Yes Race Day!

Hi blog lovers.

Its the day that we have all be working so hard for. Me, Nagging Sister, Vic.2, Smarty Pants and Happy Neighbour!



We were all up early in readiness for the big day. Rendezvous at Nagging Sisters house, and we are just going to enjoy the whole day.

But only a couple of days ago did Smarty Pants inform me that she was not too happy about going on the underground, she just didn't like it!

Oh well, we shall just have to give her knock out drops like they do to Mr.T on The 'A' Team!.



The train journey into London was fun. But the tube journey was even more fun.

Nagging Sister and Vic.2 arguing over which station we should be changing at to get to Moorgate. When we finally decided (after asking somebody in the know), we made our way to the right platform. As we converged, single file, waiting for the train, a complete stranger handed me a bit of cash and said 'Please take this for your charity' I mean, how nice are some people out there!.

Now to the run itself. We arrived at the right place. A sea of pink was filling the streets of London. Heart radio were there getting everyone in a relaxed happy mooed. The sun was threatening to come out, and those sprinkles of rain has not shown up yet.

First thing, loo stop!




Well, its always best to. Now, lets get into place ready for the warm up exercises, Oh yes, they wont let you neglect those warm ups here you know, they are professionals after all.



Now The anticipation builds.

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It was so exciting, the count down began, 10, 9, 8, 7...........3, 2, 1 We're off!



Well, we did get jogging as soon as we got around the corner! There were masses of joggers and runners.

Now, due to only one photographer in our group, and the fact that we were split into four groups as the race progressed, 'Runners' Nagging sister and Smarty Pants, 'Joggers' Vic.2 and Happy Neighbour, 'Wish they could have been fitter by now jogger' Me, the old girl and the walkers, Then photos are a little scarce but here is what he did capture.


Here is Nagging sister and Smarty Pants, head to head, keeping pace with each other.





























and here is Vic.2, but I don't see Happy Neighbour! Or me!






It was totally such a great day! Loved every second of it, Oh and the times for our individual times are,

1St Nagging sister, 31.08
2nd Smarty Pants 31.17
3rd Happy Neighbour 37.45
4th Vic.2 37.??
5th The Old Girl (me) 41.08
joint 6th The walkers, in less than an hour!

Here are some of the snaps of the day.

Not Good Thursday!

Hi blog lovers.

Its not a nice day today, its grey and overcast and that drizzly rain that gets you feeling horrid all the time. But having my little grandson here helped put a smile on my face, as well as all the exercise i got running after him. Still, I had him hooked and focused when I gave him a feather duster so he could help nanny clear up his mess! He did give us a little scare when he refused to put any weight on his foot after running across the grass after seeing his greatnan! (another horrid bit of the day)

Then as me and nagging sister always do, we left it till the last minute to get bits of stuff for us girls to wear while we do our fun run, (I still find it so hard to put fun and run together like that) We walked up and down the shopping malls, popping into all sorts of shops to find (cheap) tutu's. Do you think we could find anything, well anything that will go over both my thighs at once! I ended up buy just hats, ok so they are pink, but nagging sister is refusing to wear a hat, saying she don't want to have hat head after. Well, if she does the run in the time she says, hat head will look positively stunning to what her face will look like, ha ha ha.

Anyway, the run today. Well it was still raining, its still that drizzly horrible rain that gets you down, and I am really not in the mood for it today, and I felt quite pleased when Smarty Pants turned up and said she wasn't in the mood either.

But we went out and we did it. Same as usual, hard going for me, a breeze for Smarty pants. She decided, as she has been doing that for a while anyway, to go on the longer route while I stuck to the 2.61 route. I did mine in 34.43 minutes. An average time.

After a short while of being home I text Smarty Pants to let her know I was home, and to check she got home. She then told me that she 'got in the mood' and extended her run even further!! Smarty Pants!!

For now no more writing till Sunday or Monday, depending on time to write up the end of this blog and on to the next!!

Teaching The Kids To Keep Fit!

Hello blog lovers.

Today it was an evening jog with Happy Neighbour. Smarty Pants chose food and rest day today. I feel she is building up to achieving professional results on Sunday! But it was just me and Happy Neighbour, oh and her youngest son! He decided to tag along with us and give his mum some encouragement and support.

I, laughingly, said that maybe we should just do the short route! And by the time we turned the first corner, that became official. I think I over did it yesterday, my legs were cramping up, should have done a bit more stretching and warming up before we left.

Happy Neighbours youngest sproglet was hopping and running and jumping along with us, smiling, drinking mums water, and made it look as if he was just sitting on the grass having a picnic! Me and Happy Neighbour needn't of worried that he wouldn't do the whole of the long run, I feel sure he would breeze through it. Well, he is our next next world cup winning footballer, and is forever out playing football at school and clubs!

But what did get me as I am looking rather hot and sweaty after we had passed the first mile mark, young sproglet was running backwards Backwards I tell you!

AS we were coming down the last road both me and Happy Neighbour were feeling every inch of this 1.71 miles (yes that's right, were are doing tempo runs, in preparation of the big event on Sunday!) I haven't a clue what I just said, but its sounds so professional!

So this run took us 24.09 minutes, I will have to look back and see if that is a personal best for this particular route.

Oh yes, and yesterday Happy Neighbours hubby took a picture of her with me and Smarty Pants. Its a picture that Happy Neighbour has put up on her fund raising page, but I say fair game, if its when we all jogging together, then it goes in the blog! Right blog lovers?!

Monday Monday!

Hi blog lovers,

Well it seems I have recovered from the weekend! I think I may have over done the sun on Friday, and no, I wasn't sunbathing, I was fixing together the new bbq. I was quite ill, sick, weak and lethargic, almost flu like symptoms.

But today, I am almost fully recovered, almost back to race fit (was I ever race fit?) So today its me and happy neighbour. Now Happy Neighbour hasn't been running for at least 3 weeks, and considering Nagging sister says she couldn't quite run her route of 3 miles at the weekend after only having one week off, then I'm not expecting Happy Neighbour to make me to eat her dust as she speeds off!.

Jogging along with Happy Neighbour looking as fit as I do does feel good. She is chatting along and I manage to answer her, but as the jog progressed I need to get into the zone, so said to Happy neighbour 'I am putting on my earphones get some jogging toonz ringing in ma ears init' but only a short while later the battery ran out!

We get to the first mile mark, (unfortunately we did stop before here, the heat got to us) and I offer Happy neighbour the option of turning here and just do the short route or to carry on, .......guess what?............ she chose to carry on! Good girl (mutter mutter mumble) Onward and onward, till the last turn off for a short route. After that its, the 2.61 miler! Happy neighbour was happy to carry on, looking warm, and puffed out as me, thank goodness.

We head on to the turning that will start to take us back home, neither of us talking now, only the occasional errrmppff as we struggle to keep our legs on running. Finally the turning home.

Happy Neighbour look so pleased that this is where we start going on the homeward bound.

Down the road, I know what is at the end of this road, I shall let Happy Neighbour make her mind up what she will do with the incline home!.

We get there, jogging, walking, jogging mode and she takes at look at the hill, 'Have a go at running it' I say to her 'A small laughter sound escaped her lips with a whispered 'no!' some where amoung there.

Walk to the park and you can just feel the tension and the relief as you look towards the exit, knowing its not long now. And it was, Happy Neighbour tried her very best to run from the exit of the park to home, in fact I though she would reach there before me! But we both got to the door at the same time as I caught up with her!

And again my phone went off! so don't know for sure the exact time, but we worked it out from the start of the Jeremy Kyle show to 10:07 that it was about 35 minutes. So average time again!

Oh and one last thing, Happy Neighbour WAS going to sponsor me but has opted to ENTER HERSELF FOR THE RACE INSTEAD!

p.s, Me and Happy neighbour are going out again this evening with Smarty pants! Now this is really becoming keen!

p.s. jogged with the girls, me and Happy neighbour in 36.09 mines, Smarty pants in 39.12 mins, she ran a whole extra mile than us!

Got That Friday Feeling

Hi blog lovers.

Another glorious day out today, first thing this morning the sun was shining and it was nice a warm

Smarty Pants must have been really keen to get out today, she was at my door at 08:25 this morning!

I'm glad I had started to warm up at bit before she got here. Although yesterdays jogging and cycling had been quite heavy going.

I had aching muscles in my legs this morning, but I knew I could run through that, it was the niggling pain in my side, just under my ribs that was causing me concern. I can only imagine that maybe I pushed a little too hard up the hills on my bike.

But I tried to ignore it, pushed on with our jogging. It was hard, it was painful, in fact I had to stop and do some stretches as the aches and pains got hold of me. I had premised to go jogging with another neighbour later today, so though that just running through it would do me good.

I managed to jog the rest of the first mile non stop, which I am very pleased with, and even started to think that I could do well. But fatigue set in, pains niggled me and the breathlessness kept me from pushing further past this first mile.

Smarty Pants kept pace with me till just the first mile but I couldn't keep up any more, and she kept going. Although today she said that she couldn't do the same run as yesterday as she was suffering from the effects of the sun, she had burnt her knees!

I got back to my house at 35:33, which is my average time, so not too bad considering.

My brother had decided to give me a surprise visit today, so as I was putting the bbq together, we decided to test it, and dug into the freezer for burgers sausages, chicken and a nice salad (and of course some beer). I was quite appreciative of this unexpected bbq because I knew deep down that I was not fit to go out jogging with my neighbour, (no amount of nagging or still quiet voices will get me out this evening) not with this pain in my side. It feels like a stitch that just won't go away!

So cheers Bro, have another beer!!

What A Beautiful Day!

Hello bloggers,

Oh, how about today? eh? Not a cloud in the sky all day long, He was certainly giving us a glorious day.

Me and Smarty Pants out jogging again today. Nagging sister has work, Vic.2 has her kids home on school hols, and Happy neighbour is at work too.

This morning was sunny and bright, and warming up nicely. I have my determined head on again today. After running for a mile yesterday I feel the need to go even further today........And I did!

Smarty Pants kept with me again, she is pacing herself, ready to extend her run, and she was congratulating me when we reached our third road. How she had the breath to do that I do not know! I could just barely raise half a smile and make eye contact with her, just so that she knows I still have my faculties about me!

The third road that we run on is where the mile mark is, half way down before we turn off. I was determined to pass this as far as I could. I knew I if thought about it, if I thought 'this is the mile mark' then I would slow to a walking pace soon after.

The mile mark came. Crossing the road now, jogging still, jogging, keeping up with Smarty Pants. Oh yes, way passed the point where I stopped yesterday.............and that's where I slowed to walking pace. But still, I was happy with that. Smarty Pants, however, was on a mission, she has her pace sorted out and she was going for it.

From this point on I was jogging, walking, jogging, walking, nagging myself stupid all the way home.

I was so pleased to reach my road and urged myself to 'Move my ass!!!' and just go for it. As I passed the bushes I looked over to my house and no Smarty Pants! Shes only gone and done it! She was in the zone, she went for the next stage. The four miler!!!

I run to my house, grabbed my phone to check my time, but darn it! Again, it has switched off!. But I do remember when we left the house this time, ish! it was about 08:50 and I noticed the time on my IPOD as soon as I saw my phone had sweitched off, it was 09:24, so this must be my average time at this distance. However, Smarty pants came back at 09:28! bloomin marvelous time! (mutter, mutter, mumble mumble)

But, just for added bonus (and pat on the back for this old girl) I rode my bike to the local hospital, gave pints and pints of blood, just an mot on this old girl, and then rode back again, 6.2 miles, I was riding for about 25 minutes each way, stopping off, obviously to have test and then to chemist on the way home.

So, still loads of stamina! But when another neighbour asked if i wanted to go for a run this evening, I had to chicken out! But I am going to do two runs tomorrow!

Almost Missed My Tuesday Run!

Hi blog readers.

Well today was a lazy day, and a forgetful day.

First off, I didn't get up for my morning run, but I also didn't get up for my doctors appointment either!

After quickly ringing up the surgery to apologise and to try to get another appointment with the doctor, (another 2 weeks away!) my other sister had texted me to go see her at nagging sisters house.

I thought this would be a good idea. I packed my joggers in a carrier bag thinking that I would work the beast and fat wobbler for a while as I'm there. This of course didn't happen. We just sat and chatted, then all the girls ganged up on us to take them swimming, which we did try but being half term and raining, the whole of the borough decided to use the pool as well. We ended up at, dare I even say this, McDonald's!

When we got back to nagging sisters house again we just chatted, not even a mention of the beast, in fact the girls were just playing with it, toying with the beast.

When I finally got home, I though maybe I would go for a jog, but instead what did I do? ...... Switch on the computer and perused through FaceBook!

But then those still quiet voices crept in..... go for a run, go on, run, run!

I could no longer ignore the voices anymore and rang up Smarty Pants, in my reckoning, if I have someone else to run with then I have no excuse not to go. But when I rang her up she said that she had already eaten her dinner, a lovely curry she said, and had just this second opened a cool bottle of cider!! Darn it! So now it really was down to just me to get my head round the idea of going jogging this evening.

I went upstairs to get changed in to my running gear, but almost decided to tidy the upstairs of my house instead, when the phone started ringing. I ran down stairs and Smarty Pants has changed her mind, (with a little persuasion from her old man)

So that was that. So there we were, ready to do battle with today's run. Smarty Pants was really pleased that she was going out, but because of her full tummy decided to keep 'up' with me instead of sharing her dust.

She is a hard task master, but very encouraging too. Each time I jogged past my usual spot where I start walking she was cheering me on! I managed virtually to jog a whole mile this time! But then I did do loads of walking, and Smarty Pants was still there with me, telling me to 'Come on Old Girl, you're doing grand' which when it had filtered through my earphones sounded like 'Get a move on you lazy bag!' because to me, by then, Smarty Pants had metamorphosed into nagging sister, pushing me to go further and further.

Smarty Pants stayed with me until Greenway and then she took off. So now I was left to my own devices again. And we all know what that means...... that's right, more sneaky walking between lampposts.

Still, it was good to see Smarty Pants when I got into the park, usually by this stage she is normally probably doing her warm down stretches at my house. I kept pushing myself to keep going, just keep my head down, don't look ahead, jog, jog, jog!

I got to my house and looked at my phone. I had knocked off 2 minutes from my usual time, 33:36 minutes to jog 2.61 miles. I am happy with that, I wished it had been quicker, but, still happy with that.

My Old man was very encouraging though, he said knocking off two minutes on your usual time is quite a chunk! So maybe I should be more than happy with that. I had forgot to ask what Smarty Pants time was, still she looked as if she had just been out for a stroll by the time I got back!