Alright Team
There is just over a week to go! Apologies at being pretty poor at doing this, oh well lesson learned I’m not so good at the self promotion thing obviously! I have done my training and am now hoping that it is enough, I am still frantically trying to do the fundraising thing! So any help there greatly appreciated! And I am looking forward, albeit with a little trepidation to Sunday week. I am potentially looking forward to the afternoon once it is all over more than the actual process of the run, but I am beginning to think about how awesome it will be and what a sense of achievement I will have out of completing the race.
Please if you are in London it would be awesome if you could come along on the day to cheer me & the other 37,999 runners along! I believe that there is a team of supporters for me being organised for Westferry Road, in Canary Wharf, at about the 15 mile mark, about 100 metres up from the Mr Men & Little Miss supporters area there will be a sign, and possibly pom-poms. But contact me or Gill for more details.
Anyway in case I get busy next week and in the week after when alcohol can be slowly reintroduced into my blood stream again (along with caffeine as I will be giving up coffee from Monday as I can’t have any the morning before the race). I just would like to thank everyone who has supported me over the past three months. From offering to buy me a beer when they knew very well I couldn’t have one, to checking in to see how my runs were going, sponsoring me and offering me words of wisdom. Also a very special thank you to Gill, my sweet you are just lovely. You’ve made me maps, you’ve updated my i-pod, you’ve given me pep talks and hugs and of course you are organising everything for me for the race day and subsequent after party. I honestly couldn’t have done this without your support, you rock, love you loads!
Right now that the thank yous are over, at least for the time being, I can focus, get ready, get primed for D Day. Bring it on!
Arohanui
Thursday, 3 April 2008
Monday, 3 March 2008
New Barriers to Break
Ok so you know how everyone has a barrier that they need to break through to succeed? Well I kind of believe that part of life is about breaking through barriers & for me, for this run, my first barrier was 15 miles. I thought if I could run 15 miles, what is another 11.2? After happily bursting through that barrier I needed to then know if I could make it on my own, without feeling the pressure from the other runners or the trainers. Essentially if I could motivate myself, by myself, to run a solid distance then I would be on the right track.
My target for the weekend for my long run was 17 miles. Partly because it was only 1.5 miles more than the previous weekend, but also because of my plan, it’s all about the plan Stan. So sunny Saturday arvo rolls round & I don my running gear, with my recently refreshed ipod (thank you music sponsor you are gorgeous) & start my journey. For every journey begins with the first step… Victoria Park was fairly busy, but it was an excellent way to finish my day. I managed to quite comfortably finish the 17 mile target I had. Well when I say quite comfortably I was absolutely exhausted! My legs had begun to nag me at about mile 12 maybe 13. So I did feel as though 17 miles was good, now I have less than 10 to add to that & voila you have a marathon just like that! But I managed to prove to myself that even when you are tired, have no one around to kick you up the backside you can still break through those barriers you just have to try a little tenderness, no you just gotta keep on truck’n! I did until I got home, cos then I crashed out on the couch, but I did sleep so well that night…
Also on the donation front I seriously need help, so any fab ideas please, please speak up!!!!! HELP ME!!! Visit my page www.bmycharity.com/EmzTakesOnLondon
Arohanui
Em
My target for the weekend for my long run was 17 miles. Partly because it was only 1.5 miles more than the previous weekend, but also because of my plan, it’s all about the plan Stan. So sunny Saturday arvo rolls round & I don my running gear, with my recently refreshed ipod (thank you music sponsor you are gorgeous) & start my journey. For every journey begins with the first step… Victoria Park was fairly busy, but it was an excellent way to finish my day. I managed to quite comfortably finish the 17 mile target I had. Well when I say quite comfortably I was absolutely exhausted! My legs had begun to nag me at about mile 12 maybe 13. So I did feel as though 17 miles was good, now I have less than 10 to add to that & voila you have a marathon just like that! But I managed to prove to myself that even when you are tired, have no one around to kick you up the backside you can still break through those barriers you just have to try a little tenderness, no you just gotta keep on truck’n! I did until I got home, cos then I crashed out on the couch, but I did sleep so well that night…
Also on the donation front I seriously need help, so any fab ideas please, please speak up!!!!! HELP ME!!! Visit my page www.bmycharity.com/EmzTakesOnLondon
Arohanui
Em
Monday, 25 February 2008
I Survived!
Hey Team
Well I survived my Children with Leukaemia Training Day on Saturday! This is a bit of a milestone for me as I ran (you can read jog if you believe running is all about pace setting) 15.44 miles! Which is a grand 2.34 miles more than a half marathon! So very exciting for me as the farthest I had previously run had been 10 miles. I also had the opportunity to run around Hyde Park, which was cool as I had only been there once before when I walked with Hayden to work, and that was about 4 plus months ago. While my legs were a bit sore afterwards I still had energy which is a good sign at this stage. But tonight the sauna will be my friend at the gym…
I also learned lots about my training programme for the next 5-7 weeks. Essentially I will be training for the next five weeks then I will have two weeks of down time with smaller runs. Also what will be my friend over the next wee while & that I can expect to loose some (yes more than one) toenails! Which is so gross! Apparently if they don’t come off during training then it will happen on the day, so no white socks for me…
With regards to fundraising any ideas, offers of assistance totally welcome!
Will keep you all posted, am thinking that training will become easier now as I begin my new job in town tomorrow so will save myself about 2 hours a day in commuting time. You can expect me to do my short runs along the Thames in my lunch hour, so if you’re in London look out for me amongst the runners.
Arohanui
Em
Well I survived my Children with Leukaemia Training Day on Saturday! This is a bit of a milestone for me as I ran (you can read jog if you believe running is all about pace setting) 15.44 miles! Which is a grand 2.34 miles more than a half marathon! So very exciting for me as the farthest I had previously run had been 10 miles. I also had the opportunity to run around Hyde Park, which was cool as I had only been there once before when I walked with Hayden to work, and that was about 4 plus months ago. While my legs were a bit sore afterwards I still had energy which is a good sign at this stage. But tonight the sauna will be my friend at the gym…
I also learned lots about my training programme for the next 5-7 weeks. Essentially I will be training for the next five weeks then I will have two weeks of down time with smaller runs. Also what will be my friend over the next wee while & that I can expect to loose some (yes more than one) toenails! Which is so gross! Apparently if they don’t come off during training then it will happen on the day, so no white socks for me…
With regards to fundraising any ideas, offers of assistance totally welcome!
Will keep you all posted, am thinking that training will become easier now as I begin my new job in town tomorrow so will save myself about 2 hours a day in commuting time. You can expect me to do my short runs along the Thames in my lunch hour, so if you’re in London look out for me amongst the runners.
Arohanui
Em
Monday, 4 February 2008
I love Victoria Park
Hey Team
Well running is going well, surprisingly well! Yay! Although the interval training is still kicking my ass just a bit...but oh well.
Finally made it through Victoria Park on a 7 mile route, which was just beautiful with the early morning weekend sun (stop gasping it can occasionally be sunny in London!). Big ups to Map Girl who assisted me find my routes & distances.
Also now have new i-pod tunes (thanks Gill & Hayden you guys rock!) so will be all motivated to keep on trucking for the next 10 weeks...
PLEASE DONATE I NEED MORE DONATIONS!!!!! Go to www.bmycharity.com/EmzTakesOnLondon and be generous, when am I going to do this again? I'm not is what needs to be running through your mind, so leave running the streets of London up to me you just need to run for your credit card & make a donation (no not the new shoes at Office).
Also am going to try & figure out how to do an opinion poll to make this more interactive, so if you have any suggested topics, other than "When will Emz crack?" please let me know.
Arohanui
Well running is going well, surprisingly well! Yay! Although the interval training is still kicking my ass just a bit...but oh well.
Finally made it through Victoria Park on a 7 mile route, which was just beautiful with the early morning weekend sun (stop gasping it can occasionally be sunny in London!). Big ups to Map Girl who assisted me find my routes & distances.
Also now have new i-pod tunes (thanks Gill & Hayden you guys rock!) so will be all motivated to keep on trucking for the next 10 weeks...
PLEASE DONATE I NEED MORE DONATIONS!!!!! Go to www.bmycharity.com/EmzTakesOnLondon and be generous, when am I going to do this again? I'm not is what needs to be running through your mind, so leave running the streets of London up to me you just need to run for your credit card & make a donation (no not the new shoes at Office).
Also am going to try & figure out how to do an opinion poll to make this more interactive, so if you have any suggested topics, other than "When will Emz crack?" please let me know.
Arohanui
Thursday, 31 January 2008
I've been a bad blogger!
Alright so I’ve been a bit slack at posting interesting info & for that I am sorry guys! I know how much you all look forward to my random rants…
Anyway I have been busy training & focusing on NOT drinking, which has actually been easier than I thought it would be. However next weekend is the traditional Waitangi Day Circle Line Pub Crawl (9 February) culminating in many white Kiwi boys living in London (made pastier by the location) ripping off their shirts outside Buckingham Palace or Westminster & performing the haka. So suffice to say that while I am ‘doing’ the Circle Line Pub Crawl I am also not ‘doing’ it as I shall be on the OJ (without vodka thank you very much you sceptics!).
Training has been progressing, I still have the ability to tune in to my ipod & therefore tune out the pain or the exhaustion & do my runs around East London. It is fun getting to know my neighbourhood, quite possibly something that I wouldn’t have done, or at least not until it got warmer, so it is rewarding on multiple levels. While London living has not been kind to me, I may have been in good enough shape (cough, cough) before I left that it is not so bad, although still rather challenging, to do my runs. What I find the hardest is the speed or interval training that I am also doing to get that bit faster & be able to train a bit harder. So I will get there, I have just over 10 weeks to go, so in the scheme of things not long enough!
Please, please remember that while I am doing this for my own pain & for your entertainment pleasure, I am also doing this to raise money for Children with Leukaemia, which is an incredible organisation here in the UK. I am way off my target of £2,000 so please, please whip out your credit card & make a donation at:
www.bmycharity.com/EmzTakesOnLondon
Also please pass this on to your friends, whanau (family), colleagues etc! Your help is greatly appreciated.
Emz
Anyway I have been busy training & focusing on NOT drinking, which has actually been easier than I thought it would be. However next weekend is the traditional Waitangi Day Circle Line Pub Crawl (9 February) culminating in many white Kiwi boys living in London (made pastier by the location) ripping off their shirts outside Buckingham Palace or Westminster & performing the haka. So suffice to say that while I am ‘doing’ the Circle Line Pub Crawl I am also not ‘doing’ it as I shall be on the OJ (without vodka thank you very much you sceptics!).
Training has been progressing, I still have the ability to tune in to my ipod & therefore tune out the pain or the exhaustion & do my runs around East London. It is fun getting to know my neighbourhood, quite possibly something that I wouldn’t have done, or at least not until it got warmer, so it is rewarding on multiple levels. While London living has not been kind to me, I may have been in good enough shape (cough, cough) before I left that it is not so bad, although still rather challenging, to do my runs. What I find the hardest is the speed or interval training that I am also doing to get that bit faster & be able to train a bit harder. So I will get there, I have just over 10 weeks to go, so in the scheme of things not long enough!
Please, please remember that while I am doing this for my own pain & for your entertainment pleasure, I am also doing this to raise money for Children with Leukaemia, which is an incredible organisation here in the UK. I am way off my target of £2,000 so please, please whip out your credit card & make a donation at:
www.bmycharity.com/EmzTakesOnLondon
Also please pass this on to your friends, whanau (family), colleagues etc! Your help is greatly appreciated.
Emz
Wednesday, 23 January 2008
So far sokay...
Well those of you who had the privilege of working with me at the lovely Te Tari Taiwhenua will be aware of my love of the odd run, often with my Dad along the waterfront at lunchtime, it was also great when it was beautiful & sunny... You are probably still recovering from my sporting tales, wins, losses and everything in between (yes including the dislocated knee incident). Ok so imagine me, four months of NOT doing any of the sort of stuff I did & indulging in the Antipodean past time of beer, wine & anything else with an alcohol content or high percentage of bad stuff in it. So for me to train for the marathon is not as easy as it was back in September.
So my achievement this evening, not only to survive the pollution of East London peak hour traffic (& dodge Londoners who need to learn to keep left!), was to run to Tower Bridge from home on a nice little 6 mile loop. The best part for my confidence I must say is that I did it in 50 minutes, didn't collapse & still walked up the stairs to my apartment! Now for those sensible people who use the metric system & use it exclusively (like I used to be...) will not know how far that is, well 5 miles is about 8km so 6 miles is about 9.6km. So not the best time but it is early days in the training schedule.
Now just need to get a handle on the whole no more bad food & I will be fine. Oh & for the non believers of you I am also not having a drink until after the marathon (oi! I can hear you laughing from here that's not nice!). So closer to the time we might have to have a post marathon party where I will be a cheap date...
Anyway thank you to those of you who have very kindly made donations, please anyone else who is feeling the need (& now you know how serious I am, giving up wine for three months!) visit www.bmycharity.com/EmzTakesOnLondon
Arohanui
Em
So my achievement this evening, not only to survive the pollution of East London peak hour traffic (& dodge Londoners who need to learn to keep left!), was to run to Tower Bridge from home on a nice little 6 mile loop. The best part for my confidence I must say is that I did it in 50 minutes, didn't collapse & still walked up the stairs to my apartment! Now for those sensible people who use the metric system & use it exclusively (like I used to be...) will not know how far that is, well 5 miles is about 8km so 6 miles is about 9.6km. So not the best time but it is early days in the training schedule.
Now just need to get a handle on the whole no more bad food & I will be fine. Oh & for the non believers of you I am also not having a drink until after the marathon (oi! I can hear you laughing from here that's not nice!). So closer to the time we might have to have a post marathon party where I will be a cheap date...
Anyway thank you to those of you who have very kindly made donations, please anyone else who is feeling the need (& now you know how serious I am, giving up wine for three months!) visit www.bmycharity.com/EmzTakesOnLondon
Arohanui
Em
Monday, 21 January 2008
Got to start somewhere
Nau mai, haere mai!
Well if you're reading this then you either know me, know one of my friends or have decided to check out what mad Kiwi's do for charity while living in London. So thanks I appreciate your support/curious interest in my quest. Here is the deal:
Back in November I decided to try to enter the 2008 Flora London Marathon, having missed the individual ballot I applied to Children with Leukaemia for one of their team places. Then on 12 January I found out that lucky me I had secured a place! So now I have three months to train (living in London has not been kind ie Heathrow Injection...) and of course raise as much cash as poss for an incredibly worthwhile organisation that has taken a punt on an Antipodean!
So as a very eager member of the Mr Men & Little Miss Team I thought I could update you all on my progress, hopefully entertain you with my tails & raise a little (really a lot) of moolah along the way. To do the raise moolah part please visit this very easy to use donation page to make a contribution: https://www.bmycharity.com/EmzTakesOnLondon it is quick, safe & secure. Any probs please let me know.
So with the beginnings of a blog & a fundraising facility all that is left for me is to well as one of my darling flatmates put it "run Forrest, run!" I shall be updating you regularly, if you have advice or comments about my mission or fundraising then please leave me a comment or send me a message.
Arohanui
Emz
Well if you're reading this then you either know me, know one of my friends or have decided to check out what mad Kiwi's do for charity while living in London. So thanks I appreciate your support/curious interest in my quest. Here is the deal:
Back in November I decided to try to enter the 2008 Flora London Marathon, having missed the individual ballot I applied to Children with Leukaemia for one of their team places. Then on 12 January I found out that lucky me I had secured a place! So now I have three months to train (living in London has not been kind ie Heathrow Injection...) and of course raise as much cash as poss for an incredibly worthwhile organisation that has taken a punt on an Antipodean!
So as a very eager member of the Mr Men & Little Miss Team I thought I could update you all on my progress, hopefully entertain you with my tails & raise a little (really a lot) of moolah along the way. To do the raise moolah part please visit this very easy to use donation page to make a contribution: https://www.bmycharity.com/EmzTakesOnLondon it is quick, safe & secure. Any probs please let me know.
So with the beginnings of a blog & a fundraising facility all that is left for me is to well as one of my darling flatmates put it "run Forrest, run!" I shall be updating you regularly, if you have advice or comments about my mission or fundraising then please leave me a comment or send me a message.
Arohanui
Emz
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