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

Moonwalk is here!

Well today is the day! I haven't blogged for a bit, but since I last did, I completed a 16 mile training walk and a 22 miles training walk!

The 22 miles meant I was out on the road for about 6 and a half hours, with total walking time of about 6 hours 12 mins (rest was loo stops!)

I will say the 22 miles was a bit of a challenge mentally rather than physically. I had a new ipod (my birthday pressie from Pete) but it wasn't doing things it should do - or how I thought it should, so I was having to fiddle as I walked. The weather was also grey and overcast, and I had been very luck whilst training that the weather was good before.

However, getting across the doorstep at home was brilliant, and as usual my faithfully doggies met me with a big lick and paw and my bath was running :-)

Decorating the Bra

Now this has been a bit of a journey! Walk the Walk sent me a Wonderbra this year (oh please) and a Freya bra last year, which I didn't use and stored. I decided to dye both black and see which one I may use as I felt a bit self-conscious about the Wonderbra (those who know me well, will know why!!)

One thing that has changed about modern dyes, is that they don't dye man made fabrics. Cotton, linen and viscose or mixes of. So I ended up with a rust coloured Wonderbra, and a multi-coloured Freya bra (black cups, and the rest was interesting...). I then decided to dye the Freya again with a hand dye (having used machine before..)


So here was the bra after attempt one and the kit needed to dye it. So off I went, and dyed half the bath at the same time... And the damn thing came out no different.

I had to use plastic gloves whilst handling the dye, and accidentally put it on inside out when coming back to stir it...

So basically I ended up with a black hand. Not good as I had business meeing the next day!








I then got stuck in with a needle and thread a few evening this week and sewed fur, sequins, glass buttons, ribbons and glued beads on..

Work in progress...














And finally today - glued my final beads, and here it is!!











I have also been involved in twitter quite a bit and have met some people who are also doing the full walk - Tina and Lizzie Needham are doing the half moon, so I will go into London with them.

Wish me luck! I will blog tomorrow or Monday

Claire
x

Training Progress

I haven't put my thoughts down for a bit, but inbetween blogs I have completed a 14 mile walk and a 16 mile.

My foot was playing up still so I have laid off training too heavily inbetween, but I walk on average 2 miles a day with our dogs, so up until now, have thought this sufficient whilst I nursed my foot.

However, with just over 3 weeks until the big day, I think I should tick all of the training off, just in case!

Walk the Walk over the last week has distributed the packs we all get, including the bra to be decorated. They, in their wisdom, have sent me a Wonderbra.

Now, those of you who know me well, know I don't really have a need to enhance my assets any more. (A bit of uplift maybe, but still..) Even when they were launched when I was in my 20's, I was quite blessed with charms, and didn't possess one. My flatmate at college, never went out without hers!! Mind you, with hindsight, her hit rate was better....

Walk the Walk, send me a lovely Freya bra last year, but I opted to decorate one of my own. (See the picture for Mum's handiwork) However, I have stored the Freya bra, and thanks to the gods of stomach bugs, I have lost a bit of weight recently, and have decided perhaps I will dye and use that one.

I think the theme this year is Strictly Come Dancing. I feel feathers coming on...

WTW Training Diary #1

According to the Full Marathon Training plan, this week I should aim to:

Sunday: Relax and Stretch
Monday: Any other Activity
Tuesday: 4 miles (increase exertion)
Wednesday: Any other activity
Thursday: 6 miles - intervals
Friday: Relax and Stretch
Saturday: 12 miles - distance and speed.

Thanks to the recent plague of bugs going about, and the bad weather at the weekend, my actual diary looks like this:

Sunday: Godmother at Christening - followed by 3 course meal with obligatory pudding at the end.
Monday: 10 mile walk (should have done previous Saturday) Very good time. Followed by Sports Massage, Followed by pub dinner.
Tuesday: Entire day being very ill with stomach bug. Lay in bed when I could, and tried to drink water.
Wednesday: Too weak to even celebrate the 4lbs weighloss! Went to school play though and laughed my head off. (Secret Diary of Adrian Mole)
Thursday: Swept patio and had to sit down for an hour. Starting to panic over training!!

I intend to try and walk tomorrow and complete the assigned 12 miles on Sat, but it seems a long way off!

The reason I am doing the walk is mainly because my Mum had Breast Cancer 2 years ago, and some friends in their 30's have also had it.

The diary is intended to keep me going for the next few weeks! And also when I hit lower motivation, I can read back on it.

If you are a moonwalker too and want to share your experiences, feel free to post!