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.