Monday, 6 September 2010
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....
Tuesday, 31 August 2010
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!
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!
Monday, 23 August 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, 6 July 2010
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!
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!
Sunday, 20 June 2010
Sunday, 6 June 2010
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
Friday, 28 May 2010
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?!
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