Man alive I’m tired
I am sat here on a Sunday night, considerably bushwacked. In my quest to have a weekend with “nothing” to do, I seem to be constantly on the go. This weekend has been no exception, but I am getting ahead of myself. Lets go back to Thursday.
On Thursday the Skills Funding Agency finally announced who had been the contract to run Community Grants 11-13. GMCVO, i.e. me, ran it in 2008-10, so we were fairly certain we would get it again. We didn’t. I was GUTTED. Gutted for many reasons, but mainly because it went to some global company called Tribal, who’s interest in local Charities isn’t their 1st priority. Not great for the sector, for the groups involved, for GMCVO and for myself. Not a great day.
My day got worse though. On the way home, I called into my mum’s to see my nieces, only to find out that my little sis was in hospital with chest pains. She has a pacemaker and it’s been giving her some grief… she’s fine thankfully, but we were all worried there for a minute. Plus I found myself getting both girls ready for bed, which takes a HUGE amount of energy and patience. phew
As if it wasn’t bad enough, I then spent all day in A&E with my Gran who is now 89 and has been having coughy/chest/dizzy problems for a couple of weeks. She has a habit of, let’s say, over estimating her ailments, but it turns out this time, she could have been onto something. She was admitted to Whiston Hospital with a suspected blood clot on her lungs, which is where she is right now awaiting an MRI scan.
I slept OK last night, but for some reason my body woke me up at 7:00am this morning and I couldn’t get back to sleep… 
Which was no bad thing really, as today was the Manchester 10k and even though I wasn’t running, Moochy was and so we had to leave around 9:3oam.
The weather was a bit cold and drizzly in Manchester, but I got a good spec near the end and Moochy was really pleased with his time of 57 minutes, 15 seconds. I was SOOOOO pleased for him as he’s not really done specific 10k training, just SHINE training. He’s my hero. xx
Then after watching Moochy in Manchester, we came home, he had a quick bath and then we went straight out to Whiston again to see Gran for an hour. She seemed fine…. thankfully, which brings us back around again to Sunday night. Tired.
Next weekend we don’t have anthing planned *crosses fingers*. So lets hope we can keep it this way. xx Phew.
Shine Manchester 2011 – Done!
So then, we did it, our Cancer Research Shine Marathon 2011 is now officially completed. It had highs and lows, but we did it – well half of it. But more of that in a minute.
We spent the day part of Shine, preparing by pacing nervously around the house doing tidying type things to keep our minds and hands occupied. Eventually it became time to pack our stuff up (no mean feat) and take Peggy-dog to my mum’s which thankfully was stress free.
We got to Manchester at around 19:15 and made our way the GMEX (which is apparently now called the Manchester Central Convention Centre). We were really surprised at just how many people were there – maybe as many as 11,000!!! They were handing out water, reflective strips and snappy glo sticks and the atmosphere was great. What was also great was that Moochy’s mum, dad, sister and her partner Patrick came to see us off – what a a treat. It’s amazing how hugs and “Good Luck’s” make a difference to my nerves.
The walk itself was great and awful at the same time. The first part of the route took us through Salford Quays, so the views were great, and the miles did seem to be ticked off fairly fast with the surge of people. I was slightly gutted that before that, in fact, after just 1 mile, I started to experience the same hip problems that I had last week. This meant that I was in pain from pretty much mile 1 
I really struggled with the decision about what to do, there were two events for Shine, the full marathon (what we signed up for) and the half marathon. Everyone sponsored me for the full thing and one of the reasons that I signed us was because I wanted to actually DO a full marathon…. I swung between going for it and doing that half right up until the pit-stop at 10 miles, when after a 5 minute sit down, I was in bloody agony and could hardly walk up a gangway to get past Manchester United. I kind of knew then there was no way I could walk the full 26 miles without being stupid pain, so I called it.
Even though I was gutted at not being able to do what I set out to do, I still walked 13 miles and raised over £300 for Cancer Research UK. Even now, the day after I am 80% sure I did the right thing, with just a nagging 20% wondering if I should have just see how I got on. The restless, painful night I had supports the 80%, but you just never know.
Anyway, as usual, we took some photos, but before I share them with you, I have just one last thank you. This goes to my lovey Moochy who only signed up to to Shine so I wouldn’t have to do it alone. We have spent the last 3 months training together and he has been just amazingly supportive – but over our 7½ years together, I have come to expect nothing less. I don’t often express my love for him publicly as, for the most part, I think these things are private. But he deserves a very special mention for walking and training with me for 3 months, not complaining once, gathering sponsorship and generally being my partner and 100% by my side.
So thank you Michael Keith Lysons, I love you and I couldn’t have done it without you….. xxxxx
Shine Manchester 2011 – Oh.My.God.
Well, Moochy and I have been training for about 3 months now and today is the day. We have to be at Manchester Central Convention Centre by 19:30 and even though we aren’t quite sure what time we are setting off, we expect the walk to take us in excess of 9 hours. Oh. My. God.
My belly is currently doing flip flops and my IBS has well and truly kicked in. Already been to the loo 3 times (if you get my drift) and I think it might be time for the imodium. (Sorry, TMI I know). I am doubly nervous, as last week when I tried to walk the final 20 mile training walk, I got pain in my hips and had to stop after 10. But I am dosed up with painkillers and I just have to ice myself before we go out.
I will of course have to ask you to sponsor me for one final time, but its for Cancer Research, so it is for a very good cause.Wish us luck…
Shine Manchester Route 2011
View Cancer Research UK – Manchester Shine 2011 in a larger map
10 miles then Ow
Firstly Happy Easter peeps, whatever that means for you. For me personally it means chocolate eggs and time off work.. “works” for me!
But anyway, let me tell you about our 20 mile training walk… As you can probably tell from the title of this post, it didn’t go as planned We did indeed walk 10 miles, but then decided not to go any further as I had hip pain that had started off quite mildly around 3 miles but by this point was causing me to limp.
I’m not totally sure of the problem, but I am wondering if it has something to do with my SI joints that I had problems with last year? Either way, I’m still limping and worried that I won’t be able to do Shine after all. Bugger.
Off to see the osteopath for me I think, ASAP next week. Bugger again.
16 Shiny Miles
Despite a slightly broken night’s sleep, I don’t feel too bad this morning, this is of course considering that Moochy and I walked 16 miles yesterday. I won’t lie, I felt pretty beaten up when we got back yesterday, with throbbing feet and achey legs for most of the day, but the sense of achievement at having done it was great.
I have to say though, we had a stop at 13 miles as I felt completely exhausted. The sun was really quite warm and I was tired and starting to feel a bit sick. I might have even told Moochy that I wasn’t sure I could do it. However, it is amazing what a good old fashioned sit down can do and before long, we were off again to complete the whole 16 miles.
I am quickly learning that walking for 5 hours+ is not simply about physical fitness, but it’s also about preparation, correct footwear and most importantly, mental strength. Our way to break down the miles psychologically so that we “tick” them off, is to “chunk” out the walks we do. There is no rhyme or reason as to when we have completed a chunk, its just usually a landmark or place that we are familiar with and if we are feeling tired, we have a chunk quite close to where we are already, so that we can feel good about passing another checkpoint.
As I mentioned, preparation is also vitally important as we found to our detriment whilst doing the 13 miler last weekend. We simply didn’t eat enough before we left and were so eating our lunch after about 40 minutes and topping up almost constantly for the rest of the way. This weekend however, we got up about a hour and a half before we wanted to leave and I made us both bacon sarnies and it made a huge difference. No hunger pangs for me for a couple of hours into the walk. Brilliant.
Anyway, here is our route and blisters and aches aside, its was great. Just a 20 mile walk to do next weekend before the Shine itself. Oh. My. God.
p.s. another unseen casualty of walking for 5 hours, is that my poor hands swell up:
Shine Training
So one of the unseen challenges of training for a walking marathon, is trying to work out walking routes for the masses of miles we walk without straying too far from home. I know this sounds like an oxymoron, but what I mean is, if you walk a straight 1o miles out in 1 direction and then just turn around and walk back, you have two problems….
- It takes quite a long time to walk 10 miles, so the same scenery twice could get boring.
- If you twist your ankle 10 miles away, then you are way to far away from home to hobble back.
That’s why it’s better to walk in a largeish loop if possible.
Soo… even though I have said that, I am not taking my own advice and our 16 mile walk tomorrow is out towards Warrington and back again in a straight line. However, our 20 miles (and final) big walk is something different. We plan to go as follows:
- 1 loop of Carr Mill Dam, 6 miles with Peggy dog.
- Down the bottom of Cooper Lane along footpath to Earlestown.
- Along Common Road, past Vista Road to Newton High Street.
- Down the High Street to Newton-le-Willows Station
- Under the Bridge and along the road to Winwick.
- Across the motorway and down Winwick Road to Forton Leisure Centre.
- Turn around and walk back as far as to step 2.
Wow, that’s a bloody long way.
Feeling Good
So there is one thing about me at the moment, I feel good. All minor ailments aside, I do feel good physically. I re-joined Weight Watchers a couple of weeks ago, and I feel really positive. Shine training is going great – I’ve got blisters, but I expected no less with the huge mileage we are walking. The other really good things is that I have disabled the scales at home so that I am only able to get weighed at my meeting once a week. The reason for this, is that I could sometimes be a bit obsessed with weighing myself and the numbers on the scale – meaning that if the number was a little higher, then I would feel depressed and use that as an excuse to have more food that was necessary.
I thinking getting rid of the scales at home frees me of the, albeit self imposed, stress and pressure of the weigh in. I just go to my meetings and deal with it once a week – as it should be. I’ve lost 5.5lbs after two weeks, so something must be working somewhere.
Also, the other thing that has changed, is that I am able to not feel guilty and make healthier choices easily because I don’t feel bad and I don’t feel “Oh well, I’ve put weight on anyway since this morning, so why not have 3 extra Roast Potatoes?”. Take last night for instance, Moochy and I took my Gran out for tea to our local carvery and whilst they both had the full carvery works, I had a turkey salad. Actually, the funny thing about that was, when it came, it could have easily fed two people…..
I ended up just eating the turkey, peppers, onions and beetroot, with a little portion of the potato salad. Brilliant. So, tonight we are walking 8 miles around Carr Mill Dam again with Peggy dog as part of our Shine Training. It’s 2 weeks on Sunday till the actual marathon, so we have really got4 major walks between now and then. 8 miles tonight, 15-16 on Sunday, 8 miles next Friday and then a full 20 miler on Easter Sunday. Wowser. Hope my feet hold up.
xxxx
Half Marathon
Wow, can you believe Moochy and I walked 21 miles in 2 days?! 8 miles on Friday after work and then a half marathon yesterday. the 8 miles was great, but the 13 miles yesterday was tough. It was very hot yesterday (for some reason) and it was just hard work walking for 4 hours in the sunshine.
There were times when I was REALLY struggling and Moochy had to give me a real pep talk. We did have a couple of 5 minute stops for re-fuelling and I was amazed at the redemptive powers of an orange Callipo and a Freddo Frog!! I fairly SKIPPED down the next ½ mile after that particular sugar rush 
But we DID finish and the sense of achievement is immense. Like I said, the pain is temporary but the sense of achievement lasts a lifetime. Talking of pain, my feet were DESTROYED!!! I had blisters on 5 of my toes and I made the mistake off ripping off one of my blister plasters as this took all the skin of my toe 
Anyway, Shine is now just 3 weeks off, so as the Americans say, we’ve just got to “suck it up”. 15 miles next Sunday, which we think means we are going to walk to Warrington Hospital and back. F*%k me. 
Sarah Millican here we come
Yay, for the first time this morning I woke up feeling “normal”. I have been suffering this week from a mix of having a bad period and a little irritable bowel syndrome – not a good combo at any time to be honest. Also, I have to say here that if you have just screwed up your face at the mention of “periods” then get a grip – every woman alive has them, so at least 50% of the population knows exactly what I am talking about. (So there).
Ahem, anyway, I felt rubbish all week, but this morning a lie in seemed to do the trick and I felt OK – which was a change because yesterday morning I felt just short of suicidal when my alarm went off. For some reason, my periods are leaving me feeling exhausted and I am just glad I am going to see the specialist next Tuesday. Actually, this is another reason why women shouldn’t suffer in silence, sometimes we are too guilty of just putting up with things and pain becoming a norm. Men might disagree with me about the whole “suffering in silence” thing, but you can insert your own Les Dawson joke here if you feel the need.
Tonight, Moochy and I are off to see Sarah Millican, who is a commedienne that I have come to think of as hilarious. She is on a the Liverpool Playhouse theatre and even though it might be a rush etc etc, it should be good – I’ll let you know. Also this weekend I am having my hair re-straightened, which means that I have a sort of reverse perm……
This is how it worked the very first time I had it done.
So tonight is Sarah Millican, tomorrow is Hair Straightened and then on Sunday we have to walk 10 miles as part of our Shine training. Feck me xxx
