Today is Thankful Friday.
I am thankful that my experimental peanut butter and honey chicken stir-fry didn’t poison Gym Buddy last night when she came for dinner, and that we are both alive and well at work today in spite of me entering a bus lane facing the wrong way when I was driving her home last night. At least she no longer fears death after that particular car journey!
I am also thankful that I have a relatively quiet weekend ahead – it’s London Aunt’s wedding anniversary on Sunday, so we’re going for lunch for that, and I am meeting Friend Who Knows Big Words for a lunchtime gossip on Saturday. But apart from that I will just be doing as much exercise as I can.
The reason for this is I have become a little rounded at the edges of late.
After the slimming effects of a nasty bout of Crohn’s last year, I have managed to regain all the weight I lost and add a little bit more for good measure, and it’s had a disastrous effect on the fitting of my clothes!
The other night, while walking home from work, I stopped off to use a public loo. I was hot from the walking and as I tried to pull my jeans up, I had a Ross from Friends moment. You know the scene where he wears leather pants on a date and can’t get them back up in the bathroom?
Well that was me. Stuck in a central London toilet wondering how the heck to get my jeans up in the confines of a small cubical.
In the end I did a kind of Hips Don’t Lie move and the jeans were up – but it was a moment I do not want to repeat…
*blush
So, yes, a weekend of exercise for me it is then.
And, if you see me running around the park with my egg timer this weekend, be sure to stop and say hellooooooo!
Showing posts with label running. Show all posts
Showing posts with label running. Show all posts
Friday, 2 July 2010
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Running with music
So the countdown is almost at an end – my run is almost here!
*eek
Actually, in a weird way, I'm looking forward to seeing if all this training has paid off. This morning's run would imply that it has, as I didn't get tired until right at the end of my 30 minute jaunt, and before I started this running lark, I couldn't even run for a bus without getting uncontrollably out of breath.
It really is amazing, and quite satisfying, too.
Anyway, today I tried something new and different on my run. I tried running with my iPhone playing music. Now, it was quite good, except that I didn’t have a playlist and so hitting shuffle meant that any old song could pop up at any time and these were not always best suited to pounding the pavements.
What I also struggled with was actually hearing it, above the sound of the traffic and general rush-hour din. I never listen to my iPod in public places for this exact reason – for instance, on the bus, I would have to have it on full volume just to get the bass, and I’d be one of those people on the posters being inconsiderate about my music. Except I wouldn’t be being deliberately inconsiderate, I’d just be trying to hear the bloomin’ thing.
So where, was I, erm… yes I didn’t really hear much of it. I’d miss the first minute of the song and then finally get the bass line and realise what I was listening to, and then my head would make up the rest. And because my head was so busy making up music it forgot that it was running and the whole thing flew by.
Not quite the point of running with music, but if it works, I’m not complaining. I do however, need to source some bass-heavy music to run to so that I can actually hear it all the way.
Time to get Pa to dig out his Napalm Death album I think.
*eek
Actually, in a weird way, I'm looking forward to seeing if all this training has paid off. This morning's run would imply that it has, as I didn't get tired until right at the end of my 30 minute jaunt, and before I started this running lark, I couldn't even run for a bus without getting uncontrollably out of breath.
It really is amazing, and quite satisfying, too.
Anyway, today I tried something new and different on my run. I tried running with my iPhone playing music. Now, it was quite good, except that I didn’t have a playlist and so hitting shuffle meant that any old song could pop up at any time and these were not always best suited to pounding the pavements.
What I also struggled with was actually hearing it, above the sound of the traffic and general rush-hour din. I never listen to my iPod in public places for this exact reason – for instance, on the bus, I would have to have it on full volume just to get the bass, and I’d be one of those people on the posters being inconsiderate about my music. Except I wouldn’t be being deliberately inconsiderate, I’d just be trying to hear the bloomin’ thing.
So where, was I, erm… yes I didn’t really hear much of it. I’d miss the first minute of the song and then finally get the bass line and realise what I was listening to, and then my head would make up the rest. And because my head was so busy making up music it forgot that it was running and the whole thing flew by.
Not quite the point of running with music, but if it works, I’m not complaining. I do however, need to source some bass-heavy music to run to so that I can actually hear it all the way.
Time to get Pa to dig out his Napalm Death album I think.
Wednesday, 14 April 2010
The 'What can I hear?' game
So, no blog yesterday... sorry!
But I have been rather busy lately with the running, my column in Hearing Times – due in Friday – and a few secret projects.
Don't get me wrong, I like it that way, but I do find, if I don't get my sacred bus journey to work for some reason or other, then the blog doesn't get done.
It's Wednesday already, which is great news. Wednesday is my favourite day of the week as by the end of it, the weekend is almost here.
This weekend, I am headed to Pompey to see Penfold and DangerMouse. DangerMouse is in a bike race on Sunday so we're gonna cheer him on, and I may take my running gear and take advantage of the endless sea front.
Anyway, this morning I woke up early. Stupidly early – 5am – knowing that in order to fit in my now 40-minute session on my walk-to-run program, I only had another hour in bed.
Unable to go back to sleep, I played a game that I used to play in my old flat when lying awake at night. It's called 'What can I hear?'. Since moving to the new place, I haven't played it, and it transpires that this was in fact for good reason. I can't hear anything. I mean it's not completely silent, but in the 15 minutes that I lay there listening, I heard maybe two cars... and that was it! In my last flat, I heard two cars a second, and I couldn't hear my TV if the window was open.
It gave me some understanding of just why my new housemates in the last place used to look so traumatised after their first week of living there. To hearing peeps, it must have been dreadful!
I do like the silence in my new place... but now I need a new game for when I'm lying in bed at night unable to sleep...
Perhaps I should just count sheep!
But I have been rather busy lately with the running, my column in Hearing Times – due in Friday – and a few secret projects.
Don't get me wrong, I like it that way, but I do find, if I don't get my sacred bus journey to work for some reason or other, then the blog doesn't get done.
It's Wednesday already, which is great news. Wednesday is my favourite day of the week as by the end of it, the weekend is almost here.
This weekend, I am headed to Pompey to see Penfold and DangerMouse. DangerMouse is in a bike race on Sunday so we're gonna cheer him on, and I may take my running gear and take advantage of the endless sea front.
Anyway, this morning I woke up early. Stupidly early – 5am – knowing that in order to fit in my now 40-minute session on my walk-to-run program, I only had another hour in bed.
Unable to go back to sleep, I played a game that I used to play in my old flat when lying awake at night. It's called 'What can I hear?'. Since moving to the new place, I haven't played it, and it transpires that this was in fact for good reason. I can't hear anything. I mean it's not completely silent, but in the 15 minutes that I lay there listening, I heard maybe two cars... and that was it! In my last flat, I heard two cars a second, and I couldn't hear my TV if the window was open.
It gave me some understanding of just why my new housemates in the last place used to look so traumatised after their first week of living there. To hearing peeps, it must have been dreadful!
I do like the silence in my new place... but now I need a new game for when I'm lying in bed at night unable to sleep...
Perhaps I should just count sheep!
Friday, 9 April 2010
A not very Thankful Friday
Today has not been a very thankful Friday so far. I overslept, had hideous dreams, smashed Friend Who Knows Big Words' favourite glass, cut my finger and shut another one in a door.
*sniff
Not even the sun is cheering me up. I just want to crawl back into bed and pretend today isn't happening.
On a positive note Whiskey Cousin is coming to stay. She's 13 so I've got us tickets to see Mamma Mia – half price on account of my deafness, and premium seats, too. I don’t know if I'll be able to follow much, but the guys in the box office reassured me its very similar to the movie script, so I will watch and memorise that in advance! They also announced that they are looking at doing a captioned production soon. Yay!
I'm also planning to take Whiskey Cousin to Portobello or Camden and maybe the Tate Modern for some cultcha.
Should be fun!
Finally, I do have one more thing to be thankful for... that I managed my jawlk home yesterday. The Runkeeper application on my iPhone said it was 6 miles and I reckon I ran for two thirds of it at least. Running down Oxford Street was not an option, so I walked that bit. I'm still not fabulous at it though, and always seem to get this moment about 1 minute in where I want to give up, but the more I ran, the more I got into it. And without my rucksack, I reckon it would have been a whole lot easier.
Running is getting easier.
And if that's not something to be thankful for, I don't know what is.
*sniff
Not even the sun is cheering me up. I just want to crawl back into bed and pretend today isn't happening.
On a positive note Whiskey Cousin is coming to stay. She's 13 so I've got us tickets to see Mamma Mia – half price on account of my deafness, and premium seats, too. I don’t know if I'll be able to follow much, but the guys in the box office reassured me its very similar to the movie script, so I will watch and memorise that in advance! They also announced that they are looking at doing a captioned production soon. Yay!
I'm also planning to take Whiskey Cousin to Portobello or Camden and maybe the Tate Modern for some cultcha.
Should be fun!
Finally, I do have one more thing to be thankful for... that I managed my jawlk home yesterday. The Runkeeper application on my iPhone said it was 6 miles and I reckon I ran for two thirds of it at least. Running down Oxford Street was not an option, so I walked that bit. I'm still not fabulous at it though, and always seem to get this moment about 1 minute in where I want to give up, but the more I ran, the more I got into it. And without my rucksack, I reckon it would have been a whole lot easier.
Running is getting easier.
And if that's not something to be thankful for, I don't know what is.
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
The running deaf girl races!
OK, Deafinitely Girly has some very erm… exciting, no wait, that’s the wrong word for it… SHOCKING news!!!!
She is running… in a race!
*pauses and waits for people to get back up off the floor
I know!
I don’t know what came over me, but Tigger inspired me. He’s visiting soon you see, and he suggested we do a race together that weekend. So we are...
Eek!
Seriously though, I am a teeny tiny bit excited – even though it is only a 5k run – as it will be my first ever running race since the house cross country nearly 20 years ago, when I came last out of the whole school… and you wonder what put me off running!
I’m hoping that this race will also give me added incentive to get out there and keep running. This morning – despite only having 4 hours sleep – I still got up and pounded the pathways of my local park. And I actually felt better for it.
OK, who’s kidnapped DG and put this odd running deaf girl in her place?!
It’s all thanks to Tigger really though – he kept quietly encouraging me. And now I have ‘come out’ as a runner – he’s noisily encouraging me. He even wants me to do the Great South Run in October but I’m… aherm… most deafinitely busy that weekend.
But if I am really going to keep at this running business, I really ought to invest in some running trousers that aren’t frayed to the knees, a top that isn’t meant for skiing and something more sophisticated than an egg timer.
Time for a shop at lunchtime today, I think!
She is running… in a race!
*pauses and waits for people to get back up off the floor
I know!
I don’t know what came over me, but Tigger inspired me. He’s visiting soon you see, and he suggested we do a race together that weekend. So we are...
Eek!
Seriously though, I am a teeny tiny bit excited – even though it is only a 5k run – as it will be my first ever running race since the house cross country nearly 20 years ago, when I came last out of the whole school… and you wonder what put me off running!
I’m hoping that this race will also give me added incentive to get out there and keep running. This morning – despite only having 4 hours sleep – I still got up and pounded the pathways of my local park. And I actually felt better for it.
OK, who’s kidnapped DG and put this odd running deaf girl in her place?!
It’s all thanks to Tigger really though – he kept quietly encouraging me. And now I have ‘come out’ as a runner – he’s noisily encouraging me. He even wants me to do the Great South Run in October but I’m… aherm… most deafinitely busy that weekend.
But if I am really going to keep at this running business, I really ought to invest in some running trousers that aren’t frayed to the knees, a top that isn’t meant for skiing and something more sophisticated than an egg timer.
Time for a shop at lunchtime today, I think!
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Hearing(?!) a clock tick!
Ooh, today the weather feels positively spring-like don't you think?
This was definitely reflected in my lack of layers when I went running this morning. I'm improving every time I go now, although I'm still not completely won over by this whole running thing...
Today I'm thinking about the weekend... already! You see, it's gonna be another weekend of DIY as I attempt to put right yet another piece of shoddy workmanship in my flat done by a previous owner.
And to help me with this one is DIY expert, Onion Soup Mate. Together with FSA Boy, she is renovating her own lovely house and having just done her bathroom, I reckoned she was the expert to ask for help with mine!
I will of course be doing some work, too, but I shall mostly be doing what I'm told.
Anyway, as I was lying in bed last night, I heard(?!) the strangest noise. ‘Tap, tap, tap, tap’ it went. My heart was in my mouth as I wondered if it was my heating again, but thankfully the heating had been off for some time, and it was a different tap. (At ease, Blanco!)
I got up to investigate, noticing that it got louder in the hallway. ‘Tap, tap, tap’ it went.
High and low I looked until my ears and eyes finally came to rest on a bright pink cuckoo clock given to me by NikNak for my birthday.
I've never really heard a clock tick before. Not since before I lost lots of my hearing, and certainly not without holding it up right to my ear.
How could this be?
And then it clicked. In my unsupervised DIY mania, I had put the clock up on a hollow wall, which was acting as an amplifier... even for deaf old me!
Incredible!
But then of course, I was torn between so happy I could hear something like a clock ticking but also not being able to sleep because of it.
In the end I reached a compromise. By day, the clock ticks and by night, time stands still.
I wonder what else I can nail to the wall to make it louder?!
This was definitely reflected in my lack of layers when I went running this morning. I'm improving every time I go now, although I'm still not completely won over by this whole running thing...
Today I'm thinking about the weekend... already! You see, it's gonna be another weekend of DIY as I attempt to put right yet another piece of shoddy workmanship in my flat done by a previous owner.
And to help me with this one is DIY expert, Onion Soup Mate. Together with FSA Boy, she is renovating her own lovely house and having just done her bathroom, I reckoned she was the expert to ask for help with mine!
I will of course be doing some work, too, but I shall mostly be doing what I'm told.
Anyway, as I was lying in bed last night, I heard(?!) the strangest noise. ‘Tap, tap, tap, tap’ it went. My heart was in my mouth as I wondered if it was my heating again, but thankfully the heating had been off for some time, and it was a different tap. (At ease, Blanco!)
I got up to investigate, noticing that it got louder in the hallway. ‘Tap, tap, tap’ it went.
High and low I looked until my ears and eyes finally came to rest on a bright pink cuckoo clock given to me by NikNak for my birthday.
I've never really heard a clock tick before. Not since before I lost lots of my hearing, and certainly not without holding it up right to my ear.
How could this be?
And then it clicked. In my unsupervised DIY mania, I had put the clock up on a hollow wall, which was acting as an amplifier... even for deaf old me!
Incredible!
But then of course, I was torn between so happy I could hear something like a clock ticking but also not being able to sleep because of it.
In the end I reached a compromise. By day, the clock ticks and by night, time stands still.
I wonder what else I can nail to the wall to make it louder?!
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