Category: Jogging

National running day

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It must be National Running Day because there were a lot of people out running.  Most of them going in the opposite direction to me.  I must be so unfashionable I don’t even know which way to run.  There was another man obviously v. unfashionable too as he came running past me and I turned round as I heard him approaching and I obviously looked like I thought he was going to mug me and so he gave me a big smile and a big cheery “morning” so then I decided that he wasn’t going to mug me after all.  But in fact, I hadn’t thought he was going to mug me anyway.  At least I’d looked the right way when he was behind me, unlike the cyclist who overtook me on my right, as I looked to my left to see who was coming up behind me.  Duh.

And good news, my camera has fixed itself, yah!!  I didn’t take it out today though as I did the same route as I did when it broke so here are the pics from then.

There weren’t many people out on the river today, the other week there were loads, here’s a couple of canoeists.

And some swans and ducks.

And a squirrel.

And another picture of the squirrel, because you can’t have too many pictures of squirrels.  Or penguins but I didn’t see any penguins.  Or cows but the cows are gone.  Grr.

And there’s a pub in the marshes, cool!  Although my Saturday run is too early to go to the pub.  Not that I remember what drinking’s  like.  How many days ’til February?

And here’s a wreath.  Probably someone got into a fight after drinking in the pub.  Maybe I won’t go to that pub after all.

And back out onto the street and continuing on the pub run theme.  This pub does a v. nice veggie lasagne.  Yum.

And here’s where I got v. drunk on New Years Eve where my camera first sort of broke but then unbroke itself and then as I was taking this pic, in a spooky coincidence kind of way, broke again.

Stats:
Miles: 4.53
Total time: 49:31
Average pace: 10:55 minute/mile
Total calories: 391
Weather: 50F
Cameras fixing themselves: 1
Shopping days left in January: 5
Days without pizza and alcohol: 24
Music:
Bobby Conn – When The Money’s Gone
The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster – Puppy Dog Snails
Teardrop Explodes – Reward
Depeche Mode – See You
Lily Allen – Smile
Peter Bjorn and John – Amsterdam

I think winter’s here

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Although it took me all afternoon to warm up, due to a power cut at work which left us with no computers or heating all morning, I didn’t wimp out and buy a treadmill to run on when it’s minging but went out into the freezing cold instead. I wrapped up nice and warm though and put on my new gloves that the nice people at Start Fitness gave me (that’s the last mention of my free gloves, I promise).

And I think my diet of no alcohol and pizza is working because I’ve shrunk and my run was easy(ish) and reasonably fast for me today so hurrah to diets of no alcohol and pizza. But my diet of no alcohol and pizza ends next Thursday when it isn’t January anymore and me and Gary are getting alcohol and pizza. I said as we haven’t drunk for almost a month, we’ll be drunk before the pizzas get here so he said we should wait until the pizzas arrive before drinking. Got to wait even longer? Eek! And tomorrow when we go to see the greatest musician in the world ever (that’s Bobby Conn, by the way) we can look at Kate with disdain, as she’s drinking and smoking. Although she’ll probably be thinking, mmm, this wine/lager’s really nice and you can’t have any, ha ha.

Next month I’m giving up shopping. February’s a short month though so it should be ok and after all, there’s still a week left to shop in January. Yay.

Stats:
Miles: 2.63
Total time: 29:12
Average pace: 11:06 minute/mile
Total calories: 233
Weather: 41F
Greatest musicians in the world ever playing a gig tomorrow: 1
Shopping days left in January: 8
Days without pizza and alcohol: 20
Music:
Sultans of Ping – Michiko
Subhumans – Urban Guerillas
Soft Cell – Meet Murder My Angel
Human League – Get Carter
Sex Pistols – Satellite
Morcheeba – Let Me See

Cold and windy

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Brrrrrr, it was cold and windy this morning so I put on my new gloves that the nice people at Start Fitness sent me and ran to the gym. I thought the gym would warm me up sufficiently so that I didn’t need to wear the gloves on the way back but it was even more cold and my hands are numb because I didn’t want to stop and take off my rucksack and retrieve the gloves that the nice people at Start Fitness sent me and I can’t type properly now.

And I’ve got to go back out into the cold and go to Sainsburys because I went to the Somerfield near me that I thought was quite good and much better than the Somerfields near the gym but today it was crap and didn’t have any leeks or peppers so I threw my basket down in a strop and walked out. So much for me telling Kate on Tuesday that I’ve been more chilled out since I’ve been doing the no drinking in January thing; the last few days I’ve been back to my usual irritable self and wanting to kill the annoying people on the tube and train. Now I want to kill whoever’s in charge of buying leeks and peppers for Somerfield because they’ve made me have to go back out in the cold and waste more time instead of continuing with my letter to B&Q which is up to page 5/day 11 (out of 52) at the mo. I hope the people at B&Q can read. Maybe I should do an audio version for them too.

Stats:
Miles: 3.90
Total time: 45:56
Average pace: 11:46 minute/mile
Total calories: 334
Weather: 50F
Leeks and peppers in Somerfield: 0
Music:
Abba – Dancing Queen
Ween – Tired and True
Supergrass – Mary
The Specials – Blank Expression
Simian – Tree In A Corner
Sex Pistols – No Feelings
Rolling Stones – You Can’t Always Get What You Want
Rolling Stones – Let’s Spend The Night Together
Nirvana – Lithium
Auf Der Mayer – Beast Of Honor
Levellers – One Way
Half Man Half Biscuit – 27 Yards Of Dental Floss
Gary Numan – Remember, I Was Vapour
The Cure – A Night Like This
Citizen Fish – Back To Zero
Catatonia – Why I Can’t Stand One Night Stands
Bobby Conn – Whores
Blur – Trimm Trabb
Babes In Toyland – Magick Flute

No cows

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After being completely shattered this week and only having the energy to watch Celebrity Big Brother then go to sleep, I went out for my usual Saturday morning run and decided to take my old route and go and see the cows and horses. Just as I got round the corner from my house, a man stopped me and tried to give me a religious leaflet. I obviously look like I need saving. He must know I watch CBB and is trying to save me from myself.

It was quiet over the marshes this morning. This must be because THE COWS ARE GONE! Where have the cows gone? What’s the point of going over the marshes if the cows aren’t there? Who do I write to to demand the immediate return of the cows? Bah.

Then I got to the bridge where the girl was attacked and, bloody hell, there’s a new big yellow sign appealing for witnesses to another serious sexual assault on 11 October at 5pm. But that doesn’t make sense as the first one was on 8 October and for a week after there had been one or two policemen permanently there not letting anyone through the bridge. I don’t think I’m going to be going under that bridge again.

I only saw four people over there today. There was a dodgy looking man standing by a fence off the track but then I saw he had two dogs with him so I decided he wasn’t dodgy. Then when I was walking up the steep (steep to me, ok?) bit on the other side of a bridge a female jogger came along and said “morning” to me and then just as I got to the last stretch there was a woman walking her dogs who also said “morning” to me. Aah, it’s nice when people are friendly. Unlike the people in the gym who are completely miserable and yesterday when I was in the gym and thinking that they’re all completely miserable a girl came into the changing room and said hello to me and so I thought, hurrah, not everyone’s completely miserable after all. Then on the last stretch a man zoomed past me and then stopped a bit further up and pretended to do stretching exercises but he did give me a smile as I went past him.

So that’s my run for the day. Now I have to do some work and write my LONG letter of complaint to the morons on Planet B&Q and speaking of B&Q, here’s the before and after pics of my new bathroom light.

Stats:
Miles: 2.96
Total time: 33:20
Average pace: 11:15 minute/mile
Total calories: 274
Weather: 51F
Christians trying to save me: 1
Cows: 0
Magpies: 18
People saying good morning: 2
New signs appealing for witnesses: 1
Days without alcohol: 17
Music:
Stereo Total – L’amour a 3
Kula Shaker – The Dancing Flea
Kasabian – Pinch Roller
Marc Almond – Saint Judy
The Holloways – Nothing For The Kids
Half Man Half Biscuit – The Song Of Encouragement For Orme Ascent
Eminem – Kill You
Eminem – Kurtis
Bikini Kill – Jet Ski
Big Boi – Bamboo

Powered by a mango smoothie

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I don’t usually eat before I go running in the morning but today decided to have a mango smoothie and hurrah, I actually managed to run to the gym and back without stopping today. First time for everything, yah!

The gym’s still quite busy with new year resolution people (grr, bloody new year resolution people are filling up my body pump class so I can’t book myself onto it) and yoga lady was in there as usual doing strange things on the rowing machine again so when she got on the cross-trainer I wondered if she was going to use it differently to how everyone else does and yes, she went on it backwards without holding on to the sticks. She did it without falling off too.

I found out last week that the flats opposite the gym cost from £220k. Eek, £220k (when they were built, so must be about £300k now) for a two-bedroom flat where you’d have to keep the curtains closed all the time as it overlooks the gym and you’ve got everyone looking at you. You’d need the gym though if you lived there as the gym’s next to Pizza Hut (mmm, pizza!), which is next to KFC (I think, or is it Burger King?) and also it’s opposite the supermarket and the tube, so the furthest you’d ever have to walk is about 100 yards.

B&Q update
Jackie from the installation centre rang on Friday and said the electrician will be round at 8 on Monday and also a plumber will come and replace the toilet seat and fix the squeak then, fingers crossed, it will be all finished.

Aah, a life without B&Q, could it happen? Will Monday be the end of this saga? I still need to write my long letter of complaint though and get some compensation and I still need to get a quote for a replacement kitchen floor that the tossers ripped.

Stats:
Miles: 4.26
Total time: 45:68
Average pace: 10:44 minute/mile
Total calories: 358
Weather: 51F
Weekends without alcohol: 2
Music:
Cardiacs – Eden On The Air
Bjork – Violently Happy
Divine Comedy – Songs Of Love
Daisy Chainsaw – Everything Is Weird
Babes In Toyland – Laugh My Head Off
The Cult – Speed Of Light
The Cure – The Walk
Courtney Love – Zeplin Song
Citizen Fish – Over The Fence
Boomtown Rats – Looking After Number One
The Beta Band – Quiet
Ash – Orpheus
Arctic Monkeys – When The Sun Goes Down
Air – Sex Born Poison
Baby Bird – Eyes In The Back Of Your Head
Cribs – Another Number
Hard-Fi – Cash Machine
Half Man Half Biscuit – See That My Bike’s Kept Clean
Ian Brown – Lions
Kula Shaker – Guitar Man
Stero Total – I Love You Ono
New Model Army – Poison Street
Soft Cell – Fun City
The Young Knives – The Night
Sultans of Ping – Veronica
Straw – Moving To California

No photos

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My camera broke, waa!!! I’d gone out for my Saturday morning run round the marshes and took pics of boats, canoeists, swans, geese, moorhens (I think), a squirrel, pubs and a wreath (eek!), then it broke. It had broke on New Year’s Eve when I dropped it. On the way out, I might add, not after I’d been drinking for hours. But it was sort of fixed but now it’s sort of unfixed itself and my photos are stuck in it. Damn. Casio aren’t going to fix it for me again after last time when they blamed me for breaking it even though I hadn’t broken it. Maybe if I throw it against a wall it will fix itself?

Still, I had a good run and did 4 miles, you’ll just have to take my word that I only stopped for photo emergencies in the form of squirrels and swans.

Stats:
Miles: 4.12
Total time: 49:48
Average pace: 12:05 minute/mile
Average speed: 4.7mph
Total calories: 386
Weather: 55F
Swans: Lots
Geese: Lots
Moorhens: 4
Squirrels: 1
Broken cameras: 1
Shoelaces coming undone: 2
Music:
Soft Cell – Chips On My Shoulder
The Police – Bombs Away
The Police – Next To You
Muse – Supermassive Black Hole
Kula Shaker – Mystical Machine Gun
The Kooks – California
Ian Brown – Can’t See Me
Eminem – Rush Ya Clique
Depeche Mode – Just Can’t Get Enough
The Coral – Bad Man
Citizen Fish – Invisible People
Andre 3000 – Love Hater
Bobby Conn – The Power (of the Addams Family)
Primal Scream – Movin’ On Up
D-12 – I Remember

Deja vu

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Against my better judgment as my left ankle and right knee have been twingeing (is that a word?) a bit the last few days, I went out for a run and my iPod decided to play the same songs as it did last time. Oi, iPod, you’re called Shuffle for a reason, you know! So I skipped through them (even Soft Cell, although one snuck in there later) and went for a 3 mile run. I thought it would be further than last time as I took a slight detour and went past the road I usually go down but because I have a hopeless sense of direction, it turned out to be quicker. I need to get my mileage up and stop thinking, yay, three miles, that’s me done, now I’m going home for my dinner but running past my second favourite Chinese restaurant didn’t help.

Nothing interesting to report, unlike Joggerblogger who yesterday whilst out on his run, had an 80s experience and ran into a flasher. Today he’s taking his camera with him. I would just like to point out that the reason I sometimes take my camera out with me is not in case I run into a flasher. Honest.

B&Q bathroom installation – day 55

Alan from the installation centre rings at 4:15 and says was the toilet seat delivered? I say it’s at my neighbours’ house but they weren’t in last night so I don’t actually have it but it’s in my road. He says it’s getting closer then. He says he’ll ring the fitters and see when they can come to do the light and put the seat on. I say I’ll ring him tomorrow to let him know if I got the seat from the neighbours.

Alan rings back at 4:35 and says the fitters are sending an electrician round first thing on Monday and hopefully he should be able to fit the toilet seat as well. I say well, it’s simple enough, isn’t it? You just unscrew one and screw the other one on, how difficult can it be? Alan says yes well, I’d have thought so but if for any reason he can’t do it, let me know. He says you never know, it may be finished soon.

Yeah, right.

My neighbours weren’t in when I got home from work but, hurrah,, they were in when I got back from my run and now I have my replacement toilet seat. I haven’t checked the box though to make sure it’s a special non-banging one. Hmm.

Stats:
Miles: 3.07
Total time: 35:35
Average pace: 11:35 minute/mile
Average speed: 5.2mph
Max speed: 7.7mph
Total calories: 268
Weather: 55F
Flashers: 0
Replacement toilet seats: 1
Music:
Graham Coxon – All Over Me
Ween – How High Can You Fly
Toyah – You’re A Miracle
Supergrass – Shotover Hill
Stereo Total – Cinemania
Soft Cell – Memorabilia
Pixies – U-Mass
Massive Attack – Lately
Gary Numan – Love Needs No Disguise
Foo Fighters – Enough Space

Yellow fever

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Woke up this morning looking forward to going for a run tonight then got home and thought can’t be bothered then thought that I must banish the phrase can’t be bothered from my vocabulary and to get out there and anyway, I’ve got a new top, and I need to try it out. So I put on my new luminous yellow top and hmm, not sure it’s really my colour but ho hum, at least there’s less chance of me getting run over now, seeing as my winter running kit consists of black, black and more black. Duh. Here’s my nice new yellow top:

I had decided earlier to do my three mile route but then I decided to do my two mile route but then changed my mind again and decided to do the three mile route, then almost changed it again and was going to do even less than two miles but then decided to carry on and do the three miles. And three miles I did. And I didn’t even get much of a breather on the way due to all the traffic lights being on red when I got up to them and cars stopping for me immediately at the zebra crossings. Why doesn’t this happen when I want the lights to be on red when I’m standing waiting to cross the road for ages?

Hard work today though, I think I need some pizza, crisps, chocolate and alcohol for strength. Now Kate’s thinking about joining me in the no alcohol thing ’til the end of January. (Yes I know I said I was giving it up, but forever seems like a long time, so I’ll just see how it goes until the end of January. And if I don’t make it ’til the end of January, I’ll just delete all reference in my blog to not drinking and deny all knowledge of ever having said such a stupid thing.) But she said she’ll have to start on Monday as she’s out tomorrow, then it’s the weekend. We’re going to the pictures on Tuesday, so let’s see if we can go out and not drink, eek!

B&Q bathroom installation – day 53

No card from Parcelforce so Alan at the installation centre must have been lying.

Either that or they only leave a card after three attempts at delivery have failed? Or the driver crashed on the way or maybe my road is the wrong kind of road or something. Or maybe it was just Parcelforce being their usual efficient selves.

Stats:
Miles: 3.13
Total time: 34:38
Average pace: 11:04 minute/mile
Average speed: 5.3mph
Max speed: 8.3mph
Total calories: 278
Weather: 57F
Green lights: 0
Cars not stopping at zebra crossings: 0
Deliveries from Parcelforce: 0
Music:
Bikini Kill – Bloody The Cream
Foo Fighters – Enough Space
Graham Coxon – All Over Me
The Killers
Pixies – U-Mass
Toyah – It’s A Mystery
Ween – How High Can You Fly
The Who – Squeeze Box
Soft Cell – Where The Heart Is

Gym run

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My new alarm clock woke me up this morning with its pretend sunrise but I ignored the pretend sunrise and went back to sleep and didn’t wake up ’til 11:15. Damn, day is gone! I wanted to get up early and run to the gym with my new rucksack and then do gym stuff, run back, then go to the supermarket and hopefully still have the whole afternoon to do productive stuff like surf the net all day. Bah.

But I had to try out my new rucksack so off I went to the gym. I love my new rucksack, it’s so easy to run in, I hardly knew it was there. Although, as much as I love my new rucksack, unfortunately it didn’t have any magical properties to make me run better. I think I seriously overdid the overindulgence and slothlike behaviour over Christmas because my fitness is practically down to zero. Oops. A lot of walking was involved today, especially on the way back from the gym when I made up a new schedule which involved walking to one road, running to the next, walking to the next and so on.

Inspired by Angela, who also has a new rucksack and has posted a pic of it on her blog, here’s a pic of mine:

It’s great. Not enough pockets, as you can’t have too many pockets, but it’s just big enough for the essentials, it’s comfy to run with and it’s black and red, which is always a good thing in my book. Or in my blog, anyway. And it was only £12, bargain! (Cat optional extra.)

I’m going to have to sort this fitness thing out as I’ve entered two races, an 8k in February and a 5 miler in March (which I think is probably about the same distance). Although I didn’t realise at the time, but they’re only a week apart, eek! What are two races in two different months doing being only a week apart? I also have next to me an advert for the British 10k London Run on 1 July. Hmm, tempting.

Now it’s 5 o’clock and the day has definitely gone and all I’ve done is run, gone to the gym and gone to the supermarket and Monday morning is looming. Waa. Still, we get another weekend next week, hurrah!

And now that I’m back from the supermarket, I’m going to pretend to be a domestic goddess and make cranberry cookies.

Stats:
Miles: 4.10
Total time: 52:09
Average pace: 12:43 minute/mile
Average speed: 4.7mph
Max speed: 8.5mph
Total calories: 283
Weather: 50F
Music:
Au Pairs
Toyah
Stereo Total
Soft Cell
Wasted Youth
Killers
Courtney Love
Half Man Half Biscuit
Bobby Conn
Cardiacs

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