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
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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:
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. 
Straight Hair & 10 mile
Phew, I’m a little tired as I write this after having completed a 10 mile walk this morning and a full afternoon yesterday of having my hair re-straightened. The re-straightening takes 5 hours and costs just short of £200, but it’s worth every penny not to look bushy and frizzy. 
The walk was good, we did 6 miles with Peggy dog and then the final 4 miles on our own. My feet didn’t suffer as much as last week as quite a lot of the walk was on soft ground, but as usual, I now have quite a stiff feeling. That’s what the training is for I guess. When I got back, I also got busy making coffee and walnut cupcakes – quite proud of them really…
p.s. for those asking, I have my hair straightened at Jakarta in Warrington and even though it’s quite expensive (£192), it’s worth every penny as they are very professional and do a great job.
Friday 25th
Cancer Research Uk – please give
Well well, today is the first of 4 lovely days I am having off work. Last night I went to the Trafford to centre to purchase bridesmaid shoes and underwear. The trip was mostly successful except some poor person was threatening to jump off the Mancunian way and due to road closures, it took me 2 hours to go the 8 miles from work to Trafford. Yuk.
But I am now the proud owner of the assigned bridesmaid shoes (top secret), strapless bra and hold-in pants daaarrrlling. It’s only 5 weeks from the wedding, so we’ve got the hen do to look forward to and lots of wearing the shoes in an practsing to breath in the “hold it all in and slim me down” pants. 
Shine training tonight means 6 miler tonight and 9 miler tomorrow after the dress fitting. Blister plasters at the ready!!!
Weekend of the Smug
So this weekend seems to have been all about walking and cake. Friday night we walked 5 miles and today we have walked 8 miles. I think we deserve a pat on the back dont you? Also yesterday we went to St Helens to get Moochy some new walking shoes…
He was very pleased with them and as I have the same ones, we are officially “shoe twins”. Then after the shoe shopping, we went to Bents Garden Centre to get some cake things, some ginger beer and to have some lunch. I had Beef Bourguignon and it was gorgeous and as you can see from the picture, after Moochy’s vegetarian lasagne, he indulged himself in a mammoth fairy cake. 
When we got home, I set about trying to teach myself how to cover a cake in sugar paste whilst Moochy watched a scary film. Again, as you can see from the picture I DID manage to cover a cake, but I have to admit I think the Pink lustre spray is horrible. However, even though I run out of icing sugar, I had a go at piping buttercream and it went ok to.
Today Moochy, Peggy and I walked 8 miles and now I am sat here with sore feet, but feeling as smug as you like. This is a personal best for me as I have never walked that far before. It took us 2 hours and 47 minutes and even though in the first mile or so I was struggling, a few jaffa cakes sorted me right out and it was great. My feet will get used to it over time and this is the whole point of the training.
n.b From our house to the start of the walk near the Ship is 1.28 miles. We were at 2.25 at the top of the hill near the dam and its about 1.75 miles around the dam itself.
Wampy Sunday
Oh here we are then, another Sunday night, after another weekend of stuff. Today was my niece’s 5th birthday party at “Jellybeans Play Centre“. Previous birthday parties have been at the ChillFactore in Manchester with varied degrees of success. My niece seemed to love it… from the second we go there she was running around like the almost 5 year old that she is.
There was a Princess party with chips and chocolate cake, oh and by the way, even at the grand old age of 36, I would still LOVE a party with chips and chocolate cake!!!
When we got back, I was still a little tired so put myself in bed for a bit whilst Moochy watched Liverpool batter Chelsea. Then of course my IBS kicked off and now I feel a bit bleeurgh.
Well, next week’s training is:
|
Day |
Training |
|---|---|
| Monday | 3 miles |
| Wednesday | 4 miles |
| Friday | 5 miles |
| Saturday | 7 miles |
With an invitation to The Lowry for lunch next Sunday to celebrate my sister-in-law’s birthday. Yay February!!!
Weekend of Stuff
It’s Sunday and I’ve been up since 7:30. WTF?! As you know we walked 5 miles on Friday and then yesterday we walked 6 full miles in the rain For some reason I’ve had trouble sleeping on both nights… nothing bodily particularly sore, just a general feeling of soreness all over. No pain, no gain
Today though is our nieces 5th birthday party at Jungle Gym type thing. I can’t believe she’s 5!! I remember getting the call telling us she’d been born I think I’ve got time for a little game of Hotel Dash before I’ve got to get ready xx
