Overview

Hello all!! Well, it looks like we've been very bad bloggers of late! In fairness, Chris has been extremely busy with all the new hospital moves, working every hour of every day (or so it feels like). Hopefully life for him will resume some normality soon - as long as that pesky swine flu doesn't kick off too much more!!

As far as my excuse? Well just not been able to be up to too much of late, but will try to do a quick recap of the summer so far!

CoM 10km: Chris put in a stellar performace, beating his High Legh and GMR times and even looked good doing it (although admittedly, I am bit biased!). Laura, Paul and Mick all had great races, too and it was brilliant to be there. Me, MotherH, MartinH and Sharryn did some top-notch spectating as well!

Trailwalker: Oh dear. Most of you (facebookers anyway) know the story. Fruitcakes finished (huzzah). I did not. 70km, burst blood blister, immense agony, 4 am, sobbing and medics. Bad times. 'Nuff said. On the plus side, made a couple absolutely stirling friends for life (they know who they are).

Because of trailwalker, it's taken ages for me to be able to do pretty much anything. Was completely off my feet for a couple of weeks (felt like months...or years).

Alex Park 5km August: First run since the trailwalker toe of doom incident. Great to see Sharryn again at AP where we first met before she jetted off to Jordan. Met up with loads of good realbuzzy friends (and a few new ones). Special thanks to Laura and Wendy for running (/walking) round with me. I really needed the comradarie and support that day and it meant more to me than you probably realise - thank you! And of course, thanks to JamieB for being the little voice on my shoulder (quite literally) telling me to overtake people!

MotherH: a wonderful lady who I admire very, very much and has been quite instrumental in getting my trainers on me and getting me out the door to run this last week or two. I've done a couple of 3-milers with her (Chris joined us for one on Sunday this past weekend) and she is unwaveringly lovely and patient with me regaining my fitness and moaning about the horrid state of trailwalker toe. THANK YOU!!

Finally, I managed to resume regular service as far as going to the gym and got there this morning before work for 25 minutes on the cross trainer and 25 minutes on the treadmill. Even turned the speed up toward the end. It felt great to be able to get back into my normal routine of working out, it's been about 4 weeks since I've been able to go due to trailwalker tapering and then trailwalker injury recovery and I've really missed those endorphins!!!

That's about it for us. See? Not been up to too much, so not so much with the blogging. We have both signed up for High Legh 2010. Doubt we'll do a 10km before then but we'll definitely try to get to all the Alex Park runs before the end of the year, maybe a Park Run or two in Heaton Park and of course, as many Santa Run's as possible!! We ended up with four santa suits and 6 hats last year, I want to see if we can beat that this year!! I'm going to try really hard to keep up the blogging STARTING....NOW!!, but with about 12 months to get my PhD finished, written up and submitted, time may not always be on my side. I will always follow and comment when I can and of course, see most of you on FB (and at races when possible)!!!

Love and big hugs from Team C.R.A.P.
xx

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Hello all

Chris here - just realised that we hadn't posted since GMR which was like ages ago! We've both been really busy (Pam with her PhD and travelling all over the place to conferences like the superstar she is, and little old me working with the hospital move team relocating Children's Hospitals in Manchester) and admittedly hadn't really been bobbing out much for running.

I mean, we've been doing a little bit here and there, but nothing serious. I've really wanted to do the City of Manchester run (despite it being the wrong colour of Manc) but was worried that I wouldn't be able to train. So I figured that, move schedule dependent, I would skip CoM and do Birchwood again if I could (mainly cos it ends right where Pam & I met!)

Over the weekend the Fruitcakes came over for a big training work. Lexi (the non-RB FC) damaged her foot so we have our fingers, toes and eyes crossed for her. Saturday was Pam's birthday so the girlies all watched the Sex and the City movie while I waited on, serving wine and nibbles in a very grown-up slumber party. I retreated to Facebook and got gassing with Mick, who gently encouraged me into doing the CoM.

So I now have precisely 13 days to train and get a base level of fitness back up for the race. Did 7k tonight in just under 40 mins, very hot and it nearly killed me. Actually, the distance was probably quicker as I had to stop twice for shoelace tying (something I never have to do) and once to not get run over.

Going to hit the Wii Fit tomorow to build some muscles (and practice swiveling my hips!) and another run on Weds. Wondering if it's possible to train up in a fortnight, and hoping I don't actually do okay as it may throw the weeks of training I usually do out of the window!

More than anything, just happy to have an excuse to go running. Cheers Mick! Think I need to have goals to aim for - guess I need to ensure I keep finding 10ks to do!!!!

Choo choo!

C (P says hi)

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Well, what can we say? A fab day, as it always is at GMR! Arrived to find Shazzoah there ready and waiting. We bumped into AndyB + the steve's, etc on the way into the charity village and then soon everyone was arriving. JamieB, Laura (and then Andy), Mick+DD, Jonners, Terrie and family, Kitten&co, Kraftykat and kelvin (did I miss anyone?!?! I hope not!!). It was such an exciting day finding and waving at everyone all over the place, I actually ended up accidentily waving at and saying hello to Billy Mitchell from Eastenders at the Alzheimer's Soc charity tent. oops. He looked scared and Chris delighted in telling everyone what I'd done. Perhaps it's time to spend less time watching 'Enders when you think you actually KNOW the people on it...  Also breifly saw MotherH and some of the H family members that we met at the bbq saturday night before the race.

Anyhoo - assembly time seemed to come round very soon and we lined up with JamieB. It was brilliant, he was getting the crowd going (well - trying to!!) and flirting with all the lady celebs! So much fun and I think we would have missed Mick if not for Jamie! We did cut RIGHT across the road to get to Mick but it had to be done!! A hug and a hello and we were off again! We had a great time running with Jamie for the first few KM and then he was off. Sorry we didn't catch you again matey but we did see MiniB+family by the Audi garage, so assumed you were feeling good and off for a good run!

Tough run for us mentally (and felt a lot more crowded a bit more pushy than last year) today but made better with the high-fiving and encouraging other runners. Some friends were watching at the Imperial War Museum (about 5.5km) and it was fantastic to see them and run over (across the road again in the other direction) for high-fives and hugs! Passed the Children's Hospital bus (Chris' charity and where he works) and he ran over in front of all of them and bigged them up BIG style - they went CRAZY screaming and banging their drums. It was brilliant. We slowed for a little while, the wind was tough. Kept an eye on the other side of the road and saw the brilliant ladies Shazz and Terrie and high-fived over the barrier and shouted a couple of words encouragment. Soon (but didn't feel soon enough) we got to 9km. We got a lovely big cheer from Alison (kraftykat) and Kelvin and managed a little wave back - thank you for the support, it was lovely! That last km seemed to go on forever but we got there in the end, crossed the line hand in hand and a bit emotional at 59:19. Pleased to bits with that, were aiming for under the hour - job done!

Bumped into kitten just past t-shirt collection and then collected Babykitten and bf before heading back to G-Mex. Hung out for a bit, said our goodbyes and then went back to the finish to cheer on some runners. Saw one of the H family go past and shouted but don't know if he heard us. Stayed and cheered people in (in the pouring rain at this point) until we saw MotherH finish in her soaking wet costume!! She was looking great though and glided past us with a big smile! Went back up to the G-Mex to meet up with her and the rest of the crew (Martin, Dangerous Dunc and other H's) to say well done and good bye. Speaking of which - just saw the bbc footage of Dunc and Martin in the bras - very nice boys!!

Gave MotherH and Martin a big hug goodbye after MotherH arrived and then we got some massages from some ex-marines at the Children's Hospital stall before heading to the pub for lunch. All in all a great day. We will be back next year and hope you all will be, too!!

Well done to everyone at GMR today and to Andy and anyone else racing!!! (and to everyone else just out there, buzzing and being part of the community!!)

Big Love from Mancunia!
(((HUGS)))

Pam and Chris (Pam and Chris!!!)
xx

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Hi everyone!

I know we don't seem to be blogging loads lately, I think it's just one of those things, try to get on here as much as we can and keep up with everyone but feel so busy, can't always manage a post ourselves!!

Anyhoo - we had a good weekend, I (Pam...thought I would reclaim blogland - lol!!!) managed some successful trailwalker fundraising by doing a weight watchers bake sale. It was great and made a lot more than I had expected, they really are a very supportive bunch there (including our own MotherH!!). Thank you!!

On Sunday me and Chris decided to do a 10km run, one last one before GMR. Chris was determined to get to the end under the hour and we did manage it (58:19) even though I threw a little strop at about 6km and actually stopped (seriously!). Not sure why but I found it really, really, really tough mentally. Chris got me through it well and he was fresh as a daisy at the end (thanks Chris - you were a great pace bunny!). We have decided to GMR together, as it is an extra-special race in our little hearts and we're going to aim for under the hour. Meeting on G-MEx steps is a good plan for us, we'll probably be there 8-8:30ish, depending on gmpte/Stagecoach!

I went to the gym this morning to try to regain a little confidence after Sunday's bad run. It actually went pretty well. Did 5km on the treadmill in 31 minutes (which is a good treddie result for me - I am usually MILES slower on the treadmill!). Feeling good now, just hoping it lasts till Sunday. I think we'll aim to do a run tomorrow night, then rest and get hyped!!! Can't wait to see everyone who is running it this year there and also anyone who might be coming along to MotherH and Martin's (and the rest of the H family's) do for Simon on Saturday. A lovely way to spend the day before GMR - thank you.

Take care everyone, hope everyone is well and having a great week!!!
Big hugs from the P (and hi from the C of course!)

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Hi all,

Chris here again - I've now taken sole custody of the blog! :-)

Bit delayed in blogging about the Alex Park 5k this weekend just past - I've been trying to avoid the computer as when I get on the computer I look at BBC News and then get cross with the swine flu coverage... Argh!

Anyways, our prep for Alex Park was a little poor. In fact, from a personal point of view I'm actually quite out of the running groove at the minute, so really I was going along to AP with very low expectations: just to get round, enjoy myself and hopefully finish in under 30 mins (but no tragedy if not).

We met up with Jamie B, Laura and Peta plus a paparazzi Shazzoah (and son Jamie) in the car park with an ominous black cloud hovering overhead. This being the last pre-GMR AP 5k, the entry was quite large (~160); that, plus the rain dumped on the ground overnight made for a treacherous day...

I lined up in my usual 2/3 back start position, reflecting that I usually post a time at around 2/3 through the field (consistently) so no need to place myself too far forward (I also enjoy overtaking better than slipping back - it's a stupid psychology thing). Pam & I decided a few races back that we don't really run well together in races, as what happens is one of us runs at a faster pace than the other can manage but the other won't admit it, just get too tired early on instead. Usually, that's me getting tired!

Just before the gun goes, Jamie B appears at my shoulder (like a man-sized Jimminy Cricket) to say that he was going to run with me. I knew I couldn't keep up but Jamie said he wanted to run at my pace, whatever that was. It meant a lot, although I was nervous of running out of energy.

The gun goes and it's all a little chaotic - it's part of the fun starting near the back! I took to the grass and on rejoining the track got myself in a sticky spot - hemmed in with someone left and right, and someone (I think the wife) right behind me. Suddenly, a guy is RIGHT in front of me - either I misjudged my stride / speed or he completely slowed down. I accidentally clipped his foot, he stumbled but kept going without falling. I yelled "sorry!" due to a genuine mistake and took a barrage of abuse back for going too fast and trying to run through him. I did feel really bad but didn't think the slip warranted the abuse...

Anyhoo, Jamie ran me round being his usual buoyant self, cracking pig jokes to keep me trotting along (boom boom). It really meant a massive amount to me - offering advice on breathing, timing, speed, telling me to save my breath and not talking too much. All crucial, although it was hard not to laugh at the stuff Jamie was doing (esp. congratulating some runners just out for a jog, thinking they were in the race!). Jamie is a really infectious person to be around (not the swine flu) and it seems that we egg each other on (not necessarily a good thing!!!). Had great fun, like having a night in the pub with a good friend and a run at the same time.

On the back straight on the last lap, we caught up with a guy who was being yelled on by a friend. Mr Motivator (Jamie B) started the pep talk for this guy as well as me. No doubt he helped us both in quicker!

All in all, a good day for all of us. Jamie ran me in just shy of a PB for me - Jamie obviously had loads in the tank. Laura managed a PB and a pre-GMR goal of sub-26 min 5k. Pam had a bit more difficulty but did amazingly well given her recovery from a stuffy head / cold. I since learned (post-race kiss) that Pam had been a wee bit sickie on one of the laps but was looking fresh as a daisy and did better than I can manage most of the time.

All in all, a great race. Didn't really deserve to do so well due to complete lack of training for this - and also this stands for GMR. Not a case of getting the excuses in, just recognising that I haven't put the effort in so I don't deserve great rewards. Still, I'm lucky to be able to run and I'm looking forward to GMR in 12 days. I won't be setting the world alight with the time, but will be having an absolute blast!

Had a great afternoon with Shaz and Jamie (son of S) before trying to spot Tina at the Great Edinburgh Run coverage (no such luck!).

Hope you're all cool and having fun whatever you are up to.

C (P says hi)

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Hello everyone.

Chris here, back from an amazing weekend darn Lahndan.

Pam and I went down last Friday to go on a big walk on the South Downs in prep for the Fruitcake's squillion mile trailwalker walk and to watch Andy & Mick in FLM. Friday saw us meeting up with Katie in the Canadian bar and heading to Katie's patch for fantastic pizza and a brill catch-up.

Sat saw a 17 mile training walk with Katie, Amy and their fellow FC Lexi on the South Downs. I was designated cake carrier (a tough task but I was up for it) - it was my first time to the South Downs and I learned that: old ladies are not as reliable as google maps for measuing distances, some drivers don't understand the country way of walking in the road if there's no pavement and that I'd do anything stupid for cake.

Sat night saw us meeting up with AnneH and Katie back at Katie's flat for an ace meal and a bout of poster-making!

Sunday was FLM day, and I'll admit I was sooooo excited to watch - moreso than being on the Tube! Choo choo! Katie, Anne,  Amy, Pam and I were joined by Russell & Marie at the 8 1/2 mile point for cheering duties. The atmosphere was amazing, and it was truly humbling to see so many inspirational people running for good causes, people putting themselves through the pain barrier for the benefit of others. Saw the Stig who graced me with a sweaty hug (I shall never wash again) and kept my eyes out for Mick (but missed him - too quick, Mick! Pam saw you and was yelling, but my old brain doesn't work that fast!). Met up with Andy and the cheering squad (minus Amy, plus Mike) for a pint in Covent Garden after the race and had a brill chat with Andy and the guys. Oh too soon, it was time to come home.

Work has been a bit rough this week so far, but was glad to get out for a run tonight - first in 10 days or so. It was a teeny tiny run tonight in prep for Alex Park and Great Manchester Run - only 5k. But with my iPod on, I lost myself in my thoughts about the sights and sounds of the Marathon, and what an amazing job Andy & Mick both did at the weekend. They, like so many people on the blogs who achieve incredible things. Sometimes this is in the face of adversity, sometimes people run for friends or family, some run for themselves. All of which are inspirational.

I'm very lucky to know such wonderful friends who do motivate me to get out and run. I appreciate the fact that I'm able to go out and enjoy running and that I have good friends wh encourage me to do that.

There are a few people I was thinking of tonight in particular when lost in my thoughts, you know, the kind of friends who make you glad that you've met them and who give me a (nice!) kick up the bum and make me realise that there are some incredible people in the world. I'm sure my wife knows she's one of them, but I'm not convinced the rest even realise just how much their friendship means to me.

I guess what I'm trying to say is thanks to all of you for being inspirational people to me. Coming across the blogs has meant we've both made some great friends, and to those of you who've really meant a lot - I hope I can show you all how grateful I am for your friendship.

Big hugs and happy running!

C

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Hello everyone! Hope you are all having a great Easter weekend and not eating too much chocolate (just kidding...hope you're eating LOADS of chocolate!!)

This week's running started with a sad little attempt at a recovery run for me on Tuesday. Legs were still pretty sore from the half, so ended up doing about 2 miles walk/run around the water park and home. Chris went on and did a cracking 5km run in just under 30 minutes. Wednesday and Thursday we were visiting family pre-Easter! (which may have been more tiring than the run - lol!!!)

Friday we did 7km in 43 minutes which was good. Chris felt pretty good, it was a bit tougher for me, though. Had a bit of bother from my shins but pretty sure that happens when I've not warmed up properly. Saturday morning we did a 5km pre-fat watchers run and finished in about 31 minutes, this time with me feeling more comfortable (no shin niggles, too!) but think Chris just hadn't quite woken up yet! We went for a little walk later in the afternoon as well, because it was so nice and sunny and we thought we best keep the ice cream men in business in the tough economic climate!!

Today I wanted to get a long walk in for Trailwalker training so me and Chris did a 19 mile walk to Stockport and back along the river. Another lovely day for being outside and although we were DEFINITELY ready to stop at the end, it was still really nice to get out there for a good walk (and earn ourselves a couple of creme eggs, too!). Big lazy day planned for tomorrow, hope you are all enjoying the long weekend and having a wonderful Easter!!

Take care and happy running, tapering, resting, and everything else!!

P&C

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Ok, ok, yes, I have to admit there MAY have been A LOT of cake involved in our little jaunt to Scotland... But ALL the cafe's sell all these lovely types of cake, it would have been rude not to try them (and they count as carbs, right?!). Anyway...we had a lovely time in Edinburgh and really lucked out with the weather. I was walking around in a vest top on Thursday when we arrived and we only had a couple of hours of rain on the Saturday, the rest of the weekend was really lovely.

Warning: this ended up being  a bit longer than expected! Sorry...hope you make it to the end - lol!!!

We did a little sightseeing Thursday, saw the castle on Friday and then met up with Tina, Sandy and Scott to go the Dynamic Earth science museum (which was pretty cool! Chris loved it), then to a tour on the Royal Mile about the little side streets and life back in the day. We both found it fascinating learning what life must have been like in historic Edinburgh (very grim indeed!). Then we all went to a fab little Mexican restaurant for dinner, which was very tasty and it was great to spend some time hanging out with Tina and her family, getting to know them all a bit better. Saturday we went out to the start (a stadium) to pick up my race number and then wandered around the city some more, while trying (unsuccessfully) to not spend too much time on my feet. A lovely Italian meal across from the hotel for dinner and then it was off to bed to get ready for the race!

We woke up on Sunday to sunshine and no wind (phew!) and got ourselves to the start. Soon after arriving, Tina found us and as she said, I think the main problem with the organisation was relying on about 5 bathroom stalls for thousands of people (easily solved in future with a bank of portaloos out in the track area, I think!). We gave our bags to Chris and waved goodbye and made our way to the assembly area. We ended up stood next to the 2:15 pacer. I decided that if I could see him somewhere in front of me at the finish, I would be happy with that but tried not to put a lot of expectation on myself anyway. Before long the pipe band led us out to the road and then it seemed that all of a sudden we were off! Hugs to Tina and a wave to Chris snapping pictures on the pavement and we were away.

I had decided that I was going to look at my Garmin only for pace and to make sure I was getting my jelly babies at the right times (every 3km and I actually managed to stick to this! lol!!). So I was sticking to about 6:20 per km at the start, didn't want to go off to fast but boy, did I feel like the tortoise!!! Nearly everyone (well, it felt like everyone anyway) was rushing past me and it was really hard to resist the temptation of joining in but I knew I went off too fast in my 12 mile training run and didn't want to repeat that in the race. Before long we were running along the promenade beside the beach and the scenery was AMAZING!!!! I couldn't believe it - absolutely breathtaking!!! I commented to a girl I was running beside for a while that the scenery was lovely and that I was used to running in Manchester. She replied 'I run in London' and that was it, so I left her to it and ran off ahead in search of other people to chat to - lol!!! I also could see the Loch Ness Monster up ahead (who had passed me at about 3km) and I thought that of all things, I need to catch up to Nessie!!! It did take me about 6km to catch them, but I did get past them at 9km (they had stopped for a toilet break in fairness) but they never passed me again so at least I managed to finish ahead of a large, mythical, sea-faring monster!!!

I kept an eye on my pace on the Garmin and anytime I got near to 6 min per km I tried to slow down. I was trying to concentrate on just enjoying it and feeling good for the whole time but not getting carried away with the other runners. At about halfway we ran past the racecourse finish and I saw Chris cheering on the side of the road. I ran over for a quick hello and kiss and then carried on. I was dreading having to run past the finish at halfway but it was actually quite nice, there was a lot of support and this really helped with the motivation so it actually worked quite well. Now I knew I had 3 miles out and 3 miles back left to do and figured that I would pass Tina on her way back at some point while I was on my out. I was running along the centre line of the road, trying to make sure I was keeping an eye out for Tina and then I saw her - big high fives in the middle of the road and she told me that I didn't have far left until the turn around point. In my head I had lots of encouraging things to say but didn't manage to get any of them out - sorry Tina!!!! lol!! It was great meeting her at that point though and it really spurred me on. The last three miles came up pretty quickly and then it was the home stretch. At about 11 miles on the way back to the racecourse, I saw Nessie on the way out to the turn around point and gave them a little cheer.

The marshall at mile 12 was really encouraging and shouting to let us all know there was only one more mile to go. She got a lot of smiles for this! It was at this point that I checked my actual time for the first time in the whole of the race (my previous 12 mile training run took 2:07) and at 12 miles my garmin said I was at 1:58!!!! I had to look at it three times before I believed it!! It was here I think I ran into (only a teeny tiny) bit of trouble. It occured to me that if I could manage a 10 minute mile or slightly under, i could to sub 2:10, so I tried running a bit faster but I don't think I actually had it in me and ended up running a bit too fast and got a massive stitch in my side. I had to walk for a few seconds while I got rid of it and then started running again. There was a little corner coming up and I thought, I'll just get to there and then I'll have a little walk...BUT I got to the corner and there was the racecourse!!!! Well, I COULDN'T walk then, having run just about all of it now!) so just kept plodding along. I could see the finish and soon enough I was there, going across the line while the announcer read out my name and that I was from Manchester (and then poked a little fun at me because Liverpool was, at that point in time, enjoying a TEMPORARY moment at the top of the table! lol!!).

Tina was waiting for me at the finish and Chris as well, it was brilliant! Official time 2:12:10 and a new PB!!!!!!!!!!! SOOOOOOOOOOOOO happy with that!!! I never expected to get a PB at all and I really think not looking at my time while running probably helped with that. Also, the course was a lot flatter than I was expecting - definitely more 'undulating' than 'hilly'!!! We got our goodies and then the bus back to Edinburgh. Me and Chris went to the hotel pool and sauna for a bit and then got some pizza and...what else?! CAKE! Went out for a couple of drinks Sunday night and then off to bed as we were both verrry tired after a long day (and a little sunburnt from the Scottish sunshine!)

We met with Tina the next day and went out to see the Forth road and rail bridges (very impressive) and a lovely lunch in South Queensferry. We had a few hours in the afternoon that we spend wandering around Edinburgh and then got home to (rainy) Manchester. Off to try a little recovery run today and then I'm off to the football with a friend tonight. That's about it - a long read and thanks for sticking with it if you made it to the end! All in all, a total success of a weekend and has made me think that i may have to do another Half this year after all and see if I can get that 2:10!!!

We'll try to catch up with the blogs from the weekend throughout the week, just bear with us! Congrats to Tina on her race and well done to everyone else racing this weekend and hope you all enjoyed yourselves, training, resting, etc!

Take care and big hugs,
P&C
xx

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