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Showing posts from December, 2017

I almost forgot...

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Happy New Year, when it comes. I'll be dressed as Stitch, beer in hand, bouncing round to ace music. Here's to 2018 being a shit load better than 2017. Love Gx

Run Fatboy, Run.

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Chester:  https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2406336360 It's that horrible time between Christmas and New Year. That epoch of cheese and wine and chocolate and everlasting Sundays. Where nobody knows what day it is and, quite frankly, we're all too fat to care. I have fully immersed myself in the festive spirit (and spirits). I feel like a blimp on legs and I have to run today.  In the main, because tonight is Hogmanay and I'm having my last night of proper excess before the marathon. Last year I stopped drinking for 5 months. It was really hard, up until the point that it wasn't. Can't even remember when that was, but it was the best decision I've ever made to improve my own mental health. By the grace of all that's holy (and the lets just take a minute to count the blessings of incredibly well made kit by Brooks) I mould myself into my kit and I get outside. I'm running along the cycleway in Chester - it's pretty flat...ish - and

Christmas Eve aka Hello Darkness, my old friend.

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Run Details:  https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2393953422 I have never  had to give myself that many pep talks to get my fat arse out the front door before. I spent 30 minutes trying to convince myself that my mum needed me to stay for help with the Christmas dinner prep. That was given short shrift by my mother. Very short shrift. The nerves I felt dissipated as soon as that familiar "ping" signalling that a GPS signal had been found, emanated from my Garmin. Everything was fine, till I got past the next house and hit the "breeze" head on. I did a loop of the village, it was 1.89miles - absolutely bugger all to write home about, really. But I did it. Didn't enjoy it, but didn't die. So, there's a bonus. Maybe the next one will be better.  Bloody hope so. Gx

The Fear

According to my Garmin Connect account, I haven't run at all  since 2nd October 2016.  That day I ran 5 miles to and from the gym at Ainslie Park. I still remember it as being the single most miserable experience of my exercising life.  So much so, that I gave my Garmin away. Never wanted to see it ever again.  At the start of 2017, I started weight lifting and boxing and Muay Thai and it was bloody brilliant. I found a strength that I didn't know I had. Feeling strong is literally the best feeling ever, closely followed by how good it feels to be told by your instructor knee him in the stomach as hard as you can.   Fast forward less than a year and I'm going to give all that up (because I'm pretty injury prone at the best of times) and start running again. Tomorrow,  I'm going for my first run in over a year. I'm not sure my legs work in that way anymore.  I'm pretty nervous, tbh, which is daft as I'm not going far, but I've s

Basil Exposition.

I'm still not entirely sure why I suggested to my colleagues and friends that I thought running a marathon was a good idea. I was sober at the time, so can't blame it on a bout of Cabernet Sauvignon induced gallus-ness. As the saying goes, it escalated very quickly from there. Next thing I knew, my boss was talking about how he wanted to run marathon before his next "BIG BIRTHDAY" and thought running VLM2018 was the best idea we'd ever had. He's run marathons before, therefore knows exactly what he's letting himself in for. In my view he's doubley crazy. Then I mentioned it to one of my best friends, Calum - a man who never would never knowingly let me undertake a hair-brained scheme on my own - and he immediately said he wanted to run too. I'm surrounded by lunatics. But we're lunatics together, which makes us the best kind, eh? Gx

Introductions

Who the hell am I? Hi. I'm Gail. I'm 38 and I live in the beautiful city of Edinburgh. I like wine, steak and sitting on my fat backside whilst arguing on the incredible edible internet (via the medium of Twitter). What the hell am I doing? I will be running the Virgin London Marathon on Sunday 23rd April 2018 to raise money for Parkinson's UK. Why the hell am I doing this? My grandfather had Parkinson's, it was the force that trapped him in his body whilst his mind was sharp as a blade. It was the evil spirit that stripped him of who he was. It was what ultimately killed him. Why the hell should you sponsor me? In my opinion, every £1 that is raised for Parkinson's UK which could mean that prospects are brighter for those in the future, is invaluable. However, I completely understand that everyone has massive financial pressures and fully appreciate that you may need more of an incentive than that to part with your cold hard earned cash. Honestl