I passed!!!!

I passed my spanish course with the Open University. I'm so happy as I've always perceived myself as being incompetent at foreign languages. My grade wasn't fabulous (about a B-) but it's the best I've ever done.

I'm positively giddy and looking forward to doing the course next year that will give me the other half of my Certificate in Spanish.

Ow, ow, ow

Had my flu jab today...

Owie.

me duermo...

Only 3 weeks until my Spanish exam! Yoiks! I've just been away on the summer school for my Open University course, which was a great experience. My head is full of spanish grammar, hopefully all of it won't leak away.

Unfortunately the airline lost my luggage so all of my books are missing. Nightmare!!

Your results:
You are Spider-Man

Spider-Man 60% Green Lantern 55% Superman 50% Iron Man 50% Hulk 45% Catwoman 45% The Flash 40% Batman 35% Wonder Woman 33% Robin 30% Supergirl 23%

You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...

Can you ride tandem ?

I hate cycling. I get terrified by traffic, my starts are wobbly and I can't even ride with one hand off the bars. By contrast, Mark is a great cyclist, covering 50 miles without even worrying.

There has never been a way for us to both go cycling together, so to try and redress this I looked into riding a tandem. As a good tandem is expensive we booked some basic training with http://www.tandeming.co.uk/ and a longer ride on a later date. The tandem was collected from http://www.bicycledoctor.co.uk/ a very friendly bike shop in Rusholme.
After several very wobbly starts we pottered around the park and got our balance. As the 'stoker' my responsibilities were simple. Maintain cadence, don't lean with the bike on corners and don't lean round to try and see where we're going.

We were riding a Landescape tandem, which was surprisingly light and coped with our height difference (6ft 4 to 5ft).

I enjoyed riding the tandem, as it was all the 'fun' of cycling that people talk about, without the wobbles, steering issues and the fear of traffic. Unfortunately Mark found that riding a tandem took away all the good things in cycling for him, he had to keep me informed about what was happening in front, he found the bike cumbersome to manoever and the bike felt slow to him.

Riding tandem also feels slightly ridiculous, dogs think tandems are a work of satan, people actually laugh and in one memorable moment we shocked a small child out of a tantrum.

I'd ride one again though, and I recommend renting one first to find out if it's for you.

If you want smooth starts, I've got a handy hint. Normally they talk about it being important to both push hard on the pedal to get the bike going ( for our riding it was the right pedal we started with), but to get a smooth start the stoker needs to not press the right pedal so hard, but to put a lot of welly into the left pedal, to keep the bike going while the driver gets on.

Done it!!!

I completed my 5K, raising £245 for Cancer Research. My time was an appalling 46 minutes, looking on the upside it means my personal best time can only get better.

5 days time

And I'll have run my first 5K.

I've started running in the great outdoors which is a bit of a challenge for me. I don't have any natural instincts when it comes to pacing myself so end up completely knackered.

I'm definitely improving though - I have a 4 km route that I'm mostly running. First itme round I must have walked at least 1.5 km... tonight I only walked 0.5 km. I'm having terrible trouble with blisters at the minute, my right foot is permanently sporting at least one. I'm starting to think it might be the shoes, as I've tried blister plasters, lubing up my foot with anti rub stick, tight laces, loose laces, special socks. Anyone got any better ideas?

I'm having a lot of strange dreams at the minute, probably brought on by the new car. I've dreamt about being carjacked 3 times in the past fortnight, once was very similar to what happened to me, once it was a bit surreal as I was rescued somehow and end up in a nightclub, once I manage to overpower the carjacker and tie him up with some zip ties I'd kept in my handbag.

Where to now?

I can now run 30 minutes (very, very slowly). So what do I do next? I'm still covering about 3.5 Km in those 30 minutes, so I really need to extend the range, without massively increasing the time I'm running. Hmmm.

In other news I've finally got my new car. It's very blue, but that's about all the information I'm going to give about it, just in case car-jackers read blogs.

Another girl, another planet.

Still training for my run - this week it's 15 minutes run, 1 minute walk, then another 15 minutes run. It was a bit of a struggle, but I'm still on target. It feels strange as most people are doing a Race for Life now, while mine is 6 weeks away (or so.. not that I'm counting Lol!). I'm worried that I'll be outpaced by my running partner - apparently she's training at a faster pace (12 minute miles, where mine is about 15 minute miles, barely a brisk walk). My only hope is I'm training for longer durations, so that might balance out in the end.

It's Marks birthday in a week - he's not a happy bunny as it is a major milestone birthday. I only hope he doesn't take the approach favoured by Mark Oaten to cope with turning 40 and losing his hair.

I'm still dreaming about the Sisters of Mercy. This is wrong on so many levels. Andrew Eldritch get out of my dreams!!

Hot metal and methedrene

It's been a busy month for me - I've had customers working in the centre pretty much every day and even when I was on holiday I was sitting in on conference calls to try and stop things going out of control.

My running is progressing, I can now run for 12 minutes, have a rest, then run for another 12. My goal is to be running for the full 30 minutes before the end of the month. I honestly didn't think I'd get this far in the training, but I'm determined to improve my fitness.

Last week I went to see The Sisters of Mercy and they were fantastic. I can't believe I'm getting the goth love all over again and I keep looking at innapropriate clothes on ebay. My only misgivings regarding the performance of The Sisters were related to the quality of the sound system they had used, the vocals by Mr Eldritch were as powerful as I'd imagined them to be. I even ended up in the mosh pit for the last part of the concert.

Keep on running

I'd been following a self-devised training plan for race for life, but it didn't seem to be getting any further, as I was basically exhausting myself, but not making any progress. At one point my heart rate was at 170 bpm, so it wasn't best approach.

After reading Runners World website, they describe a plan to get you running for 30 minutes in 8 weeks.

• Week 1 Run one min, walk 90 seconds. Repeat eight times. Do three times a week.
• Week 2 Run two mins, walk one min. Repeat seven times. Do three times a week.
• Week 3 Run three mins walk one mins. Repeat six times. Do three times a week.
• Week 4 Run five mins, walk two mins. Repeat four times. Do three times a week.
• Week 5 Run eight mins, walk two mins. Repeat three times. Do three times a week.
• Week 6 Run 12 mins, walk one min. Repeat three times. Do three times a week.
• Week 7 Run 15 mins, walk one min, Run fifteen mins. Do three times a week
• Week 8 Run 30 mins continuously.

So far I'm in week 3, with 10 weeks to my race for life.

I've also been and bought my most expensive pair of trainers ... £95!!! So far they don't seem to be nipping or rubbing and I don't have any knee pain. I bought them based on an assessment at the Up and Running shop in Manchester. The trainers I was using before were of an incorrect type, possibly causing my knee problems when combined with my weight.

Photos from the holiday

The bridge across the gorge at Ronda
Trevelez looking towards the Sierra Nevada
The fort in Almeria
The village of El Ferrer, home of Rancho Ferrer
Terrano enjoying a graze after getting me to the top of the hill.

Trees are hard, horses are stupid

Well, I've had my nose to the grindstone recently and have done very little running training and only just about kept up with my Spanish homework.

I've just got back from holiday, Mark and I had a week in Spain at Rancho Ferrer riding horses. Overall I had a great time but with a few comedy moments and misgivings.
Great Stuff

• The horses! Lovely animals the lot of them. I was riding Terrano (known as the gentle giant) and he was completely as advertised. Mark was riding a grey mare called Babieca, who was a little flighty but still very kind and responsive. They had a wide variety of horses, from safe and calm to young and giddy. Anne-Marie and the other staff made great efforts to match you to an appropriate horse.
  
• The accommodation. We had our own little spanish house in the village, with our own kitchen and bathroom. Plenty of space to chill out and read books when we weren't riding and if the weather was good there was a hot tub and swimming pool. The only downside was the village was set up in the mountains, about 1 mile from the nearest bar, 3 miles from the nearest shop, so if you needed anything you'd have to drive to find it.
  
• The food. Everyone's fridges were stocked with goodies to make breakfast and lunches, and the evening meals in the bar were great. Plentiful cheap booze as well.
  
• The staff.Anne-Marie and Mike who owned the place were very friendly and professional. Don who ran the kitchen provided good food. Lindsay, Meg and Maria who guided the rides and looked after the horses provided advice about riding, local places to go and generally made the visit a pleasure. Everyone was helpful and made a great effort to make the stay enjoyable.

Less Good Stuff

• The riding. The terrain around the village was very spectacular, but most of the rides were on narrow mountain dirt roads. If you were a beginner rider you'd find these challenging at walking pace. If you were an advanced rider, there were opportunities to canter. However if you're in the middle (like myself) you felt that it was a little monotonous as you were at walking pace for most of the day. However, I can understand why this was the case as there were a lot of sheer drops, and the last thing Anne-Marie would want is for anyone to be injured.
• The weather. We must have been there on one of the most miserable weeks - when we landed at Malaga it was pouring with rain, and it rained for the next 3 days off and on. Some days we felt lucky to go out for a ride, as the start would be held back waiting for the tracks to dry out. Once the rain finished, we had 2 days of good weather, and then it turned windy, which can make horses quite jittery.
• Trees! Horses are very easily spooked, and when Balou spooked and started cantering down hill pushing past my horse, I ended up cantering through a grove of almond trees. This would have been ok, except that Terrano forgot I was on his back and dragged me through the branches of one of the trees in his panic. I was a bit shook up by that, and more than a little bruised. On the upside, I kept my seat through all of that - I might have been a natural at jousting ;-)
  

We also went to Almería, Ronda and Trevélez as day trips. Almería is not a glamorous town, though it does have a good fort. The drive to there was dominated by going past massive plastic greenhouses which are not very scenic. Trevélez and the surrounding villages in the Alpujarras were very pretty, though the drive was quite hairy and we did a short walk up the Trevélez gorge in the hope of reaching the snowline. Ronda is really worth the effort and the scenic ride up there from the coast near Marbella was breathtaking. I'll post photos when I download them from my camera.

Fun stuff and keep on running...

Yet another internet test to see what kind of man is your 'type'

Exotic Lover You scored 60% masculine, 47% athletic, 81% exotic, and 62% refined!

You want a man who doesn't need the muscles to be a hottie. You love a sexy, exotic face and someone who takes care of himself. You like a clean look, but very masculine and yummy. Someone like.......Enrique Iglesias. (

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 37% on masculine You scored higher than 11% on athletic You scored higher than 99% on exotic You scored higher than 92% on refined

Link: The What type of MAN turns you on Test written by thinkandcome on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

So anyways - back to training. Managed to increase my speed on my running interval to 8km/h and really felt the difference in that I was totally exhausted when I got off the treadmill.

Last week was pretty disastrous on the training front as my left knee kept aching from Tuesday onwards, so I spent a lot of time doing gentle stretches and willing it to get better.


Day 2 - Walk at 6km an hour 2 minute/ Run at 8 km an hour 1 minute. Incline set at 3 on the treadmill. Repeat 10 times
Day 3 - 30 minutes horseriding (cross training innit!)
Day 3 onwards, knee trouble.

On the run

Call me stupid, call me impetuous, but I've signed up to do Race for Life at Tatton Park in Cheshire on June 25th.

Those of you who've met me in person will know that I'm not built for speed and that I've not run any distance in my life. The run is in aid for Cancer Research, and if you would like to sponsor me you can do it via my website https://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/mam

The run itself is 5K, which is a distance I'd have no trouble walking, but I'm determined to run most of the distance.

So with the help and encouragement of people on Guardian Unlimited Talk I'm going to train sensibly and I will succeed.

Training Diary Week 1

Day 1 - Walk at 6km an hour 2 minute/ Run at 7 km an hour 1 minute. Incline set at 3 on the treadmill. Repeat 10 times
Day 3 - 30 minutes horseriding (cross training innit!)
Day 4 - Walk at 6km an hour 2 minute/ Run at 7 km an hour 1 minute. Incline set at 3 on the treadmill. Repeat 10 times
Day 6 - Walk 9 miles in the real world


Plans for the future - increase my running speed to 9 km/h on the intervals. Borrow a heart rate monitor to see what the damage is.

Almond Topped Biryani

Serves 4
Preparation 30 minutes
Cooking time 40 minutes
Calories per serving 340 approx

For the Biriani

600g mixed vegetables sliced (eg. Cauliflower, courgettes, red peppers, mushrooms)
250g Basmati rice
550ml vegetable stock
1.5 tablespoons of curry powder(medium strength)
1 cinammon stick broken in half
4 cardamom pods crushed slightly
1 teaspoon tumeric
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
salt and pepper

For the Sauce

2 medium onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves crushed
5 cm piece of grated root ginger
2 tablespoons of curry powder (medium strength)
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
400g can of chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon of toasted sliced almonds to garnish.


1. Preheat oven to 180 C
2. Mix all the biryani ingredients in a flameproof, oven proof dish. Heat gently on the hob until simmering. Cover with a tight fitting lid and put in the oven. Cook for 40 minutes.
3. Make the sauce by, heating a pan, spray with low fat cooking spray (or oil of your choice). Fry the onions until soft and brown. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients (except the almonds), bring to boil, cover with a tight fitting lid and simmer gently for 30 mins.
4. Blend the sauce mixture for a smoother texture.
5. To serve, fluff the rice with a fork then scatter the toasted almonds over the top. Serve the sauce on the side.

Murder she wrote?

Why is it when you feel under the weather, there is nothing more comforting than a gentle murder? The adventures of Jessica Fletcher et al provide gentle entertainment for the slow of thinking.

However, I do think that they missed the boat by not having the final episode revealing that she was actually a really clever serial killer, bringing death and destruction to all around her.

My life has been busy of late, I've just got back from a training course in Paris and I go into a massive run of customer engagements.