We are going to hit the press! (only the local one, the nationals can wait ;) )

I had a call from the Maidenhead Advertiser this week wanting to run a story on why I am running the London Marathon.  Anything that can potentially lead to more sponsorship is more than fine with me.  So the journalist called and asked me questions about Richie, about living with cancer, its impact on the family and then training for the big day.  It wasn't a particularly long conversation but it felt uncomfortable remembering what life was like during that terrible year.  It's not really what I want a story about Richie to be about, I wanted it to be about how amazing he was and how brave he was throughout the horrible experience he had to endure.  But then I suppose you never get what you want when dealing with cancer from any angle.
Yesterday a photographer came to the house to take a photo to go with the article.  Dressed in my sexy running leggings and bright yellow charity t-shirt I got snapped running in my garden!  Which means I will likely look a complete idiot in the photo!!  I'll past a link to the article when it goes live :)

In the meantime please feel free to:-

Run With Me (not literally…… but heres how you can help…..)

So they say to estimate the time it will take you to run a Marathon you should double your half Marathon time and add 30 mins.  This means I am looking at circa 4.5 hours of running, which is pretty daunting.

Whether I am out on my Sunday long run, shorter recovery run or getting in some threshold training I always have my iPod plugged in.  Not only can the music be a nice distraction but it also helps me keep my pace up.  Here are some of my all time favs for running:-

Waiting All Night - Rudimental
Not Giving In - Rudimental (I think I will try and time this one to play when I am at the 20 mile mark!)
Alice - Chase & Status
Control - Matrix & Futurebound
Happy - Pharell (plus was mine and Andy's wedding song so makes me smile…… albeit we fell over during our first dance!  My foot caught in my dress, defo not all the champagne!  I promise!!)

My 'Running Favourites' playlist is aprox 2.5 hours long at the moment….. I therefore need to get a fair few tracks on there.  Now this is where you can help…… Please add a comment with a song for me to listen to as I am pounding the streets of London.  Make sure its got a nice fast beat to keep me going.  This is your way, my lovely friends and family, of making sure you are with me spiritually and keeping me motivated through one big flipping long run!!!

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The 3 M's

Since December last year I have had 3 milestones to achieve in a relatively short period - Move, get Married and run the Marathon.  2/3 have now been completed so now its time for 100% focus on those 26.2 miles!!

I spoke on a previous post about moving to our new house - or home as we now call it.  We've not done much to it yet aside from settle in and get use to our new surroundings.  But now the better weather is coming I can feel the start of our first project is imminent!!  (Well for Andy at least, I'll assume my usual advisory/co-ordination type role and then come into my own when we need to do the fun stuff like pick furniture or wall colours etc.  I'll leave the hard work to my new husband!).
Andy and I tied the knot on his 40th birthday on the 28th Feb.  We had a fantastic day surrounded my our wonderful family & friends and our brady bunch family is now complete.  I would like to say a massive thank-you to those that donated to Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research as our wedding gift - as we have everything we need it felt the right thing to do for our gift to be a donation to help cure and eradicate blood cancers.

I also have to mention the totally awesome band we had, who made the evening reception a real party.  If you are ever in need of a band then I highly recommend these guys.  Check them out (and also see some of the photos they took of the party themselves):-
http://www.daftonline.co.uk
http://www.daftonline.co.uk/galleries/?id=10152259050616649

So the final M is now drawing near. I think its roughly 5 weeks away.  So after a week in Lanzarote for our honeymoon I am home and have switched my beach flip-flops for my scruffy old runners and back in the swing of things.  My first run yesterday felt great.  I was going to keep it fairly short and build myself up but as I was feeling great I covered nearly 10 miles.  Am amazed that I could every feel that a ten mile run is fun!!

My big sis is heading down this weekend so I will have company on this weeks long run.  We have 3 hours to cover this week eeekkkk!

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Pilates

Part of my training plan for the 'big long run' includes a weekly Pilates session.  Usually on a Monday after the Sunday long run.  Recommended as it will help build core strength, flexibility and also a good stretch after pounding the roads for a couple of hours the day before.  I have also been advised it will be beneficial for the stress related symptoms I am currently experiencing.  So today I decided to give it a go.
Overall, the class was pretty good.  My body feels like it has had a good stretch out and I have worked    some muscles that I did not know existed, therefore I expect to ache a little bit tomorrow.  In terms of overall well-being improvement, hmmmm not sure.  I definitely felt more calm after the class, which will no doubt be destroyed the minute Harry aka 'the ball of energy' comes home from school.  However I massively struggled to relax and breath the correct way during the class - but I suppose this comes with practise so I should keep it up!  Will give it another go next week.

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Fundraising Ideas Urgently Wanted!

I have no idea how many people read this blog - if any at all now as it has been so long since I kept regular posts (this is now changing, promise!).

So, as you know I am running the London Marathon in April this year. Running in memory of Richie and therefore raising as much cash as possible for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research.  I have called on the generosity of my friends and family that I can not rely on their deep pockets (which have been extremely deep when it comes to raising cash in memory of Mr Wildman) Actually lets unbracket this and take a look at the stats - 11,561.25 raised to date across a mix of charities (Lymphoma Research Trust, Make A Wish and Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research).  A massive thank-you to all our friends and family who have supported us to get this fantastic target :)

Anyhow, I digressed, the point of this post is I need some fundraising ideas people - and it would also be nice to see that there is still a following out there for Wildo's blog, so any ideas you have - big, small, wild and/or wacky then please add a comment with your idea....... It will be very much appreciated. Alternatively if you are out of ideas, how about a small donation (or a big one!) to our fantastic cause :)

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Fartlek Tuesday

I am not feeling well at the moment, not physically unwell but mentally unwell and exhausted.  However, exercise is suppose to be a good tool to support this type of illness and therefore I am working to my 'Unstoppable' training plan as much as possible.

Today's session is all about threshold running, our running coaches describe this as the 'holy grail' of marathon training.  When I first received my training plan I thought these sessions were the same as speed intervals and wondered why I was failing - sprinting full on for 5 mins is not within my current gift!  However, I recently attended a training session organised by the charity (Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research) and our training coaches (full potential).  The day was packed with useful information regarding how our training plans are devised, what to expect on the day, nutrition etc. There was also a practical session out on the running track showing us the correct way to have a 'threshold session'.  The basic routine is to warm up, and then run x number of mins at threshold then recover at jog pace and repeat.  Threshold equates to aprox 80-85% effort - you can speak a few words if somebody asks a questions but you couldn't have a good old natter! It is also described as controlled discomfort (which does not sound pleasant!).  The end result is that I now understand how these sessions work, and how important they are in the plan to get 'marathon ready'!

The goal for today was 60mins run, including 6 x 5 mins at threshold with 90 secs recovery in-between.  Due to the horrible weather conditions I decided to go to the gym for this session today.  Plus given my current well-being state, running outside could have been more hazardous than normal!  So 15mins at 11.5 on the treadmill, followed by my threshold runs up to 12.5.  Managed 5 of the 6 okish - could mostly tell my body was not happy about a hard workout today so stopped half way through the final threshold run and took it down to a fast walk to finish off.  Didn't meet the entire goal, but close enough and hopefully will still get the benefit from a threshold session.

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2014, A New Start

Life has certainly been a roller coaster since Richie started this blog back in 2008.  And my family and I have seen many changes, some sad, some bad and some fantastic.

The saddest is the loss of our beloved Nanny Joan, my inspirational Nan and the pillar of our family.  As with all those we have lost she is never forgotten and discussed frequently as we share our memories of a most fabulous (and glamorous) lady.  I am happy in the knowledge that she is back with Granddad Owen and no doubt they are dancing across the stars every evening.

The bad, for allowing work to dominate my life and make me unwell.  My new years resolution is to ensure that I continue with a proper work/life balance, bring my blood pressure back to normal and make sure my family is not compromised because of my job.  I share this on the blog as Richie once told me that if you write it down it strengthens your resolve to make the thing happen (I should possibly add lose 10lbs, stop eating chocolate and cut back on my wine consumption, but lets take it steady!!).  Richie also taught us that life is precious and sometimes far too short, so I will not waste any further time stressed out and covered in eczema!!

Now the fantastic, of which I have much to share.  I type this blog from my new home, I moved house on 20th Dec.  I have not gone far, literally around the corner, but it is a home I share with my partner Andrew.  It was a hard decision to leave the house that Richie and I lived in together, and I am blessed with lots of happy memories from the home that we shared when he was alive.  Summer BBQs with Katy, little Richie and Pokes :) Richie and Henry singing Happy New Year everybody in our garden on New Years Eve :) Our adventures with the Mad Cat Woman!  Petey the cat getting stuck up a tree in the school playground opposite!  Answering the door to Becs whilst we were dressed as a pantomime horse called Magic!  Rich painting the back gate after a few beers!  Bringing our son home in 2005, seeing him take his first step their (pushing a bright pink pushchair) and watching him grow into a giant just like his Daddy.  This is just a small snippet and I am thankful that I have so many.
I share my new home, or our new home with our Brady bunch family, and we are quite the troop to mobilise!  Andrew (almost 40!), Sam (a lady never tells her age!! Let's leave it as 30ish), Bec (15 going on 20!), Lauren (9 but with the intelligence of a 15 year old), Harry (8, but the height of a 12 year old!) and Heather (5 high maintenance but gorgeous so gets away with it!!).  We have only been in the house for a couple of weeks but it is already home.  To complete the Brady bunch look, Andrew and I are getting married on his 40th birthday in February (I should really get serious about this 10lbs business!). Andrew proposed to me on my birthday last year, an emotional and private moment that will stay with me always.  I am blessed to have found another man that I love so very much.

Whilst life moves on and changes Richard is always in my thoughts.  In 2014 I will continue to raise money for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research, and will be running for team unstoppable in the London Marathon in April.  Every inch of the 26.2 miles will be with him, I will run it for him and run it with his memory getting me through every step.  I will use this blog through the final 99 days of my training to keep you up to date on how the training is going - so far it has been tough but manageable.  Last Sunday I ran for two hours - this time last year I would have laughed in your face if you said I would get up on a Sunday morning and run for a couple of hours!!  It means I can totally stock up after on Sunday roast calories though so every cloud!

Tomorrow's training is a 90 minute run, which feels like a treat after last weeks two hours!  But then next week we are up to 2 hours 15 eeekkk.  Lets hope that rain stays away tomorrow............

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