marathonmummy

.....

Look. I saw it today and it made me smile.

69 miles, one year of training, two pairs of trainers, more lycra clothing than I’ve ever owned in my life, hundreds of bottles of Lucozade Sport and 22 days to London.

I ran today, after spending an inordinately long time in bed wondering if the clouds were going to pass. Then I fed the children lunch, cleaned out the chickens, and tried as many procrastination techniques as I could.
Continue Reading »

I could come on here and pretend everything is lovely and that I’ve had a fabulous week. But I’d be lying.

I’m only human. I’m a mother of four children, I’m self employed, and there isn’t enough of me to go round at the moment.
I’m fundraising like mad.
Oh yes, and I’m trying to persuade my reluctant body to run 26.2 miles.
And arranging a fundraising quiz night.
And sorting out a bake sale at school.
And trying to persuade people to give me prizes for a raffle.
And organising printed t-shirts for Marathon Day.
And doing a Body Shop/Phoenix Cards party.

This week has been hard. K, my husband, has been working away, and he’s not home until tonight. Then he’s working again tomorrow.

I had to tell no3′s teacher that it was my fault he hadn’t done his homework.
I had to tell no4′s teacher that he was wearing wellies to preschool because his shoes had disappeared in the chaos of our house.
I had to tell no2′s teacher that the printer wasn’t working and I couldn’t fix it, so his homework would have to wait till Daddy got home.
I had to tell no1 that the letter she absolutely must have back to school, Mummy, fell off the top of the microwave and caught fire on the hob.

The dog hasn’t been walked.
I impulse bought a new chicken (don’t ask) and the other two are being Mean Girls to her.
There is an ironing pile in the garage with clothes in it I dont even remember buying.
The allotment police are going to arrest us for neglect.
I owe about seven hundred emails.
I have done so little work that I’m probably going to get the elbow.

But you know what?
It’s Friday.
Saying all my troubles out loud doesn’t make them go away, but it makes them a little bit less scary.
It’s okay to have a bad week, isn’t it?

Tomorrow I’m going to put on my trainers, and go for a 15 mile run.
That’ll cheer me up.

(I’ve added a new comment system to the blog, so if you want to tell me how you plan to cheer yourself up this weekend, or if you want to make me smile, just click on the little ‘comments’ tag at the side there. Oh, and the comment seems to take a moment to appear, so don’t worry if it doesn’t turn up at first. Technology, eh? One of these days I’ll just leave a post it note on the blog and you can scribble on it instead.)

I have been tagged by carpeviam, the inspirational goddess of marathon running and all round funny person, to list 10 things that make me happy. 1. Family – here we are this Christmas. Please note I have managed to avoid being in the photograph. I’m crafty like that.

2. Friends – this picture shows a small but very lovely selection. Yes, we had been drinking wine.

3. Tea. Kettle must be freshly boiled, tea must be decaf, milk must be put in afterwards and semi skimmed or whole, never skimmed (ugh). Yes, I really am quite fussy. You noticed.

4. Bookshops – until our lovely Borders closed, I was to be found hiding there as often as possible, drinking coffee and reading books, hidden in a corner. These are our kittens, Edward and Bella, who have inherited my love of books. Or maybe just small spaces.

5. My garden. Don’t be fooled by those hens. They might look cute, but they ate all 100 of my tulips last year, and they crap everywhere. They do lay lovely (occasionally tulip flavoured) eggs, though.

6. Skiing – I keep hoping my running experiences will end up like my skiing ones. My learning curve was very steep. In my first week, I went from lying in a foetal position on a nursery slope, weeping that I was scared I’d fall off the side of the mountain, to a red run. Now it’s my favourite thing in the world. Unfortunately I’ve yet to feel the same love of running that I have for skiing. That’s why you should all be impressed by me running a marathon, because there are about a million other things I’d rather be doing.

For instance, having

7. Baths – with a magazine, a glass of something lovely (Laphroaig will do nicely) and no interruptions from small people needing to go to the loo.

8. Wine – I know, I’m training for a marathon, my body should be a temple, etc, but a glass or two of red wine is good for the heart. Isn’t it? Oh, don’t tell me otherwise, I don’t want to know.

9. The wonderful world of the internet – for an arch-procrastinator like me, it’s a blessing and a curse. I spend far too much time reading the Runner’s World website for tips, when I could be doing something boring but constructive, like work. Or housework. Or running, instead of reading about it. Ugh.

10. Sleep. When you have children who get up at 5am sleep makes you very happy. In fact it’s the holy grail of the parenting world. Talking of which, I might have a little snooze before school pick up time.

Tomorrow: more about running. Today I realised I’m getting fitter. Hooray.

I’m torn between wanting it to snow (pretty, no packed lunches to make tomorrow) and wanting it to thaw (slid down the steps in the garden today when I was out feeding the chickens, need to train outside because the treadmill is no substitute). This is the longest time I can remember that we’ve had snow on the ground and freezing temperatures, and whilst the children are loving it I’m going a bit bonkers. I left the village for the first time in five days yesterday. The supermarket was full of people in woolly hats, panic buying bread and milk. Depending on which forecast you read, tonight we’re either due a thaw, or another four inches of snow.

I’m really hoping the children will get back to school this week so I can head out into the frozen wasteland with my lovely Garmin. Meanwhile, as the roads are still covered in slush and ice, tonight I’ll be on the treadmill for 80 – yes, you read that right – minutes. Run 3, walk 1, run 3, walk 1, run 3, walk 1…it’s exciting stuff.