:::ALERT:::Stock photo, stock photo, stock photo

Because if you join Jackie Skelly gym, you will automatically feel yourself catapulted into the sky and right angle your body in as many places possible.

Creepy kid in Family Fitness festival

I can't put my finger on it. It could be the wide eyes and karate hand. Maybe it's a perfectly normal photo and I'm the odd one out.

I have a lot of recycling to do

This is the list of stuff that was in the bag handed to us at registration. I feel like I'm doing a case study on women's marketing.

1. A tin of John West Tuna
2. Flora Actimel
3. Velvet Crunch - only 83 calories - crisps. Can they really be defined as crisps if they only stack up 83 calories in a packet? Hardly...
4. Granola bars
5. Colgate Enamel protect toothpaste
6. Nestle Raisin oats & more cereal - hello, I'll be eating you for breakfast
7. A red lollypop - without a single bit of marketing on it. Excellent!
8. John West 60c off voucher
9. Party Feet blister plaster
10. Scholl heal repair cream
11. Johnson's 24 hour moisture extra-rich bodywash
12. Cif rejuvenation - this product basically cleans anything from chairs to shoes - as demonstrated with a fake sparkle on the cover.
13. Vaseline aloe fresh hydrating body lotion with aloe & cucumber - a full bottle and not poxy sample size - noice one!
14. Nivea double effect deodorant - this is basically claiming that it slows underarm hair regrowth as well as that new Dove deodorant. Lies. It's all lies.
15. Two carefree pantyliners
16. Raisins and cranberries - yum
17. A vodafone bag telling me to recycle my old phone so I can help the Irish Heart Foundation. I'm going to use this.
18. Jackie Skelly 'FREE Guest pass for 2 worth 50 Euro' apparantly. Hidious marketing picture on the flyer. I'll post it up later.
19. A chance to win a trip to the New York Marathon - If I won it'd keep me training at least.
20. A flyer telling me to run 10km at 10,000ft in Ethiopia...
21. Hybernian AVIVA Healthcare flyer
22. A booklet of vouchers including -
    
    • 10 Euro off any six week course at 'Just Dance'
    • Voucher for 1.50 off any Johnson's product
    • 75c off Big Al's chicken fillet range
    • 100 Euro off laster treatment at Beacon Dermatology
    • 25 Euro off a weight management assessment
    • 50c off Knorr stock pot
    • 2 for 1 ticket offer for Bloom
    • 35c off Domestos Bleach
    • 30c off Philadelphia minis range
    • Rent any new release for free at Xtra Vision
    • 50c off Dubliner Irish cheese
    • 75c off mixed seeds yoghurt
      
23. Migraine association of Ireland info leaflet
24. 80c off Flora pro-activ
25. Contraception, fertility and sexual health info for women aged 35 to 55
26. Fitsquad.ie - I almost signed up for this yesterday. Does anyone want to do it with me???
27. Nicely designed 'Drink Aware' alcohol and sport info booklet
28. Discover Ireland 09 magazine
29. The official women's mini marathon magazine
30. Flyer for family fitness festival - really creepy picture of a kid running on the inside.
31. 60c off Flora Buttery
32. mychild.ie flyer
33. 3 Euro off Rimmel mascara
34. Sun 'We have gone green' dishwashing power
35. Flora Buttery cookbook

Weird marketing strategy for sports bras

Apart from adding on the WTF?, I did no extra photoshopping to this ad. It was in one of the brochures I got in my WWF goody bag. A woman holds a horse while wearing her 'BOUNCE' bra. Because I've seen so many people going out horse riding in sports bras. And her boobs even look weird and gappy.

Hello I'm in an 80s music video

I'm wearing this headband into TV3 on Tuesday after cycling into work.

Here I come ready or not - 16534

Gas! It's 3:28am and I'm just winding down...you'd think I'd be getting energy sleep or something before the race. Anyways, I picked up the race number today at the Women's World Fair out in the RDS. I was ag starvail going out there so was delira to see all the food sample stalls around. I love free stuff. I will always love free stuff.

What I ate at the Women's World Fair [WWF]
Cheese cubes - courtesy of the Dubliner's cheese stand
A Strawberry Muller youghurt - only because there were no chocolate ones left. Everyone in the queue for this stand was looking for chocolate. It's a womans event though - how dare they even consider stocking another flavour other than chocolate at it.
Some sort of light crisps
A square of toast and some Flora butter
A handful of popcorn
A bit of a rice cake with chocolate orange - DELISH!
Flora Pro-Active drink - about three of them to be honest

When I got back into town I met up with a few mates in the park - Happy Birthday Ciaran! And Alan, who is running a proper topper and not a copper out of a marathon, and by that I mean that he's running 40k in Cork on Monday... Well, Alan is on a diet. A diet! A DIET TO ENHANCE HIS RACEY GAME! Damn. I did no diet. And just to prove it, I just had a takeaway - greasy burger and chips to top off another night out this weekend where I didn't drink.

I did my last training session - 5k - this evening. It was grand. I didn't push myself as much as I did on Tuesday. Here come the excuses in anticipation of failing to get a time of under an hour - ever since that run my left knee has been a bit wobbly. It was alright this evening when I was running though - hopefully it won't cause any trouble on the day.

I bought a dodgy looking headband at the WWF. It reads: Will BIKE for WINE. The most poetic thing I have ever read. I'm wearing it in the picture above.

Right. I'm going to bed - but we got goody bags - or rather there was a marketing attack on women out at the RDS. I'll itemise everything on the blog tomorrow. My personal favourite is a flyer advertising sports bras with models posing beside a horse. WHAT???!!!

Up to 667 Euro now with the fundraising - thanks everyone:D DEBRA Ireland will be delighted.

Shout out on Ireland AM this morning

Pity they didn't mention DEBRA Ireland. But the blog got a mention anyways - woo! There's an increasing amount of women out walking and running this week. Unsurprisingly enough. The weather looks set to be awesome...which will probably make the run harder. Oh we Irish can never get enough complaints in about the weather, can we?

I'll post up details of my Monday plans in case anyone wants to come out after. Or indeed come along to support.

I've raised over €600 now - not too shabby. So thanks to everyone for the sponsorship!

01:02:38 and double vision

I was getting a tad nervous at my desk in work today - merely thinking about the approaching run on Monday. Nervous that I never really all that accurately calculated my training sessions between not knowing exactly what distance I ran and not really keeping track of the time I ran it in.

I've been telling people that I'll be happy if I run it in under an hour. Well, I'm not entirely sure how possible that is for me to do. When I got home from work this evening I embarked on a Google Maps precisely calculated 10k run. From where I live in Drumcondra to the Swords Rd/Collins Ave junction is 2.5k according to reliable Google maps.

So I wanted to run exactly 10k and see how long it took me. I ran as far as the junction, ran back to Drumcondra, back to the junction again, and back home breathless. I really pushed myself in the second 5k. I just seem to be a slow starter I think. The longer I run, the faster I get. I don't know if this is how people normally run long distances. But anyways...I did the run in an hour, two minutes, and 38 seconds. I thought it was alright. But then I looked at last year's race times. Check out what place the runner who got that time I got this evening came in at.



Yes that is one thousand, seven hundred, and sixty ninth place. There were 6300 people in the race. I feel a bit pathetic coming in with a time of over an hour even though I haven't been running that long. And be under no illusion - training has been difficult. I am not a natural runner. I have no air max in me, wha?!

What I listened to as I ran: Hot Chip - Made In The Dark album [2008]

I was going to write more but I'm tired and have been up since 5.20am. I still need to stretch. The effort of it all...

I'll post in another day or two. I have The Women's World Fair in the RDS to look forward to on Saturday. I've to pick up my race number there. Any takers on accompanying me???

Once again - cheers for all the sponsorship.

Thank you Bangor Erris

On Saturday morning, bright and early I might add, I headed off for Mayo - I got a lift from Dublin [cheers Tommy!], which made the journey a zillion times more bearable than enduring the confusion of public transport. Which, to be fair, would have probably resulted in me realising I was in Kerry five hours later...or something like that.

I did end up in Belfast when I was supposed to be travelling from Dublin to Sligo after all. Here's the evidence [Pat and Jess weren't around for the photo, sigh]:



Anyway...back to the point - Mayo. There was an anniversary mass for my Aunt - so that's why I, along with some of my cousins, aunts, uncles, were all headed for a place called Bangor Erris in Mayo. A good 45-60 minute drive from Ballina and five hours from Dublin. It's quite a remote place but everyone who lives there follows the open door policy. Preparing for the few of us who were making our way over, we realised that there had been a collective ELEVEN tarts made for our arrival...and this is for about ten or twelve people. Basically my point is that they'll bend over backwards to make you feel comfortable and you'll never go hungry in the town.

As is tradition when extended families meet, you generally end up in a pub. This trip was no exception. I'm trying to be on a no-alcohol policy until after the race next Monday. So I didn't join in in the race of who can buy the next round quicker than anyone else in peripheral view. I knocked back the uisce minus the beatha instead. After a while, there was concern from my Uncle Sean that I wasn't having a drink. I told him that it was because of the training and he asked if I was looking for sponsorship. And the whole thing escalated from there.

The people who were in Kitty's pub in Bangor Erris again bent over backwards with their generousity. There was probably a slight delay in the race for the bar as the race for who could sign my sponsorship card and through some money my way took over.

Within about 10-15 minutes, I had a bulk of notes in my pocket that totalled near 250 Euro in sponsorship for DEBRA Ireland [see the picture at the top of this post]. So I've now surpassed the target of 500 Euro that was automatically set up on mycharity.ie. But why stop there eh? The more money I can collect, the more these people who suffer every day with Epidermolysis Bullosa can get the treatment and care that they need to make their lives a bit more comfortable.

Thanks a million to everyone who sponsored me in Bangor Erris over the weekend. It really is appreciated...and I did head out for that run this morning so it was well worth skipping the drinking session.

The last week of training awaits...and I've to be up in five and a half hours for work. A full week of Britain's Got Talent. Lucky me.

If you'd like to sponsor me online - click here: RIGHT HERE.

Howley.

I get to dress up as a butterfly

The group of women running for DEBRA Ireland have a bit of a get together in Ron Blacks after the race, where everyone is encouraged to dress up as a butterfly in some shape or form.

SCORE!!! I already own the tights above PLUS a butterfly dress. And two butterfly chains. Woo Woo Woo! And ZOMG I have just found my new favourite site - a blog that just blogs about tights. AMAZING!

Should I buy some wings??? I'm enjoying this aspect of it far too much.

Don't forget that you can sponsor me by clicking here: RIGHT HERE.

Howley

How much exercise is too much?

I know, I know...I really thought I'd have a better grip on writing in this blog. But I don't. The good news is that I'm back on track and seem to be able to run quite a bit without any pain or crazy swelling in my foot. It's back to normal again. I think.

So I went home to Strandhill in Sligo on Friday and went for a long long long run of about 9k or possibly 10k on Saturday morning. The first since the elephantitis incident. It was good for a change of running scenery but I think there may have been more hills involved. I did the same run on Sunday morning.

There's a hill coming up from Strandhill beach to the top of the main road. And it's such a giant of a steep hill that it is known merely as 'THE HILL' in Strandhill and I have no doubt that this is why the village is so called.

Down through the years I have laughed at how ridiculous people look when they try to run up this hill. And I would have often said that I could walk faster. I joined the ridiculous group of people at the weekend in running up this hill. It's not even that it's that far to run uphill but you just end up taking these pathetic baby steps because the backs of your legs are near dead.



So after running on Sunday, I got a bowl of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes into me and then went out surfing with Cathal and Doug who came down for the weekend.

My arms nearly fell off in the water from the amount of paddling we had to do. So did my abs. Are you supposed to be working your abs when you paddle? I'm thinking my technique is wrong. But when Paul the instructor is shouting 'Paddle Karen, PADDLE' at you, you don't think and you just paddle to try and get that pehrfect wave.

The annoying thing out in the water was when you would paddle and paddle and paddle and not be able to outpaddle the wave to surf it so it just passes you by. And then the same happens with the next wave. And before you know it, you're back paddling to the back of the waves again so you're not one of those cop out surfers who just gets breakwater. I really wanted to be a cop out surfer once or twice on Sunday. But I guess it is a way better feeling when you get a wave from beginning to end.


The only complaint I have about running at the moment is that I bought new runners. They're really comfortable...BUT my socks don't feel right in them. I think I need to get some softer socks. I don't think Pennys cotton will fit the bill somehow. Sigh.

A BIG Setback

Hey hey hey,

It has been far too long since I wrote in this blog. The past week has been a giant setback for me. I did go running the majority of last week - up until Thursday - and it was pretty hard to fit it in with work and everything...but then on Friday...I fecked off to Milan for the weekend with Gillian to see Bat For Lashes play.

I thought I might get a bit of a run in over there - but on day one of being there my foot started to swell up with the heat/salty food/pressure...I'm not really sure what the exact underlying cause of it all was. The Google Doctor would indicate that although it may look on the verge of elephatitis, it is actually just a case of edema - a build up of fluid retention in one area [my left foot].

The photo above shows the desperate state of affairs it had reached by the time we got home on Monday night. So I haven't ran since last Wednesday - a full week ago now. I elevated my legs on about four cushions last night going to sleep and have drank a load of water since I came back - so for the first time in about four or five days I could see my left ankle today. I didn't head out training though - I think I need to give it another day to make sure it can take a proper running session.

It's definitely a bit of a setback though. I don't know how fast I'll get through the 10k now...but I have taken a few days off work over the next few weeks leading up to the race, so I'm hoping that I can get a good bit of running done between now and then.

Thanks for all the sponsorship again - it's great to see the figure going up all the time.

Karen

Concrete love

So the weekend has pretty much passed. And it was difficult. The Bank Holiday weekend was always going to be a tough one though. There are way too many options and few that don’t revolve around beer.

 

I did not run on Friday – and I felt guilty about it. But what are you going to do when you meet two people you haven’t seen in nearly 12 months or longer – go for a pint with them or go home, change into jogging pants, and run? I haven’t made such a drastic transformation yet to pick the latter.

 

So the guilt tipped over to Saturday. I was determined to go and run that 8k that I had set out in my training plan. I felt like crap. I’m not sure if it was the mug of coffee or the two pints from Friday night that made me feel so sick. I had to stop loads – and I hated every minute of running past the Cat and The Cage in Drumcondra – it’s this slowly steep run from there until The Swords Road. I thought I might end up doing the crawl.

 

The same route today went a hell of a lot better. And I took a photo of those lovehearts I said I saw...those clever kids must have known it was going to rain – I only realised that they didn’t draw them with chalk but scratched them out in the ground – probably using the house key or some stones. Who knows?...

 

Track listing coming soon.

I will not - I REPEAT - I will NOT be crawling

I'll still have calories left to burn. These women are crazy. I did laugh at their collapsing puppet like legs though. Credit to Karen Birney for this one.