Pushing my limits (Part 2)

March 11th was D-Day, supposedly the day I'd actually run 5km for the first time. I was signed up for a race in aid of the Stroke Association, raised £150 in sponsorship, got the T-shirt, the race number and running buddies, but what I'd not managed was all the training!


I began well back in January, ok for the first couple of days I began well, then the issues or maybe  more accurately excuses began...


First up was a trip to the doctor's to get an inhaler, turns out I suffer with exercise induced asthma. Never been a problem when I was swimming, but the cold dry air when running was triggering it. So £7.40 later I was sorted, just couple of puffs prior to each run and I was fine* and I joined that odd group of people who pound the pavements in the early hours of the morning, when all sane people are still tucked up warm in bed. 


*NB How fine a little round woman in a day-glo yellow top and lycra can be is debatable!

I'd built my way up to Week 3 of the Couch to 5km training plan & things were going ok.  I was beginning to complete all the run sections of the programme and was starting to see a real improvement. I felt pretty confident that I would eventually be able to run the full 5k in March.


Excuse Number 2: Hip pain... as I blogged back in February, I had to have some rehab sessions on my right hip and knee. The lovely lads at Storm Fitness did a great job and sorted me out but it took time. 


Then the bloody lurgy.... Excuse Number 3, a stubborn cough and cold that took weeks to shift. Hit my training on the head as it triggered the asthma whenever I tried anything more taxing than walking up the stairs. Hopeless.

March 11th arrived with me having done little to no training for the previous 6 weeks... I was not looking forward to race day. Stupidly, I'd only entered this race as a uni mate, who had also just started running had said "We need something to aim for" and sent me the link... damn that man! Then another mate signed up too, which meant there was no backing out!


Roundhay Park in Leeds is a beautiful place and the weather was perfect. However me, being a prize wally, had managed to pack everything I needed for the weekend bar my inhaler... Doh! (That's Excuse Number 4 if you'd lost count!)


Mr Competitive Uni-Mate had been doing rather well with his training and disappeared off into the distance, while my personal pace setter Ms The Hill-Is-Our-Friend stuck with me and kept me going. 


I'd love to be able to say I ran the whole thing, but I didn't. 


I ran (shuffled) to the 1km marker, then walked a bit, then shuffled a bit further, walked a bit, moaned a lot, shuffled a bit, grumbled some more, shuffled a bit... You get the picture. I am very grateful that Ms The Hill-Is-Our-Friend was with me, as without her support I'd not have made it round. I certainly would never have shuffled up that hill... and no the hill was not my bloody friend!!!


So I lost the race, in fact I finished last... but I got round. I even have a medal to prove it! Best of all thanks to my generous friends, family & Twitter buddies I raised £150 for The Stroke Association. 

http://www.justgiving.com/Karen-Mallender if you'd like to donate!! :-)

Mr Competitive Uni-Mate, Me (The Wheezing Whinger) and Ms The Hill-Is-Our-Friend

p.s. I still want to actually run a full 5km and another uni mate has suggested we train for one in the summer and use it as an excuse to meet up for a weekend. So far no joint pain, no asthma and no lurgy, keep your fingers crossed!

Teutonic Gods of Rock & Pushing My Limits... (Part 1)

Bit of a delayed update... Planning and doing stuff instead of just thinking about it takes time!!


Since I last posted: I've moshed, poked my finger through hole in a young man's ear, drunk too much on a school night, attempted a 5km run, slid down a snow slope backwards and forwards, fallen on my arse, looked like a complete fool (shhhh to those of you who say that's nothing new!), leapt off a 5m tower, done a cracking impression of Robin Hood and faced a few of my fears. 


Not bad eh? By my usual sedentary standards it's been a busy couple of months!


Teutonic Gods of Rock.... RAMMSTEIN


I owe my gig buddy a huge thank you for pushing me out of my comfort zone & persuading me to go see this band. Perry had been talking about them for about a year, singing their praises "best live band ever", sending me youtube video links etc...  Finally a week before the gig I caved... 

I downloaded the greatest hits album and was hooked. Having a degree in German made it all the more entertaining, some of those song lyrics are just plain weird, wonderful but weird!!! 

If I'm perfectly honest I was a bit nervous about this gig, I'd done Iron Maiden last year, but even so wasn't sure what to expect at such a hardcore metal (or should that be Teutonic Industrial Metal?) gig. 

Would I feel totally out of place? What would the atmosphere be like? 

Basically, me doing my usually panic about shit that I really don't need to panic about.

Unfortunately, on the way to the gig I lost my phone so I've had to "pinch" these pics off the internet, to give you an idea of the sheer brilliance that is Rammstein live. 

Seriously, yes, he wore for Engel, wings that had flames coming out of them!!! 

The showmanship was unbelievable, if you've never seen this band, you must, must, must go! They're really not to be missed. 

The fans are an eclectic mix, very chilled out. At one point I was stood behind a young man, who had one of those earrings in that expand the hole in the ear... in fact I could actually watch the band through it. Now, confession time, I'd had a drink (or two) by this point, so it seemed like a good idea to ask this young man about it & confess that I was tempted to poke my finger through his earlobe....

He let me.... :-)

Ok so I thought he was cute... but aren't you impressed at my expanding repertoire of chat up lines? I'm preparing myself for the challenge of number 14! ;-)

Finally, I have my first item for next year's Do Before 50 List... 

Who wouldn't want to crowd surf in a dinghy?

Here endeth Part One... Read about my wheezing run and bruised arse in Part Two...