Overview

Today I took part in a sunny 10 mile Towpath Cross race.  A secret event, known only to me:

Towpath Cross is a plodding competition, in which any number of plodders take to the towpath & race against their mental demons while sliding over icy puddles, limbo-ing under angler's poles, skipping over small children & dogs and running round groups of pesky walkers.  Bonus points are given for overtaking other plodders.  Today my tally was 3.  A personal best!

Get in.

Tags: towpath

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Get in!  I only went and tricked myself into another long run this weekend.  12 miles this time, which makes me feel more & more likely that I will run the Bath Half in a few weeks. (Albeit sloooowly!)

As with all LSRs it started off well, the towpath was quiet; the birds were tweeting & it wasn't raining.  Small mercies and all that.  But then - some way into the run it got HARD, my mind & body sulked in unison, my fingers went numb from the cold & I had to gnaaar my way through a mile or two... but you know how it is: that dip is inevitably fiollwed by the moment you KNOW you will make it.  And make it I did.

Noice!

Monday I did an x-biking sesh at lunchtime, and yesterday the anti-exercise gods conspired against me: well I forgot half m'kit at home.  And running round campus in my knickers wouldn't have been nice for anyone. It also meant I missed an hour of x-biking. Sniffle.

The anti-exercise gods continued to collude this morning, when I got into work and realised that the full water bottle I'd thrown into m'sports bag in disgust last night when I was sulking about missing my favourite hour long sesh of x-biking was now empty, & had wet m'kit to a soaking pile of wetness.

So I'm about to rescue it all from the various radiators dotted around the office (not a great look!) so that I can go running in the rain now and get it all soaked again...

Witter Over.

Tags: LSR, 12 miles

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Oh, Endorphins. How I love thee!!

Lately work has been pants, and winter has been pants-er-rer, but spinning, with the occasional dose of ploddy running has really (really really) helped get February started:

I even hauled myself out to the towpath (it had been a LONG time since I'd been down that neck of the woods, I can tell ya!) last weekend and slogged out 10 miles (I conned myself into it - by happily plodding out 5 miles & then cursing at myself; as the only way back was to about-turn and head back!). It's amazing what you can do - if you just do it.

Which leaves me feeling far more suitably chipper about running the pesky Bath Half on 7 March.

Noice. All round. Innit.

Tags: endorphins

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After the excesses of Christmas & Caribbean adventures I'm back at it.

YEEEEEEE HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR.

And with 31 days until the  Barth Harf it's a flipping good job really!

Quite a few of m'work colleagues are taking part in the Half this year to raise money for a Trust Fund for daughter of a colleague of ours.  The colleague is very sickly with cancer and wasn't expected to enjoy Christmas this year, but he did.  Unfortunately his wife has an incurable disease too - and their 14 year old daughter will soon be orphaned. So we're doing all we can for her.

So .. I am pleased to be alive and well and physically able to have another shot at another half marathon.

Yes indeedy.

Because quite a few colleagues are running this year our department has sprouted a number of lunchtime running groups.  The Plodders (I know my place!), The Speedsters and The Occasionals.  Added to which, most of us are hooked on x-biking : so we're the fittest bunch of IT nerds around.

Yesterday was a 4 mile lunchtime run round campus with 2 killer hills for measure and an hour of x-biking after work. 

And I loved them both.

Noice.

...and I'm having another go at lunchtime today (running 3.5 miles) - although, to be fair, I'm still worn out from yesterday's exertions!

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Dear runners, lurkers & fellow masochists,

With Christmas nearly upon us; and the end of 2009 fast approaching, I just wanted to take this opportunity wish you all a delightful Christmas break.

It has been another interesting year for blogland – the last ever Flora London Marathon was had, Rachpops triumphed over the sand dunes at the The Marathon Des Sables, Hoggle ran her first marathon, Harri cycled from London to Paris, Bupa returned, then left, then returned again; jobs were found, marriages were lost, mini bloggers and blogettes were introduced to the world.

And I became a reluctant runner. With a year of ups and downs, but mostly middlings.

This year, I:

January: had a crack at learning Spanish & cultivated my love for Swimming and Spinning

February: made my very first snowman EVAH & succeeded in little else

March: ran the

• Bath Half Marathon
• Reading Half Marathon
• & completed a 16 mile stroll from Barth to Brizzle along the Avon

April: ran the:

• Frenchay 10K
• Bournemouth Bay 10K

May:

• Had a fabulously relaxed week in Menorca
• Survived “Go Ape” @ Cannock Chase
• Started to get well fit, man, & then cracked m’ankle on an Evil Rock @ Sutton Park
• Sulked

June: Had a virtuous June by not driving into work & quitting alcohol

July: Survived:

• Cotswald Triathlon
• Trowbridge Triathlon
• & discovered the underground world of after-work cyclists at Castle Combe race track. Noice.

August: Survived:

• Cambridge Folk Festival (much foot tapping and G&T drinking saw me ALMOST blend in as a Folk) It was after this that life declined into an unacceptable state of tedium.

September:

• Cancelled Gym membership (too much dosh is these here difficult economic times)

October:

Got rejected from the Vee El Em Ballot. Again. I was psychologically psyched and all!

November:

• November got sandwiched between October and December. S’noice. S’unusual.

December:

• Travelled to Australia for two lovely weeks with family
• Travelled to the Caribbean for two lovely weeks with L

And so to 2010..... And time get some challenges planned. Innit.

Wishing you all a fantastic Christmas Break.

Joy to the world, and all that.

Annie

xx

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Hello Friends!

Against all the odds (the odds being that I will get sucked up by my evil sofa, while eating too many crisps & drinking too much wine) I have been RUN-NING this week.  Quel Horreur!

And - it was (South African accent alert) kwaat naas:

Hopefully I can keep the plodding going and make it, in a fit state, to the Bath Half in 12 weeks (ish) time.

One more week of work awaits me (right up to Christmas Eve - sniffle) & then I fook orf to the Caribbean for 2 weeks.

Noice.

So - if I don't see you beforehand, have a smashing Christmas and remember...

Tags: christmas

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Never discourage anyone who continually makes progress

..no matter how slow.

Plato (427 BC - 347 BC)

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Hello Bloggy lovelies!  I survived the lurgy you'll be glad to hear & I'm feeling human again.  Hoorah Hoorah!  Less cough-cough splutter-splutter; and more huff-puff huff-puff.

Normal service has resumed.

Good.

I have managed to spend all m'savings since I last blogged:

I've spashed out on 1x flight to Australia (I leave a week today!) to attend m'brother's wedding in Melbourne you-see, & have splashed out on 1x Caribbean cruise. 

M'favourite "Cruising for people who don't do cruising" company are taking a final bow, with this, 2009, being their last Caribbean season - having sold their magnificant shups to the Ozzies.  Fair dinkum. 

So the lovely L and I have snuck in there & will grasp the final opportunity to float through the Caribbean on a cruise that includes mountain biking, kite surfing and kayaking day trip options.  No "Best of Barbados" coach trips for us. Oh no.

So what with all this globe-trotting; m'training plan for the Bath Half looks a tad unusual (& I refuse to renege on m'x-biking addiction. Oh no. I loves it)  as it may involve less running & some x-training in the next few months (I've tried running on a treadmill while at sea - it isn't pretty!) 

But a plan I do have [natch] & will have a go at most of it:

And with it, I have run twice this week.  Only short plods - but plods none the less.

Progress. I doth declare!

Tags: plan, bath half

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Oh dear.  I had family over this weekend - we had a fabby dinner party on Saturday night - and and it was fun, we laughed, we ate, we drank - and I forgot to wake up on time to go to Longleat to hunt for lions run the 10K on Sunday.

Bad Annie.

Could you lovely bloggers remind me why it's good to run? I've forgotten.

Oh - and I have Annie Flu.  Cough cough. Splutter splutter. 

So all round feeling sorry for myself.

Sniffle.

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