Fancy Some Pink Handmade Socks!

Yes, honestly, I will hand knit, one person, socks using some fabulous pink (& brown) yarn from my GIANT stash!


Why? 
Well why not? Plus & want to take the chance to wave the fact I'm raising money for Refuge in front of lots of people's faces & I'm not one to run in costume or daft things like that.


Enough jabbering on... SHOW ME YARN PORN!
I have to say that my photography skills aren't doing the yarn many favours, but  it is Fabulous.
It's a blend of 75% Superwash Merino & 25% Nylon, hand dyed by The Knitting Goddess. The colour is called Rasperry Ruffle & is actually two different balls of yarn. The main colour is the pink, mixed with darker black / brown streaks & there is also a smaller ball of accent colour in a lovely chocolate brown. This colour is no longer available, as I snapped it up from the shop a while ago & have been keeping the precious in my stash box for a good long while.

What could I make you with this yarn? 
Well there's a good 100g of yarn, so if socks aren't your thing then I'm certain we can come up with something you'd love. Shawls, gloves, hats, pink sheep, you name it, I'll have a go. (although I'll let you know if I think it's all going to look a little wobbly & if I've never tried it before)


Won't I have to wash it weirdly, handknit things are a PITA aren't they?
Nope, the yarn is a super wash & it's brilliant for socks, I was mine on 40 degrees in the washing machine with Ecover and all mine are fine, they may eventually not look as bright as original, as I think the colours do fade, but they don't dissolve or need hand-washing. However hand washing would possible make them last a bit longer. (I don't know I haven't tried)

 What do I have to do to to get my feet into some new socks?
Leave a comment on this post with your predicted time for how fast / slow I will run this years Great Manchester Run, and wish me (& yourself) luck! 
I'd like to shamelessly remind people that I'm also trying to raise pennies for Refuge, so if you have a few odd pennies in your PayPal account I'd be most great full if you could head over to my Just Giving Page & add a few too. There's more of the story about why I'm running for Refuge in this post

This isn't really very running related is it?
No, but if you want I'll send you some sweaty running socks & keep the precious myself.  

Ok, official type stuff.

1. The competition closes at 11am (GMT+1) Sunday 15th May 2011. Posts after that don't count.
2. The person with the closest time to my official "chip" time wins.
3. In the event of a tie, the earliest post wins.
4. I will post to all Europe, and America. If you live some place else, let me know & I'll  get back to you asap.
5. You don't HAVE to donate anything to Refuge, but it'd be nice if you did. (thank you)
6. One guess per person, play nice!

GOOD LUCK!
(If you've got any more questions please ask)

Targets times, training & tempo

Right, this is the post where I throw down some numbers & spend the next few months sweating & puffing & panting & swearing, certainly swearing, to get them.

So through some sort of insanity gripped moment yesterday morning I booked my place in the RunLiverpool Marathon, not only did I book a marathon place I booked myself in the 4hr group. There was method to this madness, I used to do quite a few 25 mile walks / marches as a nipper, they took between 6 & 8 hours, and everyone knows running is twice as fast as walking. Right?)
After a long shower & a goodnights sleep I wake up & start to realise that this may perhaps be a bit ambitious...
On the other hand I have just about 6 months to train for it, and if I'm honest my current running is about 50% walking at the moment, so doubling my pace, means actually running all the time.

Cathy, JogBlog on twitter, and of course author of Jog Blog, pointed me in the direction of Hal Higdon's Marathon Training Schedules and they seem quite simple & straight forwards, as she said on twitter, they have non of the faffy 8x200m tempo rubbish, the sort of stuff I'm guaranteed not to actually do.
So the 18 week program has been logged into my Google calendar (see over there at the top right?)

But before those 18 weeks of swearing stupidity, I have the Great Manchester 10k. As I've quite normally booked myself into the 1hr slot for this, I'm not too worried. After yesterday afternoons run, I just have 12 weeks to double my speed & fitness to reach that goal.
I've found a training plan on the Nike+ site that schedules in a few 8 mile runs, and ends nicely with a 10k, so that's been plugged into the google calendar, and it fits almost perfectly into the time I have, with about a week between the 10k & the 18 Week countdown. perhaps during this week off I'll eat cake & beer? Probably not.

To be honest I've been looking at the pace calculator things you can find online & I'm a bit frightened by the pace they keep throwing out at me. But they are just numbers and I feel like I have nothing to relate them too. So I'm 50/50 on going to go out tonight & doing a mile at the marathon pace, just to put something real behind the figures I keep seeing. And possibly motivate myself to step away from OHMYGODWHATHAVEIDONE?! edge. I know there are a lot of strategies when running marathons, I keep reading things about splits & there are a few calculators that will give you a differing pace for each mile, letting you tailor it to a fast start or sprint finish, but I'm just aiming for an over all steady pace. At least I am right now, I haven't even gotten my trainers on yet!

Anyway I digress...

 TARGET TIMES 2011


            Target          dream  / real   / settle for
Manchester 10k        50min / 55min / 60min
Liverpool Marathon  4 hrs / 4:30 hrs / 5 hrs


Wish me luck?!

Great Manchester Run Round 2

So at 8:30am the web page for the 2011 Great Manchester 10k opened!
and by 8:46am I had a place! Yippee!

This year I have decided to run for Refuge, the women & children's charity against Domestic Violence.
Yes, it does deserve the capital letters, it's a serious issue & it's one that strikes quite close to home for me...
But 1st some facts;
· One in four women is abused during her lifetime.
· One in nine is severely physically abused each year.
· Two are killed each week
·On average, a woman is assaulted 35 times before her first call to the police. 

 I'll give you a moment to lift your chin off the keyboard while the numbers sink in.


Refuge are committed to a world where domestic violence is not tolerated or ignored and where women and children can live in safety. Money raised and donated to Refuge goes towards many things;

• £10 could allow a woman to buy her child essential materials for school – many women arrive at Refuge with nothing but the clothes they are wearing and do not have the means to buy the things they need.
• £50 could fund a session of play therapy for a group of four children, helping them to overcome the trauma of witnessing or experiencing violence.
  
• £72 could pay for two days of fun activities for a group of children in our refuges.
  
• £75 could fund a local support group session for women who have experienced domestic violence.
• £96 could pay for a training workshop for 5 women, helping them to enter the employment market and regain their independence.

Why Refuge?
This year (2011) I turn 30. Yikes, and it's also 15 years since my mother was killed, by her abusive partner. Half my life has been without my Mum, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

The Great Manchester Run isn't until May, 180 days away! I did the last one in 1hr 40min, I was pregnant, but I aim to get this one under an hour!

Wish me luck ( and Sponsor me) Cheers!

Official Race Certificate!

I can't upload the pictures from the site as they were taken by a company called Marathon Photos but you're welcome to go have a sneak at the thumb nails at the Great Run photo site My bib number was 31614.

The more photos I see of me the less photogenic I believe I am... they're all beauts!

10k (1hr 36min 48 sec)

There we go. Taken from the Great Run Results site, you can head over & check up on me if you like!

I took it quite easy & must admit found it quite hard to not to jog much more than the 1st kilometre. I didn't quite manage to get the 1 hour 26 I was aiming for, I put this down to 2 reasons;

1. I needed a wee for the whole 1st 5k, but couldn't see any place to do one, and I wasn't about to wee on the road side bushes, or test the theory that Police men have to let pregnant ladies wee in their hats. Then when I did get to one, just out side Old Trafford, there were queues, so I wasted time there.
2. I just couldn't get my walking pace quick enough without breaking into a full on jog, which the Mid wives told me not to do. I just couldn't seem to get to those KM markers quick enough. 

But still I was 10 min behind target, and thoroughly enjoyed ever moment of the 10k. Perhaps I was a little dissapointed that there were no jelly babbies at the Bupa Boost point around the 8.5km mark. But the cheer & the shout out I got as I crossed the finish line made up for it!

.I am proud to say that I beat both the Monkey & the Lion running near meat the start, but the Giraffe started a  little ahead of me & I just couldn't catch him, must have been those long legs.

I don't have any pictures yet, but as soon as I do I'll get some copies up on the blog.

The Donations website is open another 3 months, so you still have time to head over.

Many Many thanks to the people who have already donated & pledged money. You lovely lovely people...

Kate & Nigel
Lewis Jenko
Stew B
Neil, Vanessa & Catherine @ Fast & Fresh
Daddy & Lily
Lelia, George, Michael & Helen

The Morning Sickness of the Long Distance Runner

The story I've been squeeing about is on page 3 of the Lancashire Evening Post today. The story covers  a full page.

I'm quite amazed at how much attention the fact that I'm running & pregnant has generated to tell truth. I'm sure other mums with 2 or 3 kids have to run around just as much, if not more, as me, only not as officially as I am.

Well it was fun to do the interview & the photos, even if I think I look a bit weird in them.

The link  to the LEP full story is below, please don't forget the whole point of the story was really to help me raise more pennies for Heart Research UK, just let me know if you want to pledge, I'll add you to the running total (PUN!)

The Morning Sickness of the Long Distance Runner

6km (1hr :07 min)

You know I think I've lost my Nike+ gizmo, so the distance was worked out with Google map & the time was done via the timer on my phone. Yeah Dead accurate I know, but I'm on a tight schedule here I just need to move my bottom & get these KM done so I've got time to not be red faced & huffy when I get to nursery. Well, less huffy & red.

took me just over an hour to Jog / walk around the 6k, giving a pace of around 11 min. Not going to put me at the start of the pack is it?!

So it's quite weird doing all running & stuff when you don't quite balance the way you thin you should! and I'll admit I'm much slower than I could go,but then if I'm out of breath then Jelly bean is out of breath & I really don't want that to happen.

Yes it feels a bit gutting to have flogged myself & made myself do all that horrid running in the wet & cold november / december only to think I'm just going to waddle the whole way around.

Right off to get the 1st born from her day of destruction & chaos at nursery!

Sponsor me the Traditional way. (sort of)

Ok, so not everyone wants to use the clicky links & put card details into the internet & while I'm certain no one REALLY thinks I'll fail, some people prefer to be traditional & pledge the money & then donate after the event is actually completed.

It's no secret that I'm rubbish with bit of paper & I'm quite nervous about loosing an actual sponsor form, so of you'd prefer to sponsor me the traditional way, then please do so.

Either, add a comment either below or through the Facebook thingy on the left, you don't need your full name I'll work out who's who. Or drop me a txt, and email, a message on Facebook & I'll add your name to the virtual sponsor form! If you pledge a specific amount the Virgin site lets me add the pledge to the running total & will even work out how much Gift Aid you'll be adding too!

THANK YOU!

Look what I've gone & done now...

At 8:30 am this morning The BUPA Great Manchester Run on line registration opened...
At 8:36 am I was 2248 in the queue!

So, longish story shortened, after about 20 min in the virtual queue I was paid up & registered! omg omg OH MY GOD!!

Please please donate a few pennies & sponsor me!


 Well as I've not ran since before the snow, I better get my trainers on & get moving!