and the dog warmed up the muscles; and with no hurty foot from the walking I thought I'd try a run. So at 5.37 on Sunday evening I embarked on a 6 mile run. The plan asked for 8 miles but after the week I'd had I thought attempting 6 might be a safer bet to avoid disappointment.

So I kicked off with a half circuit of the bypass - 1.8miles - then feeling good and doing more running than I had in weeks went for a full circuit of the bypass - 3.7 miles - having done that and still feeling O.K I thought I'd go for another half - but the longer half - 2 miles - and at the point I could turn home I still felt O.K to carry on so finished the bypass for a second time!! - 9.2 miles in total in 1 Hour 50 Minutes!!!!! BACK IN THE GAME; 'Wall' 'What Wall' 'I laugh in the face of walls' no longer am I the Jade Goody of Marathon training - Welcome back Paula!!!!!

So this week’s stats are as follows:

Running: 13.2 miles running, 6 miles walking; not the best total ever; but the end of the weeks triumph makes up for the lack of running early on in the week.
Alcohol: a sip! Whilst having dinner with my friend Caroline; she is pregnant and so thought it would be rude not to join her in a glass of watered down wine. Well it was practically grape squash! And I must pre-warn you I feel there are plans afoot with a certain group of friends to push me off the wagon so this statistic may be worse next week!!?
Weight: TBC - sorry haven't had time to check; so I predict lighter!! I will update when I have been near a set of scales later in the week.

So this week, instead of more running, more running like Sunday!!!!!!!!
Fingers crossed 'Paula' sticks around for a while.....

Oh and lastly; thank you to everyone who sent lovely messages of support and encouragement during the 'Jade' spell; your belief in me really did inspire me to carry on through the wall. If you'd all like to add to this support with a sponsorship that would be lovely too!!!! Links to just giving sites can be found at the top of this page. If you already have donated then thank you - that’s what all this turmoil is in aid of!

Facing the Wall...

.. And yes it is rather like being 4 again and sent to face the wall in the corner of the class! Debilitating and embarrassing. As prior to the last two weeks of appalling training I had every confidence I could run the marathon and everyone would be proud of me etc etc.

Sadly it’s not like the hit Saturday night show 'The Wall'! 1. I'm not dressed in silver Lycra facing a polystyrene wall with a funny hole coming towards me; and 2. The embarrassment is not the silly costume and the threat of falling into a swimming pool. But much worse; in failing to do the marathon I will have let all my lovely friends and family down whom so staunchly believed in me and secondly I will let the charities down who need my fundraising efforts to come good as they do such fantastic work with the money donated to them.

This week i have managed to run 21.66 miles - but I use the term run very very loosely! As most if not all of this was walking! This sounds good when said aloud especially as the plan I’m following only required 17 miles from me this week. It did however require a 7 mile run that I didn't even get close to this week!! The furthest I went in one outing was 4.06 miles and although most of this was running it was this only due to Leah and Sue yelling at me the whole way round! Bless and love them for their patience - especially as Leah normally does the circuit alone, in peace and runs the whole thing with no issues! My legs are in agony the whole time - calf muscles are the issue for those of you who are in the know! - and i just have no will to go running at the moment - Darren has to practically throw me out of the door each evening for me to manage a 4 mile walk!

So here I am facing the wall and currently have no idea how I'm going to overcome it - answers on a postcard please!! - This week I’m two days late on the blog posting - and with no running as yet this week under my belt don't even have a good excuse for that!!

So the stats for this week are as follows:
Running: 21.66 miles + 7 miles dog walking - infact 21.66 miles walking without the dog, 7 miles walking with the dog!
Weight: 4lbs down woo wooo wooooooo hooooo - its true walking is better for weight loss than running is! bugger! can't get in to the walking must get back into the running!!!
alcohol: None! Nothing! not a drop! Dry as a bone!!!! Snaps for Emma!!

This week - as always more running.....

Back to School... 1st lesson Running for beginners

Following a week of positively 'Paula' esq training last week; this week was more on par with that of 'Jade Goody's marathon training'!! I am way short of the alloted 19 miles required by the program. All I managed was 9.7miles in two runs; 4.7miles inside and 5 miles outside.

However I did manage a feeble 2 miles tonight, so unlike normal weeks have actually kick started the training a day early. So this week more running will be done and a more positive blog will be logged on the running front next Monday.

So this weeks numbers are as follows:
Running: As I said a poor show on my part only 9.7miles completed this week. More effort required.
Weight: Stayed the same; a cause for applause at fat club!! When loosing weight not putting any on is applauded as much as loosing weight, at least I'm not getting any bigger! Although worryingly I am being informed by real runners I may not loose weight running just change shape and build muscle tone! Maybe I should stop tormenting myself on the scales and start using a tape measure to monitor the slim down during training!?!
Alcohol: Woooo, Hoooo, Hoooo, still dry 18 days into the big drought and not a drop of alcohol has passed my lips!! The only achievment of this weeks training is my ability to stay of the sauce; not a massive achievement when you consider I haven't yet crossed the path of a glass of wine. Still an achievement I'm going to be proud of; its been a hard week!!

My official invite to 'The gold ticket members running conference' came through this week. Initially when this invitation was sent through to me with the confirmation of my place, I was on the understanding this would be an expedition where I could buy the latest fashions for runners and pretty trainers with free goody bags to those that made the effort to go to a talk here and there. Like you get when you go to fashion week, its in the same building!!!
But NO! Along with confirmation of my place at the expo came the days schedule; lecture after lecture on running, from 9am - 5pm how much can there possibly be to say about running!!!??? and they don't even schedule in refreshment breaks with food!!! All that will be available to me is Lucozade Sport and Water - no food - attendees are invited to bring a packed lunch if they think they will need it!!! Do I think I'll need it!! 8 hours of lectures on running I'm going to need four bags of percy pigs and a bottle of vodka to get through that unscathed!!!! I don't understand - I assumed there would at least be some carb filled refreshments as that's what runners eat!! What have I signed up for; no food and more worrying the shopping sounds very limited. No big exhibition is being mentioned and the opportunity to buy some Adidas new season running wear is only for 25 minutes before the thing closes; it literally says on the adgenda - opportunity to purchase adidas clothes 16.35, Exhibition closes 17.00!!! Are they being serious, how is that going to work? 200 running types all trying to purchase a t-shirt in 25 minutes; now I'm a speedy shopper and can spend £££'s in a matter of minutes but even I can't see how that's going to go down well!! it takes 2 minutes to carry out a credit card transaction, they obviously haven't done the maths for this bit of the agenda!! Oh there is an opportunity to have your feet measured!! although I don't think I need another £90 trainer experience any time soon so goodness knows what benefit this event is going to be to me....

The only lecture I think may have some content I'll be interested in is the one where we find out which celebrities will be running the race this year!! how exciting it'll be, like reading O.K magazine before anyone else! I hope there is a good caliber of celebrity this year not just a load of ex big brother housemates and some breakfast TV presenters! George Clooney would be good; or Robert Downey Jr??

So this week I will be mostly planning a packed lunch for the Expo in two weeks and running lots more running!!!

Teachers Pet...ish!!!!

Before the Christmas break my lovely friend Atlanta at work made me a running plan to follow - that all fingers and toes crossed will get me round the Marathon - and so far I hadn't really followed it; as you've read I have been doing some running and some walking so I wasn't being entirely bad by not following it completely. However this week I followed the plan exactly and added a bit on by accident!
I had a quick squidge of the plan at the beginning of the week and thought it said 4 runs 2 x 4 miles and 2 x 5 miles; it actually said 2 x 3 miles, 1 x 4 mile and 1 x 5 mile run. So me doing 2 x 4 mile and 2 x 5 mile runs + a 4.5 mile dog walk and a 2 mile dog walk gets me to 24.5 miles on the road/field/training when the plan only asked for 15!!! Woo hoo hoooo not only have I smashed last weeks record, I now have nearly 10 miles in hand on the training front!

Although the fact I'm a day late on the blog does maybe undo my teachers petness just a little bit!!!

My fall in the snow this week is something I can't miss off the blog - to other runners reading this according to some of my twitter friends some charities have warned runners against outside training in these conditions due to breakages! - I read this warning after falling whilst making my way home from the gym! Being new to this running lark a dusting of snow in Yorkshire was enough to make me head for cover and train inside. I had been inside running for a week or so when the snow hit Wiltshire. However youths playing in the snow startled me on my trip home and I gracefully fell to the pavement! NOT. Some boys ran past me, I squealed moved far too quickly out of the way and with all the grace of a buffalo on ice fell bottom over boob towards the glistening pavement; not forgetting to hit my face on the wall on the way down!!! Ending up legs splayed in a ladylike heap on the ground; I then sat on the floor hoping this incident hadn't been witnessed. Not so lucky, the whole event had taken place just outside a busy pub; so hurrah at least ten people had seen my decent to the pavement. One wet bottom; a lumpy face; and wounded ego later I slowly walked home. Penance for thinking I'd got the better of the snow perhaps?

But the stats for this week are amazing and I can't help but boast.
Running: well you know a super duper 24.5 miles
Weight: a loss of 2 lbs! whoop whoop - still not telling you what my actual weight is until its a more attractive number! but looks like I'm going in the right direction. I have a funny theory, if I forbid myself from buying any new clothes until I have lost 1/2 a stone! bank balance looks healthier as do I - everyones a winner!
Alcohol: Not a drop!!!! Although this weekend presents my first night out with the girls without alcohol involved and I have a horrid feeling I may fall off the waggon around 10.30!!!

This week I'll be aiming for the training program requirements again - although already Tuesday and no running yet! And trying not to fall in the snow and ice as I did this week!! And on the way back from the gym no less surely Karma got that wrong!