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So here we are, more than half way through the first half of the first month of 2013. Where did those 23 days go? Blink and you miss an entire week these days, I honestly feel like I can’t keep up!
I’m once again aware that I have been somewhat neglecting my website; with so many things going on in my life it has tended to get pushed to the bottom of my to-do-list. But I do find writing therapeutic and I love keeping a record of the adventures I share with my lovely extended family so I’m going to resolve here and now to keep it updated on a regular basis… let’s see how I do!
Talking of resolutions… I’ve been thinking about New Year resolutions lately. I decided some time ago that making resolutions at the turn of a new year was somewhat daft. Over the years I’ve made plenty: this year I’m going to get fit/lose weight/stop stressing/be more organised/find a brilliant and enthrawling new job/spend more time doing fun things with my children… and so on. Endless promises to myself that inevitably went by the way side within weeks, days or sometimes just hours of making them.
I remember the year I got married; on New Year’s day I promised myself I would go to the gym at least three times a week in order that I could walk down the aisle a toned size 10. Looking back I think I may have attended the gym half a dozen times that year in total (and I’m probably being generous), and relied instead on my corsetted dress to hold my size 14 self in (and consequently didn’t eat much that day). In the end I finally got down to my covetted size 10 a year after having Eleni and have maintained it (more or less) by eating healthily and in recent times exercising more.
To this day I don’t know where the motivation for that weight loss came from; but it certainly didn’t originate from a New Year resolution. New Year resolutions, as my old Nan used to say (and I think she may have stolen it from Mary Poppins, or maybe Mary Poppins stole it from her?), are ‘pie-crust promises; easily made and easily broken’.
All that said, this January has already thrown up some challenges and changes that require some resolutions on my part. Two weeks ago, and for reasons best known only to my more mental sub-consious, I signed up for the Bath Half Marathon. I did this with just shy of 8 weeks to go before race day and having never run that distance (or anywhere near it) before. As you will know I’ve only ever run 10k races before and I can’t exactly claim to be proficiant at those. But signed up I am, and in aid of St Mungo’s homeless charity, and so training is underway.
You can follow me on Twitter (@beaniebags) for regular updates on my progress, but I will also try to blog about my endevours on here. My training plan, drawn up in consultation with the ever lovely and helpful Darren, should get me up to 10 miles a week before race day. The theory being, if I can get that far in training, the last three miles will just somehow happen. I’m currently in week 3 of training and on Monday I completed an 8.4k (5.2 mile) run on the ‘dreadmill’ having been driven off the roads by the snow and ice. I was pleased with that, and more than that I am pleased with how committed I’ve been to the training schedule.
I’m aiming to complete the half marathon (just over 13 miles) in 3 hours, a conservative time estimate but to be honest I’m focusing more on finishing than beating any time goal. I’m planning to complete the race by running and walking according to a 2:1 ratio. A little bit of research on overcoming the restrictions of my asthmatic lungs uncovered this run/walk regime. It’s actually used by some seasoned marathon runners as it helps eleviate fatigue and rests the legs (since walking uses different muscles to running). Bizzarly I’ve found my times improving since using this technique over and above what I was achieveing by just running.
So there you have it… As I said I’m raising money for St Mungo’s and have set a target of £200 so please dig deep and sponsor me. Even a couple of quid will make a difference. You can sponsor me here: www.virginmoneygiving.com/MichelleSouthby