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So Long, thanks for all the Fish

Well what did you expect me to type? I think there's a EU directive saying I HAVE TO.

Yup, I've jumped ship & moved over to Wordpress,

http://runforthequiet.wordpress.com

you can find all my moaning over there now.


It's been emotional
(well no, but that's another quote)

I am not on Twitter, therefore this is "work" - right?

Ah ok, I am totaly procrastinating.
I'm supposed to be tidying up & hanging washing out & grown up things like that. Instead I'm syncing iPods & Nike+ Gizmos, and admitting April was less than Active.


Despite my best intentions I only ran 14 miles all month. That's a bit rubbish. Although the pace has improved over the months I'm now on average 2 minutes better (per mile) than at the start of the year! and I've broken the 100 miles mark, (currently at 108 miles)

I'm blaming wedding preparation for the lack of running in April & I'm also blaming the wedding for the 7.5 lbs I've put on in about 2 weeks. But with cakes like these at the wedding, could you blame me? (Of course there was lots of testing in April to make sure we had chosen the right flavours)
Well, I've killed 30 minutes typing this naff post & looking through wedding photos, and now it's time to go make Lunch!  Hooray, not a jot of grown up work completed at all today.
Can I switch Twitter back on now?

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)

Active April Begins...

... after this 2nd bowl of chillie. Honest.

So the challenge that was Janathon has left me lazy, who'd have thunk it? I complete a month of daily running only to spend the next 2 months, doing almost naff all.
Seriously, in January I ran 54 miles, and went for 31 runs. If I tell you that I haven't even broke the 100 mile mark for this year*, then you can see, I most certainly have been spending too much time on the couch.

Ok, so I said my rules for Active April would be simple. I also said that I wouldn't be as hardcore as Janathon. One of them will turn out to be a fib, I'm certain.
SO here I go.
I'm aiming to beat my Janathon total, but quicker.
So 54 miles, in under 15 hours of running. And as I didn't run on Saturday, I have fewer runs to do it in anyway. This will hopefully have a two fold result. 1) I'll have to do longer runs, rather than wimping out after a few miles & 2) I'll have to walk less whilst out in order to up my average pace.

I've cleared out the Nike+ app on my phone to make it easier for my sleep deprived and child fuddled head to keep track of where I'm up to.

So far I've ran on the 1st & 3rd, so I'm thinking I'll run on the odd days at least. I'm at 3.2 miles, and at my current pace I'll get to 54 miles about 10 minutes quicker than in Jan!

I'll force myself to post each Monday, in an effort to get some kind of regularity, but I don't think I could manage every day. I'm not certain I'd have anything to add every day. Some of the Janathon posts are very brief & more rambling than ever.

Wish me luck, or call an ambulance.

Maudlin March into ACTIVE APRIL!

I've been miserable for most of March, from sulking on Twitter, to just slumping about the house, moaning, in general. I've ran 5 times in the whole of March, which I'm sure you agree, is a bit pants.
The saddest thing being that if I had ran more, I'd probably been much happier, or a least not got on the nerves of those around me as much, as it's harder to Twitter or sulk at others when you're out the house, running by yourself.

Unfortunately I'm not 12 any more & no one is going to force me to do any exercise, or run the Great Manchester Run or the Run Liverpool Marathon for me. So I'm using the change of the months to force myself to change my head & get out more.

So that's where Active April comes in. I loved liked completed #Janathon this year & so I'm going to make April something, not quite as hardcore, but similar for myself.

I'm not 100% certain on how I'm going to judge myself or the requirements, I think my partner would have a nervous breakdown if I told him I'm going to run every day again, but I have 2 days to work them out ( and I'm open for suggestions)

I've declared to my family I'm running this evening, so he won't get lost in ASDA and arrive home late, so I should have time to work it all out.

Probably.

4.25mi 1hr 3 min

This was a great run. Not because I left a grumpy baby, whiney toddler & a just as grumpy dad at home, that just made the quiet a little sweeter.
No, this was a great run because of many other reasons, I'll list them for you;

1) I ran faster for longer, I didn't maintain the pace all the way, but it was the furthest I've pushed it, EVER EVER EVER!
2) I ran further than I have since May 2010!
3) I ran up a hill & didn't slow or stop at the top!
4) I made up the route & it was the perfect length!
5) I felt great 90% of the way around!
6) I had a banana instead of Milky Way, when I got home!

Oh I could go on & on, and then on a bit more.
It was a day later than scheduled, but I'm glad I waited. I've been suffering from some nasty kind of cold, that's knocked me sideways. The fact that I can't have any drugs, because I'm breastfeeding, didn't improve my Get Well Soon mood. So there's been four days this week where I haven't been able to talk, and a few more where I feel like I've had some small creature burrowing in through my skull.

I'm concerned that I don't feel any kind of sore legs today, in fact I'm felling pretty damn good. (mostly owing to the fact I can put my pants on without undoing buttons, this means I need new pants & am not as fat as I was last time I wore them.) Perhaps this means I could have ran even more? Or am I just being all YEHAA! now I'm starting to feel like a real runner, not some flabby girl joggling about her neighbourhood?