Okay,  I haven’t updated this for a long time, but, there’s been a lot going on.  Not to mention things going slightly wrong!

Basically, we were going to the gym, probably not half as much as we should but twice as much as we liked!  Anyway, this year has been a learning curve.   I wanted to do a run.  I thought it would be a challenge and something to work towards.  My hubbie wanted us to walk the Shine which is a marathon walk that takes place in Manchester (and Edinburgh and London).  So, the unfortunate thing, timing wise, was Shine came first.  And, what I mean by this is this is a 26 mile walk undertaken overnight.  And, it’s really hard.  So, in preparation we were doing lots of long walks to build up.  We were also going to the gym, probably only a couple of times a week to try and build up on the jogging for the Bupa run.  But, we went on a decent walk with a few friends, about 15 miles and it was a hot day and a combination of the heat and socks rubbing resulted in very bad blisters!  So we had to lay low for a couple of weeks (although we did still do another walk).  But no gym.  Thenwe did the Shine walk (all 26 miles) and I will say it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever undertaken.  I don’t think being awake all night was good for me as I’m a total sleep demon.  But we did it and I felt really good.  However, foot problems had come back to the fore (Paul had two very bad blisters on the balls of his feet) which prevented us from doing any further gym.  So, basically, we hadn’t been to the gym for about 5 weeks when we went to the Bupa run today.  But, we did it!  Yay.  I was so chuffed.  We didn’t run the full thing.  I’d pulled a muscle in the back of my leg and Paul has had his blisters so we were being careful but we went all round and ran quite a lot.  It’s a great experience doing the run and I will definitely do it again but next time I will pace my challenges!! Too much conflict this time with different muscles working overtime.   But it was a good feeling and the atmosphere in Manchester was terrific.  All those people lining the streets to cheer you on was so motivating.  Like I said, we didn’t do this in any sort of brilliant time but given that we were still sore from two weeks before we did pretty good.  Next year: better pacing of events with more time in between.  If I’m going to be honest the 10k run was a walk in the park compared to Shine.  I was exhausted after that and I really like my walking! Anyway, for the time being, personal physical challenges are now over (although we do want to get in shape for our holiday!)  So let’s see how that goes… (and, we’ve decided we would do another shine and another run – but better spacing in between).

April 2nd – I cannot believe that I haven’t updated this for so long.  I am really rubbish.  But, to be fair, it doesn’t mean I haven’t been sort of good.  Today I have completed a 15 mile walk.  Feeling pretty chuffed with myself with that one – particularly as we have to walk 26 miles for our sponsored walk.  That being said I have now been sat down for a couple of hours enjoying the tv and one (or three) glasses of red wine and I actually don’t think I’ll be able to get off the settee.  And, even if I do, I won’t actually be able to straighten out.  That’s right, I’ll have to walk around in the shape of a lightning flash or something!  No, really, its good really.  And, I can now run 6k at the gym – okay I’m not strictly speaking running – I’m jogging (quite slowly(actually I could probably walk faster than I jog but it’s all kidology with me!)) – but, even so it’s an achievement for me!  Ha.  Not gonna run 10k though.

March 20th – okay, not updated this for a while so I’m definitely a failure.  I’ve not been totally bad (although I’ve equally not been totally good).  Went for a long walk last weekend and also to the gym a couple of times so was feeling pleased with myself.  Yesterday, went for a very strenuous walk – one we downloaded off the net.  Dove stones reservoirs.  Ended up going on some crazy hike which involved a bit of rock climbing.  Managed to miss the path and get lost.  We like to get lost.  It’s a little mini adventure.  Had to do a bit of a u-turn and cross over the moors to return and find the path which picked back up at the Balancing Stones.  The path ended up skirting a cliff.  I was not happy.  I think I’ve probably only mentioned to my husband about a thousand times that I don’t really like heights!!  I can deal with it but I don’t like it.  It makes me feel funny and of course he has to start standing on the edges of things (rocks) taking pictures when all I want to do is get away from the cliff edge as fast as possible!  Anyway, we eventually got off there (it was a very steep descent) and I ache everywhere this morning.  I ache in places that I didn’t think it was possible to ache.  In fact I’ve done a quick inventory and I think the only places that don’t ache are my eyelids and my ears.  So no cleaning or ironing then – I’ll have to have a nice relaxing day to make up for it all. 😀

Feb 26th – totally ashamed of myself, done nothing this week at all!  I’ve felt just exhausted for some reason and, on top of that, my diet has gone on holiday for the week.  So failure all round.  I will start aknew on Monday (I can’t start a new regime over the weekend – don’t know why but I have a mental block!).  So, Monday it is.

Feb 15th – went to the gym this evening (plus a short spell on Sunday evening.  Managed to do 5km in 35 minutes – which is pretty good for me!! Yay.  Maybe I will manage the 10km in May after all (although no way will I run it all!!) – still about 12/13 weeks to go so you never know!!!  Starving on this healthy eating – have you ever noticed how the majority of the adverts on the television are about food and drink (aaarrghhhh!) thankfully I usually read rather than watch tv.

Feb 12th – went for a long walk today – about 3.5 hours around Lyme Park – it was lovely although we caught a bit of rain and it was a bit muddy – lovely to see the deers feeding with a rather lovely magestic stag watching us in a very superior fashion! (Properly looking down its nose)

Feb 08th – Signed up for the night time walking marathon on Sunday May 1st in Manchester with my hubby in aid of cancer research uk. If you would be kind enough to sponsor us we would really appreciate it.

January 31st – went to the gym twice over the weekend – on Friday and Sunday – not going at it like a bull in a china shop, just taking it nice and easy… the most challenging thing about this weekend was cleaning up the kitchen after my husband made egg and bacon. Obviously he thought he was helping but the benefits of having a cooked breakfast made for me were far outweighed by the negatives of cleaning it up afterwards – there was grease everywhere – even the two dogs were coated in it (although they looked to be enjoying themselves). How is this possible?? (Took me 4 hours, two bottles of cleaning fluid, three sink fulls of very hot water, two dishcloths and all ten finger nails to get back to normal.

January 23rd – not been getting on too well with the personal challenges – although went for a good walk yesterday around Macclesfield Forest. Anyway, signed up for a mini Marathon (10k) in May – so 3 months to get into shape (ha!) Anybody with any tips feel free to share these with me…

On the books:

Books Read:

British Author challenge:

Debut Author challenge:

January 9th – had a good long walk yesterday so feeling pretty good on the personal challenges! The trick now is to try and carry on in the same vein!

In terms of book challenges – read 4 books now (so only 96 more to go!) plus I think two of these were debut authors – and one was a British author – so all three challenges now underway.

January 6th – does cheese and biscuits count as healthy eating? Mmmm, nope – but we can have all have dreams. But, I’ve had a busy today plus got home from work and had to take all the Christmas decorations down, so my thoughts are I deserve it!

January 4th – Oh dear, my personal challanges have not gone too well today.

Firstly, got up with every intention of walking to work (chiefly because I couldn’t be bothered to go to the bank and withdraw money to buy bus fare with – although that doesn’t really make sense because it’s quicker to walk to the bank than to walk to work) anyway, walked downstairs this morning and everywhere (outside that is!) was covered in snow. So, no walking to work then. I suppose I could have still walked but it just would result in me falling down a number of times, probably getting snowballed and arriving with bright red rosy cheeks! Not off to a good start with the exercising and getting in shape.

Secondly, got into work, first day back after Christmas, and somebody had left a box of chocolates on my desk by way of a prezzie – and it would be rude not to eat them wouldn’t it! So, I did – although I did share them with my family (just not the caramel ones). Not off to a good start with the healthy eating.

Thirdly, cutting down intake of alcohol – I don’t suppose drinking a few glasses of wine last night was really helpful to that cause.

So, I’m rubbish. I’ll start again tomorrow, and on the plus side I did finish reading a book (so at least that goes to one of my book challenges) Yay!