Breaking the Barrier

Miles Walked: 15

Time Taken: 3 Hours 49 Minutes

Aches and Pains: Back, Hip, Knee and Ankle

Yesterday morning I donned my kit, including my newly acquired walking bum bag, with water, banana, flapjacks and route map, grabbed my husband/ moral support/ training partner/ general rock, and stepped out of the front door with 15 miles of South Croydon countryside ahead of me.

I really didn't want to walk yesterday morning. I was generally grumpy and could think of a hundred and one other things I could be doing at home, rather than walking. But the realisation that in 4 weeks time I will have completed the biggest physical and mental challenge of my life to date, spurred me on. The furthest I have walked thus far was the 10 miles last weekend so to increase that by 50% to 15 miles was a big thing for me. 15 miles also breaks the half way barrier of our 26.2 mile marathon. Psychologically completing this one is a huge huge boost.

It was tough.

I got bored around mile 8 but it was nice to chat to James as we wandered. We spent some of the time praying. Walking and praying go well - as long as you keep your eyes open! We had a disagreement over the map reading - which I won ha ha ha!

Around about mile 9.5 as I climbed another hill I saw coming down hill on the other pavement two women, water bottles in hand power walking. As they got nearer I saw them smile at me. They spotted my Moonwalk hat and waved! It was such a lift to know that I am not alone, that on May17th 15000 men and women will be walking the walk. The energy lift from seeing two other people, out training on a Sunday when the rest of South Croydon seemed to be sitting down to lunch and a glass of wine, was great. The lift from 14 998 other people uniting to Beat Breast Cancer in four weeks time is going to be awesome.

By the time I went out to church in the evening my leg had seized up but sponsor form in hand, T-Shirt on and tub of homemade fudge as thank you gifts I collect over a hundred pounds worth of promised money.

Looks like there's no going back! Hannah x

Here I Am

YES to putting in the miles while the rest of the world is asleep,
To doing what I want, when I want to do it
To pushing through the pain because giving up hurts more
YES to not being afraid to fail
To doing it for the love, not the money
To doing it for myself, my girls, my team.
YES to speeding up as I pass you at the bus stop
YES to self belief, knowing that I’m good but I can always be better
Yes to claiming my place, to challenging the rules, to playing my own game.
NO there isn’t anything I cannot do
YES to making myself heard
YES to stepping up and saying HERE I AM

Work it, make it, do it, Makes us harder, better, faster, Stronger.

Distance Walked: 10 miles

Time Taken: 2 hours, 17 Minutes

James was away this weekend.

Sunday for me was jam full of volunteering for Leukaemia CARE at the London Marathon so after three weeks of no long walks I planned a route, made a play list and set my alarm for 8am on Saturday morning.

I ate my favourite brekkie of Muesli, Natural yogurt and Honey, fed the cat, had a cup of tea and put on my walking kit. Checked the time 8.40 am

And set off.

The weather was reasonable. Sunny in parts, bit breezy but no rain.

It was quite nice walking. I felt good, my lungs were working but overworking. My muscles felt good, and my sore calves were loosening. Walking with music helped. As I felt heavy and tired Kanye West's Stronger started to play on my MP3. The good beat and good lyrics lifted me and pushed me forward.

I got a bit bored around mile 7 but kept on going. At Elmfield way the Saturday Morning paper shoppers confused me in their cars, milling around. Around mile 8 the muscles around my hips and butt started to ache. But once I was on Croham Manor Road there was no stopping me. Head Down feet pounding.

I started the stopwatch on my phone as I left the front door and didn't look at it or the time on the way round. Knowing how long I had been out had the potential to depress me. So as I headed up my road on the home straight I was pleasantly surprised to see it was not yet 11am. The stopwatch read 02:17:20.4 as I hit stop on my front doorstep. Job Done.

Now for next week - hopefully my butt will ache less by then! H x

On the road again

After a two week break from training due to moving house chaos I feel extremely lardy, slightly demotivated and very very worried that May 17th is FAST approaching.

On Tuesday I abandoned the boxes, grabbed my kit and went to my new gym. I walked on the treadmill of half an hour, twinged a muscle in my hip and by Wednesday morning my calf muscles were a good half an inch shorter! Whoops!

Yesterday evening I had decided to get outside a walk again. The clocks have changed since my last evening foray making an evening training walk a much more pleasant experience. As I sat on my sofa opening the post I thought about abandoning my walk. And then I saw the white package with the familiar pink branding on it. My MOONWALK PACK has arrived!

Talk about striking fear into my heart. It is suddenly SO real with the bra, hat and T-Shirt sitting in front of me. My distinct lack of regular training started to hit home and when James called to say he was on his way home I asked him if he'd come out walking with me.

So we put kit on and go out there. We only did three miles but in less than 40 minutes which was pleasing. I am going to put in 10 miles this Saturday and go to the gym this evening.

I am most definitely 'On the road again'. H x

Walking in the Weather

Distance: 11 miles
Time: 3 1/2 hours
Weather: Varied!!!

I had yesterday planned. I'd get up at 7:00, have breakfast, walk over to my parents house, spend 2 hours frantically trying to get Glastonbury tickets, have some lunch and then so a nice 11 mile walk that ended back at my flat.

What I did not plan for was waking up to the scene pictured here!

My alarm went off, I stumbled out of my room, glanced through the spare room door out the window at the white blanket of snow in the garden, carried on towards the kitchen, stopped, thought 'hang on', went back to look out the window and then thought 'ah crap'.

I thought about not going for my walk. I thought about driving to my parents house and driving home again. But I didn't do the long walk I was supposed to last weekend and I'm not going to get a chance next weekend because of the marathon so I had to do it. Plus it had stopped snowing, it was just a bit cold.

So I walked to my parents, spent 2 hours frantically trying to get Glastonbury tickets, had some lunch and set off.

My main problem when I'm walking is not my feet or legs hurting but my lower back and stomach muscles. I've been working on these in the gym recently and before setting off I took some ibuprofen and rubbed deep heat into my back. What a difference it made!

I set off with a bit of a grumble in my head about the fact it was cold and it was boring and I didn't want to walk 11 miles but I soon got into it.

As I reached mile 4 I stopped for a drink and also to take my jumper off. I was warm, wearing sunglasses, the sun was beating down.

At mile 7 I stopped again to take off my sunglasses, put my jumper back on and got my wooly hat out of my bag as it had started to snow yet again.

At mile 9 I had a bit of a sit down on a bench in the park. It was glorious sunshine and I watched a young girl feed the ducks and felt the warmth on my back and I even took a picture of the beautiful daffodils.

At mile 10 I just wanted to be back in my flat as the snow flake stuck to my eyelashes and I could no longer feel my hands with the cold.

The last mile was hard. I think its partly psychological that I knew I was almost home. I hadn't taken any short cuts although the idea had popped into my head. I was determind to go on however there was a moment of despair when I really wanted to take a short cut home but realised the quickest way was the route I was supposed to be doing anyway.

I grit my teeth, psychologically split the last half mile into sections and made it home.

Then I went to the pub!