First day as a grad! :)

Thank you everybody for all the lovely messages yesterday! Got some of that annoying work stuff getting in the way for a few days but will try to be here to wave pom-poms etc as much as possible!

I'm sitting here at the moment waiting for my phone to charge up enough so I can go for a brisk-ish walk and suss out a new route to try, probably with some slopes and hills as my usual run in the park is great but it's all on the flat so time to move onwards a bit. I forgot to mention yesterday that I did actually manage to run about 3/4 of the way back up the hill I park at the top of when I start my warm up walk so that was pretty good, especially as the path out of the park ends in a flight of steps so there's no way to get a run-up before hitting the hill

(Of course, the other reason I need to go out is because I've just been very naughty and had a celebratory latte and chocolate torsade in Waitrose and now I need to grab some of my calorie allowance back, lol!)

[misswobble Graduate]

Chocolate torsade! Never heard of it. Lay down that cake, lay down that latte. Don't undo your good works. You can treat yourself when you've run a half marathon and not before.

The honeymoon period is officially over, now "move your blummin arse" (Eliza Dolittle)

Only kidding. Have fun missus. This is where the fun really starts. Keep mixing up those runs, fast, slow, short, long. All grist to the mill and you'll be as fit as a butcher's dog before long. Progressively though of course as you have to be sensible about it.

It's a great time this is so savour it and enjoy it. You are a bit unfortunate about graduating in this rotten weather but you have the spring and summer to look forward to and even more running adventures.

[Hidden in reply to misswobble]

Lol! Ooh chocolate torsades are lush - sort of a pastry with custard and chocolate chips They are my downfall if I venture into the Waitrose cafe but I've been an angel and its the first one I've had since I started the diet and exercise on 12th October Just realised I forgot to ask for a skinny latte too so that's extra calories to find!! Argh!

I'll definitely have fun with the running! Just going to stick with the week 9 runs for a while, until my achilles is at a stage where I think it will cope with Sgt Laura and the faster pace of the stepping stones podcasts. I don't even mind that it's winter, although I'm fully aware that we've got off pretty lightly so far and its considerably warmer than it has been for the last couple of years. Goodness knows what I'm going to be like when it heats up though as I'm always so hot when I run already and even yesterday I ended up rolling up the sleeves of my top despite the falling snow!

[misswobble Graduate in reply to Hidden]

Running about in tee shirts in this weather means you've really made it and are now truly a runner. You feel as if you'll boil over don't you and you have this mad urge to peel the layers off.

All good fun!

[Hidden in reply to misswobble]

Well I'm back from my 5k walk - wow, it really is quite a long way isn't it? It doesn't seem that far when I'm just looping the lake in the park! I mostly walked it but ran (slowly) the downhill sections for a bit of practice dealing with hills

What was really weird was being out without Laura in my ears for the first time in ages!

[Slookie Graduate]

I missed your grad post! Duh! Congratulations and enjoy your 1st 'free' run. Just going to google chocolate torsade in case I need one in my life

[Hidden in reply to Slookie]

Thank you! Oh yes, you need one. Lots of them actually...

[JohnBlake Graduate]

So good to see you as a Graduate, Ali! Enjoy your runs without Laura, but that left me feeling a bit disorientated for a while. But now I look on the map and pick somewhere interesting to run! Just back from a 4.4k run round Bristol's Floating Harbour, and I was doing well until I turned to head back, and found I was straight into a horrendous wind! Ah well!

Oh, and you'll never get that pert bottom if you eat all that chocolate stuff, Ali! lol

[Hidden in reply to JohnBlake]

Yes, I felt a bit like that without her too, but I was only walking (mostly) today so didn't need all the handy little prompts.

I think the bottom will take a while to whip into shape but I'm 1.5st down since October with another one to shift so hopefully it will appear eventually!

[misswobble Graduate]

You tell her John, cos she won't listen to me. LOL

I went to Bristol recently! I loved the place, what bit I saw of it. It was though, the freezingist place I've ever been! Holey moley! We were sight-seeing on the FH from after breakfast and by 4.30 pm were so rigid with cold that we hopped onto a sightseeing bus but unfortunately it had an open top so you can image. We were stiff as boards when we got back at 7.00 pm ish. The hotel had the air con on and the door open in the bar. Our room was like a fridge. I got into bed with my dressing gown on over my clothes and fired the heating up to thermo nuclear. I think freezing my bum off the day before at the match didn't help as the weather was apocolyptic. Happy days

I would love to run there as there were tons of folks zipping about the city while I was there. We went to the zoo and had a neb round Clifton and Leigh Woods. Must be some good running around there. Lovely! Can't wait to do it again.

[JohnBlake Graduate in reply to misswobble]

You'll always be welcome, Miss W! If you do, I could show you the sights from a lovely warm car! Then we could go for a run and get frozz together.

[Hidden]

Yup you are officially a runner now. No sloping off for coffee and cakes haha.

You run in snow as well ?? Blimey you have got it bad now

Consolidation is the way to go Ali enjoy your runs and that feeling of satisfaction fron knowing you are now a grad

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Lol! I think we'll call it being desperate to get that graduation run under my belt. It wasn't too bad - no snow under foot and it wasn't settling so I figured it wouldn't really be any worse than rain. You won't catch me out there if it comes again and decides to hang around - can't risk any broken bones!

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

No i wouldnt either Ali or maybe i would try and see how it felt haha i have it worse than you lol

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Good plan! I think I will confine myself to barracks and do my 4 mile walking dvd on snowy/icy days. Definitely better than nothing and it's what started me off on the road to C25K

[AncientMum Graduate]

Mmmmmmmm chocolate torsade, where have you been all my life?? How have we never met? Will definitely remedy this in the very near future

[Hidden in reply to AncientMum]

They're definitely yummy but I'm not planning to get back into my old habit of several a week!

[Jase44 Graduate]

Well done Ali. You have your latte you deserve it. This bad weather up north is stopping my running at the moment. And that's not an excuse it's horrendous at the moment

[Hidden in reply to Jase44]

Oh no! It's very changeable down here. We definitely had 4 seasons in one day today. I'm glad I managed to get out this morning as it was the kind of windy that has wheelie bins flying all over the place this afternoon. Yuk!

[hilbean Graduate]

A well deserved treat. Funny how we all seem to have rushed off to find out what a chocolate torsade is Enjoy your route planning

[Hidden in reply to hilbean]

Lol! People are going to think I work for them but I really don't :). I'll have to try better with my route planning. 5k-ish doesn't seem that far when I run around the lake but I ended up miscalculating and doing some bizarre bow shaped route this morning!

[hilbean Graduate in reply to Hidden]

Oh dear! Reckon you'll find a good one soon enough though. I did an odd route the other day just trying to avoid the wind but it wasn't particularly enjoyable as I ended up returning along a main road with no pavement. Won't be repeating that one again in a hurry! But it was an impromptu one rather than a planned one! Happy route planning

[the_tea_fairy Graduate]

Yay, you did it!!!! Great work! Be careful on hills til your Achilles feels 100%, as they put extra stress on the tendon (I'm confined to flat runs at the moment - boring!)

[Hidden in reply to the_tea_fairy]

Ooh that's helpful to know - I'll be careful on the hills and stick to flatter routes for the time being. At least I'll have an excuse no to attempt running up the hill I live on and embarrassing myself in front of the neighbours! It's not very long but steep-ish and you have to stop and cross the road, so it's a tricky one even when you're just walking.

[Girlyswot Graduate]

The shiny graduate badge is looking good !

[Hidden in reply to Girlyswot]

Thank you! Love seeing it next to my name

[getfitgran Graduate]

Congratulations on graduating.

[Hidden in reply to getfitgran]

Thank you! I'm so chuffed as I didn't think I could make it to the end...but I did!!

[eviepie Graduate]

Well done on graduating! I've only got one more to go and so looking forward to it! It must be the best feeling!

[Hidden in reply to eviepie]

Oh it definitely is the best feeling :). I will look out for yours - pom-poms at the ready

[TurboTortoise Graduate]

Missed your graduation post but never too late to say - CONGRATULATIONS!

[Hidden in reply to TurboTortoise]

Thank you! Now to keep it up - I don't want to have to graduate again!!

[Hidden]

Mega congrats on your graduation (I did comment on FB, but I wanted to say it here too) And amazingly well done on your weight loss!

Great feeling seeing that badge next to your name isn't it?

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Thank you! I'm so glad the weight is coming off as I felt at least twice my age when I decided enough was enough on 12th October. I've always felt like I couldn't lose weight using my own willpower before so have done everything from WeightWatchers to the Cambridge Diet but this time I'm just eating the same old stuff, just less of it, and tracking calories with MyFitnessPal.

Love seeing the shiny badge