Days 188 and 189

Squeezed in another quick 4 miler yesterday (which i was sure i already blogged about, apparently not, weird...) but this morning is the more important thing. Today would have been Granddads 81st birthday, its also 2 weeks today for the Big Day. Bearing both these facts in mind i seized the day, waking up at 5am as the sun was thinking about getting his hat on and coming out to play, and drove to Roseberry Topping for some much needed hill work. Without Dad stopping for rests at every passing large rock i made it to the top in 15 minutes, my fastest time yet, which is encouraging since in approximately this time in 2 weeks i'll be doing the equivalent of a billion times that in the form of Ben Nevis, Sca Fell and Snowdon. Due to the early hours my technical support team (Mam and Dad) were still in bed so i had to drive myself (one simply cannot get good staff these days) a for those who read this for the comedy im sorry to get serious on you but as i surveyed the scene from the top, noting how a sunrise can make even the ugliest region in the country look almost attractive (Teesside has been officially voted the worst place in the country to live, more than once, so its official) i did shed a birthday tear for Granddad. Even my body seemed to grasp the seriousness of the situation, as i didnt even seem to sweat as much as normal!

Day 187

The results finally appeared at just about 5pm (i got a 2.1 though so worth the wait) and my walk seemed like a blur in the past in comparison to this comoputer screen, which i now know so well.
Today was another early one, and another short one im afraid, only a 4 miler again as we're ading to the traditional busy hairdressers-pies-bingo Friday fro Grandma by throwing in a reporter and photographer, thats right, todays exciting news is that yours truly and the family are coming to the pages of a Hartlepool Mail near you (well only really near you if you live in Hartlepool, if not youre unlikely to see it im sorry to say) So i blasted the 4 miles today, the weathers finally perked up and it was cool but sunny, absolutely perfect. The dog was stil asleep so i can honestly say i almost enjoyed myself, 4 hours 55 minutes, im on fire.

Day 186

Today is a big day, not so much for walking but in the rest of my life; my exam results and ultimate degree classification will be released online today (or tomorrow, or next week, such is university admin...) they werent there at 12.10am when i woke up in a panic about them, nor where they there at 5.50am when i awoke ofr the same reason. I couldnt get abck to sleep and they still werent there at 5.55am, 6.00am, or 6.05am so i decided i may as well get a walk done, working undet the assumption that if the results people didnt have the results up online now then surely they wouldnt until 9 oclock... i left the house at 10 past 6, Mam and Dad still in bed so i didnt have to take the dog, it was managing not to rain, there were no cyclists around, and dog free i shoud have been happy, but by 6.15 i was twitching, getting more anxious with every step i took away from my computer, maybe the results people got up and started uploading at 6? or half past? In the end i couldnt bear it and turned round early, fleeing back to the screen after 4 miles in 50 minutes (which is quick for me, maybe i should ask them to hold my results at the top of Snowdon) The results werent there at 7 when i returned, or 7.15 when i got out of the shower, ita allmost half past now though, time to check again...

Day 185

Today im afraid the only walking i did was a lap of Morrisons for Grandma. Followed 10 minutes later by a desperate sprint through the car park after i drove al the way back to Grandmas before realising that id left the shopping in the trolley in the shop and had to go back for it... its been one of those days...

Days 181, 182, 183 and 184

Today im lucky to be alive. But we'll get to that.
I'll catch you up from Saturday, where after my early morning efforts Friday i didnt get started until the much more civilised time of 2pm, knowing i wouldnt get a walk done on Sunday (eddie and i went with some friends to see red hot chilli peppers Sunday afternoon, which everyone knows requires all day of drinking beforehand, no time for walkng there) i had aimed to thrash out a 10 miler, hoping the 2 miles extra effort today would cancel out the 8 miles lost effort the next day (thats womans maths for you) However there was an obstacle that prevented me from walking a new distance, on an extended route that no Allison had walked before; a brown furry obstacle. Thats right, Mam made me take the dog. There was no way the dog would walk 10 miles, he gets whiney at 6 miles, and makes me want to let him off his lead, throw a stick as far as i can then hide while he goes after it so that i can go home and pretend i lost him after 4. Who am i kidding he makes me wish i really did lose him after 2. Make that 1. He gets under my feet, he lurches at passing walkers (in a friendly way, but if i didnt know our large toothy mutt and he lurched at me i wouldnt know that) and after a distance that suits him he becomes slow and lazy. I dont mind admitting, the dog holds me back. But Mam wouldnt hear a word against him, so i passed a grumpy 8 miles in a moderately successful time considering the burden i dragged with me.
Sunday was a walk free day, although such is the nature of a rock concert that there was a certain amount of leaping around involved, which is excersise i suppose, although it was probably offest by the alcohol consumed, which had a knock-on effect on yesterday, where i managed a mere 4 miler after a day of napping between bouts offeeling sorry for myself, and even that made me feel like i wouldnt survive the walk home.
That wasnt the source of my "lucky to be alive" though. That was today. After a cigarette related emergency this morning (grandma had run out and need more NOW before she strangled a passing paper boy or post man) i didnt set off til after lunch. It had been a clear sunny day and id been looking forward to my walk. I set off (dog free as Mam was at work) and marched purposefully for about three quaters of a mile, then it began to rain. I ignored it and made it approximately a mile and a half before thunder rolled and the heavens really opened. "Nature!" I wailed into the sky, "Its like you dont want me to succeed!" Nature responded by increasing the rainfall. Grumpily i turned to stomp home, getting angrier and wetter and wetter and angrier, as i came in sight of home the rain stopped. It flipping well flaming well oh-my-godding well stopped. Furios now i spun round on my heel to set out again, and add 5 miles to this 3 mile effort when i was struck down (this is the part i was lucky to survive) I got a cramp. Not just any cramp though, a cramp the likes of which you have never seen, a cramp of such epic proportions it wouls have been less painful to amputate the offending leg there and then. I collapsed to the ground in agony. In the move Scarlett would swoon delicately into the grass, where her Orlando Bloom jogger would appear and catch her and it would all be very romantic, in reality though i flailed around like a baby elephant in quicksand shreiking like a banshee on ecstasy until the pain passed. Following which i limped home, clocking a time of 3 miles in 40 minutes, or 3 miles in 48 minutes if you include cramp-ridden time, which im hoping not to.

Days 179 and 180

Torrential rain stopped play at a 4 miler yesterday, with the dog dripping a dawdling, i dragged us home disgruntled. This morning however i woke up, saw that the sun was up, thought i may as well get up and get on with it then, leaped athletically out of bed (as im sure you can imagine), checked my phone, and discovered that it was only 5am. I laughed at myself and leaped back into bed (with as much grace and elegance as i could muster) and tried to get back to sleep. I couldnt. My subconcious obviously wants this more than i realise as i found myself fully dressed and outside at 5.15am (my subconcious is obviously much nicer than i am too as it seemed to want the dratted dog involved too) waggling the dogs lead around trying to entice him to come with me. Brilliant guard dog that he is he didnt stir from sleep, so I went without him. I actually forgot the atrocity of the time and got to quite enjoying my early morning efforts, there was fresh dew on the grass (which it turns out looks pretty but can make one very damp) there were only a few birds up and about so the tweeting was tuneful and not a racket (dont you just hate it when there are too many birds singing? what an awful life i lead i know) and most importantly i had the walkway to myself. I felt like the queen of the castle (although i looked more like the festering peasent of the footpath in my sweaty state) as i hit every mile marker ahead of time, and was looking strong (by which of course i mean extra sweaty) coming into the home straight, the last mile. Now at this point its 7am, which apparently is a more socially acceptable time to be excersising, as i saw not one but 2 cyclists. The first was inoffensive, but the second not only trilled his bell at me even though i had already moved over, but deliberately (as far as i could tell) verred towards me at the moment of passing me to spray me with the puddle water thah he was passing through. And they wonder why people hate them. Cyclists aside though i was pretty pleased with myself when i clocked in back at home after 1 hour 52 minutes, taking Mam by surprise as she was jsut getting up. Dad has registered no opinion as he is still asleep, and while Ed is home for the weekend there wont be a sighting of him until at least noon. With his fractured elbow though he's looking less and less likely to take part anyway.

Day 178

The just giving page is finally on the go!
check out https://www.justgiving.com/onestompatatime
Thankyou

Days 175, 176 and 177

Sunday was uncomfortable, it was Dads first fathers day without his dad, and the weather was sticky and uncomfortable for walking. The dog came with me this time, and we were boh grumpy and sweaty 8 miles later. This week is shaping up to be a manic one, so Ive only had time to slip a couple of cheeky 4 milers in today and yesterday, one with the dog (hell) and one without (blissful) Im rushing off again now, but my times have remained on target and im hoping to get an 8 miler in tomorrow, with ot without the dog is yet to be confirmed, depending on whether mam makes me take him or not.

Day 174

After a hard day of shopping and the cinema (its a rough life) i did something i dont usually do and took myself on an afternoon walk. I set off at 5pm, with the intention of returning home 8 miles later by 7pm., cant think of a more rock and roll saturday night... Still recovering from Amsterdam i didnt torture myself by taking the dog, and he didnt seem too upset, possibly remembering the distance from last time. I bossed the timings (if i do say so myself) and returned home with 5 minutes to spare. The last 2 miles were sped up probably in my rush to get home as the heavens opened on me. When i got home i looked like a rat who had been drowned, picked up and towelled off badly and drowned again. Disturbingly the rain didnt make me look that much more dishevelled than my usual sweat.
In other news eddie came off his scooter in the inclement weather and is now sporting a broken elbow, this makes things dubious for him owing to the fact that we had also today confirmed the Big Day - Saturday 14th of July, 4 weeks from today. With dad officially switched to technical support it looks like i could b going it alone.

Days 171, 172 and 173

On Wedneday we spent the day in Newcastle to board the ferry to Amsterdam at 5pm. There was some waing involved, and much lugging of suitcases if that counts for anything, but no official walk. Yesterday, hung over from the "party ferry" we took the attitude of "when in Rome" (or this case Amsterdam) and strolled around (not knowing where to put our faces when in the the red light district let me tell you!) and tried the space cakes, after that I could have walked a hundred miles and not known about it if you know what I mean... Today then we got back, hungover from anotyer night on the party ferry, after indulging in another must of Amserdam, absinthe. Im running around like a headless chicken trying to get showered and sober in time to take Grandma to the bingo from 2 til 4, so I feel there isnt a walk of any notable distnce on the cards today here im afraid...

Days 169 and 170

Yesterday I'm afraid that i succumbed again to daytime drinking, and the concept of walking was sadly lost to me... im thinking of re-naming this blog an "alcoholics adventures in excersise" but im not sure that gives the right message.
Today there was walking, and although the distance was smaller than 8 miles, the achievement was greater - i walked with Grandma all the way from her house to the florists, via the butchers and newsagents, the distance in its entirity probably wasnt more than a mile, but it may as well have been a hundred miles for Grandma, who was in her own words "pooped" we later did a lap of asda too, where she rewarded herself with a bottle of martini (so you can see where i get many things from)
Tomorrow im going to Amsterdam (on another mini alcoholics adventure i suppose) until Friday, so depending on my state on return i might get a walk done then, and im sure technically speaking i'll be doing walking of some sort while im out and about, the technical part being if youre counting drunken staggers that i cant fully recall...

Days 165, 166, 167 and 168

So after I had clearly stated that end of uni shenanigans were almost over, i accidently got so drunk Wednesday night that I could not move from my bed of pain (the sofa) all Thursday. Long Island Ice Tea was this time the culprit, and long time was my hangover. Im getting too old for all this. I limped home battered and bruised and clutching a McDonalds on Saturday. Mam and Dad have added one of those jazzy memory foam mattresses to my bed, and it would be rude not to spend some time with it while I recover my strength I reasoned. Today though I was full of focus, and got up at 8.30am (that new bed is so hard to say goodbye to, mostly because I had sunk so far into it I was unsure whether I would be able to physically get out of it without assistance) Mam insisted I take the dog, so with much whining - from me - and even some growling - again from me - I set off. British weather being what it has lately the walkway was like a river in some places, but I waded on. My feet were wet, and the weather was hot and damp, I felt like I was hiking through the Amazon rainforest, but I stomped on. Te dog pushed me over in his excitement to try and jump on a cyclist, but I restrained him, got up (cursed him) and carried on. By the end of the 8 miles my feet were no wetter than the rest of me such was my signature sweating today, but I did it, 8 miles in 2 hours. Brian and Steve would be proud, and in the movie Scarlett would look much more jaunty than me im sure, but I did it, even with that infernal dog.

Days 162, 163 and 164

So after The Weather on Sunday our garden party quickly became a living room party, with enough bunting and sandwiches to put a village hall to shame (i made a hundred sanwiches, and didnt even get one! there were about as many red white and blue cupcakes though and i had my fair share of them...) champagne pimms and later beer pong continued from noon to the small hours of monday morning. So you guessed it i didnt get round to a walk, however i did clear up the bomb sight that was our living room, which was no mean feat and took about as much energy as a proper walk let me tell you. Yesterday i was at Martys, and bearing in mind past failures at trying to include him i conceeded that i too would be enjoying the full exyent of the double bank holiday, however i did drag him on a couple of laps of the shops of cambridge which must count for something. This morning im back in London (not for long though, as with uni over and most of the end of uni shenaningans that come with it too, im returning home at the weekend) Exams are over, my hangovers over, and even the weathers sorted itself out into some semblance of what one would expect from an English June - cold and grey (also "one" check me out, ive spent too much time focussing on the Queen this jubilee weekend clearly) Out of excuses I used my last ounce of laziness to allow myself only a 6 miler today, reasonong that i can build myself up again to be ready for the 8 milers again when i get home, who knows Dad and Ed might even join in! But not the dog if I can help it. Im pleased to report that my times havent been too badly affected, and I completed 6 miles in 1 hour 20 without major incident, which is something of a rareity for me.

Day 158, 159, 160 and 161

Thursdays exam went ok i think, and whether it did or not having had no time for a walk before it and heading straight to the pub after it unti i had to be taken home to bed - not late enough to be socially considered cool, but my degree is over! so i couldnt give a monkeys. Friday the effects of thursday physically prevented me from walking, and then Marty arrived Friday night so yesterday while there were no timed walks we did stroll along the south bank and then walk from waterloo to kings cross, where i sent him on his way home again. I have google-mapped the distance and found it to be about 3 miles, so better than nothing. There were cocktails on the cards last night too, but i was determined not to be hungover, both for my walk and for all the drinking i plan to do this afternoon at our garden party - dont judge, its the end of my degree, my last weekend as a proper student, if nows not the time to drink like one when is - so this morning i was displeased and dismayed to see rain. I know what youre thinking, is there no pleasing this whiney ass wimp, and im aware that i have been protesting the hot weather just about since it started, but i did not mean for it to make such a dramatic u-turn. However, in the face - which is where a lot of it did hit me - of the rain, and despite my best efforts last night my mild hangover i set off. For those who dont know, and i was certainly one of you until very recently, power walking with a hood up is like power walking in an oven. I quickly realised as a car splashed puddle water on me that this wasnt going to happen. Far from my exams-are-over-back-to-the-8-milers, i was more im-hung-over-and-should-be-impressed-im-out-of-the-house-at-all, and switched route to a 2 miler via canary wharf, so plus side to the day thus far, i did see the boats moored on the river setting off to the start point of the jubilee parade going on today. Well done Queen for your 60 years, and well done me for my 2 miles, as i feel similar efforts have gone into both endevours, as im pretty sure the Queen probably hasnt tried to be head of state the morning after a night of Alabama Slammers.