Cake and scotch egg extravaganza

At work today we had a cake and scotch egg sale to raise money for Boost, the excellent charity I'm running for.

Victoria had given up her time to cook 70 of her renowned scotch eggs, just a day before going on holiday. These were always going to sell well - in fact word somehow got out and she'd had people queuing with advance orders.

Priya baked a very fine vanilla layer cake with strawberries and cream, and some truly beautiful cupcakes with piped icing and little glacèd fruit slices on top. They'd have graced the window display of a pâtisserie. She even made chocolate brownies, too.

I wasn't about to lower the tone by attempting to bake something myself so I contacted Miranda, an ex-colleague who used to bring in delicious cakes baked by her mum. I ordered 2 cakes - but her mum baked FIVE for me. These included superb carrot, walnut and chocolate cakes.

Thanks to the willingness of these three people to give up their time so selflessly and to their fantastic culinary creativity and skill, we made £375 today. We should even push past £400 tomorrow when the last few slices of cake are sold (there was SO much food).

I'd never dreamed we'd make so much. Thanks so much, guys! Thanks too to Ollie and Miranda for helping make it all come together.

UPDATE: Total raised from the cake 'n' egg sale was £403. Impressive!

4 weeks to go

Whoever was cutting that fringe must have looked away at a critical moment...

Sorry about the slowdown in my blog posting over recent weeks. Despite a few distractions I have kept up the training runs - in a fashion, anyway. I won't be running the race in record time but - fingers crossed - I ought to get round.

Miles run since Marathon sign-up: 335
Days to go: only 28!

Gosport Judo Club

WA-HEY !! 

Thanks for the support, guys!

Thames Riverside 20 Miler

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A few weeks ago my sister-in-law Jilly got in touch to suggest running this 20-miler. Jilly's signed up for the Brighton Marathon at the start of April and wanted experience of running a longer distance under race conditions.

The route looked good: it follows the south bank of the river Thames from Putney to Richmond and back. Flat, too! So I said yes.

I told Nick about the run, and he in turn encouraged his friends Matt and Lee to join us too.

So, yesterday morning we got up at an ungodly hour to get to Bishops Park by Putney Bridge in time for the start of the race at 08:00.

It was a fine day, staying cool in the early spring sunshine, and with a light breeze forecast to follow us on the return leg. Perfect conditions, in other words.

I maintained a pace of 8:30 minute miles until mile 15 when things started going a bit wobbly. It was not a surprise. I've usually been running at a faster pace but the training has been a little off the boil recently, and 15 miles was the longest I'd run before yesterday.

The final 2 miles were very hard work. Still, they were soon over, and I finished in 2 hours 56 mins. 

A great day. Good effort everyone.

Support from Llandudno FC Under 10's

Seriously, this is real. 

Lucy, from Boost (the charity I'm running for, which provided support for the team earlier in the year) thought I needed a morale lift and so organised this.

Well - it's worked! 

A bit of a wobble

My motivation took a bit of a downturn this week.

I won't bore you with my musings on the psychology of motivation except to say that, for me, staying motivated to train long-term depends (too much?) on keeping to a structured training programme. This week I lost a couple of run slots because it was too busy at work to get out at lunchtime, and the frustration from this combined with the effects of a couple of short nights and made me start to think "what's the point?"

Feeble, I know.

Anyway I'm feeling more upbeat today after a couple of good nights sleep and after a 9 mile run yesterday. I'm pretty confident my wobble was only temporary. And I'm running the Bath Half Marathon next weekend: that should buck me up...

Here are some photos of Hackney street art I passed on my circuit yesterday.

Admiring the Olympic Stadium

Picasso lives on

Good result England

Though possibly a bit weak in defence. Good heart though.

Rehydration with lager is the way to go, I find.

200 miles

Or 206 miles, to be precise, after today's run. It took me in a loop from Bramfield via Walpole, Cookley, and Wenhaston then back to Bramfield.

Quite often barn owls can be seen swooping like white ghosts over the valley bottom near Cookley, but not today.

St Andrew's, Bramfield

Milestones

I passed the halfway point in my training this week: it's 76 days since my first slow, short wheezing run back in November, and there's just 72 days left until the marathon. Ooer.

I'm a great deal fitter than I was when I hauled myself off the couch back in November, but there's still got a lot to do - especially if I am to run the race in a half-decent time.

It's 40 days since my last cigarette (or nicotine in any form). My breathing is much easier now when running.

If I can drag myself away from watching the 6 Nations tomorrow, I'll pass the 200 mile mark in training this week, too. I'll let you know.

Following the water

 I've signed up to do the Bath Half Marathon on 1 March, then the Thames Riverside 20 Miler the weekend after, so I thought it best to push up the mileage this weekend.

It was a bit of a moral struggle getting myself out of the front door today, but once I'd finally succeeded, the fresh air and clear blue day soon woke me up and I began to enjoy the run. I took my canal route down to the river but then I turned left along the Limehouse Cut - a canal that joins Regents Canal to the Lea Navigation. At the Lea I turned north, running past the Olympic Park and Stadium, past Hackney Marshes then west again and home via Clissold Park.

15.27 miles in 2hrs 12mins. Tired but happy.

Change?

Off the wagon

I'm not sure what's on his head either

Today started so well.  Nick and I ran the parks at lunchtime: 5.8 miles in 48 minutes.

But then after work I met a friend at a bar and ended up having a couple of beers and a whisky.

Oh well. No cigarettes were smoked and I've given my liver a break for 22 days - for which I'm sure it's grateful.

The Hair Shirt

It's been a calendar month - 31 days - since my last cigarette, and I haven't even thought about smoking for a couple of weeks at least. So, no problem there.

The abstinence from alcohol has been trickier - which surprised me. There's a can of beer at the back of the fridge which has been winking at me, suggestively, in the evenings after a long day at work, but I've resisted it for 20 days now so I may as well carry on for a few more.