this is not my bycicle, but this is how my bycicle looked when I went downstairs this morning. I just can't believe it. I live in a court, you know, a complex with a couple of blocks of flats and terraced houses and lots of security. the bike was locked but the wheels weren't. after all the bike should be safe here. the main gate of the complex has been broken for a while now and surely some twat came in and did the job. I am pi$$ed off! it will cost me more than a 100 euros to put new wheels so I am now trying to buy a second hand one and I need to find it before term starts. my bike is the only way to go to uni in a reasonable time and without having to take 2 buses. grrrr
JB will be pleased though...one less cyclist on the roads ;)
what can I say about paula? I watched the marathon live last night, chatting away with a friend on skype and with my fetchie peeps. it was nice to comment on the race and have a virtual laugh. but the laughters lasted up to the 35 k marker. at that point I saw her stop and strecth. she looked in real pain. I thought that she was going to pull out. she didn't. she got into the stadium. she crossed that finish line. great!! but I was very upset for her. I couldn't help crying when she hugged liz yelling and when she talked to the BBC. I can just imagine the pain she felt when her legs stopped working and she had to push herself .... I can only imagine her disappointment.
but today I am even more upset by some comments made on the papers by journalists and random people alike who criticize her for having taken part in the games being injured, for having taken away somebody else's chance of victory (!!) bla bla bla. I have realised for the first time how despised she is by many in UK and I just can't get my head around this. to me she is the greatest marathon runner ever and her inabilty to win a gold medal at the games doesn't change how I feel about her. I am not going to add much. I just hope that she'll recover soon from her injury and that she gets back into racing and winning soon.
as for my race yesterday, that went much better than I thought. I have been feeling out of sorts in the last few weeks. I did the same race last year, same course. It took me 1:36:49. I thought this time anything under 1:45 it's fine really. but I PBd!! by only one minute....but who cares? I finished the 10 miles in 1:35:29 and I am well pleased with that.
COME ON PAULA!!
she'll be running at 0.35 saturday night/sunday morning if you didn't know that. I'll be watching the race live....I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited!!!
it's been raining for days now and it doesn't look like it's going to stop any time soon. I am so glad I am working from home as the idea of getting on my bike in this weather somehow does not appeal to me :) it's funny how I have no problem whatsover in running in the rain, but I am not too keen in cycling. not that I have been running much these days either. I skipped my long run last week and considering that I have two races coming up it wasn't such a great idea.
Yeah, my training has been a bit lame so far and on saturday I'll be running a 10 miler in phoenix park, and on sunday 24th I'll be running a half-marathon in longford. I was hoping to pb in both races but considering my poor level of fitness I will just go there and enjoy it. they will both be a good social event :)
I have been trying to get back into the habit of running first thing in the morning. every morning I set the alarm and avery morning I keep sleeping. I know that I love the feeling it gives me, but the most difficult thing is to actually start. one day......maybe
One thing that I have been doing quite regularly is the pressup challenge. today is week2 day2 and I can already see the improvement in my strength and in my arms. The only problem I have is my elbow. It starts aching by the end of the 5th set of pressups and I don't know what it is. I hope that it stops once I get used to it, 'cause I want to get to the point in which I can do as many pressups as ILIKETOCOUNT ;)
there's a new challenge for us crazy runners (and not). it's called HUNDREDPUSHPS and it's fun..erm..not really fun, but I am curious to see how I will look like after the challenge.
who's up for it?
this is my first week and I am doing the girly ones on the knees. but you can join in at any time.
there are quite a few of us on Fetch doing the challenge. let's see how many bloggers fancy another challenge after juneathon :)
come on ... you know you want to!!
tonight I am going to a salsa club for the first time. I am not that keen so that would be another challenge for me. Let's hope I don't make a fool of myself.
....well, slowly, but I am!!
so, this week is over and I have banked 31.5miles which I am pleased with. I went out 5 times and most of the times I avoided looking at the garmin. I am trying to follow my 'natural' pace as much as I can and guess what?! I am faster than I thought. the 5 runs included one hill session, one interval session (10 x 200m), 2 easy runs and a long run of almost 12miles and I am so glad that tomorrow is a rest day.
today I did my long run in sandymount and it was lovely. the weather was fantastic, there were lots of people enjoying the sunshine or having fun with their dogs. my garmin gives me an average temperature of 20c; summer then is here, and I guess this is as good as it gets. but after 3 weeks in horrid temperature in italy I am not going to complain about it all!! the run in itself was tough especially because I was thirsty. I normally don't take any water with me if I am running for less than 2 hours and I am normally fine, but today I suffered a lot. I was so tempted at one point to ask people with bottles of water if they could give it to me or of they could give me some money to buy something to drink. well, yes, I went out with no money, no water, nothing. just me, my garmin and my crappy mp3. how clever am I? so, when I got to k 15 I passed by a cool and stylish pub and the decision was made on the spot. in I went. stopped my garmin. I WANTED SOME WATER. there was noone around and I had to wait for 2-3 minutes before a cute (and very young) guy came to give me what I wanted...erm....water, with lots of ice!!! that felt soooo good. but maybe too good 'cause I lost it: I went outside, started my garmin again and off I went for the last 3ks of my run. but after a while I had a look at my garmin and realised that I hadn't started it!! DOH! it was stuck at 15.2ks and I had at least done 800m. damn it! well, I decided anyway to do 18k on the watch but when I loaded my data on motionbased I could see that I was right. I did 18.8ks, almost 12 miles! this motionbased is great, is even more precise than sportstracks.
I am still thirsty and in a while I'll hit the pub with some friends! YAY!
