The Shipton Star

I'm sat typing this blog with tears streaming down my face....not because I'm sad, but because 'something' out there has irritated my eyes sooooo much that they won't stop running!!

I'm telling you this because a) I want some sympathy and b) I need to apologise for the awful spelling etc, because I can't see what I am typing.

SS and I have spent 26 miles plodding along Salisbury Plain (yes, MILITARY Salisbury Plain), and whether it's pollen, dust, or just plain old bullets, there is 'something' out there which has got us....she has sniffed and snuffled all day, I've just cried.....

We entered the 'Shipton Star', a marathon based around the village of Shipton Bellinger in the heart of Salisbury Plain. It didn't bode too well when we couldn't find the start at 7.45am this morning though.....

The website instructions told us that the start was from the village hall, in Shipton, and the organisor, a man who I shall call Fred, as his name was Fred, told us it was on the High Street. So we drove up the High Street, and down, and down the High Street and up, and there was no village hall. So I phoned Fred....who was VERY grumpy and he told me it was definately on the high street and that I "couldn't possibly miss it'.....

So SS and I drove up the High Street again.....and down the High Street....and by way of a change we parked the car and WALKED up the High Street, and guess what?? Yep, no village hall! So we asked a local...... and the village hall was up the High Street, turn left  onto Bulford Road, and then a sharp right...poor Fred, not only was he VERY grumpy, he was also geographically challenged!!

I was going to tell him too, until we got to the village hall, parked and actually met him, he was very tall,  and very scary looking.....

Anyways, SS and I checked in, got our first route map and headed off....

You had a choice of route for this marathon - you could either do eight smaller loops, each returning to the central checkpoint, or 4 longer routes, of roughly 10-11km each, so we opted for those - less time with Fred!
The terrain was very varied, chalk tracks, gravel tracks, long grass, shooting ranges, wooded copses, forests, steep ascents, scary slippery descents-at one point 18%, boggy clay puddles, but it was fantastic, the sun shone all day, and even though we could hear the tanks and the soldiers on the shooting ranges - we survived to tell the tale.

Mind you, the last bullet was a little close.....so we were  the first ones back!

We have certificates, badges, and even a few empty cartridges to prove our near misses, what a great day out!

A challenge....

As I  type this, sat on my comfy office chair, I can't help but think of my brothers butt......strange yes, but very true.....he has been sat on a very thin bike saddle since Sunday afternoon - ouch - and is only halfway through his epic challenge of cycling 750 miles in 90 hours from Paris to Brest and back to Paris again.

Why is he doing this?? I reckon it's to prove to me that cycling is tougher than walking or something equally nonsensical...but Tim reckons he is raising money for a well in Kenya!
You can check out how he is doing through his website, and more importantly, donate some cash to 'Tim's well'. ( don't let on, but I am secretly rather impressed by him   shhh)

http://www.challengemenace/

Anyways....Tim doing this has given me itchy feet...I need a new challenge! Last Wednesday SS and I did  a 'mini challenge'. We did an old route to Hungerford and back along the canal which was great, and after 23-24 miles, I collected Golda and Mali and did  a small loop of the common taking me up to 26+ miles which is marathon distance - and that felt good. I mentioned that I had done a marathon when at a BBQ on Sunday evening, and a couple from church who had given me sponsor money to 'stop' doing events wanted a refund - I had to explain that this was a training event, and I'd only stopped doing 'mad distances'!!

I've had an hour in the gym this morning, ready for an event that SS and I have tomorrow called the Shipton Star which is a 25 mile event on the edge of Salisbury Plain. It starts at a village hall, and we all know that village halls =cake!! It sounds like a good event as you start off at a main check point and return to it at the end of each leg of the journey, creating, in effect, the 'star' of the name, and hopefully, collecting a piece of cake.......

But, I still need a challenge.......we have 40 miles in May to look forward to, but we need something before then.....maybe I'm going have to take up this cycling lark.....750 miles, it's not that far is it??!!!!

Simples.....

It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted on here and it's because life has been hectic....I was going to say I haven't had time but 'time' or my lack of it has been debated in a previous blog and I hate to repeat myself.....

I have been away on a church camp with 46  'little dahlings' to Corfe Castle, near Swanage, something that Chris and I have done for the last 4 years. Chris originally volunteered us ( I hit him, VERY hard), and apart from the fact that I HATE camping, and don't particularly 'get children',  I just about manage to last the week. Also, it was pointed out to me that I was doing the Lords work so should do it willingly, so that stopped me from complaining ( at least a little bit).
Anyways, camp was good, the weather was good, food was good, company was good, (being nurse I didn't poison or kill anyone, always a bonus) -  albeit very hard work.

And then I have had another birthday, so that's quite hard work, opening the stack of cards, responding to fan mail etc etc........

Actually, I had the BEST present ever this year...a MASSIVE thank you to SS and family! I absolutely adore meerkats, long before the Simples adverts came out on TV, and ages before my brother Tim liked them, even though he would have you believe otherwise....
 SS and co have bought me an 'adopt a meerkat' gift box, - I get to adopt my very own South African meerkat - how cool is that??!!
And, my out-laws have bought me the autobiography of Aleksandr Orlov, the meerkat behind the compare-the-market.com adverts.....I recommend that everyone reads this book, it's awesome!!

So that hasn't really left much time for exercise!! In the last two weeks I have done one training session, and that was yesterday with SS. Before spending the day with Chris to celebrate my birthday, and knowing that a lot of cake and chocolate was heading my way...I thought I ought to do something, so SS and I met at the top of the road and headed off to Greenham common for a circuit..in the rain. It hadn't changed much! We did our circuit, and headed straight to Costas for a birthday bacon buttie and planned tactics for future training sessions.
Even though I have said I'm not doing any 'mad distances' anymore, we still want to keep our training up, and SS is always looking for a mad challenge for herself, so we plan to walk to Hungerford next week, and hope to enter a 25 mile event the week after...and after that...lets see....

Anyways, I must finish this post with my favourite quote from my new book by Aleksandr, he has my way of thinking.....

"Telling peoples what to do is one of my favourite hobbies,
so job comes naturals."
Simples!