Category: Juneathon

Pebbles and headless pigeons

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I got dragged out to the beach today. Never mind that I had a hangover and it was freezing and raining out, or that I wasn’t even dressed and had gone back to bed, apparently I had no choice in the matter and so to the beach we went.

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There was a plaque dedicated to a man who got a gold medal for WALKING 50km in the Olympics. A gold medal for walking? Flipping heck. I can walk, I don’t expect to be given a gold medal for it though. Lazy sod.

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Despite it being freezing and raining, because I was at the beach, I had to have an ice cream. A White Magnum to be precise.

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And just like me having my obligatory ice cream at the beach despite the weather, there was the obligatory family sitting on a rug having a picnic, determined to have fun no matter how minging the weather is.

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I did pick up some pretty pebbles though.

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And saw a headless pigeon.

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Stats
Beaches: 1
Lazy sods getting gold medals for walking at the Olympics: 1
White Magnums: 1
Families determined to have fun on the beach: 1
Pretty pebbles: 5
Headless pigeons: 1

Steveathon

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I don’t know how it started but I ended up on Twitter talking to Cassie and decided that for yesterday’s Juneathon, I would go into town and take photos of fit men. Unfortunately, I forgot that I live in Ashford and there aren’t any fit men so after a couple of fruitless hours wandering about, I decided that I would take photos of men called Steve instead, because most men are called Steve, aren’t they? And I found lots of Steves – I even found a Sven too. Cool.

If you’re my friend on Facebook, you can see the photos there. Otherwise, you’ll just have to imagine what the Steves looked like.

I’ll post the photos of the nice cars though. I decided I wanted to marry the owner of the red one.

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Stats
Pretty cars: some
Steves: lots

A ride to see a puppy

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I was FORCED out on my bike today. I didn’t want to go out, I wanted to stay in but I was persuaded by the thought that the puppy might be in the farm shop and as Shaun wouldn’t phone them for me to check, I had to go and find out for myself.

And the puppy was there, yay. It’s a cute little thing. It’s going to stay little, too, as it’s a Jack Russell/Chihuahua cross.

I didn’t get a photo of the puppy as I didn’t have my camera or phone with me but after I’d been to the farm shop I went home and got my camera as I saw that a close near me was having a Jubilee party with a bouncy castle and everything.

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And the flats next door were looking patriotic too.

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And I saw some nice flowers.

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Stats
Distance: 3.8 miles
Time: 33:31 (forgot to turn my Garmin off when I was in the shop)
Puppies: 1
Bouncy castles: 1
Flats covered in bunting: 1
Nice flowers: 2

I walked to the pub, it counts–honest

11 comments

Dudes, I walked to the pub. I asked on Twitter if it would count and everyone said YES and no one said no, so, HA! I Garmined my walk to the pub.

Running 02-06-2012

If it makes you feel any better, it was raining when we left the pub and we had to stand in the road for AGES getting wet while I waited for my Garmin to get a signal.

Meh.

Oh, and I can’t remember who said yes, walking to the pub counts but only if you do a press-up on the bar when you get there, but I did do a press-up. I have photographic evidence and everything.

pub 001

Stats

Distance: 0.01 miles
Time: 11 seconds
Pubs: 1
Press-ups: 1
Pubs stood outside in the rain trying to get a signal: 1
Juneathons done 2/2

Walking down the stairs counts, honest

4 comments

I knew I was going to fuck up the first day of Juneathon. I’ve been in uni all week AND the bastards made us go in for 10am every day (it was originally 9am but we were all like ‘HUH?’) and yesterday was our second last official day of the first year.

I’M NO LONGER A FIRST YEAR STUDENT! I want to cry. I don’t want to be a second year. I want to stay being the baby of the uni (albeit the second oldest student there).

Anyway, we had all planned to go to lunch after the last class and then I said to my fellow student, ‘fancy a pint’? and, um, a pint led to about four more and then I realised that, shit, I hadn’t Juneathoned, and so when I came back with some drinks and got moaned at for forgetting the straws (I’m sorry, I forgot we’re twelve years old and need straws with our drinks), I decided to go back downstairs and get the straws and this would count as Juneathon.

Yeah, Juneathon status = APPROVED.

After having about twenty-three ‘just one more’ drinks in the pub, I wobbled back to Ashford and because Shaun was out in Wingham or Wickham or something like that and I wanted people to drunkenly ramble on to, I nipped into the pub opposite the house to see if anyone I knew was in there and when I got near the pub it was REALLY LOUD and I thought yay and inside were lots of people in fancy dress, including this rather fine young man wearing some green paint and not much else.

Even the landlord was happy.

And I met the man who was only wearing some shorts and green paint’s mum.

I’m assuming walking back to the pub later counts for today’s Juneathon?

Stats
Summer schools: 1
End of first years at uni: 1
Lunches: 1
’Just one more’ drinks: about twenty-three
Pubs nipped into on the way home: 1
Men wearing green paint and not much else: 1
Happy landlords: 1
Men with wigs and tits: 1

Juneathon starts tomorrow!

3 comments

Yes, Juneathon is here again. Hurrah. BUT WHERE IS EVERYBODY? There are about 80 fewer people than there have been for the last couple of years – are you all slacking? Have you forgotten what month it is tomorrow?

Fear not, there’s still time to sign up.

Off you go then, I’m going to give you a direct link to the entry form and everything so you can bypass that scruffy bunch on the home page.

JUNEATHON ENTRY FORM

You do know there’s a picnic at the end for everyone? AND we go to the pub after?

I’ll think of some more incentives later.

Stats
Juneathon participants so far: 159
Slackers: about 80
Picnics as incentives: 1
Pubs as incentives: 1
Incentives I’ll think of later: FLIPPING THOUSANDS OF THEM

Ashford 5k Summer Series report

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And so… on the 31st day of Juneathon, I cycled to the gym, did twenty minutes on the rowing machine, fifteen minutes on the stationary bike, a forty-five minute body pump class, cycled back home, submitted a story for a local event, started writing an article for submission to a magazine, went downstairs to read a book in the conservatory where I promptly fell asleep as it’s so warm in there, got woken up when Shaun came in who asked if I still wanted to do the 5k, as he didn’t really want to do it as he was knackered from cycling to and from work all week, but I wanted to do it because it was local and because I’ve never done a properly measured 5k before and because it was a lovely sunny evening and it was being held in a nice park and so we drove over to the park where there was a girl in her underwear and men doing stretches and things, i.e. proper athletes, and so I held off from entering as there were only a few people there and after seeing the results for Staplehurst 10k where the final finisher finished in only 1 hour and 12 minutes, I was scared I’d be last but we paid our entry fee and the race director said to me oh Cathy, we’ve got the medals now if you want one and I said for the Hamstreet race? and he said yes and I thought how does he know who I am and I said did you see it on my blog? and he said yes, it’s a good blog and I said thank you and thought, yay, I’m famous and then Shaun wanted to go to the toilet but the toilets were closed even though the race organisers had organised for them to be open and so we drove back home again and went to the toilet then drove back to the race and there were a couple of women carrying pink water bottles and I thought surely I can beat women who carry pink water bottles round a 5k and I set Cedric to pace me for 11 minute miles although I thought this was probably a bit optimistic, given my current running speed and we all walked up to the start and I said to Shaun I think it’s a couple of laps round the park and a man next to us said yes, it’s a couple of laps and I said I’ll follow you then if you know the way, how fast do you go and he said oh, only 17 minutes and I think only? and I say, I’m not following you then and then the race started and it started on a nice downhill bit and everyone sprinted off and then I slowed down and fell into a consistent pace and I kept ahead of Cedric all the way and there were marshals in all the right places except for the one in the middle of the slightly slopey bit really big hill as I don’t like to walk past marshals and so I had to run up the really big hill so as not to look like a lightweight in front of the marshal and the last two miles were spent behind a man who seemed to be plodding gently along and I overtook him for a bit then with .4 miles to go he steamed ahead of me for his final sprint and I thought I’m not going to try and catch you up as that really big hill is just around the corner and as I get to the hill for the second and final time one of the women with the pink water bottles is just behind me and I think fuck, I’m going to be beaten by a woman with a pink water bottle and I wonder if I sprint off will she decide to  pick me off and sprint past me and I get to the final downhill bit and I run and I run and I run and I get through the finish line and a man puts a medal round my neck and I’ve done my fastest 5k ever ever ever and I go and get a Jaffa Cake and say to Shaun shall we go now and he says let’s wait for the prizes shall we? there can’t be many more to finish and the last finisher comes in and we go to the prize-giving thingy and the race director gives the prizes to the overall winners and then he gives out the prizes to the category winners and he calls Shaun’s name out and I give a sharp intake of breath and Shaun says what? who? me? really? and the race director says yes, you and so Shaun goes and gets his prize which is a bottle of wine and although he hates wine he says I can’t have it because he won it and he’s never won anything before and then we go home very very happy.

Stats
Distance: 3.19 miles
Time: 31:16
Pace: 9:48 m/m
Calories: 336
Days of Juneathon: 31
PBs: 1
Prize winning boyfriends: 1
People very happy: 2

Prime in my prime

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Following yesterday’s mug and bowl dilemma (which didn’t happen today as my mug and bowl matched perfectly in doggy harmony),

today, upon looking at the table of doom (I’m not sure who coined that term, but thank you), I was in a bit of a quandary. I had 71 miles down, Hal wanted me to do 4.5 which would have taken me up to a nicely rounded 75 but I have a race tomorrow and didn’t want to be too tired for it (not that it makes a difference. Last is last, no matter what time you do it in). I did have it in my head to beat Travelling Hopefully (purely in a ‘girl in front of me in a race that I’ve chosen to pick out and overtake’ kind of way) as she was on 73 miles but I didn’t know how many miles she was going to do today.

The ‘overtaking Travelling Hopefully’ plan was further thwarted by Cassie popping up on Twitter to say she’d Juneathoned. Aha! I thought. I can casually ask how many miles she’s done and then do more and she will never know that I’ve set out to beat her.

‘I did 3 miles but I haven’t logged for ages. I think I’ve done 101 so far.’

Well, that buggered up my plan then, didn’t it?

Bah.

I get very discombobulated when plans go awry (as you may have noticed from yesterday’s post) and so I sulked for a bit on Twitter until thereisasixpackunderhere popped up and said I could do 73 miles as that’s a prime number.

I wasn’t very keen on this as I don’t like odd numbers (although 75 is an odd number, but at least it’s a nice round odd number) but then I thought to myself that as ‘prime’ is a euphemism for ‘old’ (i.e. someone over 40) and therefore I am in my prime (i.e. old), at least it will make a good blog title and so 73 it was to be.

First though, I had to go and investigate what exactly a prime number was. Wikipedia told me that it was a number over 1 that can’t be divisible by anything other than itself. Hmm, surely that’s all odd numbers then, I thought as I went through a quick list of odd numbers in my head. So, off I went back to Wikipedia’s list of prime numbers and lo! I didn’t have to go far through the list until I got to number 9 and even I know that that can be divided by 3. Go me, master mathematician.

So, having got the ‘what the fuck is a prime number?’ question sorted, I set off for my last Juneathon run. As I was only doing two miles, I decided to do Audiofuel’s Pyramid Max 180 intervals and as there’s two miles of closed off road just over the road, that was the perfect place to do it.

And so that’s the end of Juneathon 2011 (except I’ve got a race tomorrow so June for me this year would appear to have 31 days in it).

Thank you to everyone who’s taken part and made it what it is: a brilliant supportive community of bloggers, making Juneathon whatever they want it to be.

I’m sure you all know who’s ‘won’ this year, as he got to finish a day ahead of us, what with him being in Australia and that. Usually, that would put someone at a disadvantage, as then we’ve got time to catch up, but as he’s 144 miles ahead of the runner in second place, I’m not sure this will happen.

So, well done Auswomble, 404 miles is amazing! 

As for me, I jogged, logged and blogged every day. Ok, so a couple of ‘runs’ were round the garden (not in my dressing gown this time; one of the times was even in my running kit), and quite a few runs were only .75 miles but I’ve hardly ever run two days in a row, let alone 30, so I am quite pleased with that.

Look, my SportTracks calendar is all filled in

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unlike January’s, where I was a bit of a slacker.

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I don’t want this blog post to end, as then I will feel like Juneathon really is over. Boo hoo.

Oh well, here come the

Stats
Distance: 2.01 miles
Time: 22:08
Pace: 11 m/m
Calories: 211

Juneathon totals:
Running
Days: 30/30
Distance: 73.2 miles
Time: 15.2 hours

Cycling
Distance: 64.3 miles
Time: 6.9 hours

Cross-training
Time: 4.7 hours

Total (from SportTracks, seem to be a bit different than RFO)
Distance: 141.57
Time: 27:02:44
Calories: 11,476

Bananas, bowls and belligerence

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We have riveting conversations in this house. Like, who gets to eat the last banana? I said it should be me because I was going to the gym and needed a banana smoothie beforehand and Shaun thought it should be him because he eats the exact same food items every single day, except for his evening meal, where he usually gets something different every single day, as I do most of the cooking.

But then I remembered my new animal bowls and so I thought ‘aha, I can have cereal and use one of my new bowls, hooray’ and so I relented and let Shaun have the last banana.

So, this morning, after I’d had my tea, I merrily skipped off to the kitchen to choose which animal bowl I was going to use.

Aarrgghh, dilemma! Because there’s been a huge demand for pig and cat bowls, Shaun couldn’t get me a full set, and so I didn’t have the corresponding pig bowl to go with the pig mug I had already used for my tea

 

but as I have all my animal mugs lined up in a row on the kitchen windowsill, I looked to see what tomorrow’s mug will be (they get used in the order they are on the windowsill, with no deviation allowed; accidental deviation occurred a few weeks ago and we couldn’t come to an agreement on how to reset the system; I wanted to start again from the beginning,  Shaun said I should, the following week, skip the one I had used twice. [A photo has been taken  now of the order they’re in and no more deviation can take place]) and tomorrow’s mug is the dog mug

and hurrah, one of the two new bowls was the dog bowl (it has just occurred to me that tomorrow I will be eating out of a dog bowl, hmm)

and so although today was quite stressful what with having to eat my cereal out of a horse bowl

when I’d drunk my tea out of a pig mug, at least equilibrium will be restored tomorrow.

Phew.

Luckily there were no more dilemmas to tax my brain on the way to the gym (although my jaw dropped a bit as I overtook a woman yelling at her daughter that she was a ‘thickhead’) and I got there early and went on the rowing machine and a fake-tanned peroxide-headed girl came in wearing sunglasses. Not normal glasses that react and might have gone dark in the bright light but proper big oversized chavvy ones. Still wearing her oversized sunglasses, she plonked her oversized handbag on the floor, laid down on the exercise mat, did about three sit-ups, got up, picked up her bag and wandered off.

I did my spin class with a surprising amount of energy (must be true what they say then about needing fuel to exercise), then got on the treadmill to do Thru the Gears and managed to go faster and faster right ‘til the very end (ok, the very end is only about 13 minutes away from the beginning but I usually slack off and walk for a bit before speeding up again).

After I’d finished on the treadmill, I went back into the changing rooms where there were two young boys about five years old sitting on the bench. I was cycling back in my gym gear so it wasn’t much of a problem, although I wasn’t completely happy about there being young boys in there. But if I had wanted to get changed, I’d have had to go into a cubicle as I wouldn’t have wanted to strip in front of them. When I got home, I asked on Twitter if people thought it was ok to have boys in the changing room and 99% said yes (unsurprisingly, they were all female parents) and although the majority were against me, the more I thought about it, the more I thought no, they shouldn’t have been there. My gym has brilliant facilities and there is a crèche for them to use and as children don’t go in the gym, if they’d been in the swimming pool, then they should have used the swimming pool changing rooms which are communal and no nudity is allowed outside the cubicles. So, if these parents think it’s ok for young boys to be in a room where there are women changing, it must be ok for their young daughters to also be in a room where there are men changing? I’m pretty sure most blokes wouldn’t want to strip off in front of a five year old girl.

Weird.

Stats (cycling)
Distance: 5 miles
Time: 30 minutes
Speed: 10mph

Rowing machine
20 minutes

Spin
Time: 45 minutes

Treadmill
Distance: 1.22 miles
Time: 14:31

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