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.