What a sporting year

I'm just watching the Sports Personality of the Year awards and looking up at my half marathon medal. In case you hadn't noticed it's been the ultimate sporting year.

Dear grandchildren,

I was in London for the olympics, and I went to them and saw Federer playing on Wimbledon centre court, Ellie Simmonds winning a gold medal, and the prime minister handing out medals. 

Ellie was here

And a girl who came from a city I will always love, my university town, won the heptathlon with style and grace.

Jess Ennis in Sheffield

It was incredible. The atmosphere in London became so joyful and united that people actually talked and smiled at each other on the tube [they definitely won't believe that bit!] and I got to walk passed the olympic rings and then paralympics agitos on Tower Bridge every single day.

I even made friends with the creepy mascot!

In the same year, Andy Murray won the US Open and I stayed up with my sister in a sports bar to watch it happen...then I crawled in to work the next day still grinning.

My favourite sport, my favourite player

And before the Olympics even happened Bradley Wiggins (Wiggo the great) had already won the Tour de France, something people said an English man would never do. And Andy Murray had got in to the Wimbledon final. We cried when he made that final and we cried with him when he didn't win. 

The other hero in yellow

Finally, dearest grandkids, that summer I ran. I stuck to a training plan and I ran until I could run 13.1 miles. Then I did what every fat girl dreams of, I got a half marathon medal and I became a runner.

In my own yellow vest, hands off Wiggo

Run to the Beat half marathon round up

So five whole weeks ago tomorrow I got up in the morning and ran a half marathon.

It was one of the toughest things I've done and I still feel a bit burnt out when I think about running, mainly because every agonising second still remains crystal clear in my mind....

(warning, this is a long post!)

The 28th October came round and it was cold. Today was the day winter decided to declare itself and I wasn't really ready. The only running leggings I have are knee length (I've since bought a full length thick "winter" pair!) and I had to wear the thin, and oh so attractive, bright yellow t-shirt the people at Nike had sent me as my top layer. Although I had a long-sleeved t-shirt underneath it was still cold enough that I made the journey to The Dome wearing my baggy old yoga trousers and a thick jacket over the top.

After taking off my outer layers and dropping off my bag as late as possible (badly organised bag system considering this is a £45 race, but I'll come back to that) I made my way to my start pen - the 2:00 - 2:30 time group. I can honestly say I wasn't nervous at this point, just cold, SO cold. My biggest worry was that I would have to have lots of toilet stops if the cold kept up - for the science fans when it's cold your blood vessels contract to get away from the skin surface which increases the pressure of blood filtering through your kidneys = you need the loo more!

Anyhow our group shuffled across the line to some pounding music (this was Run to the Beat after all). I (sadly) made a mental note that I was the largest (heaviest) looking girl there, because I like to torture myself with such thoughts (bad habit), although it kind of made me feel proud that I knew I was just as fit and prepared as any of these slim ladies.

The first 3 miles really went something like this in my head:
"So cold!"
"Must speed up, feel very sluggish."
"No, can't do speed, too cold."
"Ok let's just hope it gets warmer."
"Keep moving, movement makes warm."

There wasn't much scenery and the music stages were far enough apart that there wasn't much to think about apart from the cold between. But I got to just passed 3, started to warm up and there was a hero-lady cheering her head off with a sign reading: "GO RANDOM RUNNER!" which brought a massive grin to my face.

From there the run got a bit more interesting (and warmer) as we did a U-loop into the old Woolwich docks and passed some nice old buildings and the Woolwich royal artillery museum. However, as we came back to the 4 mile sign I noticed something...a hill. I'd faced a couple of hills in my Moor Park 10k the last two years so I knew I could get up it at a steady pace, but little did I realise this hill was a  mile-long hill! In the end the only thing that kept me going was repeating the mantra "earn mile 5, earn mile 5".

At mile 5 we reached the top of the hill and had a water station and another stage with some bhangra drummers at the top. The sixth mile was blissfully flat and I managed a great 10k time of 1:05:31. From then on things got, erm, orange to dark orange....as the map of my pace shows...

the wind down

I got to nearly mile seven and turned the corner to a lovely steep downhill...and then turned the corner to a horrific, again steep, uphill. A woman next to me at this point just went "SH*T". Following that I plodded on but honestly never really felt comfortable again.

At the mile nine marker we entered Greenwich Park and the music got significantly better, as well as the stages being closer together. This got me to the mile 10 marker, where I walked/hobbled a bit, then I saw the 2:30 pacers run passed and thought OH NO YOU DIDN'T, there was a hill and I ran flat out down it to get passed those pacers, fortunately at the end I saw my work cheer team (there to cheer people running for the charity I work at) which massively lifted my spirits. My colleagues were just before the 11 mile marker and I yelled "hi!", grimaced grinned and waved at them all as i went passed.

A few minutes later and there was another no-stages, no-scenery stretch and all my energy disappeared. This was probably my lowest point. I felt tired, hungry, cold, I just wanted to bloody finish, I thought I would cry, then I thought I didn't have the energy to cry, so I just walked. Half a mile later and I saw the 12 mile marker coming up and realised this was it, this was the last mile, and I had to run it. 

Forcing myself to run again was just horrible pain, but as I turned the final corner and saw the crowd around the finish line I knew I was going to make it. Next thing I knew four of my friends jumped out in front of me and I high-fived them as I used every last bit of energy to keep running to the finish line. At this point I was just floating in some other place.

Is that a finish line or am I hallucinating?

Finally, 2 hours and 33 minutes later, I crossed the finish. A sense of disbelief flooded through me as I got my medal. I wanted to cry, I wanted to hug my friends! However I wouldn't be seeing my friends for another hour or so (don't read on if you want to avoid grumpy Katie)...

Nike error one - getting timing chips that runners have to reach down and unlace their trainers to give to you - I hate to think how many runners nearly fainted reaching down to do this minutes after crossing the finish line, I thought I was going to.

Nike error two - totally understaffing the bag drop so that runners have to stand still for 30 minutes, queuing in a cold shed to wait for bags. I actually saw a girl faint in the queue, she came around quickly but then sat there clutching her head for several more minutes, luckily her friends were with her because the St John's ambulance crew took some time to get through - I really hope she recovered ok.

Eventually I got home, and got to the restaurant near my flat where my friends were waiting and ate some AWESOME food.

Since the race I have done two things:
1. Bought warmer running kit
2. Decided never to enter a Nike organised race again (their British 10k was also badly organised)

However I want to finish on a positive note and just say how proud I am of myself and even though it was painful I know it is something I want to do again, and do better (maybe even a marathon one day? We'll see).

Run to the beat half marathon

Possibly the hardest thing I've ever done.

I am so happy I have done this for myself. I never thought I'd be proud in my physical abilities but today I'm proud of both my fitness and determination.

I remember a friend running the Sheffield half marathon when we were at uni and I thought "that is something I will never do". I hadn't run a single step in my life. I was overweight and lived my third year between soaring highs and horrible lows of emotion, making me comfort eat which, on top of the stereotypical student drinking, meant I was overweight and completely unfit.

I am still overweight, but today I had enough fitness to get myself around a 13.1 course and with a respectable time. I can't express what it means to me when I look back at that frustrated and unhappy third year student, or even to the girl who did my masters course. I really feel running has brought me a strength and confidence that I never had before, it's had a therapeutic value beyond measure - I original thought when I finished this race I would feel like "Ha! Take that haters!" but I find I simply don't care anymore. I've run over and passed everyone who ever told me I was fat, everyone who took the piss when I couldn't physically achieve something. And now I only have a deep sense of pride and contentment in myself.

It only took me 2 hours 33 minutes to gain a lifetime's worth of self-belief.

Ran 9 miles

Now my legs hurt.

Why not 10?

Because there are blood blisters EVERYWHERE. Literally covering my entire body.

Ok so there is one on either foot.

Thanks new trainers that cost me £90, thanks a lot.

P.s. I did not stuff my face with scones today so today was actually a good day and I'm happy apart from the gross blisters. So gross (never had blood blisters before these shoes).

No 10 miles today

Bit annoyed because today was going to be *the day* and now tomorrow will have to be *the day*. Various events conspired to stopping me from running, including the fact it got dark and cold and after leaving a warm pub and by colleagues having drinks I couldn't convince myself to run more than 3 miles.

*sigh*

Anyway. Today's Monday weigh in is 189lbs.

And this week's rainbow plan looks like this:

Monday - 2 miles run (walk 2 miles home because I've forgotten oyster card, great)

Tuesday - 10 miles

Wednesday - rest 

Thursday - 5 miles

Friday - rest (I'm counting money for a work event)

Saturday - rest or cross

Sunday - 10 miles...one week to HALF MARATHON

Wardrobe clear out

I recently had to dress smartly for a serious meeting day we had at work and came to the conclusion...I can't.

This wasn't just a reflection of my discomfort in wearing "smart" clothes (I've always worked in casual offices) but due to the fact I've actually lost a stone/14lbs since I started this job and the smart clothes I bought when I was doing the interview rounds last year simply look baggy and so not particularly flattering. I eventually had to wear a smart black dress with a safety pin in the back to make it look reasonably fitted!

So today I'm having a clear out. And WOW do I have a lot of clothes to get rid of. And although half of me is happy how far I've come and the fact I've shrunk out of these clothes the other half is a bit like "erm...I have no clothes!".

The thing is I'm kind of in-between sizes and don't want to do a big shop until I've definitely gone down another size. At the moment I'm a size 16/14 on top and a 18/16 on bottom, I have no idea where I'll be eventually but being a definite 14 and 16 for now would be nice. Maybe I'll end up a 12 and 14 but that would be the "dream" situation, also fitting any trousers in Topshop's "tall" section (because you're not allowed to be both tall and fat in Topshop) would be cool.

So for now I'm going to leave off shopping til I've shrunk further and Ebay/chairty shops here I come!

Would you get a few items at an "in-between" weight or wait until you've lost some more?

I love London (sometimes)

I was thinking about not getting my five miles in today. Stomach still hurt from yesterday, blister hadn't gone down completely, but I knew I had to run so I did what I always do when I'm in that mood.

I put on my running clothes.

Because once the clothes and trainers are on you're basically so plagued with guilt that you have to leave the house...well, that's what I find.

And I am SO glad I went out. The Southbank put on its best face - glorious landmarks, happy friends and tourists wondering about, the air filled with buskers' songs and the crisp chill of Autumn. The five sub-10 minute miles! (miracle!)

a rubbish shot of a bridge, it's really all like BAM! I'M A BEAUTIFUL LANDMARK

Until recently I was having a bad patch with London, we weren't really speaking. I was beating up it's streets and London was steadfastly ignoring my efforts.

I think I didn't want to accept that it was autumn when there hadn't been a proper glorious London summer. And on top of that feeling, my brain recently acknowledged that the summer where I met an American boy, and the summer when he left town, was over. I can't say I was madly in love or he was "the one" or any of that crap but he made me laugh, and also made me think. He was just one of those special people that maybe it's only better to know for a short time so they always remain unique and amazing in your mind.

But I feel with Autumn properly making its mark now, London has returned to being my London, and not the slightly whirlwind London that I shared with him for a bit. And I always did like my London.

Yep I definitely did run nine miles

And even dailymile thinks I'm wicked cool.

even though I didn't log one training run

And the running has evened out my cake eating habits last week so my current weight is 189.8lbs

Unfortunately today the gods have decided to punish me for trying to have a vegan week to make up for eating crap last week (or maybe I just didn't cook some beans well enough...) and I'm stuck at my home with my stomach sounding and feeling a bit like a full percussion section gone mental (I keep thinking of Holst's Mars). This has happened before with bean burgers, I thought I would be ok this time with a new recipe, but I've learned my lesson, no more homemade bean burgers ever again, bleurgh.

I'd love to move on to a more positive note now but actually I'm going to complain about my blisters and left knee pain...I have them. Maybe new trainers weren't broken in enough to handle nine miles? Anyway I've shuffled round my exercise this week to give my feet and knee a day of less resistance. So this weeks rainbow plan looks a bit like this:

Monday - rest day

Tuesday - aqua aerobics (I'll reassess whether my stomach feels up to this later)

Wednesday - Street Dance + 5 mile run (again I might leave out the street dance depending on stomach)

Thursday - rest 

Friday - 5 mile run

Saturday - some form of cross training

Sunday - 10 mile run - prepare for an "omg I ran 10 miles post" ;)

New name

I stumbled upon a new running blog today, and although my first thought was "oh, handy blister advice from a runner", my second was "great name". 

The thing I've realised about some of my favourite blogs (see list to the right) is that their name immediately tells you what they're about. 

And so I had this vision of people coming to my blog (it could happen...I'll pretend it could happen) and thinking "erm, why is she calling herself a goat?". Which is kind of fair enough when there is no me there to say "it's my surname, no really".

I also always wanted this blog to look at something that drained my confidence throughout my teenage years and, if I'm honest, something that I used my weight to mask - my height.

It's that feeling of being "big" that I really want to tackle. That feeling of "I could lose all the weight in the world and I'll still take up too much space" that I carried with me until a few years ago, a feeling that still bubbles up when I least expect it.

So goodbye to Run Goat Run, and hello to the longer and leaner Lofty Loper.

I ran nine miles

I did! I really did! So I'm just taking my time this afternoon thinking about that and feeling positive about donning this t-shirt in three weeks...

erm, not sure I can pull this colour off!

A great end for a great weekend involving...

the coolest cake I've ever made (didn't win the work bake-off though, poo)

p p p poker face p p poker face (with London's worst poker players AKA my awesome friends)

The dangers of the work kitchen

My diet is being ruined by snacking on this lot:

macaroons, mini chocolate rolls, hob nobs, fizzy rosé wine

Ok so I didn't go overboard on the rosé (half a glass) but seriously, this wasn't even everything we had in the kitchen - a 'well done' for a big event we had on Monday night.

I did however try to counter all this with a few of these:

strawbs

And a street dance class tonight.

But now on to cake baking to (hopefully) win our work bake off...

New shoes and the treadmill

So I've recovered from my disappointing race and realised it wasn't so disappointing because it's still a personal best at 1:04:46. (I reckon I could have made it at least 1:02:00 without toilet urges but oh well).

Before my race on Sunday I set out to replace my 2.5 year old, seven 10k running asics, which I (shock, horror!) bought on ebay for £25.

old friends

False assumptions I made before buying shoes last time:

- no one makes shoes in size 9 - not true of running shoes apparently (though still true of most pretty shoes :( )

- people in running shops will somehow mock me for not being a skinny runner

- people in running shops will mock me for not being a "proper" runner ("only" training for a half)

new beauties with my 10k medal

Dear bowels

I hate you. Today I had a 60 minute 10km race within my grasp...then you attacked.

It is very hard to run when you need the loo that bad. Thus my time is looking to be the same as 10ks earlier this year (1:04), to be confirmed by chip time tomorrow.

Sorry for the overshare internet. Apart from the above it was a fantastic race. My 5k time was about 32 minutes I think which is awesome considering the 5k marker sits proudly atop two massive hills (which I ran all the way up unlike some fitter and skinnier looking people!)

The dream of a 60 minute 10k remains I guess. Better start researching bowel issue-control for my half marathon!

And today's weight was...

I've decided to do a Monday weigh in because Monday's as good a day as any and it might stop me going as mental on the weekends with all the foodz and alcoholz. Not that I've been that boozy lately *cough* besides last Monday *cough*.

So, today's weight is 191lbs. Erm, yep. Still heading downwards, would be nice to be in a healthy BMI by the end of October and maybe even somewhere below 180 by Christmas but I won't enforce goals on myself because having to stick to eating rules makes me self sabotage and eat lots of cake/chocolate/cheese/anything bad/anything good/anything in unhealthy quantities.

Now off to bed, because about 95% of my willpower depends on sleep (i.e. I never have any willpower because I never sleep).

Also here's a Monday rainbow plan:

• Monday - rest day
• Tuesday - 4.5 mile run
• Wednesday - Street Dance
• Thursday - 4.5 mile run
• Friday - rest
• Saturday - some form of cross training
• Sunday - 8 mile run

Longest run to date

Probably a bad title for a post because every weekend run from now on is going to be my "longest run ever" but today was special because it's the first time I've broken the 6 mile mark. And I did it in style by running a 9:32min/mile pace!

I actually ran almost the same course as the 10k I'm doing at the end of September, which I thought would be very slow as it includes a couple of hills but obviously the downhill bits make up for this, and I'm now really excited that I could break 60 minutes in this race, or at least get a new personal best.

On the downside my legs are not feeling good at the moment (achy and a weird cramp in my left calf) so I may have to fork out and buy new trainers like I've been meaning to for a while (but putting off because I bought a new computer instead!) Bleurgh money spending. I'm also nervous that I'll go in to the store and they'll take one look at me and be like "yeah, you need major cushioning and motion-control because you're a giant who runs like a wobbly goat" (or along those lines) and then when I ask about size 9s they'll be like "lol, size 9? Sorry we don't sell women's shoes that big."

Fact - I have previously been laughed at by a sales assistant for asking for a size 9 before. Idiot. Looking back I should have complained to the manager, especially as I know that store goes up to size 9 so the guy obviously didn't know much about their own stock!

Anyway, the store I want to go to (because it does natural gait analysis not treadmill) is open late on Thursday so hopefully I can go along and get some shiny new shoes. Plus I know that Asics and Saucony go up to a size 9 in women's, and I should think a few other brands do too, so hopefully I won't get called big foot!

Rocky Goat

Just had the most om nom nom Indian food I've had in a long time from Dishoom a "Bombay Cafe in London", near Leicester square. Also had a slightly over-attentive waiter, but there were six of us beautiful ladies on a birthday night out, so I can't blame him.

Thus I've probably totally overeaten today, but meh, housemates/friends only turn 26 once.

But before the delicious eats, my run today was at first very influenced by my "I hate training, my friends are drinking cocktails and I am not, this sucks" mood. In fact I was dragging my heels so much at the end of work (ran home from the office) one of my colleagues just went "Does Rocky ever give up?! No, eye of the tiger, Katie, eye of the tiger!" At which point I had to admit I'd never seen Rocky, and now feel like I should watch it this weekend. Or maybe I should just run to this:



Maybe I should somehow film myself and make a ridiculous montage as well...tempting.

Anyway after all my whinging I eventually got about half way through my run and started to feel quite strong and happier with myself. Sunday's run is going to be interesting - haven't run near my parents house for a bit so just hoping I won't get bored with the leafy suburb-ness over central London buzz.

The sweet taste of victory

First things first, I made a beautiful rainbow plan for the week last week, let's check out how that went:

Monday - Aqua fit then paralympics. Done and done, and what a great day it was :)

Tuesday - 4m run. Not done, too tired from paralympics.

Wednesday - Street Dance class.  Did it and combined it with Tuesday run< I'm awesome

Thursday - 4m run and yoga class. Didn't do it, had some sad news from home, hid in bed

Friday - chillaxing Did Thursday's run here instead

Saturday - more paralympics, wheelchair bastketball, SO excited!! Oh yeah, should do some cross training too. Awesome day out with my family, no cross training

Sunday - 6m run Did it, an unofficial personal best of 1:02 too, generally a lovely sunny weekend, then the paralympics went and ended :(

So all in all I win at training :D Sadly I do not win at dieting because on receiving bad news on Thursday I made a massive chocolate cake and proceeded to stuff my face with it everyday until Monday. Fail.

I've recovered my healthiness today, but this week has also been a source of fail thanks to this young man:

Finally a champion!

Me and my sister are huge tennis fans, so, we decided that as the addictive sporting thrill that was the olympics/paralympics was over we would take all of Great Britain's winning glory and focus it on one last sporting event this year. In other words we would start watching the US Open final at 9pm and not stop until the trophy was in our the winner's grasp...

Five hours and two minutes later. MURRAY WON.

I almost felt bad for the lone Serbian man supporting Djokovic in the sports bar we were in. Almost, because I was too busy screaming and hugging everyone around me to feel anything but 100% pure joy. Unfortunately with pure joy (and drinking until 2:30am, then getting home at about 3:30am) there comes pure pain. And so Tuesday essentially did not exist for me. 

Today I woke with the joy of someone who does not have a hangover and promptly walked to work for the first time in a long time (the bus never came) then had a great healthy food day and again did my street dance and running training combo. I felt tired on this run but my new Runstar app tells me I ran a 10:09 min/mile pace, which is pretty good for me so I'm going to say the app is right (even if I am secretly suspicious of its accuracy). Ah the wonders of modern technology. I'll hopefully be using Runstar for the rest  of my half marathon training now so do feel free to check in as it logs my runs on dailymile (I loves me some running-related internets).

This week there is another 4.5miles + 7 miles on my training. The plan is to go to my parents' house on Sunday so I can run up the hill that I will have to face on my 10k race at the end of the month.

Noooo the paralympics is over

I simply refuse to go back to un-uplifiting, non-unnaturally happy London :( I will force my flat to remain in a olympics/paralympics timewarp FOREVER.

Me and my buddy Mandeville, you can just make out the Agitos in the background on Tower Bridge.

So when are tickets for Brazil 2016 going on sale?

Run and cross combo

Yesterday I didn't do my 4m run, mainly because I felt exhausted from power walking up and down a million stairs (twice), then screaming til my throat hurt here:

London 2012 Aquatics Centre

I had such a fantastic time watching the paralympics with my family (minus one sister). Not even being in the same building as David Cameron could bring me down. Mainly because he was handing out a gold medal to GB swimmer Ellie Simmonds!! Can't believe I got to watch her, she's only 17 and she just killed the end of her medley race, everyone was on their feet, it was INCREDIBLE, it sounds completely cliched but this was definitely my "I can tell my grandchildren about London 2012" moment :)

So I was completely cheered out on Tuesday and thought I would make up for it by doing both my cross training and run today. Was that a good idea? I think I'll judge that on how achy I feel tomorrow. Did a 45 minute street dance class (and thumped around like the oh so elegant uncoordinated goat I am), then left the gym to do my 4 mile run home. Used the Runstar app for the first time, which told me I'm super-fast and generally awesome...possibly the gps didn't work. I think I'll use it in an area with less bridges/tunnels next time to see if it's more accurate.

For now I am a tired goat so I'll see you laterz.

P.s. weight this morning was 190.2lbs, I have no idea how this happened but WOO

Runner interrupted

So today was a new first...the first time I've needed to make a toilet break during a run! Yes I know you want to know all the gory details, but this goat does have some dignity (not much), so let's just say the Southbank Centre is a lovely riverfront venue with pleasant facilities.

Apart from that little detour (sorry people in the Royal Festival Hall that had their evening interrupted by a sweaty runner drudging through) it was a good run and I'm looking forward to progressing to the next stage of my training plan - week 5:

5	Stretch & strengthen	4 m run	2 m run or cross	4 m run + strength	Rest	40 min cross	6 m run

I was rubbish this week in that I a) only did one of my shorter runs and b) did no cross training, oh and let's not forget c) boozing and eating loads so that I have probably put on 5lbs in a week. I have a weekly weigh in planned tomorrow and I'm pretty terrified (please, please don't go back over 195lbs). Having said that I wore a dress to a family thing today that was tight when I bought it and is now baggy - hurrah!

So this week is going to be better, I've already booked some gym classes in so the week is shaping up as:

• Monday - Aqua fit (before you scoff it is a seriously good abs workout) and then I'm off to the  paralympics (whoop!) and watching people swim really fast is the same as swimming really fast myself ;)
• Tuesday - 4m run
• Wednesday - Street Dance class (please don't try and kill me with your crazy-fast beats cool instructor lady)
• Thursday - 4m run and yoga class (please don't mock me for being extremely inflexible funny instructor man)
• Friday - chillaxing 
• Saturday - more paralympics, wheelchair bastketball, SO excited!! Oh yeah, should do some cross training too
• Sunday - 6m run

Happy paralympic viewing everyone (Oscar Pistorius just came second in 200m, controversial!)

P.S. yep, I made the days of the week into a beautiful rainbow - I am COOL/this reminded me of making revision charts at school, fun times.

Oh fine, I'll run then

This post was going to be entitled "Reasons why I should run" but then I looked at the fitness folder on my blogs reader and one of my favourite bloggers had pretty much stolen my thunder...and then gone for a run. Why must you be so wise and all knowing internet gods?! Because obviously I can't skip a run if someone else who was going to skip a run didn't, that would mess up the positive vibes on the interwebs and then everything everywhere would FAIL.

Probably.

Oh by the way, I say I have a fitness blogs folder but I only really follow blogs of fatties/former fatties (I use fattie as a term of endearment here) who, like me, try to run and lose weight and stuff, because together we are strong (even though they are all stronger at the blogging, running and losing weight thing, shhhh we'll ignore that bit).

So much for last post's positive running. Thankfully there's only 3.5 miles on my plan.

Update: I ran.

Half of a marathon

And so I return to blogging, with a shiny new computer to enable it.

The biggest development in my running life is that I have *drum roll* signed up for a HALF MARATHON.

Yes, come the 28th October 2012 I will be running 13.1 miles in the Run to the Beat half marathon around Greenwich, and hopefully not dying at the end. I've knuckled down to training and am feeling fairly optimistic, mainly from learning two important lessons:

Run slowly

Run positively 

Yep, it's taken me two and a half years of running to figure that one out, I'm a genius-goat.

These top tips paid off in full yesterday when I did my longest run-ever-in-my-life of 5.6 miles non-stop, and felt like I could have kept going afterwards! A victory made even sweeter by a friend texting me to say she had progressed to running for 90 seconds. Which is amazing firstly because she is super-skinny and I am stuck at 194lbs (as of this morning), and secondly because she has been talking to *me* about running as if *I* am knowledgeable (I guess five 10ks later I can gets the respectz).

So I have given her the above advice. The "positively" thing took some work yesterday as the boy I've been seeing for the past few months left the country for good (visa ran out) on Saturday. We weren't some love-struck, doe-eyed couple but it does feel a bit like I have one friend less in the world this weekend. Anyway, yesterday I got myself out of bed (eventually), got myself to John Lewis to spend all my monies on a laptop (after spending a month researching/deciding) and finally realised the sun was shining and I could run and think about all the things that made me happy about the boy and why I was/am lucky to know him. So that is what I did. I also had a great evening out with friends which made everything in the world seem right again (apart from the bit where I ate and drank loads, thus destroying the remaining pretense of this weekend's diet attempt). 

Today - spent the bank holiday Monday setting up new computer, seeing The Bourne Legacy (anything with Edward Norton in is good by me), and planning my week's meals, because I am a good dieter innit. Also this is the best chicken you ever tasted in your life:

drooooool

Tomorrow - work and do the 3.5 mile run on my plan, a run I'm already desperate for, I'm hooked, can't wait to run 13 miles (not even joking).

New bed

This week I've definitely had a case of sleeping woes = weight loss woes. When I'm tired my body just screams "SUGAR! CAFFEINE!" all day. And because I'm tired my willpower is minus zero.
So what is the prefect way to improve sleep? Get a new bed!

Ta da!

 So I spent saturday building a bed, which thankfully hasn't collapsed after five sleeps now! It's definitely more comfy than the old bed (firmer and no broken bits hanging off) and also makes me feel like a big strong grown up barbecue I built it all myself (even the instructions said you need two people, ha I laugh in the face of instructions - totally bad arse).

Very heavy pieces of wood and metal.

So although my eating has been rubbish this weekend I did manage to spend about three hours building the bed (hard work lifting and screwing) and then did a 5k run on Sunday. Today I got my eating back on track (the pork and chorizo burger last night after softball was totally worth it)and ran my last run before...10k on Sunday!! (eek) Feeling strong though. Wish me luck!

Yay for legs (and polka dots)

Dear legs,

I was very harsh on you earlier when we were trying on those red jeggings in M&S (they've got some sweet coloured jeggings at the moment). You were so nearly there but just a tad too tight on the thighs and knees (too be honest it didn't help that the jeggings were, as usual, a bit too short).

Then I saw you in the all-encapsulating mirrors in the changing room. I saw your cellulite. I saw your saddlebags. And I said, "Why legs? Why must you be like this?!" I was sad. I was angry.

But most of all I was unfair. You've given me so much legs: a large part of the height that lets me see at gigs and reach high things, the strength to run four 10ks and soon two more and hopefully a half marathon, the coordination to dance (even if it is only in my room), and the length to wear short skirts (with tights) and just about pull them off. Also you end in my gorgeous feet.

So cheers, legs. We've come a long way and I know we'll get to where we want to be eventually (metaphorically and literally, haha). You've stopped aching so much after running, your knee problems and shin splints have disappeared, and damn those calves are starting to shape up (calves please have a word with thighs). We're doing good, let's keep it up legs.

Love, Katie.

P.s. Yay for polka dot rugs too.

P.p.s. I need to work out how to take non-weird pictures of my legs!

P.p.p.s Think I'll paint my toenails this weekend.

A good Wednesday

Free enchiladas for lunch.

Free lemon torte in the afternoon.

Winning softball.

Pint with a friend.

Running home.

It all makes,for a good Wednesday!

Off scale victories

I must admit I've been getting a bit down on myself lately, although I've hit a really amazing low of 195.6, but rather than pleased I feel impatient if I'm honest!

I've also felt a bit "run out" from following my running plan but not sleeping well.

So out of all this unappreciation it was nice to have some non-scale related victorious recently:

1. Walking up a hill with a friend, he was out of breath, I wasn't, but I had been previously when climbing that hill.

2. Wore a dress I hadn't worn for ages and it was definitely looser, as in there used to be right round my midriff before and now it's slightly baggy.

3. Someone at work mentioned I looked like I'd lost weight and asked what diet I was following!

All good stuff, and I'm less than a stone (14lbs) from being in my healthy weight range!

Numbers going down

Weighed myself this morning and saw the magical number of 196lbs!!

Where has this magic come from I asked? Then my body groaned, it's from the bloody street dance class you did, followed by the couch to 5k week 6 day 2 run. Oh yes, that'll be it, I thought, as I slowly dragged myself out of the house.

Zero pains = Zero gains.

Beyonce, beyonce

So, everyone loves Beyonce. Accept it.

Even people like myself who went through that "omg I am totally rock and do not listen to pop music like ever" stage love Beyonce.

So today's exercises mainly consisted of me and a friend drunkenly dancing to a Beyonce Live dvd. We are the best.

But first!.....this was not the only exercise I did. Oh no no no. I went for a little run, Couch to 5k week 6, day 1, to be precise. I actually ran to the library because I needed to get some printing done, and I own zero printing machines. Shout out to my local library.

I also went to the shop opposite the library to get ingredients for delicious cookies. These were much appreciated by my friend, her boyfriend and me (especially after tiring beyonce dancing - not by the boyfriend). I used a basic but delicious recipe for Chocolate Chip cookies that a friend gave to me a while back. As copied below:

Ingredients: (makes about 20-25 cookies)
150g chocolate chips
250g butter
250g plain flour 
100g granulated sugar
50g light brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

Method:
Preheat the oven to 200°C and grease up a baking tray.
Mix together the butter, granulated and brown sugar, followed by the egg.
Then add the flour, baking powder and salt (the mix should then be quite gloopy and smooth).
Follow these with the chocolate chips
Dollop large tablespoons of the mix onto the tray, keeping them about 8cm apart to avoid them spreading into each other (this may have to be done in batches).
Bake in the oven for around 10 minutes until golden brown - keep an eye on them though as they tend to spread themselves out!

Yum. Also love that my friend uses the word gloopy in her instructions!

Six for six

It is now the sixth month of the year so I shall group some thoughts in sixes.

I'm feeling a bit rubbish today so I'll start with THE GOOD:
1. Lowest weight so far for 2 days running 198.8lbs
2. I can wear shorts without leggings/tights and no-one screams and/or laughs

Skinny goat (thank you flattering mirror) in a messy room

3. Couch to 5k week 5 completed - I ran 20 whole minutes and it wasn't even that hard
4. I am so way ahead of where I need to be with half marathon training = I am awesome

5. The more I run the more great things I see round London

Floaty blocks at the Southbank Centre - Monday evening's run

6. Four days off work, thank you Queenie

THE BAD
1. Jubilee = jubilee party at work = eating A LOT of food today
2. Colleagues leaving work = cake and drinks = eating A LOT of food (and drinking) yesterday
3. Generally there is too much food at work, in fact someone bought me jelly babies to say thank you for a presentation I did last week

Outside: Aw, thanks, that's so nice of you!
Inside: Why would you do this to me?!

4. Binge days mean I'm losing weight at a snails pace
5. What if I lose weight and get gross loose skin? (ew)
6. Never mind loose skin, I'm still fat!

THE JUNE GOALS
1. Complete couch to 5k
2. Run a 10k (good boost from 5k, signed up for local one on the 16th)
3. Implement cunning "eat fruit instead of cake" plan at work

4. Get down to at least 195lbs
5. Keep doing occasional strength/abs training to decrease loose skin likelihood (ew)
6. Get body brush and scrub body regularly for nice exfoliated summer skin and to decrease loose skin likelihood (ew)

Less softball, more awesome dancing

So we "won" our softball match tonight because the other team were too rubbish to get a team together...how lame is that?! To celebrate our "win" most of the usual team went to the park to enjoy the sunshine but I did not because I am a loser who loves STREET DANCE.

Oh why must my street dance class of joy clash with Softball matches (also of joy)?!

T'was good to go to my first street dance class for a while, even if I am the awkward clumpy giant goat at the back whilst the cool cats at the front look all slick. Actually I lie, I love being the awkward one, it totally annoys those cats who think they're so cool. You want to come to my gym cool cats? Well you gonna have to put up with this awkward giant goat, and you gonna like it, now dance for me my pretties, DANCE!!

Erm ok, yes so dancing is fun. I was going to do a run this evening as well but street dance was pretty hardcore so I'm quite tired.

Probably should have run to help burn all the cake I ate today though....

Oh well, more calories burned than eaten, it's all good people.

Feeling the benefits

There are some days when you just go "oh, that's why I'm doing this!". And today/last night was definitely one of them.

So what are the benefits:

Housemates saying how good you are looking recently and how the running must be paying off.

Old friends texting you after drinks too say how great you looked.

Being able to run in the heat and still feeling strong and like your fitness is really improving.

Getting to run along the Thames and watch the sun set behind Tower Bridge (ok, that's a rather London-centric benefit ;) )

Generally feeling like a strong person who is in control of their life and can achieve their goals, weight loss or otherwise.

Hope that wasn't too cheesy for you :p. Happy Friday goat fans!

Found my personal trainer

It was in my running backpack the whole time...poor old ipod goat-shuffle.

"I love you too Katie," says the shuffle. (Because obviously it can talk and stuff).

In other news I did appallingly today, did awesome until lunch but then went a bit mental on the free chocolates at work and then the free dinner at a work related panel discussion (I mean I do work at a charity - free dinner is rare and precious!).
To make up for this I forced myself to walk home from near oxford circus, but only made it an hour and caved and got the bus (i needed the loo people!!)
So there you have it, I'm a whore for free food. Today's lesson learnt.

Pulling up my bootstraps

So after a week of eating too much, doing no exercise (unless you count softball), and general feeling ill and rubbish, yesterday I decided to get of my bum and do something about it.

The first something involved tidying my room, oh the joys. But I did get the joy of clean sheets afterwards mmmm. So then I felt a bit less shit about living in a pig sty!

Next up I whacked on Jillian Michaels' 30 day shred dvd. I can only describe this as PAIN IN A BOX.

Look at her smug demon face!

But, as we know, with great pain comes great reward and my reward was waddling round like a penguin with painful thighs for two days running really well today!

On Sunday I stretched out my painful thighs (I know you love hearing about my thighs ;) ) with a little walk in Southwark Park. And by a little walk I mean throwing on a sexy bright yellow plastic jacket and pointing some runners the right way round a 5k. I love Southwark Park, it's near my flat and somewhere I frequent when running, so I quite enjoyed just being outside and enjoying the greenery. I had very green views for a couple of hours which was very "rejuvenating" and other cheesy adjectives.

Guarding my post with my life

Green to the max

To finish off my weekend I made an amazing recipe for enchiladas that I got from one of my favourite health blogs. T'was om nom noms, though it did take a lot of soaking and a few hours simmering - definitely a Sunday afternoon dish!

Finally today I did my food run (pret sandwiches to the strand for homeless peeps). And then did a run run, home from Charing Cross, along Southbank. The river which was great, and not-too-touristy on a Monday....so I took on the role of the snap happy tourist instead.

Running all over the world Globe

Bad week

Awful, terrible, rubbish.

I would like to thank my apparent hayfever for this. Yes, everyone in my office tells me you can suddenly get hayfever at 25 so I'm suspecting that's what this incredibly drawn out "cold" is. Eurgh.

Anyway, today:
-Running - probably couch to 5k week 3 as my body is now a flabby mess
-Gym - going to focus on weights and abs exercises
-Swim - after le gym, aim for 50 lengths but see how crowded the pool is
-Sauna - hopefully this will flush my sinuses out a bit

p.s. we won softball this week!

Calories still count at the weekends

They still count at a barbecue with friends and beers.
They still count at a boy's house with pizza and wine.
They still count when you eat Ben and Jerry's as you pity yourself with your horrible cold.
And that is why I am a fail, weekends. And my weight today? 201.2.

Weight loss is only a competition with yourself

but dammit the guy I haven't seen for 6 weeks had definitely lost more weight than I had in that time. Might have to ditch him for making me feel like the podgy one lol.

In other news I have been incredibly lazy since my mega softball + run session last Tuesday because I have a cold. I realise this is a lame excuse but it's made me a) sleep incredibly badly and with really horrible nightmares :( and b) achy, achy, achy. I feel like I'm done a massive weight lifting class! I'm not even that snotty but the achy-ness continues to get worse, booo.

This all makes me a bit worried about falling behind on running training for upcoming (in July) 10ks, will need to get on it like glue when I'm feeling better!

Also my housemate went out and ran 15k yesterday, because she could, and you know she hasn't been running in ages but of course she can run 9 miles anyway! It's the magic of spin classes.

I am great at softball

Yes, I would like to announce that I am awesome at softball and scored two runs (out of two batting turns) and caught two people out on Tuesday.
Sadly this did not help my work team to win our first "London charity softball league" match, but it was really fun anyway. I think it's quite hard to get into team sports after leaving school or uni (maybe just for girls, I know plenty of guys who play rugby or football!) so it's really cool to get involved in this.
And then after the softball I utilised the only non-rainy day we've had all week to run home, couch to 5k week 4 plus an extra 5 mins fyi.
I ran through lovely parks, along the river and passed all the sights (bucky palace, big ben, london eye, tower bridge) because I live in the middle of the best city in the world (obviously ;) )

Apparently blogger doesn't want this picture to be the right way round - I advise held tilting.

Bank holiday weekend

A bank holiday Monday - a day of freedom, a day of joy, a day to do whatever the hell you want.

OR

A day to wait for your Landlord to come and look at the broken fridge-freezer.

To counter this wait (I woke up at 8.30am for some unknown reason) here is a list of...
Things I would like to be doing outside today:

 Walking round London to see what I find

often-times I find lovely street art

Cycling round London (on a Boris bike of course)
Going to the David Shrigley exhibition at the Southbank Centre, which closes soon

I found this Shrigley on the High Line in New York last week

Going for a run, maybe taking in the lovely King's Stairs gardens near my flat - recently saved from being turned into a "super-sewer"

Source

Going to the gym
Choosing a random entry from the Tired of London, Tired of Life blog and doing that

Instead, for now, I will:

Write this post - which has successfully wasted over an hour of my waiting time!
Read the below book, try not to freak out about signing up for the Run to the Beat Half marathon and put some training dates in my diary

Yes I bought a book, because if I can read about half marathons I can totally run a half marathons right?!

Maybe do some sewing with my lovely sewing machine

Broke 200

Yesterday and today the scale did speak to this goat, and it did say 199.2lbs!
Hello one-derland!
Considering weekly weigh-ins from now on, we'll see.

A good start back in London

The scales were not horrible to me this morning, hurrah! The numero was 201.8lbs. Meaning I had not gained the half stone I had suspected in New York. Even with all the...

I did cupcake New York, and Magnolia Bakery

Oh p.s. I never did go for that run in Central Park...I blame my shop-a-holic friends!

p.p.s Returned to a broken fridge, so food choices could be rather expensive this week.

Back from NYC

New York is crazy/fascinating/really fun but god I'm glad to be back in London.
Not only because we don't have a million street vendors pushing food on you on every corner. Seriously, New York smells of food, food, FOOD, how are all New Yorkers not obese?!

Also I walked out of London Bridge station (near my flat) this morning after getting the tube (not subway) from Heathrow and wow we have TINY buildings, I was like woah there is sky up there! I must say the overpoweringly tall buildings were an aspect that freaked me out about New York a bit...even though I live 10 minutes from the Shard.

So yeah, post-New York weigh-in tomorrow is not going to be good. Although hopefully lots of walking, and having a bit of a stomach bug for a few days out there will have helped. Things that will not have helped: Magnolia Bakery cupcakes, pancakes for breakfast, more pancakes, pizza, more pizza, pastrami from Katz's Deli, hot dogs, beer pong.

Pastrami from heaven!