snotty orange goo

Well well I've just got back from my own little half marathon to poached eggs on toast MMMMmmmm much more tasty than the enery gel I was lured into trying today, this stuff is rank don't bother it has the consitency of snot and the delightful flavour of smart price concentrated orange juice, I'll stick to my jelly babies ta.
 Been meaning to up my mileage for a while now but... excuses... excuses... anyway NO MORE DRINKING ON A SATURDAY NIGHT this mornings run was hard for a variety of reasons: so much rain the hilly off road bits became more like gorge walking than running; last nights dinner of wine and a chip butty didn't do me any favours (I think I may have to change my lifestyle a litlle to survive this); finding a dying baby bird just as I got going caused a massive moral dilema; multipe nettle stings after tripping into a patch because I have 'balance issues' and finally a mental labrador trying to sabotage my downhill speed by leaping in my face.  Anyway I'm home now, time for a bath, heres the route....

string vests....

Finished my first T shirt design for the BDMLR!

What do you think?

 

 In other news this weekend I'll be running a half marathon...

pip pip!

kitted out

Ooh not posted for a while, so a quick update.... been off away on holidays to Ibiza so no running there, but plenty of dancing...does that count?  Then a lovely wedding got in the way so I missed 2 long runs, I've made it out a few times before work and I have a lovely new route through the woods for a morning jog before work, my dog is totally lame and will not run with me, he is such a fat lazy lump of a hound.
Last weekend, even after a night on the merlot I managed about 10 miles, got totally lost though accidentally ran all the way from town to forge dam and when I popped out of the woods there were no houses, just sheep and fields!  Eventually found my way back home without giving up and doubling back.

Got a BDMLR running vest through the post the other day, {Thanks guys!} I shall wear it with pride on the day!
Also I've been asked to design a series of T shirts for them to raise awarness of the problems marine mammals face and to raise funds for the charity, I can't wait to get started on some designs, got some great ideas already and will post them on here when I get them out of my head and down on paper...

ttfn
x

Its nice to be nice

Right then!
I've had a horrid cold and been skiving whilst its been raining horizontally in Sheffield but this weekend I AM going to smash it! On it like a car bonnet!
I'm planning 10 - 12 miles on Sunday and I have renewed motivation thanks to:

a) The lovely people at BDMLR especially Stephen whom I had a lovely chat with the other day
b) My wonderful Ma & Pa who are have booked to come along with me to Amsterdam and cheer me on, considering my mums rather scared of flying I'm quite impresses.  AND they're buying me some swish new running shoes for my Birthday!

So who else wants to be nice and ....sponsor me??
I would love to get another sponsor before my next long run this Sunday, so go on, go on, go on, you know you want to ;) http://www.justgiving.com/RunShelleyRun

p.s. British Divers Marine Life Rescue have been nominated for Scottish charity of the year, spare a sec (since you've already wasted a few reading this) and nip over here http://www.bdmlr.org.uk/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=896&cntnt01origid=54&cntnt01returnid=54
to vote for them!

x

amazing...

I've just donated to the just giving page for Claire Squires who died running the London Marathon, can't believe its getting on for a million, so sad reading all the messages on her page, what an amazing response to such a tragedy.  Her family should be so proud,
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/claire-squires-justgiving-she-would-808530

If you can spare just a few quid heres the link to her just giving page...
http://www.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article803642.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/Claire+Squires

x

This is getting hard

Today I ran 11 miles in around 2 hours, for some reason I found it really really hard this week, I don't know why, the weather was great, I'd gotten up early and was feeling pretty up for it. Its really hard to keep up motivation to do something like this - especially when you have to train for such a long time because its just not something I (or my muscles) are used to doing.

I've been training now for about 3 months, and its been 9 months since the event that inspired me to do this... and the memory is starting to fade.

When I first signed up and decided to run a marathon I still had a very fresh memory in my head of not just the stranding but of the physical and mental pain it left me with the following few days, and I thought nothing could be as hard as that day. I was so exhausted and achy all over that a cup of tea felt like it weighed about 50lbs.

Now the memory of that has faded its hard to compare to the aches and pains of training and its really impacting on my motivation... I'm pretty sure my toe is broken and most of the time when I'm out running I'm just thinking about what I'd rather be doing.

To a certain extent I do find my weekend training runs enjoyable, but equally unenjoyable, I would definitely rather be at home with a cup of tea watching the Hollyoaks omnibus, and as the runs are getting longer I think its only going to get worse.

I need to keep reminding myself of the good cause I'm doing this for.

I'm hoping that I will be able to attend one of the training courses run by the BDMLR soon, to become an official Marine Mammal Medic and I do think that will help spur me on.

I'll be watching the London Marathon tomorrow imagining myself in 6 months time, hoping that I'll have made it to the start line.

I'll leave this post with a link to the blog of a fellow artist and past colleague from Sheffield Paul Evans who has been exploring cetations in his work for some time now and eloquently comments on human interaction with these mammals
http://origin011.wordpress.com/category/away-from-the-pod/
and an image of his which is currently on display at the Millennium Gallery in Sheffield until June 10th

10 miles in 1hr46 BOSH!

Considering I have a cold, this is exceptionally fast for me, obviously eating a massive pie the night before a run is the key to speed and success!
I'm looking forward to payday this month, I think I'll buy myself some nice new running shoes, any reccomendations running friends??
Its been a little quite on the sponsorship front recently, but just wanted to say thanks to Aunty Mags for her cheque the other day, spurred me on this morning :)
I know the marathon is still ages away but I'd be truly grateful (if you're considering sponsoring me) for some sponsorship over the next few weeks to help motivate me in my training. 
http://www.justgiving.com/RunShelleyRun
To be honest, its starting to get a little boring...