Fundraising... the other part of doing the London Marathon!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited to announce that I've found a cool venue in the centre of Shoreditch to host my clothes swap fundraiser. It's going to be at The Last Days of Decadence on Shoreditch High Street on Saturday, March 13th at 11am. The venue has been donated, so EVERY penny that is spent on the day will go to the Rainforest Foundation... and towards my grand total of 1800 pounds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We're going to have a massive clothes swap filled with lots of young fashionistas from the area and beyond... I've already got in touch with the Shoreditch Sisters WI (who I am happily hanging out with each month), and they are going to do add it to there blog and facebook page. I've also contacted timeout and various other london events publications to list the event.

Already there a girls saying they will be attending... and I don't even know them! This is awesome! I wanted to make sure that I did some fundraising through the general public, rather than just squeezing my friends for sponsorships and this is a great way to do it. It will be a fun, social, fashion and charity event!

Now onto the details of the day. I need to find a place to rent/borrow clothes racks and hangers, to display all the clothes. I need to print posters and flyers to put up around the area. I need to get together some volunteers. Easy enough.

I've had a very creative friend put together a few fab posters... very grateful! I will also use the one that I made, just because I'm proud of it :)

The next thing to think about is whether to have a raffle. Whether to sell drinks/ and will the bar let me? They said I can serve tea/coffee. I need to get donations from local shops/bars/alcohol bevie places. Saturday! BRING IT ON!!!! Also going to head to another swap to see if I can pick up a few tips :)

WISH ME LUCK! It's going to be a great event... just needs a few things perfected :)

Ciao babes!

Back in the game!

...I hope.

I cycled to and from work today, and went for a swim too! I almost added a run to that, as I was going to meet some random girl at highbury for a run, but I got home a bit late from work and would've missed her. Decided that I was exercised out anyway... that's not lazy is it???? :P

I love it when I'm swimming in the medium lane, and I race the guys in the lane beside me (without them knowing :P) and I beat them! WOO ME!!

Tomorrow I'll be running to school. Might run home... don't want to overdo it on the first day back, do I?

Diesel Days

Today was the first day back at work for a week. I felt so much better being there, as in I was hardly coughing :) NOT because I love my job... haha!
I decided cycling was the best way to ease myself back into exercise, and cycling to and from work today didn't irritate my throat. So good start.

Do you know when you're cycling behind big trucks, or a taxi and a mass of thick black smoke shoots out of the exhaust pipe into your face at each junction? Today was one of those days. Normally I don't notice it much... I don't even smell it most of the time, but today it was chokingly horrid. I wanted to cycle on a different route just to avoid being smoked off the road. I have one of those masks, but it's pretty slim, and I think it might be better at keeping me warm than keeping anything out. Didn't help that I wasn't wearing it today!

Alright... feeling better, hope I'm fully better by the end of the week :)

Exercise wardrobe

This is what I would've worn if I'd actually had the motivation to fight the rain and go to Italian today. Even marathon trainers get lazy. Just could not move. I've done some pushups instead, and hopefully will go for a run tomorrow afternoon :)


This is me with exercise gear: bicycle, shoes, and me :)


My poor feet... between these, my thighs, and my shins there is a lot of pain! Actually my shins aren't having problems any more, I've been stretching them regularly! Who would've thought that stretching helps!? But stretch after exercise, not before!!!!!

Watching the Olympics... update... Lindsay Vonn has won gold for Women's skiing. Pretty horrific races: one woman crashed before getting to the first gate, another did a finishing jump to match those of ski-jumpers, only to land excruciatingly! I felt like crying, watching these people who have trained so hard not complete their race! Such a massive let-down for them.

Another note: I sound so young! Can I mature my voice??? hehe actually it's alright, better that than man voice, or old lady voice! :D

clear upp cough... i want to run!

So I have a week off work... can't complain... but I'm in bed with a cough and feeling achy! This is not going to help my running! I'm going to see the doc this afternoon, but he might just say "it's a cough, get over it"... then what?! a week off running? two weeks? ACK!!!!
I suppose it might not be too bad, I went cycling yesterday... slight muscle usage... and I went for a 6 mile run on sunday. I'm going to meet new people for a run tonight. Hopefully going with people will motivate me while I'm not feeling in top form. But I don't want to get cold, wet, and sick... ewww!
Also there's two birthdays this weekend, and quite a few other things... but who wants to be the sicko at a birthday?! Go away cough, go away!

Keep fingers crossed that doc will give me something potent to cure all :)

Veeeeeeeeeeeery short run today. Then London made Vancouver jealous with on and off snow all day long! It was FREEZING!! I could've run home, but my thighs were more sore today than yesterday and I don't want to injure myself before Sunday. So instead I went shopping! I beelined to Primark (not my most regular stop), and treated myself to all sorts of lovely things... then I felt completely hypocritical for raising money for a charity that is based on such ethical principles while at the same time spending my own money at a company that is based on no principles at all! Unfortunately the guilt didn't last long, I tried everything on at home and was even happier with my choices. I got my first bikini in about 5 years without trying it on in the shop (have you seen primark queues?!) for 7 pounds. At home in front on the mirror I thought it was bright, funky, and pushed my boobs up to my chin! Whoop!
Random moment... I ran into a colleague on Oxford street... with a tall, mysterious man by her side. London has been so strange for that. You'd think in a city of how many millions??? that you would never bump into your friends, but it has happened to me quite a few times. Now I need to make more friends, and then I'll be bumping into them all the time!
BTW. bought 2 cakes in Selfridges (did it start out a a shop that sold fridges, or is there a blander explanation of the name?) I ate some at home this evening (just a little), and the other one I'm taking to school tomorrow to share (like the lovely girl I am!).
Night night sweet dreams... happy running!

Rainforest Foundation Meetup...

Today I was excited to meet the rainforest foundation's marathon coordinators, and some others running the London Marathon for the charity too. We had a great introduction to what the Rainforest Foundation does and it was really interesting. I knew that their effort was mainly was both for environmental and humanitarian impacts, but it was great to see more into where exactly the money raised goes and learn about the specific projects. They didn't give us loads of ideas for fundraising, but they gave us solid suggestions of things that we could actually put into practise. They also offered us loads of support for any events that we could possibly host. I would really like to host a Clothes Swap at a cool pub, and they said they would get their volunteers to come to help out on the day! That's such a massive life saver for me, as after venues, finding enough hands on deck has been the most daunting task. I know a few people, but I want to invite them to the invite, not make them work! One of the guys works in alcohol distribution (or something like that), and has offered his contact in help to get a sponsored event. He's particularly enthusiastic to raise a lot of money as a friend of his attempted to run the marathon in 3 hours 15 minutes last year... and although he was running strong at 22 miles, he somehow collapsed cold at 24 miles. So now 'Mark' is running in his place with obvious plans to raise a ton!
Turns out 'Alex' lives just up the road from me too... so since he's a 2.55 marathon runner I jumped at the opportunity to join him on a run. I really want to run faster, so hoping he'll be my rabbit in the dog race and I'll be on his toes. I am not calling myself a bitch! haha!
So six weeks away... I need to raise 700 pounds! Then I have to raise the other 800 pounds after that date. Ack!! But definitely feeling more positive about the whole thing now :)
Went for a swim today... and then didn't cycle home. Good enough I think.

16.5 miles too many...

I am now sprawled on the carpet in front of the telly, but just over an hour ago I was clutching my thighs and stopping at each traffic light to massage my legs and attempt to stretch them out. I missed my long run this weekend, so decided that it needed to be done today. At the end of work I also made excuses and got out of it, but had a little chat with someone from work, and suddenly I was ready to go!
I set out my route to run from Swiss Cottage, striaight south past Hyde Park, Sloane Square, Kings Road, over the Wandsworth Bridge, then along the south side of the Thames to vauxhall and then past the Houses of Parliament (I checked the time at Big Ben), Trafalgar Square, Aldwych (where I was past by a load of sprinting men!), to Angel, down Essex Road and home. It snowed the entire way! Lucky there was no snow already settled or it could've been really slippy.
So it was great... I almost was distracted by the fancy shops on the Kings Road... really nice dresses always get me! It was at about 8 miles that I was suddenly starting to feel the burn. My knee seemed to be acting up, and there was a sniggle in my thigh. I don't think I really slowed down until about 13 miles though. I did have to stop and have a little panic in Wandsworth. Remember in Love Actually Hugh Grant's secretary told him that she lived in the 'dodgy end' of Wandsworth? Well as soon as I stepped over the bridge into Wandsworth did two men come up from behind me and attack the asian man in front of me. I think they may have stolen his ipod or something, but it shook me up as it all happened so fast that I wasn't even sure who was the victim. I think I was more shaken than the asian man, asking him if I should call the police, if he was okay etc. He wasn't, but he didn't want any help, so I kept going... slowly... they'd run off in the direction that I was going, so I was scared that they would jump out on me next. They didn't. Phew!
The snow was harder for the second half of the run, and my legs just killed, but at the same time I didn't have trouble putting one in front of the other - it just hurt more than normal.
I almost got on the bus near Gray's Inn Road, but again pushed through it and then the cheap arse in me didn't want to pay for the bus for just 2 stops. And I was soooo close, I couldn't chicken out at the last minute!
Home! Roasted portobellos with garlic, cheese and with couscous... a hot bath, and some ibuprofen, I'm feeling a little stiff, okay very stiff. So I'm off to stretch!

Meet the Experts and a little hangover hiccup

Yesterday I was excited to attend the Virgin London Marathon Meet the Experts day. It was supposed to be a full day of talks to help you with training, nutrition, fundraising, injuries etc. from people who had experts. Anyway Sam Murphy was really informative giving us practical exercises to help build strength etc. - we even got up and did a group exercise. I got to talk to her afterwards and she answered loads of questions without saying 'oh ADIDAS does this, and ADIDAS does that!'... which brings me on to the rest of the talks. Lucazade someone, ADIDAS shoe sellers, Virgin website person... all trying to just advertise their product rather than give us any useful information. Actually I'm being harsh... the nutrition guy was interesting, but he didn't need to sell good nutrition benefits to a room full of marathon trainees for 20 minutes. I think we walked into the room sold. Of course I did get sold by the 2for1 deal on adidas shoes, and now on 2 identical pairs of shoes. I had my feet scanned for free as well, and it turns out that I 'overpronate', basically roll slightly. Sounds like I'm a bit of a gimp, but 70-80% of people in UK do this, so not to worry! :D

I left early, having had my fill of propaganda, and cycled home for a short nap. Then off out to dinner at a friends, followed by a gig, followed by another friends birthday... followed by kebab! I got a little generous at the bar and dropped too much on doubles for a group of people, who probably didn't need doubles at that time of night (sorry if their hangovers are just a little bit worse this morning), but otherwise didn't overdo it tooo much myself. But since I saw the clock read 4am at some point last night, I was in no mood for a long run today, and have postponed it until tomorrow (15 miles!!!!!).

Quickie in the AM

I had half an hour to get to work this morning by the time I left the house. It takes me 50 minutes to run in, and the train takes 35 min. How to get to work on time?
I jumped on the train for half the distance, then sprinted from the train to work (about 2 miles). To be honest the sprinting became more of a dragging my arse jog after just a few paces, but I was really was trying! It's also a slow uphill the entire way from the train station to work... I remember thinking "OOOO good hill practise... need to pump my arms a little more!", but I'm not sure I actually had the energy for any more arm pumping, so instead I slowly tractored up the hill. I made it to work in 25 minutes!!!! The bad thing about this is that now I know I can do it in 25 mins, I will start getting up at 7.35am. All I need is the bare minimum of time right? And the fact that I have to shower, brush teeth, eat breakfast once I get to work... humm... it doesn't matter that I do that on work hours right????

GOAL: Must get up earlier!

Cycle mania

Today I cycled to work, then into Holborn (which involves very scary roads), and then home (more scary roads). On the way to work I was stopped at some lights (like a good little cyclist... no running reds), when a guy walked past. I was halfway between home and work, so quite random that I would run into someone that I would know... amongst the millions of londoners... but yet there he was a guy from work! He came and said hi, then the lights turned green and I continued on my ride and he went to get the tube.

I got to wear my 1 pound dress today! It's the cheapest item of clothing that I've ever bought that I actually ended up wearing! I picked it up on a side street off brick lane the other day, from a man who had spoke like a fruit seller, and had hung the dresses on a single rail. Deal of the week! Bah to primark! HA!

Exercise makes a glutton of me!

I ran 10 miles today! 5 miles to work, a swim after work, followed by a run home. WOOOHOOO! I don't really feel sore yet either :)
Of course I made the mistake of going to Sainsbury's on the way home to get somee dinner. Crazily enough I've been craving salmon for the last couple days, so of course I got myself a nice fresh filet. I bought 2 packages of portobello mushrooms... so obviously going to be eating those for the next few days! HUmm... then I walked down to the other end of the shop and got myself a bottle of gin and a chocolate bar. Fair enough, I think I deserved it! Funny thing was I then went to the pharmacy, forgot that I'd just bought myself a chocolate bar, so bought myself ANOTHER one!!! The exact same bar!
Now I'm sitting here writing this... one chocolate bar has already gone (yummy), and the other one is taunting me at this second! I have broke into the gin, but I'm going to enjoy another weak one and then 'put a lid on it'? :P

Day off????

So today I decided not to do any exercise whatsoever - stairs at work and chasing after 7 year olds don't count! It's a friend's birthday tonight (which tends to mean - DRINKS!!!!). Anyway didn't think I could handle running home at 10pm, so thought I'd skip the workout altogether. I think I was also more sore than normal this morning... mornings are the best time for excuses!
When I finally did get to school I realised that my soreness and weariness was probably due to a cold that had swept in during the night! I thought I'd fought off the school sicknesses, but it's got me finally... hopefully it doesn't take me down too hard.
Anyway drinks tonight... though I am being VERY sensible at the moment. Friday I only drank non-alcoholic drinks, and I admit I had a few on saturday, but there was no hangover sunday morning so that must mean I was being good :P. It helps that I think we're going to a pricey bar; my tightfistedness will be all the self control I need.
And a proper exercise session tomorrow :) I think I'll run to and from work and go for either a swim (oooo that does sound tempting!!!!), or another weight session... hummm, if I remember my swimsuit then I'm heading for the water! WOOOO!

PS. very embarrassing to watch my video blog yesterday! I sound so young and shy!

The first little rant!

Today's workout was short, but pretty good (despite no attempt to sign me to the 'abs' class!). I cycled for almost 10 minutes, until my thighs were reminded of the brutal grilling I gave them this weekend. Then I rowed aggressively for 5 minutes, before moving on to a weight-lifting machine where, surrounded by juicy men (not necessarily the kind I wanted to squeeze tho), I struggled to pump my 5 pounds. Then I stretched on a special stretching machine that worked my hamstrings, and calves (which were desperately in need of stretching)... not something I'm very good at. Then I ran home. I was going to film my run home on my new ipod, but the battery was dead!!! #%@^& So now you get to put up with a belated after the fact video blog :)

Lazy morning....zzzzzzzzz

The plan this morning was a slow 5 mile run to work, but with a tired body I slept in and didn't have time to do a 5miler and make it to work on time. Whoops! So I rolled onto the train, and travelled halfway to work before getting off and running the rest of the way (a very feeble 2 miles max!). My legs are stiff and achy, but I was able to run so I didn't do too much damage yesterday.

Plan: Head to gym after work to make up for the slow start. Maybe do weights rather than bore myself on the treadmill. Give my poor legs a rest... and work on some popeye arms!