It’s been a busy week and I haven’t quite managed to catch my breath since the exertions of last weekend. On Wednesday night we hosted a careers evening at the Beatson for around 70 school children and I spoke to them about the work we do in terms of clinical trials and new drug development – it was great to see how interested, and indeed excited they were to hear about it. On Thursday night I attended the Beatson Ambassadors’ Event and had the privilege of meeting Commonwealth Games silver medallist in the hurdles for Team Scotland, Eilidh Childs, who…

On Monday night we thought it was a good idea to take Jamie out with us. He’s just got a new road bike for his birthday and is keen to get out on it as much as possible. However after crashing into me at the first roundabout we came to, it transpired he was having similar issues with braking as I was, and so we decided road cycling might be a little bit premature for him. So I was declared ready for an independent cycle and off I set, while Paul took a different, safer, route with Jamie. And I…

Ooh MUCH better cycle tonight. Same route as Thursday but without the double back hobble of shame at the start. A few adjustments were made, mostly in the bottom area regarding amount of padding and application of prophylactic cream. I have been advised on all manner of specialist creams, but haven’t managed to get any of them yet, so made do with some 5 years out of date bepanthen (I’m sure these things don’t really go off). And I think maybe there was some improvement in that I am now sitting in relative comfort, but time will tell on that…

Well it’s been a lovely summer holiday but not very much in the way of cycling preparation has been happening. We set off for Skye 6 weeks today and I have done two cycles thus far. Shit. So tonight Paul and I set off with the plan of heading off in the direction of Killearn – lots of cyclists seem to do this and it seemed like a good idea. And after the success of my foray into the world of clippy shoes during the summer on the cycle path it seemed sensible to try them for the first time…

Well what a difference a bike makes! After reading about my first-time-on-a-road-bike struggle, an old friend Jenny who was in my year at Uni, but who I haven’t seen for years, contacted me to lend her support. Clearly the bike I tried last week, which was very kindly donated, was much too big for me, and frankly I’m slightly surprised I made it home alive. Jenny is a proper athlete and previous iron man-er, but currently recovering from injury, and has hugely generously donated me a (smaller) road bike, plus about enough (new) other bits and bobs that would enable…

So it turns out road cycling is quite stressful. Had my first shot on a road bike today. Couldn’t really put it off any longer as it’s less than 3 months till the cycle to Skye. (This is my next challenge, which I signed up for ages before the marathon – it seemed like a very long way away at the time). Yikes.  A (terribly fit and good at cycling) friend has very kindly lent me one of her lesser bikes to practise on. I’ve been looking at it with a degree of trepidation for the last three weeks as…

It’s 7 days until the marathon. And what a great day. Jamie and Holly both got PBs at park run first thing (Holly also got her half marathon wristband). I then managed a quicky run before we hosted a last push fundraising party. And it was really great fun. Never have we made quite so many pizzas in one day…….. But I’ve been completely overwhelmed by everyone’s generosity – I think in one day, between online donations and money collected, we’ve raised in the region of £850. Massive massive thank you to everyone xx

Today was the Glasgow Womens’ 10K. I was a bit apprehensive as legs and knee still very tired/sore respectively from Wednesday’s longy. But I’ve been persevering with Hugh’s exercises and in fact really enjoyed the run. Knee was fine and I actually ran very fast (for me. Finished miles behind everyone I knew). Paul had the kids out to cheer at the end and I stopped to give them a kiss and a cuddle. And then finished in 1 hr and 8 seconds. Lol. But after this week I am now filled with much more optimism than this time last…

Gosh. Have commenced my exercise plan from Hugh. I’m to do these exercises every day between now and the marathon. I started when I got home from work, and other than a quick break for tea, I’ve just finished them. It’s 9.45pm. Jamie and Holly showed some initial interest (Jamie more so) but then abandoned me. If nothing else, by the end of this hopefully my knees won’t hurt and my arse will be as hard as rock…….