I ended last years blog around Christmas time and I was visiting my friend Alys in Tenerife.
I returned to the UK and ran the Waterside 5 mile road race on New Years Eve gaining a nice PB.
We also had the Bedford Harriers Awards night where I was delighted to win a haul of awards most notably 'most improved runner of the year' I was given a huge shield - I've never had my own sheild before!
Harriers haul
At the end of January i was feeling a little bit single and fed up so I had a go at this internet dating lark.
I met a fab chap and we went on a few dates. Before our second date I had an appt with the 47 mile Peddars Way Ultra. This was an inaugural race and only 50 runners took part. It near killed me!! I've not run that far since but it was certainly an experience and a real box ticker! Needless to say the second date involved me hoovering up every bit of food in sight and almost falling asleep- charming!
February passed and work was very busy leading up to a major exhibition in March, 8 days of being away meant I had the opportunity to run around the deserted Olympic park in Stratford, it was really strange and very interesting, the velodrome, the Olympic pool and the giant viewing tower were some of the daily scenes.
The Olympic park
The Grizzly - a 20 mile race on Devons Jurassic Coast saw me fall and cut my hands and head at 11 miles, disappointing but still a few days away with the Harriers.
Larissa and I pre Grizzly injuries
In April I attended the Newspaper Awards in London - Fuji is a major sponsor, Jimmy Carr was on stage, it wasn't his finest appearance but we did raise over £5k for Pancreatic Cancer. One of my favourite events.
May saw me move in with the lovely chap (yes, I know it's a little soon but we are only here once and if it feels right...) we were kindly invited by some friends from Wellingborough Road Runners to take part in a mountain half marathon in a town in Corfu called Kassiopi - a free villa for five days and cheap flights, who could possibly say no!? The race was well attended and even famous ultra runner Yiannis Kouros made a speech in the school hall (shame it was all in Greek) I was near to tears with the sheer difficulty of this run, there were ropes hanging from trees to assist you it was so steep. Lovely chap did very well getting round, especially as he wasn't really a runner and it was him helping me up the hills! Illusions Bar was a popular haunt at night and a jolly good time was had by all.
Picture??
June saw me attend Royal Ascot which was the usual raucous fun and champagne, I love that gig! The following day was an 8 mile run and then the day after a half marathon, quite tough!
Lovely man and myself went to Chicago for a long weekend (how decadent) where we competed in the Bacon Chase (yep, a run, with bacon) and also a Color Run (it's the US so I bow to their spelling ok?) we also went up the Sears Tower and visited a duelling piano bar, it was a cracking weekend.
Lovely man and I at Chicago Color Run
Post bacon race (bloody Mary's at the end!)
July saw the Thunder Run come around, Larissa and I had entered as a pair but were both injured and untrained, what the heck, we decided to give it ago anyway. The ten km loop was cross country and the idea is you run as many loops as you can in 24 hrs. We managed a respectable 70km each before we gave up 18 hours in, imagine what we could have done it we were match fit!!
Larissa and I post 70k each - ouchy
August brought a weeks holiday to Croatia with lovely man and his daughter, we stayed in Porec and visited a few towns nearby on a boat, Vrsar and Maledra. Croatia is a stunning place to visit, bright blue seas and lush vegetation. A day trip to Venice with the obligatory gondola ride was superb.
We also had the chance to go to Henley festival (work you understand) and it was a really lovely event, a bit posh and great food, no Lycra in sight.
Lovely man and I at Henley Festival where the Roux family cooked our dinner - yum!
Bec and I at the Gladiator Games
September was a busy month running wise, I decided on a new challenge - three races in 24 hours - we managed the a muddy 10k run, Round Norfolk Relay, and the Leighton 10. My word what a challenge, different terrains and no sleep - fantastically bonkers.
I also got invited to a new race called the Spitfire Scramble (check date) it's the same format as thunder run (24hour loops) except this time it was in hornchurch at a country park and I was in a team of five. Great fun and some new friends made along the way.
Running a lap of the inaugural Spitfire Scramble
In October two major event occurred. I ran the Berlin Marathon, untrained really and still a bit injured (weekend away tho...) and a new world record was made, not by me obviously.
I also grew up a bit and bought my own house, the place was a wreck so I spent many a night painting and cleaning to make it habitable. My friends really made a difference to this with loads of help and I can't thank them all enough. I moved in and it's been ok, as you can probably guess it didn't work out with lovely man but we are still very good mates,,every cloud eh. Am a bit rubbish at solo living as I don't cook properly and tend to be lazy, must work on that.
November saw more running - but only at weekends/races. Some sad news was received, my nan passed away at the amazing age of 101. Going to her funeral down in Kent was a real eye opener, I learnt that she was a feisty lady who was a bit of an adventurer and I loved hearing about her life.
My brother Peter and I with Nan
And finally December - where I made my usual visit to see my friend Alys in Tenerife, what a pleasure it is to have the sun on my back and mountains to climb.
This year it was a little different, I flew back to the UK on 23rd Dec and straight back out on Christmas Eve to LA and then on to Phoenix where my sister and her hubby picked me up for a three weeks stay at their home in Arizona, what a lucky girl I am. So, here I sit after three weeks of gymming, swimming and running, good food and fun company.
Exploring the trails in Arizona City
An amazing year yet again, amazing people in my life making it so much better. I would like to make a list of these people but really don't want to miss anyone put so I shan't, you know who you are.
My granddaughter Millie turned 5, she's a little beauty and there's another along soon, a little boy! Watch this space
Bring on 2015! I've got a few things to do, the big one this year is the Virgin London Marathon, a first for me and also the first and last time I do a charity run. I'm running for MS because the orange shirt is lovely. Not really, it's because a colleague of mine was diagnosed with MS recently, he's a pretty vibrant fun guy and the same age as me, it really hit home so I thought I'd do my best in a small way to try to make a difference. (Shameless plug approaching) so if you fancy chucking me a quid, or a fiver you can donate here:
Or you can text SBOP to 777???
Or you can donate something I can sell, come on a training run with me, give me some fundraising ideas, anything really that might help.
I'm also going to try to get fitter, try to get solvent again, and try to complete the Spartan Beast - a 20k obstacle run. And probably a few other things to, ideas and suggestions are welcome.
If you have got this far without dropping off, well done and thanks for reading. I'm going to try to do this every year end so that I can leave a little reminder of my life for my grandchildren and great grandchildren and anyone else who is interested.
Gotta go, am on a flight from LA to LHR and must get some shut eye before the time difference ruins tomorrow for me...oh and my crown has just fallen off...never a dull moment
Laters Bop x
