Dress rehearsal for school - first day tomorrow :-)

School prep

The last few days we have spent trying to put together footage for the film while Champu completes the various tasks associated with getting the girls, Snayhar & Mehek, started at school. The first of these was to pay for and complete registration (or "money for nothing" as Champu put it!) which cost around £160 and took Champu 2 mornings due to a festival preventing the right person turning up at the school on the first day, and then a lot of negotiation the second day as Snayhar is starting school 2 years late. Once that was done he had to go back this morning to get their uniforms, bag, water bottles and book & equipment list. The total cost for all that came to around £90. They need 2 different uniforms - a white one for Wednesdays and Fridays and a grey one for the other days. The grey ones won't be ready for 2 days, but as school is closed again tomorrow for another festival, their first day will be Wednesday, a white uniform day, so no more delays. Champu has just gone off to source their books, pens, note pads etc from the cheapest place possible and tomorrow we'll go out to the house again and get photos of them in uniforms. Snayhar will be getting a couple of extra hours tuition a day to help her catch up. They will be learning English and Hindi right from the start so hopefully it won't be long before we can communicate with them in English. They are really great kids - extremely happy and playful. I'm just so pleased for them about all this, as is Champu.
As far as the rickshaw goes, Muna is still at the helm as Champu is waiting for his driving lessons to start (they were delayed by the fact that all gvt offices were closed for the Commonwealth Games!!). He is looking forward to adding rickshaw tours to the services he offers tourists, but is also thinking about the possibility that he can rent his rickshaw out when he's not using it. In this way he has a secure income even when he can't work and for this reason said he felt I'd given him an older brother! I feel a big weight of responsibility has been taken off his shoulders, and he is really deserving of that. During this whole project I was aware that I didn't know him that well and that he could have changed a lot over the years - however, he is everything I thought he was when I first met him, and more, and I am over the moon that I've been able to give him a break from worrying about how he's going to provide for everyone. He's been doing that since he was 7 or 8. He is a truly amazing person. If anyone is going to Delhi he's waiting to meet you.

Puja

Back in Delhi and while we were away the rickshaw got a new canopy and back seat to clean it up ready for it's "puja" (blessing) . So yesterday we went to the Kali temple for the ceremony. Champu and Muna bought a basket full of marigolds and other flowers which were blessed in a 15 minute ritual inside the temple and we then went out to the rickshaw. As Champu held the basket, the "Pundaji" recited a lot of prayers as he placed the flowers on the front wheel. He then drew a couple of good luck signs on the front and placed a marigold garland over the steering wheel before sprinkling water all around the rickshaw. After about 10 minutes Champu was handed a coconut which he smashed on the floor and then sprinkled the water around the rickshaw. Apparently that now has to be taken home and sprinkled there, while the flowers had to be taken to the river to be sent off on a journey towards the Ganges. It was very moving and, to my surprise, I burst into tears! Champu said that he'd never been to a vehicle "puja" before and that he didn't understand all the prayers, but there were, apparently, a lot for the iron.
We had a short discussion about whether we should take the flowers directly to the Ganges when we go to Varanassi next week but for the sake of the film we opted for sending them off in Delhi. The river was filthy and there were some kids scavenging beside it. I see another run coming on!!! Champu and I threw the garland in and he then paid one of the kids 10 rupees to wade out and put the garland further into the current.
Last night I gave Champu the money to register his 2 daughters in School which he is going to do this morning and hopefully, they will have their first day before we leave :-)

Update from India!! :-)

At last - an update from India. Apologies for the delay. The first three days in Delhi were pretty stressful as all I could do was visit ATM's and extract my daily allowance then guard my growing pile of money until we had enough cash to go and buy the rickshaw. There was almost a set back when my bank, despite 3 phone calls before leaving, took another 24 hrs to let me use my card here. How typical of our times that a bank has been the only spanner in the works during this whole project!!! Anyway, the seller of the rickshaw, Muna, agreed to let us pay the remaining amount once we return to Delhi on 21st Oct and so on 6th October we handed over the cash and Champu became the owner of a rickshaw. (no idea why this is all underlined!!)
In the 3 days leading up to getting the cash together we spent the time with Champu (he was chief body guard!) getting to know more about him and his life. During this time he finally understood how I had raised the money and really seemed lost for words at times. He hadn't realised I had been running and joined in with many of my friends' thoughts by saying that I was "crazy, really crazy"!! He also very kindly said that I was amazing. He shook his head as he said "when I helped you years ago it was because you were a tour leader and might be able to help me - we needed each others help. But now you have just helped me, for me - for friendship - you're amazing" It was one of the best moments of the whole project. We showed him Gerry's film of the race too and when he, and Muna clapped at the finish I think I did finally get what I've done. It was the finishing line moment that I never really felt at the finishing line (just due to the preoccupation of finishing, having a bath, getting ready for the dinner etc - not for any lack of congratulations from friends and family)
Champu now has to get the rickshaw paperwork into his name - and learn to drive properly. He said that he had driven one, but hadn't got his license as he'd never dreamt he'd really own a rickshaw. Muna, who he has known for over a year, has kindly agreed to work with him for a month or two and teach him all he needs to know and at the moment they are working Champu's rickshaw together as Champu can't legally drive in the city or with passengers until he has his first license. The first licence is actually only a matter of money which I have - but I'm glad he's learning to drive safely too. Once the rickshaw became his we all set off for a tour of Old Delhi and then, when we got to a wide road that was very quiet (due to road closures for the Games - it has come in handy afterall!) it was time for Champu to have a go. We all got out and Gerry set up his tripod and camera for the occasion. Within seconds 2 bikes were in a heap in the middle of the road. The 2 men riding by had done a double take at the camera and crashed into each other spectacularly. We were all doubled up with laughing and I think it helped Champu's driving nerves. After a formal photo session (see above) Champu took to the driver's seat and I to the back. Gerry signalled that the camera was rolling and off we went only to stall. More laughter. I was then treated to about 5 trips along 100m of road, with turns - and, by the end, it was pretty smooth.
Champu drove home that night with Muna driving his own rickshaw beside him and the next morning they arrived to take us to the station for the train to Jaipur.
Once we're back on the 21st we're going to visit his family and make a film about his way of life. I'm hoping to be able to get his 2 daughters into school with some of the remaining money - and there might even be enough to get his 2 brothers (11 &13ish) back into school too. After a few months Champu thinks it's possible he'll be able to keep them all there himself with his earnings from the rickshaw.
This is a bit rushed - but I wanted to get news out to everyone who has made all this possible. I'll try to write more from Delhi.

weather!

Oh no - thought I had my kit choice finalised but have woken up to wind and rain. Suppose it's better to face the reality of it now while I have the chance to add to my bag. Off for my first ever run in waterproof trousers to see how feasible it is....

less than 2 weeks to go!

Not long to go now and I'm at a bit of a standstill with training as I don't feel that much more is going to make a huge difference now. So am busying myself with short runs (8 miles) with packed bag (oh dear - should have started doing this a long time ago!) and testing out different kit combinations. Pretty much have all the essentials and just have to decide how much space/ weight, if any, to give to luxuries such as soap!
Have ordered all my "food" from 00runningfuels - the discovery of red Maca, pinole ad Chia seeds has been a fantastic boost to my training and will be so easy to carry on the race. Their raw chocolate bars are wonderful too but sadly won't survive 6 days in rucksack.
Was lucky enough to share a room with a hill runner, Christine Patterson, at my first aid course last weekend. She put me in touch with a couple of her friends who have done multi day events and they have reassured me that I seem to be on the right track. Basic message from everyone I talk to and everything I read is that the physical training is going to help my progress, but the main thing that's going to get me to the finish is my mental strength. Am very curious about how it's going to be and have decided that curiosity is an underrated emotion - it can lead us into some great adventures if we listen to it....
Was filmed and interviewed for STV news on Sunday up in Glencoe. So much easier than being filmed by Gerry who just gets "you didn't ask me the right question" or " I think you should have made me run in that direction" Poor thing!

Thank you to Daily Record readers!

Another apology for the lack of content in this blog - will do my best to update it this week.
The nerves are kicking in now so it might help to get some of it onto the page!
Just wanted to say a huge thank you to the Daily Record readers who have donated. I can thank friends in person, but obviously don't have the readers contact details. It is a HUGE help emotionally to know that people I haven't met "get" what I'm trying to do - thanks SO much. It is also, of course, a great financial boost too. Once Champu has the rickshaw he says he can earn up to £15 a day on good days - I hope that shows that EVERY donation, even if it seems small to us, is going to go a long way in Delhi.

Food wall

Sorry I've been quiet here for a while but I have been training. After the high of becoming an ultra athletes (albeit a very slow one!) and marvelling about how good I felt afterwards, I then hit a bit of a wall about 2 weeks later. The new challenge is not getting in the miles but eating enough! Food has suddenly become essential fuel and the number of times I forget to give myself a lunch break caught up with me. I'm now making a real effort to eat more than I feel like in anticipation of the amount of fuel I need and have invested in a range of energy gels (yuk!) and recovery drinks to try to find the one that suits me. Also have a great cook book "Go Faster - food for runners" which has lots of great flap jack and chocolate recipes which it claims are perfect pre, during and post run fodder :-)
This side of the training is quite interesting and has confirmed for me what Andy Mouncy told us at our coaching "it's not the running that's going to kill you!" - there are so many other things to take into consideration.
At the risk of sounding even madder than I do by having entered this race in the first place I feel I should say thanks to my ancestors who appeared at a psychic evening I went to (will explain in another blog - fund raising research) and told me they were very proud of what I was doing but that I wasn't looking after myself, and in particular, wasn't eating enough! Who knows whether is was really them or not, but whoever it was was right - confirmed by my having to swap a size 12 skirt for an 8 last week!

The Seven Hills of Edinburgh

Report to follow

Caroline goes Ultra!!

Completed the Northants Ultra - supposed to be 35 miles but did 36 which shows I need to work on my navigation. Report and film (!) to follow

Unexpected friends!

The big news this month has been the the help I've received from completely unexpected people. Firstly Julie, mentioned before and secondly Shug, my local shop owner. Since finding out why I always appear in his shop so red faced and sweaty he has taken control and in 2 weeks has already raised £109.73 by (allegedly) refusing to give anyone their change back in the shop! Every day Gerry returns from buying the paper with new instructions and so far apart from the huge financial and moral support received from Shug he's also begun negotiating my press appearances, has got me a free supply of jelly babies (perfect energy food on long runs!), and is approaching local businesses for me. He has also offered to run a clairvoyant evening for me in July and is going to be chief auctioneer at my charity auction in August (dates & venues to be announced soon). A true star - oh and he's reforming his rock band and Gerry is to be chief song writer. Amazing where a little run can lead eh?!

Thanks Julie!!

Julie raised £393.10 by running the half marathon on Sunday and, despite the blistering heat, achieving her goal of sub 2hrs! Thanks again for your support Julie, and well done!

Julie Southcott

I forgot to mention the best news of the month. A woman I have never met. Julie Southcott, called me last week to say she'd heard about my venture and wanted to run the Edinburgh half marathon for my cause. This was a HUGE boost to my morale as it means a lot that other people think my cause is worthwhile - it's also proved to be a fantastic boost to the fundraising and thanks to Julie and her friends and family we're now up to £590. Thanks very very much.

sore knees and ginger porridge

Sorry that I have fallen behind a little with the blog. Unfortunately it slightly reflects my training as my knees are starting to complain about the rapid increase in mileage :-( It's quite a worry as there might be nothing to do but give them time to settle down , and time is something I don't have.
Doc Michelle has been encouraging me to be sensible and not run through any pain. Of course I know this, and would tell my clients the same........but it's very different when it's your own body and you have an agenda. I'm grateful to Michelle for persisting in giving me advice at the risk of our friendship (just kiddin - friendship won't suffer)
It's probably making me a better therapist as I now understand much better why clients don't always do what I suggest for their recovery. When Michelle first asked about my knees I gave the incomprehensibly stupid answer that "they are sore but I'm not worried because it's exactly the same pain in both'!!!! A sure sign that people who are injured when they feel they don't have time to be do not think straight even when they are sports massage therapists with a good knowledge of that pain in the knees means!!!
Oh well - I've had a couple of gentle 6 & 8 mile runs this week and they are not so bad so I've promised her I'll continue gingerly. A well chose word as it turns out as this morning a friend in Ireland told me about her Aunt's cure of a tea spoon of ground ginger in food every day. My porridge now has ginger in it, and it's not bad (and doesn't get as many complaints from Gerry as the apple cider vinegar remedy I have been using all week - not sure I'll ever smell ok again)
Did a very interesting test at Heriot Watt last week - more of that in next blog. But turns out I need to be running faster (knees permitting) - my daily plod is not enough.

Half marathon

It was very wet and very windy but the pan au chocolat and porridge combination = 2hrs 05mins and a pb so happy at that. The sprint finish confirmed that I could have gone a bit faster too, so looking for under 2hrs next time.
Next day I walked / jogged 15 miles through the Pentlands with very sore knees. When Michelle asked me why I'd done that I told her it was because it was on the training plan she'd written. She reminded me that they were pretty random numbers written on a sheet of paper in a hurry ......and there was me thinking it was some new law that had come in! 2 days of rest now on doc and physios orders :-)

High altitude training!

I didn't do as much running as I'd hoped while on holiday but am assuming the ski-ing, especially the skinning uphill, will have counted for something.
All will be revealed at this Sunday's half marathon
The runs I've done since getting home have made me aware that pan au chocolat every morning possibly wasn't the best plan - but am back to porridge now so sure all will be fine............

The second Tapas Run and lots of progress :-)

Have made lots of progress since my last entry here. Since the Lasswade 10 (including it actually) I didn't feel I'd had one run that felt good - they were all a slog, even the shorter ones. However - I suddenly feel all the slogs have had an effect and I just had a great weekend. Sunday was the second "Tapas Run", an event dreamt up and organised by Sarah Cox and me last year when we couldn't find a 10km we wanted to enter over the winter. We designed a 10km route from the zoo to our favourite Tapas restaurant and in December the Tapas Run was born!
As part of my training programme Michelle has given me two long days back to back each month to build up my stamina. This weekend was the first of those and I had to complete 15 miles one day followed by 10 the next. To make the Tapas run count I ran to the start from home making a total (and new personal record!) of 13.5 miles. The next day I did a 10 mile walk / jog. The latter was to be in the hills as instructed but I had to retrace my steps to the road when I encountered the red flag flying on the firing range!
Feel really cheered by the fact I managed these 2 days - legs feel fine, though I am very weary.
Lots of encouragement this week in the form of donations - thanks to you all. Now up to £305. Knowing that people think I'm doing something worthwhile really does help me run.
Also very inspired by Eddie Izzard this week. He proves my suspicion that if you want to do something enough then you can.
Was only 1 mile short of my training target of 26 miles last week - very happy with that as 3 weeks ago I was only running 9!

Lasswade 10 mile

We did it! The notoriously hilly Lasswade 10 - many thanks to Sue who kept encouraging me. Can't say I enjoyed it, but the scenery was fantastic (the Pentlands look like the Alps today - and the sun is shining) and my legs are achy but fine.
This week has ended 8 miles short of the 23 mile target Michelle set me, but seeing as I missed 4 days because of my hamstring I think that's ok - and anyway, she's in Oz so doesn't know!!

Physio to the rescue - already!!!

Have been a bit miserable for last few days as developed hamstring pain on Monday and thought I’d already got myself an injury :-((
My physio friend, Dennis McGinley, kindly came to the rescue today by popping by to assess it and I’m delighted to say that my hamstrings are officially weak and unflexible but not injured:-))
This has been a timely warning that I really am trying to do something a
bit beyond my current capability and I have to take it seriously - especially with stretching.
It’s also made me realise why clients find it so hard to take the advice to rest when they are injured as the prospect of losing weeks of potential training is devastating. This has been a lucky escape and I’m committed to doing everything Dennis tells me too (well, in his role as physio as those that know him know not to always do everything he tells them!)

Can’t wait to run again tomorrow - all I’ve done this week is 2 mile walk.

10 miles in a blizzard

I was already pretty damp from the rain by the time Sue picked me up for our run. As we set off in the car to our start point the rain turned to snow, and by the time we’d parked up in Auchendinny there was a full blown blizzard in place! This definitely would have been a day on which I’d have turned back at the front door had I been alone. However, the fact that Sarah had travelled through from Glasgow after a night of dancing, and Sue wasn’t reacting at all to any hints that it might not be running weather???? meant that all 3 of us were soon heading into the blizzard and I realised we had become those mad people you comment on when you pass them from the comfort of your car. The first 2 miles were horrible - not because of the weather, but because of the cars speeding towards us and thinking we needed a lot less space than we did. More through luck, than judgement, none of them actually succeeded in hitting us and I have to say I really loved running in such wild weather. There were a few stops as we tried to route find using a very small scale map (but thanks Sue, it was 100% more map than I brought along) and starting off again from those pauses made me aware of how heavy my soaked shoes and leggings were - but apart from that it was just great and I wouldn’t think twice about going out in a blizzard again - but on a quieter road. The conditions gave us a lot to think about other than our legs and the 10 miles flew by - first time I’ve run more than 6 miles since I was 20!!
Very pleased, and relieved that I did it

Spent a couple of hours in the afternoon with Michelle while she wrote out a training programme for me. It’s great to have something to tick off and I’ve entered all my March goals into my Garmin - now I just have to do them. Michelle was very encouraging but the serious Doctor in her came through as she mentioned quite a few times that I should really prepare myself for having to walk a lot of the Trans Britain. She has put 2 long hill days in for each month so am looking forward to the excuse to do lots of stuff in the hills with friends. I’m also very excited about the thought of telling her when she gets back from Oz in a month that I’ve done everything she told me too. Am going to make her proud!!

Have started practising visualisation - but think I overdid it when I found tears in my eyes while sitting on the sofa. I’d been visualising the finish line so effectively that I’d become quite emotional as i went through all my thanks to everyone for their support etc etc!!! I think I’m supposed to be visualising myself getting through the hard bits so more practise needed there. But if you see me wandering the streets of Edinburgh in tears it may just be that I practising my finishing line speech AGAIN!!

and continues

So far this week I’ve walked 10 miles in the Pentland hills, run 4.5 miles,
and been in the gym three times (the snow came back!). Not enough I know but am just trying to get in the habit of doing something 6 days a week. Tomorrow Sue’s taking me out to run the route of next weeks Lasswade 10 which by all accounts is hilly. My attitude to events has already changed from trying to get a pb to just trying to put in the miles with no injury. Am having to think much more long term about my fitness and it will be a test to see if my pride can manage to allow me to walk during events if needs be in order to get the miles and hours of training in rather than speed. (The latter being a relative term as speed has never been my thing - proved by a very embarassing attempt at the 100m at school)
Asked Elaine Boyd (artist who paints with her left foot and lets nothing get in the way of the things she wants to do) for some motivational words, to which she replied “just get out and run”. Thanks Elaine - didn’t know you were such a philospher!!

Training begins

24th February 2010

Training has begun and already my attitude to running has changed. There is no longer any question about whether I go out for my run, the question is only how far. I like this new enthusiasm, but even I was surprised to find myself exceeding the 30mph limit on day 1 :-))

Friends are already offering their help and I currently have Michelle writing a training programme (which I am fairly confident will include some
routes that go via pubs and nice cafes!), Retha promising to yogarise me and Kiki and Ross on nutrition & psychological tactics.

Technology is provided by Garmin (many thanks to Mum & Gerry for the birthday money that made this possible) and my ipod, the former actually delaying training by a day while I worked out how to set it up.