Marble and Sandstone

Today started extremely early we had to meet in the lobby for 5 AM bags all packed ready to get the 6 AM train to Agra. Helpfully my alarm hadn't gone off but I managed to wake up anyway after a very broken nights sleep.  

A quick ride in a car to the deli railway station, I was amazed at how busy and bustling the main train station was at such an early hour of the morning.  Sleepy tourists made their way to what they hoped was the right platform, working locals bustled around trying to offer help to tourists in exchange for cash and there was a shocking amount of people asleep on the floor!

Here's a fun question for you what are the three biggest employers in the world?  Answer: the Chinese army, the Indian railroad and the NHS.  Despite looking a little tired and old the organisation of the railway seems pretty good, in fact your ticket showed not only the carriage and your seat number, but also if you looked up along the station there is a corresponding sign to where your specific carriage would stop.

We climbed onto the train with all allocated to our seats and sat down.  Shortly after the train set off we were given an Indian Times newspaper and a cup of tea and some rich tea biscuits, much more civilised than British rail!  After quite a long gap, about an hour later we were given some breakfast which was modest filled us up ready for our first sightseeing of the day.

We were picked up from the train station by minibus we piled ourselves and our bags onto the onto the bus and made our way to the Red Fort.  As we were boarding the bus there was a man begging on a hand propelled bicycle with feet that had swollen to the size of a dinner plate, he then cycled alongside us for a while.  Part of me wants to give money when I see these terrible sights of extreme poverty, but it was pointed out in our Intrepid briefing that a better way to help is to support charities that can help more people as in particular we were told some parents will actually maim children to make extra cash begging.

At the Red Fort we were met by our guide who took us around and explained the architecture and history in what was a significantly impressive building.  Our guide told us how there were two defensive moats around the fort which took 95 years to build and one had been filled with crocodiles and the other was filled by tigers!  The building is clad with red sandstone which looks amazing but it was not practical for the whole construction to be made entirely of sandstone because it was too soft, so it is clad over bricks.  As we were walking around the fort, there were lots of green parakeets flying around which reminded me of the green parakeets that fly around my parents garden back in Surrey - they were the same ones!  In parts of the Fort in some of the darker areas bats hiding from the sunlight!

It was extremely hot even just standing around I could feel myself perspiring.  Other parts of the fort were elaborately decorated and previously would have had expensive gems and gold garnishing and inlaying the marble walls inside the main rooms, although these have long since been removed and stolen.

After a tour of the red for we were taken back to our new hotel the Taj Resort which again is lovely and has a pool!  It was great to cool down in the pool on the roof top and if you went all the way up to the top see a great few of the Taj Mahal in the distance.  

As a group we decided to eat in the hotel for lunch and then took time out for some rest before meeting for 4 o'clock to take a trip to the Taj Mahal.  Joe in our group ordered a Kabuli naan which came complete with paneer and strawberry jam on top!

Short stroll and bus ride to the Taj Mahal where we were issued with "high value tickets" and I entered via an entrance designated for "high-value ladies", we underwent a very thorough security check and then we were in one of the seven wonders of the world and free to explore.

I took dozens of photographs because strangely each time you look at the Taj Mahal it looks different, each time the light shifted as the sun starts to set it changed colour and it's easy to say it's a wonder of the world but it really was very special.  

There were lots of locals vying to take pictures on the Princess Diana's bench, some with the whole repertoire of catalogue poses proving humourous to the casual and surreptitious observer.  We made sure everyone had a decent picture in front of the Taj Mahal and strolled towards the entrance to go inside.  

Because the Taj Mahal is brick built and clad in marble (not made entirely out of marble because it would be too heavy) and they want to prevent any erosion we had to where shoe protectors.  

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the actual Taj Mahal, but it was an interesting glistening marble chamber, entirely symmetrical.  We sat down and observed some of the locals just outside the main chamber and were pressed to be involved in the photos that they were taking of each other - in particular they were fascinated by Joe in our group I guess because he's so tall at 6" 5!  

We met up with some of the rest of the group and had a mad flurry of photographs back on Princess Diana's bench, getting some of the locals to join in, children standing in front of us and then crowds of everyone getting involved.     

We then started to walk back towards the exit, but not before we took some great photos of us all jumping in front of one of the seven wonders of the world as well as posing with it pretending that we were holding it.

We met up with our tour leader Raj, had a quick coffee, bought some postcards nipped back to the hotel and then went out for dinner again.  This time I tried a vegetable thali which was delicious along with two Kingfisher beers and I should be sleeping again as its past midnight and it's another early start of 6.30am breakfast! 

New Delhi Old Delhi - Sensory Overload

Sleep wasn't really happening for me last night and with a 4am wake up tomorrow I should be asleep... But sadly not!

Breakfast at the hotel was a mix of western cornflakes and toast with (what I chose) Indian coconut noodles, paratha and banana.  We met as a group at 9am for our walking tour and made our way down to the Metro Station.   On the way we passed a school where I watched the joyous faces of children under umbrellas and raincoats dancing under open hoses.  

The Metro was certainly an experience I'm used to the tube in London impact that this was something else! Security is much tighter and to even enter the station you had to go through security scanners similar to in an airport.  There are separate carriages for women which I'm not sure how I felt about, but were certainly more pleasant than being crammed in with multiple men!  It's probably one of the only countries that I would feel tall living in!

We arrived in Old Delhi and it was very much sensory overload!  Walking through the streets you could smell at any one point in time urine, the heady sense of sweet incense, marigolds flowers, disinfectant, rotting rubbish and tasty street food being cooked.  You are surrounded by street vendors, men, women and children on their daily commute via TukTuk, motorcycle, rickshaw or car and the poverty stricken beggars offering to weigh you in exchange for money.  It was simultaneously overwhelming and amazing.

We walked through the crowded and chaotic streets of old Delhi stopping briefly for various explanations on buildings and to sample samosas and jelebee sweets from authentic vendors.

We walked up to the red temple or Jama Masjid - Delhis oldest mosque.  We had to put on even more clothes to enter the mosque despite being fully covered and it was interesting inside, but what intrigued me the most was the group of women and children trying to ask me to take the photograph in exchange for money.   however I've left my camera outside because it cost £3 to take photos inside.  

We then wound our way across Old Delhi to the Sikh temple - Sheeshganj Guruwara which was plush but not overly  ostentatious inside.  What was most intriguing about the temple is that it wasn't just dedicated to worship, there is a whole mass production kitchen attached where people were queueing up to eat ready for lunch.   Some of the group got to try their hand at making chapatis.   We had to remove our shoes to enter the temple and as we walked across the marble in bare feet we were aware of just how hot the day had become.  At the end of the tour we decided that we were all hungry so our leader Raj recommended a restaurant in New Delhi called United coffee house.

United coffee house was icy cool with air-conditioning and very plushly decorated. I stuck to my theory of eating vegetarian food and had a very interesting cauliflower dry curry with fresh coriander and rice.  We had a quick wander through the market to take on some of the atmosphere and then took our guides advice and jumped into TukTuk back to the hotel.  We went to the pre-booked police TukTuk station, but we're still beset by touts trying to earn our business.  It was a 20 minute ride back to the hotel and very much an experience that is hard to describe, although very similar to the traffic in Nepal!  Needless to say I don't think I would ever be able to drive in Delhi!

After a brief freshen up at the hotel we met as a group to discuss our next days activities and decided to go out for another bite to eat together. I decided to sample the strong elephant beer which was pretty strong at 8%!  I also had dhal with rice which was delicious and enjoyed getting to know the other members of the group much better.  After the meal we decide to stop at The Perfect Hotel for a rooftop beer and drink before bedtime.  

It's now midnight and I've packed my bags ready for a 5 AM departure from the hotel, but once again I am not sleepy thanks jetlag!

Acclimatisation

I've decided there's only so much time I can spend relaxing... Even on holiday!  So after trying to catch up on sleep, I decided that I should have a late lunch and ventured down to the hotel reception and was pointed me in the direction of the restaurant in the basement.  

I was the only person there and the room was a bit dark and dingy with a hugely loud fan, but I had a lovely meal of mixed vegetables, dhal makhani and vegetable pilau rice - under recommendations from my friend Jenny I'm trying to limit my intake of "saucy curry" but the dhal was quite saucy!  I loved the flavours of coriander and cumin seeds in the rice - apparently it was a "little bit spicy" for me - it wasn't!

I had a much needed coffee and a salty lassi to finish and then went back to my room for a nap!

The orientation meeting was long!  I got to meet some of my fellow great companions a good mix of people mostly from the UK but with some from Australia, Germany, Ireland and Italy.  We learned a bit more about what we will be doing in the days ahead and all agreed to go out for a meal together for our first evening.  Our Guide Gauraj seems passionate and organised - so we should have fun on our trip.

This was my first venture out walking along the streets of Delhi and actually it wasn't too dissimilar to what I expected from visiting Nepal.  You have to walk with confidence and purpose and assume that you get driven round by the constantly beeping from tuktuks, rickshaws and cars!  Lying in bed with the beeping horns outside my window I could almost imagine if it wasn't the sort that I was in New York.  People use their horns here correctly - to make other road users aware of their presence rather than an aggressive act of annoyance!  There is noise strange smells food and bright colours everywhere you go it's fantastic!  There were men stringing marigolds together into garlands, fruit and veg stalls with unusual looking fruit and rats running through litter into the drains - a colourful mix of sights.  

At the restaurant I had a mixed set of vegetable starters and vegetable Biriani for my meal coupled with the Kingfisher ultra beer and it was delicious.  

The restaurant had an unusual Indian TV program playing in the background with lots of (I assume) celebrities gyrating in some sort of dance off as well as cherubs painted all over the ceiling it was an interesting place!  It was nice to get to know some more of my trip companions over dinner and I look forward to our first proper sightseeing at 9 o'clock tomorrow morning.

A Passage to India

So I'm here, alone and this feels like one of the bravest things I've done so far. I've flown by myself quite a few times but I've always known that I'm flying towards the safety net of a good friend at my destination.  I love, travel but I also love the company of other people to share the experience with so this will be an interesting experiment!

My day started very early yesterday I got up at 3:30 AM and then got on the train to Manchester at 4:50 AM, however when I got there I discovered that my flight was not due to take off for an hour and a half after the original time.  I already had an only 2 1/2 hour connection at Abu Dhabi airport so I was a bit concerned when I got on the flight as to what would happen when we landed!  

The flight passed quickly - I sat next to a lovely couple Angie and Alan from Belfast and Liverpool who had met on Tinder and it was their first make or break holiday away together - taking it slowly they had decided to go to the Philippines for four weeks!!  They had an even tighter turnaround when the flight landed 10 minutes before their connecting flight was due to take off!  I got off the plane and there was a man holding a sign with Delhi written on it and fortunately their was a large group of people surrounding him, we rushed through the airport and through security and got on the plane with the last call sign flashing which hasn't happened to me before!  On the way I manage to meet two girls from Guiseley who were off to volunteer in an orphanage for the summer - small world!

The jet flight to Delhi was not quite as glamorous as the Etihad flight to Abu Dhabi, but I got my first taste of curry in the in-flight meal!  

I was concerned about my airport transfer because Intrepid travel hadn't quite put the booking through the night before when I checked, however I got through immigration and changed my money to rupee and retrieved my backpack.  By the time I walked out through customs I could see my name on a piece of paper.  The transfer was far more stress free than I was expecting and we drove quickly through Delhi to the Suncourt Hotel Yatri http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g304551-d609761-Reviews-Suncourt_Hotel_Yatri-New_Delhi_National_Capital_Territory_of_Delhi.html 

After a short wait I was able to check into my room have a shower and get to sleep about 6am. I now have no idea what time it is supposed to be, but at least I'm here and comfortable for now!

It occurred to me unless I make friends - I have to populate my holiday photos with selfies!  Maybe I should have bought a selfie stick at the airport?  Although that would really make me cringe!!!  I've got a couple of hours left before the orientation meeting I think I might go and suss out some food!

Virgin London Marathon 2015 - The PB to beat all PBs!

Again a bit of a gap on this blog as life takes over, but I like to try and pick things up again if I'm feeling especially inspired and what about another marathon for inspiration?

I last wrote about running back in April last year when I took on my first London Marathon and whilst it was an amazing experience and my training had gone pretty well, I was a little bit disappointed with my time on a flat course being 4 minutes slower than my previous PB on the hilly Eden Project Marathon back in 2011.

This was a bit of an "accidental" marathon as I wasn't sure I wanted to do another one as my training was tough and time consuming last year and around mile 17-18 I said to myself "never again!"  Then as I ran through the finish line feeling massively emotional I thought..."just put in for the ballot again, you probably won't get in" and then before I knew what was happening in October I received the "Congratulations you're in" magazine.  

Around the same time my Grandad sadly passed away - 33 hours before he turned 100.  I was always both inspired and in awe of my Grandad.  He was an ex RAF Squadron leader, retrained as a teacher when he left the forces, had 5 children (my Dad is the oldest), was always active and fit making me and my brother run for buses when he was taking us swimming.  My memories of him are of him with his Chinese friends (He decided to learn Mandarin Chinese in his 70s!) and being the man he was, didn't just sit in a classroom - no he decided to pretty much befriend the entire Chinese community of Birmingham. In fact one year he invited them to a bonfire party and about 100 people turned up (the carpet in the lounge was threadbare and needed replacing afterwards!).  He also taught "old" ladies to swim and swam twice a week until his mid 90s.  I found out during the eulogy that his philosophy to a long and happy life was simple "Find Love, keep active and keep your mind active.  I am a little short on the first and last one, but it seemed like a fitting tribute to be able to run my next marathon in celebration of such a wonderful man and to raise funds for his chosen charity SSAFA.

This is not the most recent photo of my Grandad, but sadly Alzheimers meant that this is probably one of the last times I remember him being "my Grandad" back when I got married in May 2008 when he was 93.  A lot has changed for me since then - I've run 5 marathons, had a lot of interesting positive and negative life events and am no longer married.  It's been a challenging few years and I have to say that running has probably been the best "therapy" I could ask for and has kept me sane even through the tough times.

So at the start of the year my marathon track record was as follows:

2010 - Edinburgh - 4hrs 54 mins 32 secs 

2011 - Brathay - 4 hrs 57 mins 9 secs 

2011 - Eden Project - 4 hrs 47 mins 51 secs 

2014 - London - 4 hrs 51 mins 12 secs

Once again I decided to use the Lucozade Sport training plan as it worked really well last year and so I started off in earnest in January with my first 15 minute run on the plan.  Unbelievably I've not been ill or on a significant "holiday" so I've managed to complete every single run on the plan - with a bit of jigging around of days.  I've also combined this with 1 - 2 sessions of Yoga each week and strength training sessions.  One of the biggest boosts was that my BFF (yes we have named it so!) Jenny Cantrell offered to train me as her "guinea pig" whilst she was re-training to be a personal trainer.  Jenny devised me a marathon training plan combined with a weight loss plan which set sensible and achievable goals - I think I was extra motivated too as I wanted to do well for her!

Since January I've lost in the region of 7kg and it's meant that I can run a lot faster!  In fact I knocked 15 minutes of my half marathon PB in March at Kingston Half Marathon with 1 hr 53 mins and 28 secs on top of a PB a couple of weeks earlier at Bath Half which was 1 hr 57 mins and 41 secs.  

I've also joined a running club - after running for 11 years it's crazy I've not done it before, especially after I was mugged in September 2013 which meant I hated being outside by myself and a lot of my training for the marathon last year was completed on a dull treadmill at the gym.  I had previously compensated for this by doing lots of park runs and races within the Leeds Race Series - basically I went to races to run "with" people.  My biggest issue with joining a club has always been time as I work long hours and already have most Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays tied up with other commitments.  I took the plunge after catching up with a chap called James I knew through work at an NHS conference who invited me to try running at Hyde Park Harriers.  This fits in really well for me as they meet at 7pm in Leeds City Centre on Tuesdays.   It's been great - running and chatting and meeting new people whilst fitting in my training and enjoying the fresh air!  I've met lots of friendly people and heard some inspiring stories as well - I've even got a proper club running vest now!

So marathon weekend began with a mere 5 hour drive down from Leeds to my parents accompanied by Marla my cat who is a bit poorly at the moment.  I set off fairly early, as I only had until 5pm to get to Exel in London to pick up my race pack.  I get why they do this as they want you to walk through the Marathon Expo, but it's a bit of a faff really if you are coming from a long distance away.  I arrived at my parents just before 1pm, got Marla settled in and my Dad dropped me off at the station to head into London.  

I was exhausted on the way back and that morning I'd realised that one of my toes on my left foot was pretty sore - one of the nails had started to fall off (grim I know!) and I knew that if I tried to run 26.2 miles as it was it was going to be agony by the end.  I popped into Boots and bought a special bandage thing to pop over it and got the train home.  Walking back from the station I felt like I was going to fall asleep - I'm not quite sure why I was so tired, but I got home and ended up having a 3 hour nap!  My Mum made me amazing aubergine stew and pasta for dinner and I got everything ready with my race kit, choosing my final race outfit, writing my details on the back of my race number and getting my post race bag sorted with what I would need after completing the marathon.  I got into bed as early as I could around 10pm and probably got to sleep about 11pm waking up about twice in the night with odd dreams - probably far too excited!

I woke up about on time and ran around in my usual panic getting ready, eating porridge with pineapple, putting on compeed plasters and my toe bandage and copious amounts of vaseline. I had decided to wear my SSAFA charity vest and had ironed on my name from when I'd run the Bath Half, but as the letters were falling off I also wrote it in pen - sad I know, but I need the boost sometimes of getting cheered on!  My Dad dropped me off at the train station and I took the train to Waterloo.  Gradually people with the red marathon drawstring bags joined the train and we smiled at each other with a knowing smile that we were all about to take on a very special challenge.  

I realised when I got on the train that I had forgotten my pre race banana!  Disaster!  I had some nakd bars, but I always have a banana and felt extra nervous - however disaster was averted as a nice lady called Dani was offering a spare banana to another runner so I did a swap for my nakd bar.  We got off the train at Waterloo, followed all the other runners to Waterloo East and hopped on the train to Blackheath after starting to chat to another couple of ladies who were from Ilkley!  

After a busy train journey during which I played a message from Hannah and Alex wishing my luck, we got off at Blackheath and followed the hoards of runners to the start.  Dani was at red start and so she broke off in a different direction, but Abigail was at Blue start with me so we became race friends and negotiated our way around the start area.  We both decided to use the facilities as a first priority and were treated to the bizarre experience that I can't quite explain of the "female urinal".  Now I have used these before, but only at a festival an only after several drinks...sober and with race nerves it's not the best experience and it was a baffling scenario for all concerned!  

The weather was perfect running conditions - i.e. overcast and actually a little bit cold so I popped my hoodie into my red drawstring bag and left on the baggage truck and shivered looked enviously at those runners sensibly in bin bags and old clothes...  note to self to not forget to bring a foil blanket etc in the future! I was well prepped with a camelbak, 15 carb gels, extra vaseline, money, cashcard, oyster card, contact lenses, glasses and earphones!  Abigail and me were nearly in the same starting pen so we stuck together and joined a massive queue for the toilet cubicles.  I ate my banana and had some water and it was about 10.05 by the time we got out of the toilets and we walked over to the starting pens to reach there at 10.10 - official race start time, but it took at least 16 minutes to get over the start line.  Abigail wasn't feeling great about the race so was aiming for 12 minute miles so we swapped numbers and wished each other luck and then I ran off with the crowds feeling fresh on my legs.

The first 3 miles went past in a flash as it did last year and I barely realised I was running - focusing more on dodging my way in front of the slower runners and trying to get some room to focus on a decent pace.   I was aiming for sub 4 hours 30 as that was on my bucket list and so 10 minute miles was my initial plan, however in training I'd managed 20 miles in 3 hours 12 an improvement of 24 minutes from 20 miles last year which had been 3 hours 36.  I had my nike plus switched on and a spotify playlist to keep me going if I needed it, but the atmosphere was immense by itself!

As the red start runners joined up with our green and blue start runners in a massive burst of coincidence I found myself behind Dani who had given me her banana - I wished her well and ran on.  I hit some decent times, but hadn't gone mad on the pace averaging 9 mins 20 per mile - faster than I'd planned, but I felt good so I kept going.

Last year I completely self sabotaged my race by drinking too much and convincing myself that I needed the toilet...3 times!  This time I was stricter trying to sip rather than gulp and also resisting the temptation to take water at each station and not go mad and gulp down the Lucozade sport on offer.  I was sensible with my gels taking one for every 3 miles as I'd practiced during my training runs.  

Up to mile 11 I felt strong and enjoyed the atmosphere, the roar of the crowds, the sound of London accents cheering my name with "go on girl" following it.  I grinned from ear to ear and smiled back at everyone who cheered me and high fived the kids as I ran along.  I ran past a giraffe, T-rex as well as a cool runnings team at this point.  There's always so much to look at and the bands along the way are great too - the noise is overwhelming, but amazing!  

I hit Tower Bridge where I knew my friend Lauren was likely to be - I took out my headphones and looked out, but couldn't see her, but enjoyed soaking up the atmosphere.  Once over tower bridge you shortly hit the point where the mega fast runners are already on the home straight - last year it was a bit tough as I knew how far there was left, but this year I whooped and clapped them on inspired by how fast they were running!

I hit the half way point at 2 hours 2 minutes which until earlier this year would have been a half marathon PB and still felt ok, if a little tired.  At this point  I started to feel like I might need the toilet despite my attempt to discipline my drinking!  Every toilet I ran towards seemed to have a massive queue so I just kept going until in a tunnel at around 25KM there was a fairly short queue.  My app stopped timing at this point and I looked at my watch and counted 3 minutes of toilet and queuing time which in the scheme of things wasn't bad.  I managed to start running again straight away and didn't stop until I'd crossed the finish line!

Running towards Canary Wharf the crowds start to get intense and really loud and it really pushed me along - I'd spotted the SSAFA cheering point on the other side of the "out and back section" so made a point of running close to the crowd so I could get some extra cheers to boost me along!  As I found last year - running London Marathon is emotional for the point that you are running with people with very poignant stories on their backs and messages to loved ones - at several points I'd read a dedication and well up - it's a very strange feeling of being simultaneously elated but melancholic.

The miles between about 18 and 23 are pretty tough as things start to hurt, but I was determined to keep my pace and not walk!  I was really looking forward to the Lucozade tunnel again and at mile 24 it was there!  As I ran into the tunnel "Titanium" by David Guetta was playing and I ran through the tunnel practically dancing punching the air as the beat pounded.  I'm not sure what everyone else thought, but I definitely sped up loads for the last 2 miles and at 5 mins 13 secs per KM it's about as close as I'm ever likely to get to a sprint finish for a marathon!  In fact according to the exciting stats the the marathon provide you with afterwards during my last 7.2KM I was overtaken by 4 people, but I overtook 2014 people!

Usually all my run photos are so dreadful I don't want to even contemplate buying them, but each time I saw a camera this time I felt so triumphant that I held both arms in the air and grinned - so I'm vaguely tempted to part with the extortionate amounts of money to buy one or two photos this year!  They're not all great, but certainly much better than any other race pics!

As I passed all the exciting sights of the Houses of Parliament and onto the Mall I saw the exciting sign of 800m to go!  I'd been checking my time and knew I was on track inside 4.5 hours, by a fairly large margin, but I was determined to run as fast as I could.  I remembered last year the boost I'd got from someone tapping me on the shoulder when I was walking at this point and encouraging me to run so I did the same to a chap who was looking tired - not sure if he appreciated it, but I hope that it helped in some way.

As the finishing line was in sight I remembered that this year to celebrate 35 years of London Marathon they wanted to encourage finishers to finish #handinhand so I grabbed the hand of a lady and ran over the line together triumphantly - again not sure if she appreciated it, but hopefully she did!  I had a feeling that I'd run a good time - around 4 hours 15 maybe, but I wasn't sure due to the toilet stop!

I picked up my medal and goody bag - the t-shirt is much better than last year! And I could see my parents through the fence where we'd agreed to meet - they weren't really paying attention so I used my usual "oi!" so I could pass my stuff over and not have to carry it through the crowds to get to them.  

A facebook messaged popped through from my friend Lauren telling me that she'd seen my time and was impressed that it was 4 hours 9 minutes and 25 seconds - 42 minutes faster than last year!!!  I knew that it felt good running, but I'd never for a minute expected to be that fast and I was completely delighted!

I changed into warmer clothes and then we slowly hobbled out of St James Park and made our way to a Pret a Manager and I ate a sandwich and drank some coconut water.

We took 2 trains and a bus back home and I had some more marathon chat on the way back with a lady who had been with her son and his girlfriend who had run the marathon.  

Again it's a feat of sheer organisation and good will on the part of London that this is such a smooth race.  There are no grumpy volunteers whether they are handing out water or pointing out "humps" at the start of the course.   I saw very few "ill" people and of the 2 I saw they were being well looked after by the numerous medical staff.  Not to forget the supporters who roar and cheer the runners on for literally hours!  

Whilst the supporters on the day are important, the support of my family and friends can't go without comment.  So thank you to my parents for putting me up and looking after me after I finished, Hannah and the boys for the motivational messages and park run junior warm ups and her own inspiring running and finesses challenges, Alex for caving into my relentless Facebook requests for a running buddy and joining me on my last 9 mile long run, my new running friends at Hyde Park Harriers, Jenny for her amazing personal training, Hayley, Sam, Zoe and Tana for their supportive messages,  Emma for her own incredibly inspiring marathon journey, my work colleagues for putting up with my marathon chat for the past 4 months and anyone who has sponsored me and anyone else who I've forgotten as well as to my Grandad who still inspires me and is missed!  A big thank you! 

At home I showered and sunk into the sofa to watch the BBC coverage that my Dad had recorded and enjoyed curry for tea.  I had sore knees, but was elated with my time and still overwhelmed with the amazing atmosphere and experience.  Each year I say - no more marathons...but it's just a little bit addictive and I'm not sure I'm ready to give up yet...at least not this year, I run Marathon Du Medoc in September although I'm not sure my training or time will follow quite the same pattern!  

Oh and the ballot opens again on Monday...

Day 8 - a Lazy day on Gili Air

Most people that know me will think of me as fairly adventurous with all my mud races, marathon running and travelling, but one thing that I struggle with a fair amount is boats - I'm not scared of them, in fact my parents used to own a barge for many years and I even remember falling in a few times as a child.  However in recent years I seem to suffer from terrible seasickness - on ferries to Norway and Sweden I was violently sick after just a coupl of hours, on a catamaran in Mallorca I brought up my entire breakfast (and let me tell you there are far better things to see for a second time than chorizo and goats cheese!) and even on a small crossing I feel a bit uneasy.  I guess now I'm more worried about being sick which makes it worse.

So Anna wanted to go snorkeling and see some sea turtles, I'd loved to have given it a go, but I was nervous and also feeling pretty uncomfortable after about 17 mossie bites, so she was going to join an organised tour of the 3 islands at 9.30am coming back at 3pm and I was going to chill out and read etc. 

Unfortunately the boat went without her!  We had a wander around the island looking for alternatives, but the best option seemed to be one of the guys back at Segar Villages taking her on the private boat for a couple off hours for the equivalent of about £25.  Once we'd decided that we did a bit more chilling out back at the same place as we'd done the previous day, ate some lunch and then Anna went off at about 2 pm and so I took advantage of the opportunity to have a decent shower and then let my hair dry before I got too hot and had to put it up again!

Anna loved her trip and saw 7 sea turtles as well as even better fish than we had seen on the beach.  She got showered and changed and we went off for a drink - happy hour margarita - at Paridiso bar - very loud pumping music which seemed incongruous with the calm feel across the island in general.  

We moved on and went back to Chill out Bungalows, hopped onto a beach hut bench and had another lovely meal.  We went for another pizza which we shared and then I had the Lombok Salad again with some cheesy chips.

I went to bed feeling quite relaxed, although still itchy from the mossie bites!

(Some interesting messages below on restaurants that I saw on Gili)

Day 7 - Waking up on a Desert Island

On our first morning on Gili Air I work up to the sound of the waves crashing outside (which we could hear as long as we'd turned off the Air Con!)

We wandered over to the reception area which was the only place you could consistently get WIFI and ordered our choice - Anna had a chocolate pancake and I had an omelette with garlic, onion, tomato and cheese and I had an iced coffee.

After breakfast we packed up our beach stuff including snorkels and walked all of about 100m down to Gili Air Santay Bungalows & Restaurant where we set up in a beach hut and grabbed a couple of drinks.  I had lots of blogging to catch up on and my only goal of the day was to catch up, do some painting and read some of my book.

Anna jumped straight into the sea and came back marveling at all the different fish that she had seen including Angel fish.  I was inspired to chuck on the mask that I had bought from the supermarket back in Ubud and give it a go.  Unfortunately for me my initial walk into he sea which is extremely shallow for the first 50m - up to knee height - was a bit painful as there was lots of coral which jabbed into my feet.  I managed to get out to a reasonable depth to swim, put my mask on, adjusted it, but it seemed to make no difference what I did - I would put my head in the water - try really hard to breathe just through my mouth which I struggle with at the best of times and still I'd get water in my mask.  I saw about 5 fish which was nice, but got frustrated and walked back to the shore wincing as I stepped onto the coral with my bare feet.

We had a break from all the relaxing for lunch and I ordered Gado Gado and a Yellow fish and coconut curry - both were beautiful, but huge portions so I didn't end up eating much of it.

I continued to catch up with my blog until Anna kindly leant me her snorkel and mask to have a try myself.  She was also kind enough to let me squash my size 8 hooves into her teeny size 4 sandals so that I could get into the water without having to feel the scratchy dead coral underfoot.  Not having the mask fill up with water every 10 seconds made such a difference.  I was enthralled I saw fish that I’ve only ever seen in fish tanks at aquariums or on the TV!  There were bright, vivid electric blue tiny fish darting about in small schools only about 2 or 3cm long.  There were multi coloured and iridescent parrot fish who are about 20 cm long and just don’t realise how pretty they are.   There were loads of black and yellow angel fish about the size of my hand picking away at all the coral and nibbling the bottom of the seabed.  There were hundreds of tiny striped fish a green tinge darting around near the surface.  Lots of larger probably white snapper type fish along the bottom of the seabed.  As I swam around I kept marveling what I was seeing, wishing I had an underwater camera to record it all and trying really hard to commit everything that I could see to memory.

I've added some pictures of the types of fish that I saw - I didn't take them sadly, but they are the fish that I was looking at!

After my underwater adventure I relaxed in my beach hut for a bit longer while Anna took turns to alternate between lying in the sun on the beach and taking time out in the beach hut. I'd brought a book, brushes and watercolour paint set from home that I'd bought at Tate Modern in London just after I'd run London Marathon and painted a picture of the view I had from my beach hut.  I know I'm not very good, but there is something really relaxing and therapeutic about just painting.

We headed back from the beach and I decided that I wanted to try out some yoga at H2o Yoga which was about 5 minutes walk from our hotel - I showered and put on some leggings and a dress and sprayed the rest of me with mossie repellent - unfortunately I hadn't mitigated for the fact that mossies can bite through material and after a lovely 1 and a half hour yoga session which was challenging, but also relaxing.  The teacher was American and it was quite a busy class, but with not too many people that she wasn't able to help those with less experience and make adjustments.  It felt friendly, but perhaps I preferred Yoga Barn for feeling more welcome - although it was clear that some of the people there were regular attendees,  The session cost 100000 rupiah which is the equivalent for about £5 and so pretty good value for money - I just wish I didn't get so bitten during the class.

I headed back to the hotel and we got changed and went out for dinner - we walked up and down for a bit looking at a few different restaurants and eventually decided on Chill Out Bungalows.  Lots of the restaurants on Gili Air have the fish caught that day on display including red snapper, white snapper and perhaps most oddly - parrot fish - we weren't sure if we could bring ourselves to eat the gorgeous fish that we'd been marveling at only hours beforehand in the sea!

Our meal was lovely and the restaurant was really quite busy which is often a good sign.  We shared a pizza for a starter (after lots of curry I had started to crave a bit of western food - terrible I know!) and then I had a Lombok Salad which was spicy, but not head blowing off levels of spice and I had some potato wedges which were huge!  Full and happy we went to bed as things shut down on Gili Air in general pretty early - i.e. by 10pm most of the restaurants were in the process of closing down.