Salzburg

So finally, after years of dreaming about it, we arrived in Salzburg and what a magical city it is. Birthplace of Mozart, it is a place that had called to us both so we were very excited to be there.

As the capital of one of the World's oldest Archbishoprics, Salzburg is home to dozens of churches and you can see the spires and domes of the Cathedral and church of St Peter (on the right) in this photo.
The first thing we did upon arrival was to dump our cases in the hotel and go for a walk to soak up the atmosphere.

The sun was shining and everywhere looked so beautiful.

You really can't walk far before encountering a place of interest but as soon as we turned the corner from the hotel we found Residenzplatz and saw a whole line of Esther's (see below for a photo of her with Mike).



The ride in a carriage seemed very popular with visitors and we encountered them all through our stay.

It became a ritual for me to say "Guten Morgen Haffies" to them every morning! My 8 months learning German stood us in good stead even though I can barely string a sentence together and it was great fun to put my studies into practice.

Mike became quite adept at asking for another beer and to pay the bill.

In the middle of Residenzplatz is this beautiful fountain, considered to be the most beautiful fountain in the city of Salzburg: four snorting horses seem to spring forth from the spouting rock. Giants rooted in the rock carry the lower basin, in which three dolphins balance the scalloped upper basin. The upper basin holds a Triton, a jet of water shooting into the air from his conch-shell trumpet.
Archbishop Guidobald Thun, a fountain enthusiast, commissioned the fountain to be built. It is considered to be one of the most significant baroque monuments in Europe today. The work is attributed to the Italian sculptor, Tommaso di Garone.

Behind the fountain is the glockenspiel clock, situated in this tower.

The 35 bells play classical tunes (usually by Mozart, Carl Maria von Weber, and his teacher in Salzburg, Michael Haydn) at 7 AM, 11 AM, and 6 PM -- with charm and ingenuity often making up for the occasional musical inaccuracy. The bells are immediately followed by a resounding retort from perhaps the oldest mechanical musical instrument in the world, the 200-pipe "Bull" organ housed in the Hohensalzburg Fortress across town.

It gets quite noisy in Salzburg!

Next to Residenzplatz is Mozartplatz, complete with a statue of the great composer himself which was unveiled by Constanze after his death.

So here it is; Mozart's Geburtshaus - literally, Mozart's birth-house. We were very lucky in that there weren't many tourists around as apparently they have over 3500 visitors a day in the main tourist season (and it isn't a large space).

We took so many photos that I could spend an age uploading them so I've been selective to give a flavour of the place.

Suffice to say that there is something of interest at every turn and we certainly burned off all the calories from our kaffee und kuchen - that's coffee and cake which is a very good tradition and we upheld it with great dedication.

These amazing hinges within the confines of Residenz Palace caught my eye.

How wonderfully ornate!

I kept spotting beautifully crafted hinges and grills and became a bit of a metalwork geek.

There were so many wonderful shop signs.

Apparently, each shop had to display a sign that showed exactly what their trade was so there are some very elaborate examples, particularly in the Getreidegasse, or 'grain lane', the busiest shopping street in the old town.

Mozart's geburtshaus is situated along here and I ran down there on my way to the finish line in the marathon, which of course was the other reason we were there.

There was a well organised series of street musicians with Oompah bands and solo artists performing throughout the old town.

They really helped bring the city to life and the traditional bands were very popular with the locals too.

We saw a couple dancing to a folk tune and an elderly lady was singing and dancing happily too.

Apparently Salzburg has a reputation for being a drizzly and cloudy city but we were blessed with the most beautiful weather (for most of the time - wait and see what happened the day before the marathon!).

It was so hot and we were walking about in the sunshine so much that we both bought holiday hats from a market trader.

Mike's hat is such a typically Austrian shape and it really suits him.

As a vegetarian, who eats neither meat nor fish, I was somewhat apprehensive about what I would eat. I was absolutely fine and had no trouble until one particular evening when we ate at a restaurant recommended by a local.

I've included this photo to remind me just how bad it can be as I look so happy before the food arrived - pleasure/pain!

I explained to the waiter that I eat "kein fleiche oder fische" (no meat or fish) and he recommended the Spargel, which he referred to as asparagus and was served with boiled potatoes and a sauce. "Yum" I said, "I love asparagus".

When it arrived it looked like this and was all mushy as if it had been boiled for about 3 hours. Worse still it arrived with a pork snitzel on the plate so had to be sent back to have scraped off. It tasted disgusting but I consoled myself that I'd have a pudding as a treat.

Unfortunately the apple streudel was disgusting as well and was served with cream that was off so we both left that too. I couldn't even have a drink to drown my sorrows as I was being good before the marathon which was only 2 days away!

Now for a bit of running.

I only did one run in Salzburg before the marathon and that was just to stretch my legs out - we walked so much in the days prior to the marathon I didn't even really need to do that but it's always a good psychological booster.

We were out nice and early so there weren't many people around, except for cyclists.

There is a very good cycle network throughout the city but as a pedestrian you had to keep your wits about you when crossing their path!

I did a couple of circuits along the riverside, across a bridge to the new town and then back to the old town whilst Mike walked along enjoying the view.

Look at those wonderful hills in the background.

I keep referring to the 'old town', which is where we stayed, as the city is divided into 2 by the river Salzach.

The river's name is derived from the German word Salz, meaning "salt". Until the 19th century shipping of salt down the river was an important part of the local economy. The shipping ended when railways replaced the old transport system.

This photo was taken from the new side and you can see the magnificent Hohensalzburg Fortress which dominates the skyline. We took the funicular railway to visit it on our second day there but later in our stay we walked up the hillside to it which was much more fun!

This photo shows the inside of the dome in the cathedral but there are some much better photos here.

We were lucky to hear the organist practising when we visited and the organ sounded wonderful in such a massive space.

The day before the marathon the weather changed. In the morning it was bright so we decided to head off to the Untersburg mountain to take the cable car to the summit.

Sadly I can only give a link to this beautiful mountain (of 'Sound of Music' fame) because when we arrived the clouds descended and by the time we'd reached the top it was raining and blowing a gale so we couldn't see a thing! It is a very popular place and when we came back down there was a bride and groom with their wedding party waiting to take the cable car to have photos taken. They must have been very disappointed.

When we got back down the rain wasn't as heavy but by the time we arrived back in the city centre it had settled in for the day so we finished off the last of the museums and Residenz gallery where we walked in Mozart's footsteps admiring the amazing Baroque stucco work and highly ornate stoves in every room.

The evening before the marathon we had a real treat as we attended a performance of Mozart's Requiem inside Residenz Palace and it was performed in one of the "Prunkräume", or "glorious rooms" (State Apartments), adjacent to where Mozart performed his first ever composition at the age of 6.

It is my favourite Requiem and it was a wonderful performance.

The railings at the end of the room were constructed from bells destined for a church. The order was cancelled and so the bells were melted down and refashioned into the ballustrade. Its secret though is that each ballustrade was tuned so that they can be played as a glockenspiel. Yes, we did try them to check they worked, but not during the concert of course!

Thankfully the rain had abated and stayed away long enough for us to get back to the hotel at about 9:30pm. Then it came back with a vengeance, torrential rain complete with thunder. It was so noisy it kept waking me up so I didn't have a good night's preparation, but that's not unusual before a marathon.

It was still raining heavily when we got up on the morning of the marathon and it was jolly cold too.

All the runners milling around were wearing jackets and some even had long winter tights on. I just had my Alzheimer's vest and shorts with me and I knew I was going to get cold so I made the decision to keep my jacket on.

It was a wise decision!
I'd checked the results from previous years so I knew that it was going to be a fast marathon field and that I would finish either last or nearly last so I positioned myself near the back.

I hadn't realised that the 1/2 marathon was being run at the same time so I was in amongst the 1/2 marathon runners in a pen labelled "4:20 or longer marathoners & 2:10 1/2 marathoners".

As the gun went off the rain decided to come down even heavier and so I was soon soaked to my skin and my feet were sloshing around - yuk. The thing about running in the rain is that once you are soaked through to the skin then you really can't get any wetter and you just tend to get on with the business of running.

After about 4 miles I was getting too hot in my jacket so I took it off and tied it around my waist. As I passed mile 11 the lead runner, Victor-Bushendich Chelokoi passed me and was looking good - I found out later that he broke the course record, coming home in 2:14:49. Wow! I decided to push ahead in the first 1/2 and keep ahead of the slower 1/2 marathoners and I passed the 1/2 way point in 2:20.

I did have to stop for a couple of toilet breaks though, which slowed me down, as I had a bit of an upset tummy when I woke up that morning which is most unusual for me as I have a cast-iron stomach. Thankfully the race organisers had positioned portaloos around the course, even in the remote areas. The other thing that impressed me about the organisation was that they had sensor mats, positioned at regular intervals, that you had to run over so that your timing chip was registered. This ensured that there was no cheating.

It was a 2 lap course and was almost pancake flat so there was pb potential there in the right conditions but for me it was just about getting round in one piece without falling over (I do have a tendency to trip up in wet conditions!).

The route took us along the Salzach then out into the countryside towards Hellbrunn Palace a wonderful 'pleasure palace' we had already visited. It is famous for its trick fountains and we had great fun there getting thoroughly soaked by the guide! I thought about that as I ran down the red carpet they had laid out for us on the drive - what a lovely touch.

Most of the course was on wide trails which although a bit muddy and puddly in parts were largely OK to run on. There was scant support along the route but this was made up for by the number of marshalls and Police out who all had a cheery word for us and held up the traffic to let us cross any roads that hadn't been closed (the roads we ran on were mostly closed for 6 hours which was brilliant).

As I was wearing my Alzheimer's vest I had some lovely comments from marshalls and fellow runners that I passed en-route. Highlights were the Policeman who took his hat off to me and the man sitting in cafe who jumped to his feet and shouted "well done Alzheimer's" and stood and clapped as I ran past. The nicest moment was running back across the Salzach for the last time and on both sides of the road there were fellow runners who had finished and were making their way home - there must have been about 40 of them and they all stood and clapped me past. I heard several shouts about relatives with Alzheimer's but I didn't understand everything. It certainly brought a tear to my eyes.

There were 547 starters but only 535 finishers and I was number 529, so not quite last then! My chip time was 5:03:38 which was pleasing given the weather conditions and that it was my 3rd marathon in 5 weeks. The last runners came home in 5:22 which was a good time too.

As I came up to the finish line I spotted Mike with the video camera so I gave him a great big wave and a smile. There were still some die-hard supporters around so I had lots of cheers and clapping to welcome me home.

Having received my medal the first thing to do was grab some water, a banana and a piece of cake!

After a great big hug from Mike we looked at my medal and it's a cracker! The cut-out bit is the silhouette of the fortress and then the city skyline is in the foreground, across which the runners dash along a musical stave with their feet being the notes. Underneath it says 'Salzburg AMREF Marathon, run in Mozart's city'. It is one of my favourite medals.

So that was marathon number 23 and the 3rd this year so the summer will be dedicated to getting my speed up for the Liverpool marathon in October.

That evening we dined on pasta and tiramisu and celebrated with some lovely wine.

The next day my legs felt absolutely fine and so we decided to have another day of adventure but his time on the other side of the river in the new town where we visited St Sebastian's church and graveyard where Mozart's wife, Constanze, and his father, Leopold, are buried in a family grave. We heard about this from a lovely Austrian man who I spoke to in St Peter's Church graveyard. In my best German I had asked if Mozart was buried in Salzburg or Vienna and he told me that although he is buried in Vienna that his sister Nanerle is buried there in St. Peter's and then told me about St. Sebastians too. It was worth learning German just to glean those snippets of information. Mozart's Mass in C Minor was first performed in St. Peters and Constanze sang the Soprano part!

On our way there we passed this wonderful lion atop a building and I snapped him.

It was only later that we realised that he made an appearance in the Sound of Music.

That realisation made us start wondering about other sights around the city and when we came home we watched the whole film to spot the places we'd visited including Residenzplatz, Schloss Mirabell gardens and the Rock Riding School where Captain von Trapp sang Edelweiss.

That evening we attended a Mozart Concert and Dinner at Stiftskeller, a restaurant adjacent to St. Peter's and dating back to 803, where the Mozart family were regular diners. It sounded a bit touristy but we did it anyway and had a wonderful evening. The food was based on 17th and 18th century menus (well, except for my vegetarian risotto which was perhaps not quite so authentic!) and between courses we were entertained by 2 opera singers and a music ensemble performing operatic arias from Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni and the Magic Flute. The singers were excellent and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

This view was taken from the path leading to the Fortress. We just had a short amble up there on our way back to the hotel and ended up walking for a couple of hours as the views were so stunning.

In the top left of the photo is the Museum der Moderne Mönchsberg where we saw an exhibition of Alberto Giacometti's work.

The morning of our last full day was spent climbing up another hill.

It was a glorious day and the climbing really helped to stretch my legs out again. I saw all sorts of wild flowers that I didn't recognise and there were really useful information boards to read about the flora and fauna. Apparently there are about 30 chamois goats living there but we didn't spot any.

I loved this view of the fortress, framed by trees.

This water fountain was most welcome and we both agreed that we'd never tasted such pure, clean water before.

We sampled it on the way up and then again on the way down.

It was one of those perfect times that you never want to end.



Although the city of Salzburg itself is completely flat, it is surrounded by these beautiful mountains and hills.

You can see the snow on the tops of some of them. When I was running the marathon I was interested to feel the drop in temperature near the mountains. The cloud seemed to roll down the side of the mountain and envelop the towns.

As a treat on our final day we headed off to the Hotel Sacher, from whence comes the infamous Sachertorte.

We'd certainly worked up an appetite from walking up the hillside all morning.

Mike declared that this was the best burger he had ever tasted so I took a photo of it to remind him!

We rounded off the meal with a piece of Sachertorte each on the premise that we'd already burned off the calories.

So that was it. I hope that's given a taster of what our holiday was like as there was just too much to include everything. Suffice to say that the reality of going there lived up to and exceeded our expectations and now we're eager to visit Vienna to continue our journey through Mozart's short life. I'd better keep up my German classes then!

There are some wonderful photos of Salzburg here courtesy of Wikipedia

Whilst waiting for London marathon photos.......

I thought it might be a good idea to actually post a photo of some knitting for a change as I keep forgetting to record what I'm doing!


At the moment I've just started the second sleeve of Owls by Kate Davies (Ravelry link). I'm using Jamieson's shetland marl in amethyst just because purple is my favourite colour.

It's a quick knit and I'm using my lovely new knit pics needles. Aren't they gorgeous! I started this just last week, finished the body in a few days and knit the first sleeve sitting in the hotel lobby whilst taking a break on Press conference day. Several people remarked "so you do actually knit then, not just when you're running!" which made me smile.

I've been trying to crack this little blighter for the last couple of days - it's a Rubik's cube and was given to me by Uli who solved 100 of them whilst running the marathon!

I've just mastered how to solve one side.

Apparently it's all down to using algorithms. It's looking good so far but I've still got 4 more sides to do - I may be some time............!

The lawn mower broke the other day and had to go off for repair. Not the best time to break as the grass was due for a cut.

Undeterred, my lovely ladies are helping out.

I just fenced off around the patio and put posts and tape in strategic places so they can't get into the pond or the woods and they are quite happy and it saves on petrol too!

I should mention that ours is not the sort of lawn that is like bowling green and it has lots of daisies, buttercups and other wild flowers in which is just how we like it as it's in harmony with our surroundings.

Tinker decided it was too hot outside and hid himself away in the spare bedroom amidst a pile of stuff that's been dumped in there whilst we decorate elsewhere.

How do cats always find the best spots for a snooze? I only noticed him there when I heard the bubble-wrap crackling when he moved.

Last but not least is this tree. It's a Field Maple growing near my shed and the reason for the photo is the flies.

When I walked past, the whole tree was buzzing and I thought it was bees but on further investigation I spotted hundreds of these flies.

You can just make out the flowers which is think is what attracted them as the smell of the pollen was really strong.

Press Day, The One Show & This Morning

The instant camera I had to use on Press day on friday and on This Morning on Monday has now gone off to be developed so I won't have any photos until then.

In the meantime, here's a selection of passes from each day and a link to the This Morning 18th April where 4 of us marathoners had some very special foot treatments.

There are snippets of us all running upstairs (which sadistic so-and-so decided to make us run upstairs the morning after a marathon?!) with the main feature at around 11:15. If you are at all squeamish, please do not look too closely at Andy's feet (Mr Happy) as they are GROSS!

To give you a taster - here's what my feet looked like afterwards. They have never looked so good!

London Marathon day

So here we go again. It's like a well-oiled machine really now - prepare everything the night before, early to bed, up at 4:30am, Alan the taxi driver picks us up at 5:30am and we arrive in Blackheath around 6:45. Into the Greek cafe for coffee and a chocolate croissant then get a newspaper before heading off to another coffee shop further up the road. Have another coffee and read the paper until 8am when I need to head off to the Green start to register with Guinness World Records.
The giant motorbike balloon was there again but I just snapped these few.

There didn't seem as many as usual nor were they quite as grand as in previous years - I suspect a tightening of belts perhaps in these tough economic times.

Then we have a slow walk over to the start where I nip in to register then pop back out to get into my kit.


Here's Uli Kilian who solved 100 Rubik's cubes and finished in 4:45 and got himself a Guinness World Record.

Well done Uli and apologies for practising my beginner's German on you!

Btw, don't you just love his outfit?




These men have run every single London Marathon since it began in 1981. Wow!









One of them was running for the same charity as me Alzheimer's Research UK whilst tossing a pancake!












Here I am again, bedecked with wool.

Is it just me, or does it look slightly odd to have 'Virgin' plastered across ones chest?!









The wannabe Guinness World Record holders gather.

The guy dressed as Dennis the Menace (Dave from the 100 marathon club) got his record and I think the Superman to his right did too.





By 10am I knew it was going to be too hot for me to beat my own record (1.62m) so I made the decision to just plod along with my knitting, not worrying about how long the scarf would be and just enjoy the day.

As always the crowd was amazing. Calling out, cheering, laughing, clapping. Lifting the spirits of those who wanted to curl up at the side of the road and sob.

All those runners on their own personal journey; some doing it for a charity, some for themselves but each with their own story to tell. It is the most amazing marathon and I love everything about it.

I saw loads of people I knew and chatted to many who I didn't know. Many people said they'd heard me on the radio or seen me on The One Show and had wanted to catch up with me which was nice. The knitting gives the crowd a good laugh but as many runners as spectators commented about it this year - the runners were so kind and generous with their praise as they appreciate just what an effort it takes to just run a marathon, never mind knitting at the same time.

Here I am at around mile 14, snapped by supporters from ARUK.I nearly missed them as I'd been looking at the wrong side of the road and watching for a mass of purple tee shirts, having forgotten that the new re-branded tee shirts are white! Thankfully I heard them screaming my name and managed to wave in time.

I passed Tony, dressed as Tinkerbell and dribbling a football, at around mile 17 and I told him I didn't think I'd beat my record and I was also worried that he wouldn't get round within his time limit although I didn't say that to him.

Sadly I found out later that he missed his 6 hour cut-off by 1 minute 23 seconds and he was gutted. Not surprising after having survived 26.2 miles amidst a crowd of 36,000+ runners. He took a tumble quite early on and spent 5 minutes being patched up by the St John's Ambulance crew and this cost him his GWR. At least it's made him determined to come back next year and try again.

As the heat intensified it was really just a case of digging in and plodding on but sweaty hands and wool don't really work well together and I knew the scarf wouldn't be longer than my current record so at mile 24 I decided to up my pace and stop knitting to get in under 6 hours - I came home in 5:56:02 so couldn't have got much closer!

It was not a surprise when the guy from GWR said it was 1.52m and so was 10 cm shorter than my record.

Never mind, I've got 2 Guinness World Records already and it was another great day, garnering lots of publicity for Alzheimer's Research.

That was my 22nd marathon - who'd have thought I'd ever manage it!

A horsey interlude

Just look at my lovely ladies with their guests!

The jackdaws and rooks love to pick at their coats as they are moulting. The horses don't mind because they get all itchy when moulting and their hair makes a great nesting material for the birds.

Media madness!

The run up to London (pun intended!) is always a mad mixture of interviews and photo shoots and I'm certainly not complaining because the more publicity we can get for Alzheimer's Research UK the better.

Yesterday was the main focus of attention as it was Press Day which always takes place in a hotel in London so I was up with the lark. Actually I was up before the larks because I had to do a quick interview with Heart fm at 6:30. It was a lot shorter than I'd anticipated and I didn't get chance to talk about ARUK 'cos they focused on the knitting as expected. Anyway, They've asked me to go on air again on Monday to let them know how I got on so that's good.

I very stupidly forgot to take my camera with me yesterday. Thankfully I remembered in time to stop and buy one of those throwaway jobbies but that means I'll have to get them printed and then scan them in. DOH!


These 2 photos have come off Facebook and show, from left to right, Uli (most Rubiks cubes solved whilst running a marathon), Andy (fastest marathon dressed as a fictional book character), Eleanor (fastest marathon dressed as a bride), me, Chris (fastest marathon dressed as a star) & Steve (most money raised in a single sporting event - watch the news tomorrow, it's awesome!) who is replaced by Tony (dressed as Tinkerbell, fastest marathon dribbling a football - he just likes to dress up and his wife and kids choose his costumes!).

In the meantime, here are a couple of links to get a feel for how the Press Conference went: Report on the Virgin London Marathon page and Ceebeebies

In the afternoon I nipped over to the Excel Centre to collect my running number etc and then I came back and had a lovely hour sitting in the hotel lobby knitting and people watching.

The evening was taken up with loads of Guinness World Record wannabes appearing on The One Show. 4 of us from the photo shoot were on the list to do in-depth interviews but sadly that all went to pot. There were still plenty of moments of all of us appearing in shot so at least everyone got to see my ARUK vest then I was spoken to in passing right at the end but although they mentioned ARUK there was no mention of what we were all there for which was to try for our own GWRs.

If you check out the show on iplayer, I'm sitting next to Tony (Tinkerbelle), the Eleanor (the bride) and Andy (Mr Happy) appears behind us at some point. He actually managed to get an interview which was great because he's doing amazing work for Children with Leukaemia.

Full report to follow...........

Hot, Hot, HOT!

It was Brighton marathon last Sunday and the weather forecast was spot on - it was HOT! I knew it was going to be bad when the organisers sent an email the day before advising people to slow down their pace, take on more water etc etc and to confirm if I intended to run still (presumably so they could ensure that had sufficient supplies of water etc).

I decided that I'd start gently and see how hot it was by the 1/2 way point. I reached 1/2 way in 2:22 which was bang on target but by then it was already too hot for me and I knew that I should slow down or risk making myself ill - see, I can be sensible sometimes! So I just settled into a nice slow plodding pace and enjoyed the party atmosphere.

Sadly, I saw lots of people who hadn't fared as well and had collapsed and were being treated by the St John's ambulance crews. Out of the 15,000 entrants only 8,000 started the race and around 7,250 actually finished so that was a very high drop-out rate.

I crossed the line in 5:21 which is 25 minutes slower than last year. I must take a photo of the medal which was nice and there was a tee shirt too. Mike forgot to take any photos of me so there are a few to look at here

There are a few short video clips of me waddling along too. You will see that the finish time on the clock is slower than my actual time because it took 9 minutes to get over the start line which is not unusual in large events.

Twist Collective

Many months ago I did an interview with Lee Ann Dalton for Twist Collective. Herself a runner and a knitter she was interested in the benefits that we take from both pastimes. As she says, there are lots of runners who knit and lots of knitters who run!

The article is here - Twist Collective Spring issue

Royal Wedding & taper fever!

Look what landed in my letterbox the other day - 'Knit your own Royal Wedding'.

Even more funny is that it was sent by Denny, my dear friend who started me off on my running and knitting antics by suggesting I should act my age and stay at home with my knitting!

My favourites are the corgis and the Archbishop of Canterbury. When I showed it to Mike he gave me "don't you dare!" roll of the eyes.

I'm well into my taper, that is cutting down my mileage to prepare for the Brighton marathon on the 10th April and I've got a niggly knee. That coupled with the gremlins in my head who tell me that I am too old and fat to run marathons is making me hyperactive!

This beautiful tree is a Blackthorn Tree .

Blackthorn is more often used for hedging as it has thorny stems so is a good stock-proofer so it's unusual to see it like this.

The whole tree has been smothered in blossom this year and the honey bees have had a wonderful time gathering the nectar. There were so many of them that the tree seems to be buzzing!

4 Sundays all with 'T's!

Just remember what they say about pride and falls when reading the first 2 weekends!

Sunday 1 - Tunbridge Wells 1/2 marathon 27th Feb 2011 - Tears

My training had been going really well and the speedwork seemed to have made a difference. I felt strong and powerful and eager to tackle the Tunbridge Wells 1/2 marathon. I was so convinced that I was going to get a course pb (personal best time) that I had bought a bottle of champagne in anticipation.

I'm sure you can see where this is heading!

The day dawned and it was perfect weather; cool but bright with only a slight breeze. I started well and got to the halfway mark in 58 minutes so it looked good. Anyway, as ever, pride came before a fall and I just slowed right down in the 2nd half, finishing in 2:11:25 which is not only my worst time for the course but my worst ever 1/2 marathon time.

There was a very teary phone call to Mike at the finish. He very wisely suggested that we should have the champagne anyway to drown my sorrows - I love that man!!!

Sunday 2 - another 20 mile training run - Tears again!
It was all going so well. I'd got out bright and early on the Sunday to do my 20 miler. The weather was perfect, bright but cool and there were signs of Spring everywhere,

I'd plotted out a hilly route to build stamina but was feeling strong when I hit the 14 mile mark. I spotted some women and dogs up ahead. I was on a single track lane in the middle of nowhere and I guessed that the dogs would be off their leads so when I got close to them I started to walk (dogs often get over-excited around runners and it's always safest to walk or even stop in case they jump up at you).

There were 2 women and a little girl accompanied by 2, very excited, stocky labradors and a small yappy dog. They wrapped themselves around my legs and then pottered off. I exchanged pleasantries with the women and then started running again. I heard one of the women calling the dogs and the next thing I knew I was knocked off my feet by a 3rd black labrador who'd been down in a ditch and came hurtling up the bank and just took my legs from under me.

I landed flat on my face with my cheek and nose touching the tarmac. Thankfully my right side had taken most of the impact so my face wasn't hurt but my hip, thigh, knee and elbow were very sore. My water bottle was flung away and my hat flew off too. As I picked myself up I heard one of the women saying "oh dear, he's jumped up and knocked that lady over". She asked if I was OK but didn't bother to apologise!

As I picked myself up and gathered my things together I felt a bit shaken so I phoned Mike to tell him what had happened. Of course, there were more tears and I really didn't feel like carrying on, partly because I felt too teary but mainly because my leg was very sore. Thankfully I was only 3.5 miles from home but by the time I got there I'd developed a massive lump on the side of my knee. So my 20 miles ended up being 17.5 miles instead. Grrrrrrr!

Sunday 3 - a Triumphant 20 miles

Thank goodness my next attempt at a 20 miler passed without incident and I regained my confidence. Phew!

Sunday 4 - another Triumph (for a running chum)


Last weekend was the Hastings 1/2 marathon which is a brilliant event. It's a tough route with the first 1/2 all going uphill so it's not for the faint-hearted.

So when a fellow forumite from Runners World started training to run this as her first ever 1/2 marathon at the age of 67 I offered to run with her to help her achieve her goal. I jiggled my marathon schedule around so that I only needed to do about 17 miles that Sunday. I did 2.5 miles beforehand and then 2.5 miles afterwards making my total mileage 18 which was perfect.

My new running shoes had arrived the day before and look, they are purple and silver! I love purple. As I wasn't trying for a good time at Hastings I decided to dress up a bit, hence the stripey tights. I had intended to wear a tutu, in purple of course, but when I put it on I looked like and elephant with a ruff around it's waist so that idea was abandoned quickly!

Iona had been training well but was somewhat apprehensive and she really didn't think she'd be able to run all the way or that she'd get round in anything less than 3 hours. But she'd never had anyone to run with before and that makes a huge difference. I felt honoured to be part of her adventure and it was quite a responsibilty to get the pacing right.

I set the pace at around 12 - 12.5 minute miling and told her to let me know if it was too fast but she coped very well with the challenging hills and we reached the halfway point in 1:20 which was excellent and gave her confidence a real boost. Towards the 10 mile mark I noticed that she was slowing down a bit and I didn't try to push her on as I could see she was tiring. It was more important that she finished having run all the way than end up having to walk because she was too tired.

The crowd was amazing as always and they really lifted our spirits. I was very impressed that many people hung around to cheer on the slower runners and walkers. We spent most of the race either just in front of or just behind a group of firefighters pushing a hospital bed along so there was a fun atmosphere.

We crossed the line in 2:52:11 which was absolutely brilliant and she was very pleased and proud. I couldn't hang around too long as I still had to run another 10.5 miles. There were looks of surprise from people who had seen me finish alongside runners and walkers who were limping and looking dead on their feet and then I went bounding off looking quite fresh!

So the last of the T's is another triumph!