ah thanks for the lovely reply. Its now 5.30pm here in the UK and dinner is one. Chicken with mashed potatoes, white cabbage and green beans. And I have a very naughty pudding for later to give me the mad dreams. I had a late breakfast around 11am so thats my excuse!

You're across the pond aren't you? So about 8 hours behind I guess. Must be about 9.30am as I type.

Funny how we both managed 6.5 miles :-)

I like road runs. The fresh air, the parks, today was hills and a slow pace. I use MapmyRun and just map out a run and go and do it. A lot are repeats, or I may decide to take a different road one day. But never more than 3 miles directly from home as its a long walk if I break down.

Life in a little boutique sounds lovely. As you know my thing is Christmas Cakes so they are to be fed every week or so. I also make sourdough bread  and am Welfare Support Officer for a colleague at Sidcup, and will surprise her with a warm loaf on Weds. Note to self -  add bread flour to shopping list!

Spoke to my eldest today who managed to miss the last train home from London to Norfolk last night, had a panic and tried to ring me (I was asleep phone on silent) but managed to kip at a mates house and should be on his way back now. Kids eh? Hes 25

Hope you have had a lovely days work when you get to read this, and i will be back on the fairyland soon

x

Hi Maria

You just reminded me that its feeding day (every sunday lol). The pensioners will leave their Christmas dinner very happy!

I managed 6.5 miles slowly today. There is tightness behind my right knee. Seeing physio through work tomorrow 8am so early alarm .

Go do your long run. The sun has come out here and its about 12C which is ok.

managed the parkrun but very slow as suffered with big colitis flare this week and weakened by it (without going into the gory details). But I willed myself not to stop and it was still under 23 mins

I should add that that was the 5k Parkrun :-)

Beautiful day today, sunny, 10C, and no wind, started near the front with the speedsters (that used to be me once lol) and posted a 21.25, which is ok for today. Spent the rest of the day shopping and doing loads of housework.

Hi Maria

well done on 7.3 miles - thats impressive! You are getting stronger. Today I was up at 5am to run the Hampton Court Palace 10k, and thus completing the treble this year, as there are 2 x 10k and a half in the calender. A slower time as I felt my calf twinge right from the off despite a good warm up, but i managed a sprint finish to cross in 45.17, which is a 1 hr 35 half marathon pace time, so not too shabby.

Back to work tomorrow, and im cooking roast pork with crispy cracking and roast pots and greens for dinner. Yum!

went for a deep tissue sports massage today with an old friend who is highly skilled and qualified and collects awards faster than I collect running medals.

omg - there was some pain! He worked on the muscles that connect to the knee, on the top and sides, i also had needling for 15 minutes, hot stones, and ultrasound therapy, along with stretching and deep massage. 90 minutes in total. I will ache tomorrow but it has done some good.

Occupational Health are ringing tomorrow so I have something positive to tell them. You cannot cure arthritis but you can work to strengthen the muscles around the joint and not injure them. I am thinking of doing some yoga now. What do you think?

Hows the running going?

hope your run went well. Oh pets are so funny arent they? I adopt loads of cats from the rescue house if we had the room, but i do love going round and i also donate a few ££ a month towards their upkeep and huge bills.

a strange week at work coming up, 7 days straight (always tiring) and an ultrasound scan on my knee on Thursday about 2 months too late but never mind. Will give me something to mention to Occupational Health when they ring me on Tuesday. Its still hard getting up from a kneeling position.

Keep up the good running! Its so good for us/

I even bought a turntable to ice my cakes easier!

Hiya

I ran 5.5 miles today and stopped and fed the cats, and did 2 hills, or 'inclines' as your friend calls them :-)

The cakes decorating is easy - packet marzipan and white fondant icing, melted apricot jam to stick first the marzipan to the cake, then the icing to the marzipan, then shop bought decorations stuck on carefully with more jam.

You have reminded me now to search for new Christmas cake decorations this year and buy them early. My local supermarket has them in already.

They do say to train a few slow runs, at conversation pace, and thts good for you.

Lovely to see the cats. Of course they acted like they hadnt seen a cat treat in a year and i had the purring and face rubbing and lots of 'please dont go'. But I will return again :-)

so i went to Victoria Park in East London today, my 'fast ground'. All my pb's have been there in 5k, 10k and half. Today it was blowing the remnants of Hurricane Amy, a good 50mph. Tents were flying, but 100s were on the course. I figured an easy 24 min 5k. I crossed the line in 21.25 !! So very pleased with that as it was out of nowhere and one of my fingers decided to bleed again just before the start.

So rather pleased that after all my slow training jogs theres the start of some speed in me :-)