Day 4 - Bali Adventures Day Tripping!

Rachel's husband like many Balinese men seem to be has many different talents and different jobs including a bar job at Hibiscus (where Rachel met him when he was doing magic tricks - another talent!), raising/herding ducks, wood carving, export and driver/tour guide!  We booked Made to take us on a day of exploring.

Made picked us up from our hotel at 9am (well 20 past by the time we stopped messing around) and we headed off first of all to have a look at some silver smithing.  There wasn't a huge amount of demonstration to be seen, but we got to have a look at some of the raw materials and then we looked around a huge shop of some beautiful pieces.  For the equivalent of £8 I bought some lovely silver and amythyst stud earrings.  

Next stop was a beautiful waterfall - It was a few steep steps down to the waterfall and then a scramble over some rocks and then edging around a watery ledge to get right up in front.  The roar of the sound of the water was at the same time intense and crashing, but also extremely calming.  I clambed across to get a closer look whilst Anna looked at butterflies - there are so many gorgeous butterflies in Bali, just hard to get a decent shot as they have a habit of moving around!  I asked a nice couple by the waterfall to take my photo, but in actual fact my "selfie" was probably a bit better!

We clambered up the steps again - hot work! - and then it was onto our next stop - coffee and tea tasting.  A lovely chap took us through a garden of all sorts of interesting plants - I'd never seen cloves growing before and they look as you would expect, but also quite different, also he showed us chilies, cocoa, coffee, evil lemon, ginger, a strange looking different type of rhubarb and ginseng.  

We got to meet a Civet - the mongoose type creature that is used in Bali to create the famous Civet or Luwak Coffee.  Civet Coffee apparently is produced only in Bali and only 300kg per year is manufacturer so it's considered a real delicacy!  In fact whilst all the other coffee and tea we tasted were free - our Civet coffee was 50,000 rupiah (£2.50) for a cup.  Civet coffee is produced by getting the Civet to eat coffee beans, these are then fermented in the stomach and quite frankly excreted before being collected for roasting.  The shell of the bean is removed and the bean is roasted and ground as you would with a usual coffee bean.  We waited with anticipation to compare and contrast standard Bali Coffee with this delicacy of Civet coffee.  

We were fortunate enough to sample a whole host of different varieties of tea and coffee and so here are my opinions on each taste test!

Mangosteen Peel - fruity, but not overly sweet, apparently good for all sorts of ailments including preventing stress, cancer and anti aging - I decided to buy some of this to take home at the end!

Coconut Coffee - Like a syrupy latte that you might get from Starbucks, really sweet, but not too sweet.

Bali Coffee - slightly bitter, a bit like Turkish coffee, but without all the sugar added - grainy finish at the end of the coffee grounds.

Ginger Tea - sweet, much more fiery ginger taste than you usually would expect.

Ginseng Coffee - considered buying some of this - good for male virility and tasted almost similiar in sweetness to the Coconut Coffee.

Lemon Grass tea - loved this one as I love the flavour of lemon grass and it was sweet as we found out they had added sugar to everything!  

Cocoa Spices - similar to the "aztec tea" that they give you to try at Cadbury World - really fiery spice and dark chocolaty flavours.

Lemon Tea - Sweet and sour - nice lemony flavour - I would have bought this as well!

Vanilla Coffee - Again - very similar, but nicer, to a Starbucks latte with vanilla syrup.

Bali Cocoa - chocolatey and not overly sweet - not quite as spicey as the Cocoa spices, a really smooth flavour.

Red Ginger Tea - Similar to the ginger tea, but not quite as fiery.

Luwak / Civet Coffee - So this was nice, smoother and much less bitter than your usual Bali coffee, but the question of whether I would buy it specially or take any home, not for the price as the differentiator wasn't really there.  

We also got to try milk chocolate, vanilla chocolate and orange chocolate - all were lovely flavours, but slightly unusual textures - a bit too gritty and waxy compared to what we are used to in the UK.

Anna has been on the hunt for some wine glasses and with a whole host of glass shops on the route we were driving she got Made to pull over and have a look around, although nothing quite right for what she wanted to pay, but looking at the craftsmanship was really interesting in itself.  

We then reached the Elephant Cave Temple which oddly had a pan-piped version of "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion as we arrived.  I had long trousers on, but Anna had to borrow one of the stock sarongs to be "decent" enough to walk around the temple.  In the temple there was a very shallow pool with lots of huge fish that couldn't even seem to fully submerge themselves in it.  The entrance to the "Elephant Cave" was an ornate, and quite scary looking carving.  Once in the cave it was a heady smell of lots of different types of incense burning in a very enclosed space and it felt almost sophorific - would be good for all sorts of strange thoughts whilst meditating I thought.  The temple was set in quite shelving slopes of jungle, so it gave us a good opportunity for exploring and we passed a few locals including one lady who was naked and having a wash in the stream!

After a brief drive we got to the Holy Water temple - I've been here before, but it's really stunning and I was happy to have a second visit.  There are various jets of water that the idea is that you walk along and pray at each.  People make loads of colourful offerings that run into the water and make a beautiful watery scene and there are even bottles on sale so you can collect your own holy water to take home!

There is a huge fish pool with loads of Koi carp everywhere and the colours make an incredible sight.   I particularly liked the view of the garden where they were washing and drying all the tourist sarongs that you borrow to be able to enter the temple against the lovely lush green rainforesty setting.

They cleverly make you walk back past all the shops to get out of the temple and so you have people running after you offering you all sorts of good bargains and less value for money options - i.e. 1 banana 1 dollar!  I especially liked that they had a Princess Diana head to model one of the kaftans on sale!  Anna bought some carved masks after a bit of negotiation, but I managed to escape without spending any more cash as it's dangerous in Bali as there are so many lovely things you can buy that aren't even tourist tat and they aren't expensive, but I'm on a desperate mission to declutter!

By this point we were pretty hungry and so were pleased to get driven up to Kintamani for lunch!  It was a buffet style lunch, not cheap for Bali at 120,000 rupiah or £6, but it's the price you pay in tourist places and we got to eat whilst looking out over a volcano which you don't get the opportunity to do all that often!

We started the route back to Ubud and stopped off at Tegalug rice terraces - beautiful view that they used in Eat Pray Love I believe and I got a nice picture of a chap working in the rice terraces complete with a hat that was woven from banana leaves!

The last stop on our whistlestop tour - Made crammed in loads for us on the one day! - was to see some white cranes flying over at 6pm to a particular tree - there were loads of them!  They were on time and it was really strange how they all navigate to the same place each day - you can tell that this is the case based on the amount of guano on the ground beneath!

We arrived back to the hotel exhausted from our fun, but busy day and so then it was a quick meal at one of my favourite places in Ubud - Juice Ja where I tried a locally brewed beer called Stark.  I also decided to be naughty and have some ice cream and tried both Pannacotta and Tamarillo ice cream - Pannacotta was pretty much just a very vanilla flavoured ice cream, but Tamarillo definitely tasted as described!

Cooking Class and a relaxing afternoon and a dinner in a "quiet restaurant for quiet people"

My plan this morning was to fulfill a bucket list desire of running in Bali...  Rachel my friend had asked me if I would have any room in my suitcase for a few books and bits and pieces before I flew out and I said "sure!"  10kg of children's literature later I was pleased with the 30kg Malaysian air allowance!  My plan was to jog across to her house which is only 3 KM away, but with only 4 hours sleep due to jet lag and general rubbishness about going to bed at a sensible time, I ended up sleeping in and left them on the balcony for her to collect later as by 9am we needed to be at our cooking class at Bumi Bali!

I work Anna up and we rushed (a little) to get ready with a similar breakfast to yesterday - again a very garlicky omelette, Bali Coffee and fresh fruit.  We got to Bumi Bali and were greeted by our teacher and in a class with a German family of 4 with teenage children and a Dutch couple - everyone was down to earth and relaxed and we had a really nice time together.

Our first exercise on the course was a trip to the Ubud market to look at the ingredients that we would need for our cooking.  We looked at a whole range of unusual vegetables, fruits and spices in colourful and fragrant (i.e. a mixture of very "strong" smells) across the market.  We discovered that the fruit we bought yesterday with snakelike skin was indeed called "snake fruit" by many!  

After our tour of approx 45 minutes where we encountered bitter melon, different types of galangal, ginger, vanilla pods and durian fruit we walked back to the restaurant to start our class.  If I'm totally honest I'm a little disappointed that we didn't *actually* buy the ingredients we were using from the market itself, but at least they were all ready for us when we returned to the restaurant.

The first thing that we were to learn was how to make Bumbu Bali a spice base for multiple dishes.  This involved a large number of ingredients being blended and friend in coconut oil including:  fresh ginger, shallots, cloves, red chills, greater galangal, lesser galangal, fresh turmeric, coriander seeds, candlenuts, black pepper corns, white pepper corns, nutmeg, garlic, cumin, sesame seed and shrimp paste.  You blend all this together and fry - it smells amazing!

The Bumbu Bali was then mixed with some blanched vegetables to make Sayur Urab and also some fried rice for our starters - blanched veg was coordinated by Anna who had to put the carrots and long beans in first, followed by all the other cabbage and "softer" beg.

After we'd munched through our first course the Bumbu Bali was used again to season chicken legs for our Opor Ayam - chicken curry with coconut.  We also used the Bumbu Bali to make satay with minced pork and we wrapped it first around a usual satay stick and then around a stick of lemon grass which made the flavour so much fragrant - although would cost far too much to be practical in the UK.  Also it is more difficult than you would think to wrap the satay around the stick - pinching the mixture and anti-clockwise turning is the trick it would appear!  The curry bubbled away for a while and when it was finished we got to eat it with some more rice and the sauce was lovely - we slightly winced at how much coconut oil had gone it, but then again "it's natural! so that's all fine right??

Our last dish was dessert - Pisang Goreng - or fried bananas!  Fairly simple - slice bananas into slices lengthways at an angle and then mix up flour, sugar and egg and dip the bananas in and then deep fry!  We had ours with syrup served on top!

After our feasting session we were pretty full so we wondered down to the internet cafe to print out our plane tickets to Lombok - felt old school to be in an internet cafe!  Anna needed decent coffee so we went along to one of my favourite places in Bali to eat and drink - Juice Ja - Anna had a cappuchino and I had a Bali coffee.

The plan was then to come back to the hotel, I was going to sleep (but blogged instead) and Anna went tourist shopping.

After she got back we went for a wonder and walked up to the tjampuham bridge which is still stunning and I bought some Almond body spray which doesn't actually smell like almond, but reminds me of a perfume I loved from when I was 15!

Getting a little thirsty we stopped into a fun looking place called Gedong Sisi which was really nicely decorated, pretty busy and had happy hour cocktails!  We had a quick drink whilst making plans to see Rachel and her husband Made for dinner and then wandered down to Tutmak for another drink (I had a Bintang and Anna sampled Balinese Rose wine) and then Rachel arrived.  We met up with Made in the car and drove a short distance to Miro's Garden Restaurant which I'd not been to since we went after Rachel and Made got married which is the first reason that I came to Bali.  

It's a medium priced restaurant where after a starter, two 500ml beers and a beautiful main of Nasi Campur it feels a bit expensive at circa 175,00 rupiah plus tax i.e. less than £9!  The food and restaurant is beautifully presented with flowers everywhere and beautiful paintings and furniture with water features throughout.  The restaurant is fairly quiet and a little bit off the Ubud beaten track, but there were still a fair few people eating there.  We had some lovely food - loved how my Nasi Campur was presented with each individual element either in a banana leaf or palm leaf dish.  

As I've not seen Rachel for nearly 2 years and we were having fun we had a few animated discussions - in particular explained the seriousness that the foot bath ingredients were explained to us at the massage and luxury spar yesterday and so we were giggling a little.  From out of the corner of the area we were eating a chap wandered over to us to inform us that this was a "quiet restaurant for quiet people to eat" which he felt the need to state at least 4 times!  Of course by this point we now felt terrible, even though we'd done nothing wrong other than giggle a little bit - and this wasn't a staff member, just some guy that felt the need to tell us to be quiet in a slightly odd way.  It reminded me of two previous occasions where I ended up feeling terrible for enjoying the atmosphere of a Ben Folds gig at Manchester Apollo (Hardly a small and intimate venue) and chatted briefly to my friends about the gig and we were all told by a particularly grumpy young woman in a dodgy hat that she had come to "watch Ben Folds and not listen to you!" but displayed not even one iota of passion for the rest of the gig!  And then there was Nepal - after a long day of trekking the guides and sherpas were relaxing by dancing like mad to an iPhone through 2 tiny speakers and we were joining in, it was "gosh" 8.50 pm and an angry looking man - who we guessed might be Eastern European from what we could tell - was staring at us for a few minutes, he then exploded screaming at us and yanking the speakers off the table "Finish, finished, FINISHED!!!  People are trying to sleep!!!  My family are trying to sleep!!!  The lovely natured Evan from our group - an ex professional ballet dancer from Australia said "people want to dance!" and the chap nearly hit him!  Incidentally his "children" were in their late teens early 20s!  So these things make me wonder a bit - I'm often highly irritated by what I perceive to be deliberately antisocial behaviour of other people at restaurants and other places, but I've not once (apart from perhaps shushing some teenagers when I was watching the first Harry Potter film in the cinema) ever passed comment and certainly haven't felt the need to make anyone feel too awkward - so I'm thinking I'm either:

a. too nice

b. too noisy and inconsiderate until it's pointed out

c. or both!

Answers on a postcard!

Bali 3.2 - Walking through rice fields, catching up with friends and Luxury Spa

I didn't end up sleeping until approx 2am, and I'd had an idea that I might go to Yoga  and doing an early morning class, instead I decided to wake up naturally and was awake about 8.30am.  We had breakfast brought to our balcony at The Swan Inn Omelette for me (with lots of Garlic!) and pineapple pancake for Anna with some fresh fruit and coffee - really tasty!

We then went for a little walk around Ubud so that Anna could get her bearings - first all the way down Monkey Forest Road going past the actual Monkey Forest and then onto Hanoman and back around onto Monkey Forest Road an up past the palace.  Rachel had given us some excellent directions to her house - about 3K from The Swan Inn.  My favourite part of the directions was "past the bamboo house and you get to a little garden with a goat - you need to go down the stairs here and cross the stream"  We wandered through some gorgeous rice fields before finding Rachel's house - impressed that we found it first time!

Rachel is in a different house to the last time I came when she was still living with her In-laws and the house is much closer to Ubud for her.  It's the same slightly scary Balinese traditions with hard stone floors and steps which I'm amazed at the agility both Kiran and Maya were able to navigate.  Maya has just the same character now that she's nearly 4, as the last time I saw her when she was 2 - bright, cheeky and mischievous with a devilish sense of humour, but unlike last time when she was shunning speaking any English (whilst understanding every word!) she was babbling away sounding great and with no hint of a Balinese accent.  

Kiran is now 2 and still has a lovely baby face, but is definitely a little boy in behaviour and loved playing with the cars.  He is talking too, but his English has a hint of a Balinese accent - it's really fascinating how they are developing and I'm so jealous of how amazing their linguistic capabilities will be.  Kiran was lovely and when Maya spilled my cup of Bali coffee (just the grounds) he cleared it up with a cloth!

Kiran and Maya liked their clothes that I'd brought with me as presents from both my Mum and me and put them on straight away.  We got to meet Rosie and Robbie rabbit who are tiny and very cute.  

We went down to a nice restaurant with a good play area for the kids that kept Kiran and Maya busy for most of the time that we were eating.   Anna and me both had Tuna with vegetables, but we both think it was actually swordfish!  It was tasty and I had another soup - have had a few this holiday already - developed a taste for sour and hot seafood soups!

We wandered back up the road after poor Maya was separated from a Hello Kitty toy microphone from the restaurant and then walked back through the rice fields to Ubud and went on the hunt for a suitable spa for a massage.  Anna had a picture in her mind of the sort of luxury spa experience she was looking for and so after a few trips, leaflets and examining of treatment rooms we settled on the extremely luxurious Dala Spa.  In Ubud you can get a full hour of massage for approx 70,000 rupiah which is the equivalent of about £3.61.  Dala Spa was a little different of 450,000 for an hour so more like £23.18 - about 6 times as expensive, but in comparison to the last massage I had in the UK of an hour for £50 still extremely affordable for the average British tourist purse.

So you're probably wondering - was Dala Spa 6 times as good/luxurious and I have to say it was the *most* plush spa experience that I've had and I have tried out a couple of different places both for treats to myself and hen weekends etc.

First of all we sat in a wooden classic looking reception area and were served a cool ginger and lemony tea with a cold towel.  We got to choose from 5 different massage oils - I went for a lavender based one.  

We were then shown into the "Marigold" room and then taken straight into the "Ylang Ylang" room which was a bit confusing, but the room was beautiful and the whole place as we walked down the stairs smelt a strange combination of clean, eucalyptus mixed with the general Balinese incense smell that you get all over the place which hits you with a cool air in contrast to the humidity upstairs.

Both Anna and me were treated in the same room - I had gone for 90 minute massage selecting "strong" on the pre-treatment questionnaire for my pressure and Anna had gone for 30 minute body scrub and a 60 minute massage.  We changed into the paper knickers (lovely!) and sarongs and were shown the safe to put our belongings - although we didn't feel that it was necessary.  

We first of all had our feet washed in a wooden bowl of water to which the therapists stared intently at us whilst telling us what they were adding to the bowl - lime, ginger and then lemon grass - it felt at one and the same time decadent and a bit wasteful - you could have made a lovely Thai soup with the ingredients!  We had a quick foot scrub and then lay down on the really comfy treatment beds.  My massage was commenced by the therapist sounding a bell/sound bowl (useful I knew that when I heard Anna's I still had a further 60 minutes to enjoy!)

The massage was very good, but I was so tired that I definitely drifted off into some sort of subconsciousness several times so may not have been fully aware of it all - although I did really enjoy it and was incredibly relaxed at the end of it.  I definitely woke myself up at least 3 times snoring (my nose blocked after lying face down for 45 minutes!) so poor Anna had to cope with my snoring as background music mixed in with the "classic" that we had chosen on our questionnaires.

At the end of the treatment they sounded the bell again and we sat up and slowly got dressed again and sat back down in the reception area and had some warm tea and a cinnamon biscuit.  We settled the bill - a bit weird as they produced the card machine with just a prompt for my pin - I declined as I wanted to check the amount that I was paying first!

We sleepily and very calmly wondered back up Monkey Forest Road and stumbled into Dian Restaurant for dinner and sampled some Brem which is a local rice wine and then I had some more seafood soup and some Cap Cay - Chinese style vegetables with chicken served with rice.  We went for a quick drink at XL Shisha Lounge which was busy, noisy and had football on TV screens and live music and wasn't compatible with our very relaxed states and so we went back to the hotel and organised our flights to Lombok and worked out what we needed to do to get to Gili Air - still debating either public ferry or private charter boat! 

A screenshot of my favourite question about travelling to Gili Air!

On the walk back we booked a cooking class for the following morning at 9am at Bumi Bali.

We'd stopped off in a supermarket earlier in the day to pick up a drink and I'd spotted one of my favourite things about Bali - Mangosteens and so for equivalent to about £1.50 I'd bought 5 and put them in a plastic bag to take home - thank goodness for the bag as when I took them out of the bag on my bed about 50 ants came out with them too!  The fruit was fine, but I had to shake my sheets outside to get rid of the unwelcome passengers!  

I also thought I'd be brave and try mung bean juice - interesting flavour and texture!

Bali Adventure Number 3!

A lot of this blog has ended up being about travel and a lot from my last visit to Bali, but it's such an amazing place I can't help wanting to come back again and again and having the lovely Rachel - www.howtoescape.co.uk living here is a big help too.

My journey started with a drive to my parents in Molesey after work down the M1 at about 7.30pm and we arrived approx midnight.  Up for a taxi at 8am to Heathrow and onto Malaysia Air flight to Kuala Lumpur a mere 12 hrs 35 minutes. There were some spare seats, but it seemed reasonable full despite all the bad press they've had recently.  

I'm travelling with my friend Anna and during the 12 hours we managed to keep ourselves entertained more via glasses of red wine and giggles than the in flight entertainment. I managed to watch 2 films - The Other Woman and The a Grand Budapest Hotel and slept very little.  The food and service from the staff was excellent.

We had time to walk from one end of KL Airport before our next Malaysian Air flight to Denpaser in Bali.  I are a sandwich and snoozed a bit. 

Rachel met us at the airport with a driver and it was an hour back to Ubud.  We checked into The Swan Inn - basic, but nice views and cheap at £18 per night.  

Anna had a rest and I went for a wander with Rachel and lunch at Juice Ja where I had the yummy lemongrass fizz, guacamole - amazingly fresh and a chicken curry salad.

I bought my favourite drink here which is supposed to be medicinal...

Rachel headed home and Anna and me headed out for dinner, a stroll and the intention of taking advantage of the many beauty parlours offering very reasonable deals.  

We dined in a lovely place overlooking the rice fields with small lizards creeping onto the walls and the sun setting.  I had my first Bintang and we both had the set menu of iced tea a traditional Balinese dish - I had nasi champur and Anna had Nasi Goreng finished with fresh papaya, melon and pineapple.  I also splurged and had a hot and sour soup - all for a total of £5!  

We went on our next mission - finding somewhere to get our nails done and had a brief side track to a shop full of clothes perfect for tiny Anna!

She bought a lovely 60s style dress and a skirt.

We then settled in at Forrest Spa and I had a pedicure (necessary for my horrible runners feet) and Anna had feet and hands nail polished - here's my before and after - I know I don't have pretty feet!

I feel asleep whilst having this done, but now at 3.30am am wide awake!  We wandered back to the hotel room for some planning and some of the wine we brought with us with improvised wine glasses.

Oh and they still do this....

London Marathon 2014

So I've been a bit rubbish at blogging - it's nearly a year since I last updated and I've got all of my Nepal entries to write (wrote them down to type up when I got home!), but I've reviewed lots of races in this blog and London Marathon is a pretty special one to blog about I feel!

This is the 4th full marathon that I've completed - I've run and blogged my experience of Edinburgh Marathon in 2010 which was my first full marathon and I then ran and reviewed 2 marathons in 2011 - Brathay Windermere Marathon and Eden Project Marathon.

My marathon times until yesterday read as follows:

Edinburgh - 4hrs 54 mins 32 secs
Brathay - 4 hrs 57 mins 9 secs
Eden Project - 4 hrs 47 mins 51 secs

I had been planning on running York Marathon last year in October after taking 2012 off from long distance running, but even though my training was going ok I was mugged in September and then got tonsillitis and so I had to withdraw.  Fortunately around this time I found out that after my 4th attempt I'd secured a ballot place for London and was really excited to be able to train for the most prestigious marathon.

I decided that I would start my training after Christmas which was a good thing as I had to fit in a trip to Nepal and then another few bouts of illness.

I downloaded the Lucozade Sport 14 week Marathon Training plan for 4 - 4.45 hours which is the best training plan that I've tried so far.  Previously I've had training plans that only have 3 runs per week and really the difference I've found shifting to 4 runs is huge.  The training wasn't without challenge as I missed out 4 of my long runs (one due to holiday and one down to realising that I'd trained for 9 days in a row and needed a rest and the others were illness - cold/flu.  In general I was tracking really well for a 4 hr 30 minute marathon - 20 miles I managed in 3 hours 36 minutes 2 weeks before the race.

The biggest challenge is that after being mugged I was quite scared of running outside so most of my training was on a treadmill other than a couple of Park Runs and also my final long run I forced myself outside for 17 of the 20 miles.

It was important that the charity I ran for really motivated me to overcome my fears and so I chose to run for Joseph Lillywhite an amazing cause to inspire me through my training and the race itself - my donation page is here if you want to add to my total.

This is an overview of how my preparation went!

I'm one of those people who always gets things done, but I'm not the best at planning in advance, so I actually managed to read through my marathon instructions to work out what I needed to do about a week before.  The organisation of the London Marathon is great right from the minute that you find out that you have a place and the magazine that they send you with your letter notifying you of your running number has really comprehensive information for both runners and spectators.

My original plan was to drive down to my parents who live 30 minutes away from Waterloo on Friday evening, but I was exhausted when I woke up on Friday morning with only 4 hours sleep so I decided to get up early on Saturday and head down on the 4.5 hour drive (I even managed to pick up a TV for my brother that he'd bought off Ebay and meant a detour to Nottingham)  I got back home around lunchtime and my brother dropped me off at Surbiton Station so I could get straight up to London to pick up my race number.  

I'm not 100% sure it's necessary to travel to pick up your number for a race, but the atmosphere was good and the exhibition was interesting, but I could have benefited from it being posted to me!  

As soon as I had my number I relaxed as I'd already worked out which trains I needed to get the morning of the race, although travel logistics always make me a bit nervous.  I packed up my kit the night before and even wrote my medical details on my running number that evening and pinned it onto my shirt ready - very organised!  I then stuck 6 medium compeed (3 on each foot arch) to my feet - sounds excessive, but I've run enough races to know what happens to my feet over distance - huge blisters!

I like to be self sufficient when I run and so have a Camel Bak that can hold 3 litres and I add some zero highs to the water to ensure I have a good balance of hydration and electrolytes.  I also use energy gels and this year had some from SIS and some from High 5 - not sure which I prefer - SIS are thicker, but High 5 are more pleasant to taste (even have mojito flavour!)  I got dressed after applying liberal amounts of petroleum jelly to any area of my body that I tend to get blisters/chafing.

 I got the 7.30 am train up to London from Surbiton which was busy and then an even busier train from Waterloo East to the start at Blackheath!  I arrived in good time with over an hour and a half to wander around the start area (I was blue start).  It was very easy to navigate where I had to go - I just followed all the runners with their red kit bags!  

Once I got into the start area it was so warm and sunny that I decided that I could get rid of my kit bag fairly quickly and not get cold!  So I put my jogging bottoms and hoody in my red kit bag which also had a change of knickers, flip flops and a mars bar in.  It was really well organised and I handed my bag over into the baggage truck which matched my race number.  

I made my first trip to the toilet - hardly any queues with an hour still to go until the race start and then soaked up the atmosphere and watched the big screen, I also stopped off at St John Ambulance as they had sun cream on offer which I was sure I would need!  I then decided to queue up again at about 9.20am for my second toilet break - spotted my friend Gemma in a parallel queue and then wandered down to starting pen number 8, which she was also in, but it filled up quickly and I couldn't see her.  

10am came and went and we started to walk down towards the start line and I started to really need the toilet again!  I agonised for a few minutes before deciding to sprint out of the pen and to the toilets before re-joining the queue with some of the slower runners.  I was really pleased that I did otherwise this would have been a major worry throughout the whole race.

I think it was around 14 minutes past that I actually crossed the start line and switched on my Nikeplus on my work phone to track my run.  Ideally I wanted to switch it on on my own phone to have the option to listen to music if I needed, but I got my headphones all tangled and so just ran on and hoped the atmosphere would mean I didn't need music.  

I wasn't disappointed the first 2 miles went in a flash - the crowds at the start were great and cheering everyone on - I made sure I had my name on my vest as at any point it's an amazing feeling to hear complete strangers cheering you on by name.  I also overtook a marching brass band which was pretty awesome.  I went under a bridge which had a drumming band combined with a cheering crowd - the roar and the noise was just amazing.

The first 6 - 7 miles were great, I was averaging my target of 10 minute miles perfectly and felt great.  The crowd and participants gave me lots to look at and I hardly noticed that I was running.  I ran past the crochet lady and a guy dressed as a Rhino and then when I ran past the Cutty Sark I saw a guy carrying a fridge on his back!  One of my work colleagues wanted me to take a selfie at the Cutty Sark, but I was running well - I didn't want to stop!  I even caught up to the Runnersworld pacemakers for 4 hours 15!

Miles 7 - 13 were a bit of a blur - lots of amazing support and great signs like "Chuck Norris never ran a marathon", "Mo Farah never ran a marathon" and my favourite which made me choke up "I don't know you, but I'm proud of you".  Running over Tower Bridge was amazing - I don't think I've even walked it before despite being born in "Greater London" and living here until I was 18!  Unfortunately this is where I saw the first collapsed person on the race, although the marshalls and first aid were doing a great job of looking after her.

I hit the halfway point reasonably on track at about 2 hours 12 and was well on track for my 4 hours 30, but then felt very much like I needed the toilet.  I spotted some, queued up and added about 5 minutes onto the time which was frustrating as I actually didn't need to go.  At this point I switched Nikeplus onto my other phone so I could have music if I wanted, but more importantly I could broadcast it on Facebook and my friends could virtually cheer me on - it helped!  I caught up with the Runnersworld 4 hours 30 pacemakers which was a bit of a boost.

The mile markers for London were great - huge, balloon arches so you can see them from a way off and have the elapsed time on the clock.  You also have markers every 5KM so you always know where you are.  

The water stations were really well manned, they weren't just grumpy folk handing over bottles, they were actually cheering everyone on.  All the instructions stated not to pour water over your head as it's a waste so I was conscious of not being wasteful, but I did need some water to cool down my swollen hands, some for a good glug and the rest I emptied on my head - I would only have thrown a half empty rather than an empty bottle away.

Lucozade is an interesting thing for marathons as I don't normally drink any of it in training, but to stop me rooting around in the back of my Camel Bak for a gel I do take the occasional bottle although I only ever drink about a quarter of the bottle - it's so sticky to run through these sections as everyone else generally does the same I think!

At about mile 15 I needed the toilet again - or so I thought - another queue and another 5 minutes added to the time for no reason - it felt a bit like cystitis it was really odd and not very comfortable to run.  This is when I started to slow down a bit and did bursts of running with some sections of power walking.  The sights were interesting and we went through the Canary Wharf business district which I've never been through before and the crowds continued to be amazing.  Before the race I had said to myself that this would be my last marathon and at this point I was convinced of my opinion.

At about mile 21 I think I had my final toilet stop and again it was pointless - I decided that really I needed to get on with it, I'd worked out that my 4 hr 30 goal was out of the way, but that sub 5 hours was still feasible.  I did my best to keep running, but at points it was really hard so I set myself little targets like running to the next mile markers, running whilst people were cheering me on.  I think that it's around mile 23 that I went through a huge long tunnel that Lucozade had put lots of balloons with inspirational messages on - like "You're awesome" and this you tube video gives you a feeling of what it is like to run and the support that you get.

I have to thank the guy though who at around 24 miles tapped me on the shoulder and said "come on it's only another couple of miles to go" and then at that point I pretty much managed to run the rest of the way.  I then ran shortly past one of the London Marathon Ever Presents  - (people who have run every single London Marathon since 1980) who I've now worked out was David Walker and that certainly spurred me on as well.

Seeing Big Ben and The Houses of Parliament close up was brilliant and distracted me a fair bit and then the last couple of miles were painful, but amazing, I knew I was going to finish and I spotted the 4 hours 45 pace makers (weirdly I'm sure that the 4 hours 58 pacers had overtaken them?!?!) and I knew if I kept running I would be close to my previous marathon times.

Running along the last 800m is pretty special, there are amazing crowds smiling and cheering you, and you are too embarrassed almost to stop and walk.  Turning the corner and seeing the finish line was such an incredible feeling, I really wanted to sprint, but I just didn't have it left so I keep running and crossed the finish line realising that I'd managed a sub 5 hour time, but no idea as to how much!

I'd been feeling a bit emotional at quite a few points and choking up when I saw an emotional sign or thought about what I was doing and why I was doing it and then when I crossed the finish line I nearly lost it and completely broke down.  All the different charities around the course was a great inspiration - so many different and worthy causes.  I'm proud to be raising money for a charity that I don't think had enough resources to have a cheer point.

I walked on and had my timing tag snipped off, received my amazing medal - definitely my favourite I think and was given my goody bag.  I ate the apple in the goody bag and drank some water and picked my kit bag effortlessly easy and no queuing.  I'd arranged to meet my parents at the South African War Memorial and my Dad spotted me through the fence after I'd put my flip flops on and the only queue I experienced really was to get round the corner into the park.

I sat down for a rest, changed into my jogging bottoms and put my marathon t shirt on and then we wandered back through St James Park and crossed the Marathon Route through the elaborate crossing where the marshalls tape off alternative sides of the road.  As we waited to cross I cheered on the runners that were heading past as I knew how much I'd appreciated it.  I also walked along the road to the Tube Station to cheer them on as well.

My friends helpfully texted me my finish times and congratulated me before my phone batteries died and I found out that I had managed 4 hours 51 minutes and 12 seconds - only 3 minutes and 21 seconds slower than my PB - if only I hadn't stopped for those loo breaks!

I think with all the weaving around slower runners at the start, detours to the toilets and not following the blue marker line the whole way I managed to do an extra bit of running - here is my route according to Nike Plus and my official running time.

So all in all, an amazing experience, ridiculous support at every step from the supporters and the runners and the crowd, Thank you Virgin Giving London Marathon I have a strong suspicion that you will see me again.

I've just found this on YouTube - even speeded up it feels like a long way - gives a good indication of the route and how far it is!  http://youtu.be/WmabgZ_0SbU

Paris

I've lived in England my whole life and was 30 minutes away from Waterloo station and so therefore Eurostar until 1998, but I've never actually managed to visit Paris.  When my friend Sam mentioned she was going to book a solo trip "but I've always wanted to go to Paris" I whined, "So come with me!" she said and then we picked up my friend Zoe too who wanted to come and has also been able to act as a very useful tour guide.

Last week was mentally busy for me, I had Guides, drinks out on a work night, Robbie Williams in Manchester, WI and then visiting my cousin.  When people learned that I was flying to Paris on Saturday they all wanted to know - "is it a romantic weekend?"  Well actually no, but it's been extremely fun and actually really nice sans les garcons.

Sam was amazing and had booked all our tickets and accommodation and so after a very straightforward flight from Leeds Bradford Airport we took a train and a metro (all included within our "visite" card) and arrived at our apartment that Sam had booked through Air BnB 

The apartment is beautiful, if a little quirky and has amazing views including the Eiffel Tower!  I had to use a lot more of my A-Level French to speak to our host who doesn't speak any English and was giving us a guided tour of the facilities.   If there were negatives to be cast on this beautiful place it's that there is only one toilet with very thin walls off the living room/lounge and that there are no curtains (?!?!)

The lift is also pretty terrifying, it says that it can accomodate " 3 personnes..."

but unless you are a contortionist  or extremely thin, it feels like a horror film of claustrophobia about to happen.  Although it is also amusing like a cupboard that goes up and down!

After we had settled into the apartment, got changed and ready we headed out to look for a restaurant recommended to us by our host, after we couldn't find that particular one, we ended up at Marcel's and I had probably one of the best meals I've ever eaten! 

I started with Foie Gras which i've never had (appreciate it might be cruel in production at times, but it felt like a must have today - sorry!), I then went onto a blue steak with chips and a chocolate fondant pudding for dessert.  It was all melt in the mouth and amazingly tasty and the red wine went down extremely well also.

We wandered back to the hotel, put our PJs on and hung around and played on the piano and ate some funky pic n mix that we'd bought after dinner.