Here we go again

Another yomp round the Bowl of Hellfire - which is totally failing to live up to its name. The weather was horrid. Blustery rain coming straight at us no matter which way we were facing. Not decided whether I prefer being sweaty and damp or just sweaty like in the hot hot heat of race day.
The same rowing people were there being shouted at by sporty types on the bank. The geese were there, inhibiting us slightly by being all over the path and hissing as we tried to pass. The bloke who rows up and down in a canoe in Hawaii 5-0 position (down on one knee) was there as well...it's all becoming very familiar. So to spice it up we went round in the anti-race direction.
I made a bit of a stab at jogging again. At one point both Lauren and I completed a 500m stretch at a reasonable jog. However, it made no odds and final time was 47 minutes, so slower than two weeks ago. Or maybe about the same. Still, for me, could do better.
Factual reporting over I feel entitled to let out a bit of a whinge...my right leg REALLY hurts. I have various pains all down it and after first mentioning it somewhere around the halfway mark formed a hypothesis that it could be down to an injury I sustained to my kneecap some 12 years ago. I think it is making me run gammy and therefore my right leg is now all out of whack. I don't really know what to do about that...
It's not gonna stop me running that's for sure. Just under three months to go and have a clear 15-20 minutes to knock off my time in order to come close to achieving my goal time on the day.
For now though - totally physically tired out. S C-P x

Playing around with training

"We don't stop playing because we get old, we get old because we stop playing"
Someone much wiser than me said this, I can't recall who, but I think there is more than a grain of truth in it.
I'm supposedly resting this week and not really supposed to be doing any exercise (part of an experiment which is too dull to go into) but that's left me feeling kinda fidgety.
So it was good that the sun shone this weekend and I could use my toddler as an excuse to do pseudo-exercise on play equipment around Derbyshire. This weekend I have mainly been sailing on a large wooden pirate ship in Matlock Bath and monkeying around in a frankly amazing adventure playground at Chatsworth. My toddler enjoyed it too.
Technically then, no further training to report. But I am really great at slides and wobbly walkways so if they throw any of these in as a surprise on race day I am well prepared.
Back to the bowl of hellfire this week with Fat Boy Michael and Fat Girl Lauren (plus motivational coaching from P in his pushchair - nothing like a screaming child to make you want to get finihsed and go home)- anyone else want to take on the course???
And thanks to recent sponsors too - the team is now just shy of £300 in all which is a great amount. However, I think we can do better. We've just under 13 weeks to go until race day so get your fundraising on girls! Let's break last year's £800 total!!!
Keep runnin' (and raisin')
S C-P xxx

Exercise down south

So while I haven't been to the gym today i did walk from Dover to Folkestone and back again, i'm predicting that is about 8 miles in total. Im not saying i jogged it or walked any quicker than a stoned snail but it's better than nothing i say! I also went swimming.... well i ran in the English Channel, dunked my shoulders in, three breast strokes and then flapped out as fast as my frozen body could manage. Ursula Andress out of Bond it was NOT. Oh and i do have slight sunburn from today but compared to after the Hellbowl last year i'm still anemic !!!

Hopefully im going for another few walks this weekend and im staying off the booze so i should be able to hold my head up high and tick the 'exercise' box off my list of thing to do! Also looking forward to trip to Bowl of Hellfire on Thursday with Sarah (queen of all things), anyone else coming??

...2.....

....1 ..
is the time it took me in seconds before i was sweating and wishing i had kept up a more regular gym routine! Darn it that hurt and i was only walking at 4mph, seriously lame and my lungs HURT! Right that's it smoking is officially bad, because it wasn't official before but now i say it is! Bad bad bad and smelly and dirty. So i'll just pop out for one more and then that's it. I quit!! Until someone cuts me up on the commute home and then maybe just one more, then i quit!

Regardless of my weakness for nicotine i am certain that i need more practice and im going to bully my mum into coming walking with me round the cliffs when im at home by the sea this weekend. She'll love it and i certainly need it!

So a wheezy goodbye from me and i hope your training is going better than mine this month!! If anyone fancies a trip to the Bowl of Hellfire during the week let me know, nights are longer and it's only a stones throw from work... why have i never thought to go there before?? Ah yes... the clue is in the name

Gym... in 5... 4.... 3....

... 2 hours. Very nervous about this visit to the gym. I've slipped back into dirty chain smoker habits and my lungs are really feeling the abuse over the weekend. That combined with minimal gym attendance and SC-P's sterling efforts have got me a little paniced about race in July. I may have lost 10lbs but im no more fit than i was a month ago. I plan to blog after im back from the gym... if you hear nothing expect the worst!!

Katie's Midnight Walk - 20 June 2009

A little reminder about the other event the team is taking part in - Katie's Midnight Walk II.

Katie Taylor died in June 2008 from malignant melanoma, a form of skin cancer. She was just 15 years old.

She and her family and friends were already campaigning to raise awareness and fund research into the disease when she died and the first midnight walk took place just days after her death. More than 200 people took part and raised a phenomenal amount - more than £8,000. This is an important cause to the whole team but particularly to me (S-CP) as Katie was my husband's cousin.

This year the walk will be held again on Saturday 20 June - the first week of Melanoma Awareness Week and a few days after the first anniversary of Katie's death. Many of Team Run, Fat Girl, Run will be taking part and we'd encourage you all to come and join us if you can or consider making a donation.

The five-mile walk is in Somercoates in Derbyshire and begins at midnight - to follow the theme of melanoma awareness of going from dark into light.

Please take a moment to read Katie's story and find out more about the walk and how you can support it on Katie's website.

If you'd like to come and join us on the night walkers meet at St Thomas Hall, Somercoates at 11pm with the walk getting underway at 12 midnight. Team Run, Fat Girl, Run will be rocking a neon theme so we can be safe while walking about in the dark so feel free to neon-up and join our gang. We hope to see you there!

You can also join the Facebook group if you want to show support and get hold of a paper sponsorship form!

S-CPx

Jogging through Hyde Park, London

Patch of Daffodils!
More photos from the jog are here!

The thought of jogging down polluted noisy streets of London is far from appealing. Unless ofcourse you are no stranger to the city and are aware of the numerous beautiful parks sprawling through the centre of the city!

One Sunday, several weeks ago, the sun decided to be generous and was shining so bright. I decided the day was brilliant to be out and about and train for the RFGR pledge. Very surprisingly, I didn't even have to coax Mark to come out with me. A simple “Would you like to go jogging with me in the park?” yielded a prompt “Sure!” (I am used to hearing a loud groan instead).

We jogged down to the main road i.e. Bayswater Road, past the famous Sunday art-displays and entered Hyde Park. I had checked the map for areas of the park we hadn't seen. Come on, follow the map, and jog with me!

• Down Bayswater road to Marlborough Entrance
• Then further to the right past Buckhill's lodge and victoria gate lodge
• Across the road and the yellow 'dirt track for horse riding'
• Down the diagonal path that goes past the Central Royal Parks Nursery and then down to the Sheep Trough. There is a hand pump at the sheep trough and Mark tried to pump water out of it but it appeared to be no longer in use.
  
• Further on to the new lodge, we took a look at the information centre then ran back up and to the right and stopped between new lodge and reformer's tree to exercise (jumping, skipping, cross-touching toes, jumping jack/ star jump). You name it, we did it. Ofcourse, the exercise routine was filled with laughs and giggles because Mark was a little stiff from lack of exercise - all the more reason to do it! Especially, if you sit at the computer all day the way we do.
• Then we went on to reformer's tree and headed down south to the river Serpentine, and back up towards the east, along the river path.
  
• We stopped at the boathouse which has a tourist shop = children's paradise = parents’ hell and decided to update ourselves on the latest ‘cool kids’ paraphernalia. Fancy-pants pencils, erasers, pens, and toys in bright colours and all shapes and sizes were overflowing from every shelf.
• When a kid started crying, probably due to a demand unmet, we quickly took leave and continued jogging. A gust of wind blew my cap off and luckily I was able to save it in time before it flew off into the river. By this time the breeze was very strong and it was starting to grow cloudy and chilly.
• So we headed back north again. Mark stopped at the 'Norwegian War Memorial' which is literally a giant piece of 'natural rock' with a plaque. The Norwegians gifted the rock to the British as a token of thanks for saving their lives in World War 2. There was a plaque at the back of the rock as well. While Mark was peering at it, I to play a trick on him. I took off quietly, up the hill, towards policeman's path, turning occasionally to see if Mark had noticed. He hadn't but by the time I turned again, he had noticed and was laughing helplessly. He started chasing me and knowing that Mr. Super Long Legs would reach me in no time, I stopped at a patch of spring daffodils that were just starting to bloom. Mark told me had no idea I wasn't right behind him and had to say something to me only to find that I was 250m away, running at top speed. Oh, we laughed for the longest time (and continued to laugh about it all day).
• We then jogged down to the main road (west of policeman's path) and jogged up the bicycle/foot path and exited at Victoria Gate.

What followed after? A scrumptious brunch of eggs, bacon (not for me, I’m vegetarian!) and fresh bread, cooked by Chef Mark. By the time it was over, we were so tired and full, we fell asleep in the middle of the afternoon as a storm cast itself on London city in full swing.

Do you reckon you will go for a run in your city this weekend? If this post has entertained you or better still, motivated you to go and explore hidden delights about town as you jog, please sponsor me!

Cheers,
Aakanksha/ Ace

Practice makes...

...for a shorter time!
Headed out to the grey, wet and windswept Bowl of Hellfire again today for another practice lap, this time dragging my own Fat Boys (M and the Boy Prentice).
Making good time into a full on headwind I was motivated enough to put the jog / walk / jog / walk theory into practice. And I think it paid off.
Completed the 5km circuit in 45 mins or just over...hard to be precise, reasons why to be explained. This time is around seven minutes faster than Sunday's Hellfire practice and around 20 faster than last year's race day performance.
So, I feel pretty smug but also spurred on to keep training going for the next 14 weeks in order to make it round in 30 minutes or under on the day. It seems ridiculous to think that me, a non-runner if ever there was, may actually run most if not all of it.
Anyway, the reason for slight guess work on the time is because not being fully knowledgeable about my equipment (a hoodie) I didn't realise my phone fell out of my pocket around the 3.5km mark (top left corner of rowing course) until we got to the end and I tried to check the time.
However, my Big Damn Hero of a husband duly jogged off back the way we'd come while I took Prentice to the playground.
Phone back with me and M having completed around eight km in less than an hour we fed some ducks and a couple of rather pushy geese and then left Holme Pierrepont to the misty rain and lacklustre rowing practice.
Considering making trips out there a frequent thing over the next couple of months so if other Fat Girls fancy it give me a shout. I shall make sure all belongings are secured about my person from now on so no one has to go further than they should.
Surely this kind of progress is worth a few extra pennies in sponsorship? Remember - free badge for every sponsor!
Keep runnin'
S-CP x

Practice Run

A depleted Team gathered this morning at Holme Pierrepont for the Easter Sunday practice run.
No longer the bowl of hellfire, the watersports centre was overcast and damp as Vena, Sarah L and Sarah B crossed the start line and 58 minutes later crossed it again, knocking a full seven minutes off last year's Race for Life time.
The drab weather and missing team members did nothing to dampen spirits though and motivational talk covered last night's Dizzee / Prodigy rave; Manchester apartments and TT; the weirdness of boys and individual race training plans and progress. Oh, and shoes, obviously!
So the time may not have been world record breaking but at this point in our training and after raving for a full three hours (in this style - see from 1'43" for our dance inspiration) not long before we were pretty pleased with ourselves. We feel sure we can knock more minutes off when race day does appear on 26 July.
One thing which will surely spur us on to speediness is more sponsorship. Please use the links over in the side panel to support a fat girl - Sarah B; Vena; Sarah L; Lauren; Toni-Anne; Ace; Sarah H or Kelly. Every person which sponsors us is entitled to wear the badge of honour, which is, in fact, a Fat Girl badge.
We'll probably head over to Holme Pierrepont again at the start of June to have another practice run. If not, next on the Fat Girl calendar is 'tactical' training on 23 May and then Katie's Midnight Walk on 20 June.
'til then - keep running.
S-CP x

The great outdoors

Five things about training today (I love top fives for those who didn't know):

1. I ran outside today for the first time since Race for Life 2008. For saying I don't like to be spotted choosing to do it in the middle of a sunshine-laden Sunday does seem a bizarre choice in retrospect. Still, made the transition from gym to field.
2. The insulating properties of these M&S jogging bottoms is still totally baffling one year on. Why, oh why, Mr Mark and Mr Spencer would you line such a garment with what can only be a fabric facsimile of the tiles from the nose cone of Saturn 5??? I am sure Toni will back me up - I just don't get why anyone wants to feel like their legs have been set on fire when running is hard enough anyway.
3. I really need to start taking my inhaler out. Clinging onto a five bar gate trying to get even the smallest amount of oxygen into my struggling lungs totally ruins any chance of looking like a keen jogger.
   
4. While my athletic prowess has someway to go before being described as 'honed' the tracks on my training playlist do not: Hadouken! - Crank it Up; The Prodigy - Omen; Groove Armada feat. Mutya Buena - Song 4 Mutya; Bodyrox - Yeah Yeah; Kano - Typical Me.
5. I have no idea how far I went or how many calories I burned so not only am I breaking with my Statto persona but not helping me gauge how I might cope with the practice run next Sunday or ensre I am within the strict limits of calorie-burnage allowed on my current eating plan. I guess I did about a mile and it took me 20 minutes at run / walk / wheeze / walk slower.

See you all next Sunday for the practice run at Nottingham Holme Pierrepont around 3.30pm.
S-CP x

Fat Girls get thanks

Looking back for a moment Aspire have been in touch to thank everyone who took part in the Channel Swim in 2008, including Team Run, Fat Girl, Run!
The Team completed the 22-mile swim between September and December last year to help raise funds for the spinal injuries charity.
Altogether more than £400,000 was raised for Aspire and they say: "The vital funds you worked so hard to raise have already been put to good use throughout our projects. Some of these projects include our Human Needs Fund which provides grants for people to buy specialist equipment and our specially adapted short term housing for patients newly discharged from hospital.
"Aspire also have Independent Living Advisors and Assistive Technology facilities at Spinal Injury Centres across the UK providing practical support and advice. The Aspire National Training Centre in Stanmore is the first fully integrated leisure centre leading the way in accessible and inclusive fitness training and sporting activities."
Thanks to everyone who sponsored us for this event - and well done girls!