Sunday, December 2, 2012

Training and Christmas shopping

It is always harder to find the time to train when it comes to the Christmas season. I have been a bit slack with my blog lately becasue of this - one thing had to go and it was either running or this.

On the 23rd November I held a pamper evening to help raise money for Macmillan cancer support and also to help raise funds for the Ocean floor race. I had done one of these previously and it had been very succesful so I thought I would do another. This one wasn't as busy as last time which was a real shame as we had some wonderful stalls there and I felt really bad that it wasn't as busy but it was still a successful evening all the same raising £180 for Macmillan Cancer support - as soon as I have paid this in to the bank I will update the fundraising page to reflect this.

What made the evening more special was that Sarah came down to  support the event as well along with her husband Ben. We had planned on spending the Saturday looking around running shops and getting Sarahs V02 Max test done (Kindly offered to us free by Advanced performance in Cambridge) and then running the Hereward relay as an ultra on the Sunday.

Unfortunatly as you know, the weather was truly awful that weekend and this resulted in the race being cancelled due to part of the route at the beginning being under 4ft of water and rising the day before and the Welney wash being flooded meaning the last section was also not runnable. It was such a shame.

So instead on Saturday we went off to Cambridge - Sarah had her V02 max test done and was classed as Exceptional (I think that was it and if I don't get the same she will never let me live it down) to make this more fun for me I decided to take a picture of Sarah looking beautful with her mask on :)


As I mentioned earlier this V02 test was provided for us free of charge by Advanced Performance for which we are very grateful. I haven't booked in for mine yet but as soon as I have it I will post some suitably embarrasing photos of myself as well :)

After out little outing to check Sarahs V02 we decided to head off to have a look around Cambridge and keep out of the house for a bit as my husband was working all day at home so we didn't want to get in the way. Then that evening we went out for dinner, it was actually really nice to enjoy our meal without having to worry about getting up so early for the run in the morning.

I have to say the race organisers from the March Athletics club were superb in letting us know the race was cancelled, they emailed me and when they couldn't reach me on one number they also called me on my second number just to make sure I was aware along with Sarah. They are looking at re arranging rhe race for late Feb but unfortunatly that will be a bit late for us as we have the Ocean floor race at the beginning of February and I intend on resting for the remainder of the month after this one :)

Instead myself and Sarah decided to still go on a run just not as long a run - it was early Sunday morning we learned that we are going to have to be careful in the desert - I am NOT a morning person - my husband knows that speaking to me first thing before I have done my work out or had a shower is not the best of ideas. I usally just role out of bed chuck on my workout kit and do my Insanity work out in the front room (I will blog more about this another time) and after that I am fully awake - I challenge anyone not to be - and I am once more human and ready to face the day. Sarah however is an entirely diffent story - she is chatty and bubbly and full of beans first thing in the morning and I kept snapping at her - Sarah if it is any consolation I do feel bad :) but consider it a warning ;)

Once we got out the door and started running I instantly began to calm down and felt much better. We took a new route from my house which I have never done before and arranged for the men to meet us in March at 13 miles. We had intended to run a bit longer but decided instead to go home once they met us and get some much needed planning done for the Ocean floor - making to do lists and planning which kit we would need to take with us.

On this note we would both like to say a MASSIVE thank you to our new sponsors;


http://www.hopetech.com/page.aspx?itemID=SPG1
Hope have donated a headtorch to each of us - I plan on doing a review on this shortly so watch this space

http://www.feeturesbrand.com/
Feetures have provided myself and Sarah with several pairs of socks to wear for training and in the race.

As you can see they have been more than kind to us. Feetures are an American company but they are also online so you can of course buy their wonderful products using the link above. Sarah has been to see them at the Expo for the Las Vegas Half Marathon (she is running this tonight so All the best Sarah if you read this before hand) I hope to also do a review on these socks in the near future and have a perfect weekend in mind.

Another new sponsor is that of Bloc Sunglasses. I wrote to them a few weeks back in the hope that they might be able to help us out with a pair of glasses each for the run to help protect our eyes from the sand and the sun (with the idea that we could change to clear lenses at night and use our buffs to help protect as well) and Colin Pickering from their head office kindly sent us each Three - yes three pairs. I couldn't beleive it when I recieved the email from him saying he was sending them out and we are both truly thankful. I have yet to decide which pair I will take with me but am going to try them out ona few day runs here to make sure I am confortable wearing them and to give me the time to alter the fit if needed.

I am going to sign off for now - I have Christmas lights to put up and after my 16 mile run this morning I should probable give my husband some attention. :) Thank you again to all of our wonderful sponsors and to everyone who is supporting myself and Sarah especially to friends and family who are putting up with the long runs and turned down invitations - I promise service will return to normal after the run :)

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