21 Miles

On Bank Holiday Monday, after procrastinating quite spectacularly over the weekend (well Saturday was my birthday) I mapped out my route, and set off into the midday.. well I wish I could say sun, brisk breeze was more like it.... As usual I like to take in the sights of Windsor as I go. Exactly four miles from my house is the top of the Long Walk, where you then head down towards a marvellous view of Windsor Castle. At that point, I met two other ladies sporting their Moonwalk Pink hats, and stopped for a chat. They were 13 miles into their walk, and really looking forward to the event. I headed down the Long Walk, towards Datchet, round Home Park, through Eton, and down the Jubilee River to Maidenhead. From there, I headed up through Burnham and ended up at Mums. I wrote a while back on my blog http://pinkhourglass.blogspot.com, that I hit a training wall. This year I haven't had as much time to train in such a leisurely manner, due to moving back to full time teaching from working for myself. The imagined pressure that I *had* to get the training done this year was new to me. I am glad to say that I walked the 21 miles in a reasonable time - 5 hours 40. I ran very low on energy (my own fault) but I did it! Later that evening, I reported in via Twitter with the other group of girls that are doing the walk, and we had all made it, with varying reports of blisters and bruises. It is so worth it on the day. The dawn breaks when you are about 17 miles in. The volunteers cheer you on with a massive smile and encouragement. And there is nothing like hugging your family at the end. Oh - and looking at your sponsorship (hint) This week is the creative week with the bra.. I will post when it is done! Enjoy. Claire xxx

Weddings to be thankful for!

Last weekend, my Uncle Pat got remarried to a lovely lady called Pauline. It was a fab day at Pinewood Studios.

Uncle Pat was sadly widowed in 2003. His wife of 34 years Eileen was struck down very quickly with ovarian cancer, and from diagnosis to passing away was just 6 weeks. It was very, very sad, especially as it was just before Pete and I got married.

Eileen's mother had died in her 50's of Breast Cancer in the early 70's. As a consequence, Eileen monitored herself carefully, and her daughter Sarah (my wonderful cousin) also checks herself regularly.

Sarah is now in the NHS monitoring scheme at 35 for female cancers. Even though the Moonwalk is focused on Breast Cancer, every penny that goes into any type of Cancer Charity is so precious, because it is one step nearer to finding a cure.

We all had an amazing day, the sun shone and the bride and groom looked wonderfully happy. And with your help and sponsorship, we all hope to fight cancer and have more wonderful weddings in the sun.

Love Claire xx

Hitting the Wall

It was inevitable. Hitting the wall with my Moonwalk Training. It happened in 2008 and 2009 - the point where the whole challenge seems impossible. The general train of thought during the wall experience are usually things like - My legs won't move fast enough, my mile times are awful, I won't finish on the night, and doing this by myself is, at times, very, very lonely.

My dose of 2010 doubts surfaced this morning with a 14 mile training walk scheduled. Which makes getting dressed, organised and ready to hit the pavement a challenge in itself. I knew this was coming, and perhaps should have been a bit more mentally prepared to get through it.

With Pete away watching the football, my brother and his wife were charged with picking the dogs up, walking them and then looking after them in Burnham for the rest of the day. The planned route meant walking from Windsor to Burnham, and then having dinner with my them both and my parents, and coming back again. I was on the verge of phoning and finding a feeble excuse, but my mobile rang to inform me they were on their way. No getting out of that arrangement then!

After they had all gone, I set up the iphone to track my walk via GPS and got my trusty ipod nano ready with the tunes.

For the first 4 miles, my legs felt like lead. Then my ipod started to get to some motivational tunes. At four miles, I hit the top of the Long Walk and start to head down. The sun was shining and people were happy. My mood lifted slightly, and I gave myself a real talking to as I powered towards the Castle.

The thing is, when I reached Burnham (after 3 hours and 50 mins), the block lifted. I entered the house to be greeted by the dogs. There was the wonderful smell of Roast Chicken. And a big hug and "Well Done" from the two people who are the whole reason for doing this. Mum and Dad. The Breast Cancer Survivor and Kidney Cancer Survivor.

Because if we don't keep working towards a cancer cure, I wouldn't have eaten such a marvellous Sunday Roast. They wouldn't have been here to do it.

Virginia Water Lake

Morning walk for me and the dogs today. Virginia Water is just over 4 miles, so perfect distance for a short Moonwalk training session, and for the dogs to stretch their legs and get as muddy/wet as possible. I also have new trainers which were far too white and gleaming, so something needed to be done about that. (Asics Gel-Kinsei 2 for the athletes out there!)

I also tried out my EveryTrail app for the iphone. I have been using Runkeeper, which is great as long as you don't go into a shaded area. Runkeeper was also tracking my average minutes per mile, which was helpful for the Moonwalk.

However, EveryTrail seems to have managed to map all the way around the Lake, which is excellent, and provided a HTML code for blogs, so let's see if that works too.

What was even better was the sun was shining.. Spring is definitely here!

Virginia Water

Map your trip with EveryTrail

Jamie Oliver Chocolate Pots - Lite!

I do like Jamie Oliver, and find his first two books the best - The Naked Chef and Return of The Naked Chef.

In Return of The Naked Chef, he has a fantastic recipe for Chocolate Pots. They are a really rich choccy dessert, and always go down well with people when I make them for dinner parties. I have made them with and without Brandy, and find it is just as good either way.

However, they are absolutely calorie laden, and in the interest of saving a few calories, I adapted the recipe slightly and they tasted the same. I also whisk in egg whites to make them less heavy, and they also go further to make 6 portions.

285ml / 1/2 pint single cream - I use Elmlea Light
200gr / 7oz best quality chocolate (70% cocoa solids) - Green and Blacks or Divine is good
2 large eggs - separated
Optional - 3 tablespoons brandy
20gr / 1/4oz butter

1. In a thick-bottomed pan heat the cream until nearly boiling.
2. Remove and set aside for 1 minute before snapping in your chocolate. Stir in until melted and smooth.
3. Once melted beat in the egg yolks and brandy and stir until smooth.
4. Allow to cool slightly before stirring in the butter until the mixture is smooth.
5. Whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks and fold into the mixture.
6. Pour into individual serving pots.

Sometimes if you add the butter when the chocolate isn't cool enough it will make the chocolate look as if it has split. To rectify this, allow the mixture to cool a little longer before whisking in a little cold milk until you have a smooth consistency again.

Suggestions - if the 70% chocolate is too strong, substitute 50 grams for milk chocolate.

For those WeightWatchers out there - if split between 6 people, the dessert is 5.5 points! (without brandy)

Enjoy.

LADIES - Pay Attention! URGENT

PAY ATTENTION!

You've heard about people who have been abducted and had their kidneys
removed by black-market organ thieves?

Well my thighs were stolen from me during the night a few years go. I went to sleep and woke up with someone else's thighs. It was just that quick. The replacements had the texture of cooked oatmeal. Whose thighs were these and what happened to mine?

I spent the entire summer looking for my thighs. Finally, hurt and angry, I resigned myself to living out my life in jeans. And then the thieves struck again.

My butt was next. I knew it was the same gang, because they took pains to match my new rear-end to the thighs they had stuck me with earlier. But my new butt was attached at least three inches lower than my original! I realized I'd have to give up my jeans in favour of long skirts..

Two years ago I realized my arms had been switched. One morning I was doing my hair and was horrified to see the flesh of my upper arm swing to and fro with the motion of the hairbrush. This was really getting scary, my body was being replaced one section at a time. What the heck? What could they do to me next?

When my poor neck suddenly disappeared and was replaced with a turkey neck, I decided to tell my story.

Women of the world, wake up and smell the coffee! I figured it out!!! Those 'plastic' surgeons are using REAL replacement body parts stolen from you and me!

The next time someone you know has something 'Lifted', look again - was it lifted from you?

THIS IS NOT A HOAX. This is happening to real women everywhere, every night.

These same thieves come to my wardrobe and shrink my clothes! How do they do it????

WARN YOUR FRIENDS !!!

P.S. Last year I thought someone had stolen my boobs. I was lying in bed and they were gone! But when I jumped out of bed, I was relieved to see that they had just been hiding in my armpits as I slept. Now I keep them hidden in my waistband.

Thought this was too important not to pass on.

(Courtesy of Kathryn Moore!!)

Raspberry and Banana Muffins

Lots of you will know that I have embarked on a new project as a Pampered Chef Consultant. I was trying out their muffin pan and found a great recipe for Raspberry and Banana Muffins.

They are from Anthony Worrel Thompson's The Sweet Life Cookbook, and I found them from the Weight Watchers Website.

Try them!! Really easy to make

Makes 8 muffins

200 g flour

2 teaspoon baking powder

8 tablespoon Tate & Lyle Splenda low Calorie Sweetener Granular

100 g raspberries, frozen, briefly thawed

1 medium egg(s)

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

50 g butter, melted

1 medium banana(s), ripe, mashed

100 ml skimmed milk

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 6/200°C/400°F.

Place 8 paper muffin cases into a muffin tray, or use squares of greaseproof paper. OR if you are using a Pampered Chef Stoneware muffin pan (or other similar stoneware), just coat each well with melted butter or spritz with olive oil.

Sift the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Stir in the sweetener and raspberries.

Beat together the egg, vanilla extract, melted butter and milk.

Stir into the dry ingredients with the mashed banana until just combined. Avoid overmixing and do not beat.

The mixture will be quite lumpy, but there should not be any traces of dry flour. Spoon into the paper cases.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until risen and golden. Cool on a wire rack.