Good things happen to good people

what a great day - woke at 5:30 naturally. School run, conference call, running club at 9:30 - out for 2 hours. Think it was a 10k - no GPS again!!!


 Lovely group of people, very socialable and the walk - run - walk was good and I can honestly say there was MUCH less walking than running.
Ordered new trainers, lunch and laughter with Lizz - check out her .com. School run, business call, business launch x 3 - and collapse. (and repeat)
V V tired - night all x

The legend that is Kim Inglebury - thank you...

OK weekly session with the legend that is Kim Inglebury - talented, gorgeous, inspirational and kind. Bit of a melt down this morning, tired and emotional. Legs still hurting - feel that 20kg weights were attached.
We did running, sprinting, stretches and core - hopefully no one saw me or recognised me lunging during their morning commute - unless it gave them a laugh, and that'd be OK. Running was faster and longer - less walking - woo hoo..
It was raining, i looked like *hit, but do you know what I will never join a gym again. Why work inside when you can be outside despite the rain. Pictures from Energised Performance website - check it out, they have masses going on. 
Less than 90 days to the london marathon and 6 days to the Bath half - help me someone help me!!!

**** technology!!!!

OK Sunday morning run - on my own - not enjoying that... Cheesy off to golf and Leanne & Sarah couldn't face it.


Popped into see my parents who had my brother and 2 nephews staying... quick cuppa then the Bristol Portway - soulless :( lots of runners, they were quicker than me. Why do some runners smile, make eye contact and just cheery and then those the miserable ones, eyes down , no eye contact - they're not Olympic runners, just a sun day run.. why oh why?? well i suppose if they are like that then, then they are probably like that in life - sad really!


Anyway I lost myself in a recorded call with executive national vice president Debbie Neal - the woman is inspiring / amazing / incredible...


amazing quote: "it isn't sufficient to want, you have to ask yourself what you are willing to do to get what you want."


to "want" isn't sufficient its got to be "i will".


without a sense of urgency my desire is going to lose its value.


****So I will finish the London marathon 2012 in less than 6 hours****


Technology was rubbish and lost signal so I'm not exactly sure, but I do know it was the furthest ever - 1:22 minutes, about 8.5k - i think.

The reason why I am running...

Dear blogging community

I'm fundraising for CLIC Sargent and running the London Marathon in April.

You'll know that I am NOT a runner, got a little tipsy at my wedding last year and said we'd do it - never thought we'd get a place!! Anyway here we are, never thought I'd do anything like this.. 91 days to go today.

Please help me make a difference by making a donation to my Virgin Money Giving page.

To find out more about what I'm doing and why, please visithttp://www.virginmoneygiving.com/LindaDaviesCarr where you can also sponsor me online.

Don't forget to tick the box to reclaim Gift Aid on your donation if you're a UK tax payer. Virgin Money Giving will pass this on in full to charity, making your donation go even further.

Thanks for your support,

Linda  xxx

The beautiful Bristol Downs - Durdham Downs

Marathon training is going ok. It was a beautiful morning, definitely could not go back to training in a gym. Out again with Sarah, Leanne & Cheesy. This time he wasn't in the "zone". It was also soooo windy, easier one side of the Downs and harder the other!!
The pace is coming along, managed to talk most of the way around last night, so talked less and ran more. Stuck to the plan and the run/walk/run is definitely working better, although the hills were NOT!!!
Going to set up the just giving web site this weekend, and note to self - try and find some running tights that are long enough as my ankles are FREEZING!!


7:36 and 61 minutes and 600 calories.


Target is 10k before the end of January. as we've got the Longleat 10k on February 5th.


shhh don't tell anyone but actually feel great, fantastic and enjoying it, it will definitely be worth it. Talking about doing the Bristol 10k (may) and half in September - just to keep in the zone - who'd have thought???
til tomorrow xx

lovely evening for a run

it was a beautiful evening, cool but not cold (mad weaher for january) and a gorgeous pink sky - lovely evening for a run.


busy busy day.... couldn't face a 5am start for the run so managed to persuade the lovely Sarah to come running this evening. Couldn't face it at 5am as a little person crawled into bed with me at 2:42 claiming a bad dream!! My excuse and sticking to it! Although the running guru Kim has put it out there that maybe just maybe a long run at 5am is a good idea, I'm going to park that one..
Back to the busy day....


5.67k, 54 minutes and 400 calories - Sarah has a new app that talked to her!! At this rate the Marathon is going to take a few days!!
Got to say it was fun, talked all the way around, so clearly we could have gone further, and for longer. I still make that a hell of a long way to go. So it 10k tomorrow - oh help me now... for now its a curry and good company.


This is a picture that I found for inspiration its the start line, I'm going to find the finish line soon.

Great running club...

So i found a running club - based at David Lloyd and running out of Sweatshop. Met the amazing Heather and was inspired. What an amazing and varied group of people. 

I wasn't the fastest and not the slowest. I held my own - we did HILLS - managed to fess up that i only chose routes that are FLAT!!! Amazing group of people, a 70 odd year old guy - charming, lovely who did the 1st ever London Marathon when he was in he 40s - he's now in his 70s - what an inspiration. We went out for an hour, did about 5K and i actually enjoyed it.  

Signed up for the Longleat 10k - its all hills on February 5th with my friend Jules and Cheesy is going to come too.

Then i got curious about the history of the London Marathon and this is an excerpt of what I found:

Charitable status was established for the event, and Brasher and Disley devised six aims for the London Marathon:

• To improve the overall standard and status of British marathon running by providing a fast course and strong international competition.
• To show mankind that, on occasions, they can be united.
• To raise money for sporting and recreational facilities in London.
• To help boost London’s tourism.
• To prove that ‘Britain is best’ when it comes to organising major events.
• To have fun, and provide some happiness and sense of achievement in a troubled world.

Five months later, on 29 March 1981, the first race was held. Some 20,000 people wanted to run. 7,747 were accepted. There were 6,255 finishers, led home by the American Dick Beardsley and Norwegian Inge Simonsen, who staged a spectacular dead heat at the rain-swept finish on Constitution Hill. Joyce Smith, 43 years old and mother of two, broke the British record to win the women’s race.

The event was a massive hit with the runners, the thousands of spectators who lined the course, and viewers who followed the race on the BBC. As a result, the 1982 race received more than 90,000 applications from hopeful runners around the world. The entry was limited to 18,059.

The race has grown in size, stature and popularity ever since. Now established among the major events in the sporting calendar, the London Marathon is shown on television in more that 150 countries around the world.

A total of 817,890 runners have completed the London Marathon (1981 to 2011), while a record 36,550 people finished in 2010.

Do you know what I feel privileged.

1st run after the whooping cough....

Well i knew it was going to be hard this morning but didn't expect it to be hard on my ears and head!! Kim (the lovely Kim before I go on) worked my head space... was i mentally fit and ready for this - the answer was a resounding NO NO NO!!


Linda stop comparing to others (harder than you think!)
Linda stop thinking you can't do it (the correct answer is you can do anything!)
Linda stop thinking it hurts and you want to stop (it DOES hurt and I can stop - if i really want to)
Linda stop thinking about the BHAG goal and chunk it down - its not 26 miles - break it down.


This head space stuff is hard...


Finally people keep telling me i've lost weight - NO WEIGHT LOSS!!! Although those 7formankind jeans i bought in NY a couple of years ago slid on kindly yesterday and not a muffin top in sight! So something must be working. But here's a thing I started running not to lose weight (although I need to) but because I committed to run the London marathon  - yes this year.. and its harder than it looks... on so many levels

Whooping cough at my age????

so that explains it... the reason why i couldn't catch my breath - apart from the overweight and unfit issue - it'll be the whooping cough...


before you start ranting on about immunisation and (as my doctor called them..) "those hippies who don't bothered to immunise their kids" - awkward moment at the doctors with the girls last week. I was immunised and so were the girls - for absolutely everything, and even though it hurt like hell - you see scarred as a child from the pain we all were, immunised that is.


so i tried a run, i know you should never say try, hope etc, i I really tried to run this morning - but it was like a needed a portable oxygen tent. so i stopped, came home, made a cuppa and took my newly prescribed antibiotics.


Brilliant - after having to have Lauren at home for 5 days, she went back to school this morning. This morning!!! Now its my turn - don't think I'll be watching her choice: America's Next Top model, the Kardashians and Gossip Girl...




3k only - sorry Kim. L xx

Stupid stupid cough and stupid stupid running...

Up at 8am, Cheesy and I met Sarah at 8:15 and decided to do a 7k.


It started OK, but the coughing and spluttering took its toll. couldn't do it, legs felt like 20kg weights on my thighs and shins, coughed all the way around and eventually told them to run on with out me - how lame am I???


Coughed my guts up, threw up and then had a little pity cry to myself!! Met up with them by blackboy hill traffic lights and ran back to the car :( feel a bit stupid and the coughing is just driving me MAD. Going to get to the doctors tomorrow, as i may have Lauren's whooping cough.... nice!


what a waste, should have stayed in bed!!


yours disappointingly...


Lxx

offended my mother in law....

OK i have been married for just 8 months and now I have offended my MIL. The lovely Freddie (14) saw my post and read it. The good news is he thinks I'm funny.. and although we don't like or subscribe to the word step as in step mum. Its cool that he thinks I'm funny.. the down side is that he read my blog out loud - to his grandmother - my MIL.


so for Freddie's benefit and ability to read out to his grandmother - I AM SO SORRY. No offence was intended.... sorry. I'm just a light sleeper.


yours sheepishly...

Why oh Why??

Run this morning... it was NOT easier than Wednesday. Why oh why??? Surely that's not right!!!
Got up at 8am - met friends at 8:30 and did just over 5k. Treated ourselves to a Nero after, would have been wrong not to.


was it harder because I am a very light sleeper and...

• my lovely husband has got a cold - you can guess my problem
• we have my parents in law staying - why oh why do people over the age of 50 need to get up in the night to go to the toilet - do they have NO control???
• my youngest (12) has taken to sleeping with her twinkle lights on - not sure if its left over from not wanting to take the Xmas decorations down yesterday or the monsters under the bed??

Suffice to say i saw 2am, 3am, 4am, 5am and 6am - then I gave up!!


maybe that's why it was harder this morning - either that i or should just drink more to comatose myself from all the "noise". Well we are running again tomorrow morning, so I'll see if my coping strategies are any better tomorrow morning..


oh yes and I had coffee with the "glamorous mum" who passed me on the last run - told her about my blog and her mention. I think she's still talking to me :) tell you about it tomorrow...

Technology sucks but I didn't!!

So first run for ages on my own. WOW was it windy.. well I ran further than I have before. 6.4k - more running than walking :) and I did do the "i can i can i can" when I really wanted to stop. (just to prove Cheesy right!!)


I said hello to the walkers and made friends with a few dogs. 


Then i was sort of on the home straight, wind in the right direction and the breathing had sorted itself out and the pace was kicking in and then what happened, a very glamorous mum from school (ex TV news presenter, very slim, very gorgeous ) ran past me! and as I saw her pounding into the distance with her immaculate running tights, her red running top that did not cover her bum (as she didn't need it covering!!) and her hair loose and flowing... you get the picture?? I found myself watching her stride and bum running off in the distance (not in a lesbian way) and you know what - everything is possible... my bum will look like that!!


So summary note to self....
made sure the technology is set up correctly to track the run before you set off
make sure you have something interesting / good to listen to
make sure you've been to the loo before the run (classy)
sort out your shin splints as they still hurt... talk to Kim


til next time xx

Last lie in for weeks and we got up and ran round Bristol Downs..

NOT!!!


Last lie in for weeks and we got up and ran round Bristol Downs..


I've realised that actually i HATE HATE HATE the first 20 minutes, i can't catch up breath, want to stop every 200m and stop running full stop. My grumpiness reaches a peak - I bitch and I moan and I REALLY don't want to go on, and I am surprised that my lovely husband is still talking to me! But actually after 20 minutes the breathing sorts itself out, the pace stabilises and its ok. (Cheesy thinks it because i can see the car by then!!)
I guess Kim & Cheesy are right I've got to believe I can do it. So the positive self messaging has got to go to me head!! Lots of parallels to life - too much to go into here!!
Classic quote from my patient (joke) husband..."The only thing stopping you achieving the target is you DC" He's funny my husband!!!
So my lovely friend Frannie who is running the marathon with me (she's in London and I'm in Bristol) achieved 7miles - WOW - go Frannie...
Running tomorrow before picking the girls up from Bristol Airport, can't wait to see them- til then xx