21 kilometres later...

I nearly fainted. I got through the finish line and almost fell down. A freakishly young first aid boy asked me if I was ok, with a very concerned look on his face. I must have looked a mess, I definitely felt it. But, I managed to get round without walking, and I achieved the impossible and beat my sister! Two goals ticked off makes Lou a very happy runner!

Everything started horribly early in the morning. The alarm went off at 4am, which I obviously snoozed! I did manage to drag myself up and dressed to go sit out in the corridor to eat my breakfast (I was under instructions not to wake up my boyfriend until half an hour before we left), then suddenly it was time to go. Walking from the hotel to the start was kind of cool - it was dark, quiet, no cars, just lots and lots of people all walking in the same direction. Most people were wearing the (quite nasty) race shirt too, which made it extra weirder. At the starting pen people started doing very vigorous warm-up routines (lots of bounding around and bouncing stretches, silly people!), which looked far too energetic, so I just concentrated on standing around for a bit! The first few km were very crowded and slow, but then the race went onto big, very busy roads where everyone was trying to fit in one lane, and also dodge the people stopping randomly all over the place. I've never been in a race where so many people walked, and so early! It felt like most people walked more than they ran, especially at the end. At that point my knees were on fire, my quads had turned to rock and all I wanted to do was stop and have a nice cup of tea. Or a big, cold beer. Seeing all these people running about 100m then stopping to walk made it really hard to keep going, especially when the course merged with the 10k course about 1km towards the end - ALL of those guys were walking! Thankfully, the last stretch was downhill, and I managed to weave (slowly) through the (very slow) walkers to haul myself over the line. The clock said 2:26:something about 20m from the line, but I didn't see it when I crossed, I was concentrating so much on staying upright! I started at 2:24, so my net time should be 2:24:36ish. I realised the next day that I had attached the instructions instead of the timer to my shoe, so I'll never know. Idiot me.

I've had a nice week off giving my legs time to recover, and I'm going to concentrate on short and fast for a while to change things up a bit, and give my knees a rest. Only 4 months to the next one!

I forgot to say

I applied for some more Olympics tickets yesterday in Starbucks at the airport. Everything I was interested in had sold out, but I thought it would be a shame not to see something, so I looked for an event which would either be entertaining, cheap or have a medal ceremony. And I found.....

.... Women's freestyle wrestling. I know nothing about it, but from what a quick Google throws up, it looks like it'll be a very entertaining evening, and it was cheap, AND there are two medal ceremonies. Whoop! I find out if I got them in a day or two. And I can always go watch the marathon by the side of the road. 

12 hours to go!

It's a bit scary! The last three weeks have flown by - I've been really busy, we've had loads of visitors, excuses excuses - and now the race is 12 and a half hours away. So only about 15 (I hope) hours till I can relax!

I'm sitting in my hotel room in Kuala Lumpur. I cleverly managed to remember to book a place close to the start of the race, quite proud. I dragged the Boyfriend over there this morning for a quick reccie, and they were building the start line and stuff, quite exciting! It's in Merdeka Square, which has the biggest flag I've ever seen (well, the second biggest technically - I've seen the biiiiiiiiiig North Korean one at the town just over the border, but it was far away, so didn't really look that big) right next to some posh mock Tudor houses. Apparently in colonial times it was a cricket pitch (definitely looks like it could have been), and this is where the Hash House Harriers started. Thankfully no beer and songs on the way round the race though!

Here's the other big building on the square - some sort of government building I think. The start line is right in front of it, where the clock tower is. And here's the giant flag. Tudor houses off camera to the right. We walked past the huge building on the left earlier - no idea what it is, but it's a very strange building - there's no real windows, just cut out bits in the walls. And there doesn't seem to be anything in it. Anyway, flag!

After our little explore, we tried to find a museum the Lonely Planet claimed was by the square (from the description, it sounds like the small white building to the left of the flag), but it's a posh restaurant, so failed in that - boo Lonely Planet! Wandered around for a bit and ended up at the aquarium near the Petronas towers, which was wicked. No crappy Sea-Life Centre here! We saw the staff feeding the water rats (they're quite cute, they look more like huge guinea pigs), loads of geckos and lizards, and shed loads of fish. Some very nice, some very yuck! My favourite was a very cute yellow thing called a cow fish. It's body really does look a bit cow-ish, and it kept swimming over to see people. There was a huge tunnel under a big tank with all sorts of cool stuff in. Lots of different types of rays flying around (I love watching them, they look so graceful), a huge turtle, little sharks and lots of random fish I don't know the names of. There were some hideously ugly fish too though - they had a huge Mekong catfish, which is one of the ugliest things I've ever seen (but apparently very tasty. Still don't think that makes me want to eat it), and some massive things from the Amazon. They were also pretty ugly, and had something very pre-historic about them. They looked strangely squashed, a bit like a tube of toothpaste.

We wandered over to the park by the big towers, and then we had some pretty grim food in a posh cafe. Hmph.So the plan tonight is to get some nice food, which should be quite easy, seeing as the hotel is in the middle of Chinatown, on a street with loads of yummy-looking street food. And then sleep, lots of sleep. 

12 hours 5 minutes to go!

Olympics Tickets

Didn't get any. Boo. Applied for nearly £500 worth, maybe should have tried for more. Hopefully we'll get a crack at some in the next round, although I've not received any info about that. Hope there's still some middle-distance running tickets left (I'd pay more for good seats if I know that's all I'm getting), and if not, good view marathon tickets.

But, how did I not get any, and some guy got over £10,000 worth of tickets?? Not exactly fair. Hmph.

Bloody hell, there's only 3 weeks till the race!

 The KL half is three weeks tomorrow. Eek. How did that happen? It was weeks and weeks and weeks away about 5 minutes ago! So, now I'm officially scared. 21k suddenly seems a very very long way. 

This looks like a long way. I doubt the race will be as pretty though. 

I don't usually get scared about races. I felt fine about my first half, and I was pretty unprepared for that, so I should really be feeling better now. Maybe the difference is last time I just wanted to drag myself over that finish line, hopefully not in last place, but now I want to do a semi-decent job of it. And in very bad goal-setting form, I haven't yet decided what this 'semi-decent job of it' is. I would like to run the whole thing, get a PB, beat my sister who's doing a different race on the same day and finally have a good morning run. However, none of these are really feasible, unless I somehow grow little wings out of my heels, which is rather unlikely, and would also probably get me disqualified. I still have a couple of weeks to figure out something more realistic. Maybe I should just go for not being last. 

About my pace :) My sister was the cheetah who finished hours ago. 

As well as this misplaced desire to do something amazing in my race, I'm also feeling pretty under-trained. Since we got back from Thailand various things have conspired to ruin my running plans. I decided to ditch the run-walking, because it didn't really seem to be helping that much any more, which meant I had to cut back on distance a bit for a few weeks to catch up. I've also been pathetic and lazy, had a week of nasty stitches and runs cut very short, and had friends visiting. So, I hadn't done a run longer than 10k in about a month. Not good a month before a half marathon! 

The last week or so has been a bit better though. I've had a proper long run, and done a bit of speed work too, which I definitely need! I did a good interval session on Wednesday last week, then a super-fast 5k (PB!), and a good long slooooooooooow one on Monday. Good run, but quite boring doing endless loops of the same small area, and my sports bra decided to show its disappointment in my performance by rubbing off the skin on my chest. Lovely. And my legs have been aching all week. 

Anyway, here's the geeky data for the last week or so (before then was too pathetic to publicise!).

Wednesday 25th - 6x400 interval session. 5k, 29:03

Friday 27th - 5k, 28:40 PB!!

Monday 30th - 13k, 1:24:49 Furthest ever continuous run!

Thursday 2nd - 4.32k, 24:32. Got monsooned on. Grr. 

Pathetic.

Would be the word to sum up my running week. The running fairies were definitely conspiring against me this week. A ridiculously bad stitch on Tuesday, 7am on Thursday, and central governor on hiatus yesterday. I think I put in a total of about 15k. Pathetic. And this is with 6 weeks till my half. Better pull the stops out this week.

RIP Sammy Wanjiru

Crikey. The first forum post I saw about Sammy Wanjiru's death I thought was a weird, not very funny joke. Or that I was being stupid. Sadly, neither are true. Running really has lost a great athlete today, and I think the sport will be less for it. Sammy really was a fantastic athlete, with so much potential. Rest in peace Sammy.

Randomness

I seem to have gotten a little carried away with all the running stuff, and and somewhat neglected the randomness off the couch part. 

So to balance it out, here's one of my latest projects.

It's a bib necklace recycled from an old top I loved, but which had reached the end of its days. I got the idea from a necklace made of t-shirts on the great crafty blog Sisters Four Say More is More. It was great fun to make, but a bit fiddly. 

Here's how it worked:

Cut top into strips (trying not to feel sad, it's just a top!), then make about 20 of these little things by pulling running stitch through them really tightly. This was by far the prettiest, neatest one. Most of them looked like a ball of scraps, which I supposes is what they are really!

 Next, cut out a shape of fabric backing material, sew ribbon onto both ends, and get started on sewing on the thingys.  I started in one corner, worked almost to the middle, then started from the other corner and joining in the middle hours and hours later.

Its very cute, and I really like it, but I haven't actually worn it yet! I don't really have any tops it goes with, either because of the style or the fabric. Good excuse to buy new clothes!

 

Lovely Holiday in Thailand

That's were I've been you see! Had a week off work, so decided to go, well, elsewhere, and Thailand was a cheap easy option.

It. Was. Wonderful.

Air you can't smell and/or see, drivers actually adhering to traffic law, people being friendly, tasty food, not horrible beer, being able to enjoy cycling, gorgeous countryside, interesting museums, facewash without bleach in it, great Nature Watch spotting, and just being able to chill out and enjoy everything. Bliss.

Only managed a couple of runs, but really enjoyed them. One was after a storm, just around sunset. The sky was amazing while the sun went down, a whole mix of colours. Kind of like a kid playing with paints. I could see the water evaporating off the road too, creating a sort of mist around your knees. Kind of creepy, and a bit weird being warm mist.

Here's some pics of places we saw.

Stunning waterfalls hidden in the forest. We went swimming in here, but it was full of those fish that like sucking the skin off your feet. Did not like that AT ALL! So when I say swimming, that's not really accurate.

 

The Death Railway - nasty name, nasty story behind it, but very beautiful. 

Bridge over the River Kwai. I ran over it. Spent most of my time trying not to slip and fall in, and hoping no trains would come. 

Totals for holiday week:

Monday - 5.56k, 33:20 (continuous)

Wednesday - 10:07, 1:06:11

Total - 15.64k, 1:39:31, average pace 6:22/km

London Marathon 2012

I applied for a ballot place. 35,000 places, many many many people wanting to do it - getting in is harder than the race apparently! Not expecting to get a place, but thought I might as well apply anyway, you never know. Only thing is, if I somehow do manage to get a place, I'll actually have to run it. Hmm. Good job I don't actually have to think about it till October.

Visitors, Registration, and Morning FAIL!

A few bits and pieces of news for you, let's go with the good news first. 

First up, I've had visitors! Two other bloggers, Zaneta and Tricia stopped by yesterday and left comments. I'm officially not talking to myself, yay! They also said nice encouraging things, and I definitely need the motivation at the moment, so that made me feel better. It's also really good to have comments because I don't really have anyone around that runs, so it's a bit of a replacement for running buddies. 

Another piece of good news is that I've finally managed to register for the race, huzzah! No watching for the sidelines for me, no no no. Probably watching people cruise past me still, but at least I'll hopefully be moving in the same direction. One nice touch is that they put your name on your bib - I don't know if it'll be big enough for people to see, but being alone, it'll be nice if someone screams my name to spur me on. Only 64 days to go!

Of course, if there's good news, there has to be bad news to balance it out (boo world!!). To counter out the nice things, I've had a bit of a running fail. Actually, quite a muscle-screaming, knees-complaining, wheels-off fail. My long run was scheduled for last night, but I was so ridiculously exhausted yesterday that I decided my body was telling me to lie on the couch all night. It was quite nice, watched a bit of a geeky documentary and a bit of cycling, and got to bed fairly early. Good plan so far. Didn't last long though. To make up for being pathetic, I dragged myself out of bed at 6.30 this morning, intending to do another speed session. I figured I'd have an easy warm up to get the legs going, then knock out a few reps. Not to plan. It was hideous from about step 15 (and only then because I saw a colleague before then, so made an effort to look spritely. Doubt it worked.). The wheels never got on, let alone having the chance to come off. I forced myself around for just under 4 km at a grandmother shuffle-pace, got pointed and laughed at by all the construction workers and drinks vendors, sweated everywhere and eventually crawled home feeling like crap. FAIL!

Evidence of my patheticness. Hmph. 

Minor set-back

I know it's a bit big, wasn't on purpose!

So, it turns out my payment for the half didn't go through. Not a very good start to a race! I'm quite confused - there was no message saying it hadn't worked. Just a little apprehensive as they use some random third party company to take the money, don't want to be giving my details out to all and sundry! I've seen someone say that registration doesn't work on Chrome, which is the browser I use at home, so I'll have to skive a few minutes at work tomorrow to register. What a shame...

Anyway, a little late, but here's times and totals for last week.

Tuesday: 5.69km, 33:19 Continuous running, managed a kick at the end

Thursday: 11.03km, 69:43 Longest run in at least a year, whoo! Thought my knees were going to crumble at the end though.

Sunday: 4.7km, 28:46, failed to get up and go running in the morning, so settled for an interval session. 1.5k warm up, 4x400(ish) intervals at about 4:50/km. Thought I was going to be sick after the last one, but managed to shuffle on for another kilometre or so.

Finally, congratulations to everyone at London and Boston, especially Joan Benoit-Samuelson, who ran just over 2hrs 50 at Boston. For a 53 year old to be running just shy of Olympic trials time is truly inspiring, I hope I'm managing even a fraction of that when I'm her age!

Boo to the BBC!

I'm very very disappointed in the BBC. Booooo!

It's the London Marathon today, and I would very much like to watch it on the telly/internet/listen to commentary/get updates by carrier pigeon. As I'm outside the UK, I can't watch it on the telly (iplayer also won't work), but the BBC website has been saying for weeks that it will have video streaming of all three races. So about 15 minute before the start of the women's race, I settled down in front of my laptop for an afternoon of good running, only for the videos never to appear. It appears they failed to mention that the videos are for the UK only, which I thought would be a fairly important point to mention on a website people read all over the world. So, I'm left with their text updates, which are disappointing to say the least. The carrier pigeon option would be more informative I feel! Over the first 90 minutes of the women's race there have been TWO updates about the race. No mention of the Brits in the race, or anything except the leader is going pretty quick. And nothing about the men's either. Thanks guys.

Madness, or Genius?

I seem to have signed up for the Kuala Lumpur Half Marathon at the end of June. Eek!! Quite possibly a bit silly of me, seeing as I only have 12 weeks to get from slow 10k plods (although 6.5k is the furthest I can go and still be comfortable really) to a quick 21k! Not sure how I'll get there, but I'll give it a go. I've got a training schedule off the Nike+ thingy, but I'm very good at ignoring those and doing whatever I want instead (i.e.a lot less!), so it might not be that useful. So quite possibly a moment of madness.

However, I asked around on the Runner's World forum, and people seem to think that 12 weeks is ample time for my metamorphosis into racer-extraordinaire. I like races, they give me something to train for, which is definitely needed around here. The extra motivation will really help me to get out and do the same circuit again and again. The magic seems to be working already - I hauled myself out of bed at 6.30 this morning to run because I can't go tonight. Unheard of. Maybe a moment of genius?

Here's a map of the course.

It's only one lap, which is nice, but I'm a little worried I might get lost! The marathon will be on at the same time, and the route is similar, but not exactly the same. Hope I don't accidentally stumble down a road that will take me out for another 10k! I managed to find a hostel about 500m from the start/finish though, so at least I won't have far to drag myself at the end!

I think I'm leaning toward genius at the moment, hope it stays that way.

Totals for the week:

Tuesday: 5.01k, 30:44 continuous running

Thursday: 10.12k, 65:46

Stupid o'clock Sunday morning: 6.53k, 41:19

Whole week: 21.75k

A good week for running

After getting to green last week, I've been a bit more motivated to push myself a little harder (although, to be honest, not much harder!) in my last few runs. Well, the last two runs, the one before that was horrendous, pathetic pathetic pathetic, and my head phones broke.

Anyway, back to the aren't-I-great bit. I went out on Tuesday (with the boyfriend's headphones) with the intention of getting to 5k without stopping, but not really thinking I would do it. It's ridiculously hot now, and I'm feeling a bit lazy. At the start it was fairly grim, especially the bit where I have to go up and down some stairs to get around a blocked-off car park (no idea why it's blocked off though, you can access it the other way, it's not keeping anyone out of anywhere, and serves no purpose I can see except inconveniencing me!), but I managed to keep going through being tired and a horrible stitch to finish at 5.1km, average pace 6:01/k, and it was ALL running. Whoo! So we celebrated with Domino's 2 for 1 pizza, not the healthiest of choices...

Today was even better - I've been reading John Galloway's ideas about run/walking, and decided to try shorter run bits with shorter breaks between them, ending up with around 4 minutes 30 running followed by about a minute walking. My legs felt like lead, my knees were screaming (but I think mostly from wearing my work sandals too many days in a row) and it was even hotter than Tuesday, but there was still a bit of enjoyment there. And I didn't get angry at all the people on motorbikes trying to kill me. Except one, but he was running a red light, so he deserved it. It was a bit of a plod, but I got back eventually at 10.12k in 65:42. Oh, and I have new headphones. Cheap £2 'Sony' ones from a backpacker shop in town, sound a bit weird, but they'll do.

I'm really rather chuffed with myself, as it's the first time I've managed either of these workouts since before I started running again in January, and the first time in about a year if treadmills aren't counted (and I think they're cheating a bit, so no, they don't count). I'm going to reward myself by watching sci-fi and trying not to get too used to all the milestones!

GREEN!

I made it to 250km and the green level on Nike+, yay! The best part is now the Nike+ website isn't all disgustingly orange coloured, which was pretty ugly. I'd show you a picture, but I can't figure out where the print screen button is on the boyfriend's computer. Silly Macs!

Had a pretty good week running-wise. On Tuesday I had a very relaxed, no checking time/pace run where I comfortably managed just over 4.5k running continuously, with a super fast last 500m. Thursday was quite nice, but tonight's run was HOT, and my headphones broke in the middle of it. Hmph.

Totals for this week:

Tuesday - 4.68k, 5:83/k continuous running

Thursday - 6.56k, 6:18/k

Sunday - 5.67k, 6:09/k

Off to call the Japanese restaurant to see where the dinner I ordered a while ago is. I want my edamame!

Nine minutes away!

Only nine minutes of running till I make it to 250km and level green. Whoo! I had hoped I'd get there in today's run, but I went out for a continuous run, didn't ask my ipod how far I'd gone/how fast I was going, and had a great run and finished feeling good. So it'll have to wait till Thursday. I may have had a few celebratory drinks already though!

Milestone Number 2 (and a bit of retail therapy)

I did my first hour-long run in a very long time today. It hurt like hell towards the end, but managed not to wimp out and stop when my legs were begging me to just stay still at about 55min, so I'm pretty chuffed. And it was week of three x 3 - seems like I'll manage to keep going, whoo! I'm celebrating with bread, cheese and some yummy but very oily salami I found in the big supermarket yesterday. Quite a find in Asia! Not the healthiest of post-run meals, but my Nike+ thingy said I burned almost 700 calories, so I suppose I deserve it. And maybe a beer later too.

So, runs for this week:

Tuesday - 3.72k, 22:37 continuous running

Thursday - 6.14k, 38:50 5min run, 90sec walk, runs a bit faster

Sunday - 9.48k, 1:00:06 (just made it!) 5.5min run, 90 walk

Total - 19.35k, 2:01:22, av pace 6:16/k

And I'm also only 6k away from green on Nike+! Next run should do it I think - there'll definitely be a beer or two to celebrate that.

But far more importantly, I decided to go treat myself to some new running gear yesterday - I've been running in the same shorts and vest since I got here in September! I live fairly close to a huge supermarket/department store called Lotte Mart - it's a bit of a monstrosity, but at least it has a bit of sports clothing in addition to all the other crap (a safe with a picture of puppies on the front anyone?). There's the usual Nike and Adidas, but mostly tennis clothes, or things that would be far too warm to wear outside, and a tiny bit of New Balance. I confused the shop girls by actually wanting to try things on I think! Or maybe it was the armful of shirts that I took in with me. Anyway, found that all the sizings were Asian sizes, not normal sizes, so had to go get a load more bigger ones. Cue more confusion and giggles. I ended up with a plain New Balance vest - says it's ultrawick, but it's a bit warmer than the one I usually run in, and a pair of men's New Balance shorts. All the girl ones were tiny! Doll-sized even, and I am most definitely not doll-sized. I like these ones though, very airy, and very light. The Nike ones were quite thick, and a bit restrictive. And the colour matches my top much better, which is obviously far more important!

Here, you look!

I would like to point out that the weird way I'm standing is because I couldn't really fit me in the midget-height mirror we have, not because I have a freakishly twisted pelvis!

My legs hurt. Whimper!

Off-the-couch Randomness Project 1 COMPLETE!

OK, I'm cheating a little bit because I did about 90% of this project sitting on the couch watching endless sci-fi, but at least I was doing something constructive while I was sitting on the couch!

I made my boyfriend a fabric backgammon board for his birthday in July, and I was left with a huge amount of little scraps of fabric which I could either chuck out or turn into something a bit weird looking. I liked the fabric, so I went with the last one and started a patchwork scraps bag. This was in October or November I think, and I've only just finished it now! I love it, but sewing all the pieces together took a long time and got rather boring! And it used up most of my scraps, so I don't really have anything to keep in it at the moment, which is a little sad!

Here's some pics for you.

Inside-out before I started on the lining. Look at all the stitching I h

ad to do!

Just before the finish. At the top you can see the fabric that got used for the lining. It's from one of my favourite tops that wore through on the back, good to use it somewhere else.

Ta daa!! Finished bag. Also with a fine view of my apartment complex and rather dirty windows.

And here's the best bit - it's reversible! Completely unintended, but still pretty cool I think.

First Week of Three (and baking fail)

I passed a small milestone yesterday - I completed my second consecutive three-run-week in about two years. I really had fun in all three runs too, which also hasn't happened for a while. The milestone is for the second week, not the first, just in case the first one was a not-to-be-repeated-for-months fluke. But it wasn't, hurray! Now I just have to keep it up, eek....

Anyway, here are those all important stats.

Tuesday 15th: 7.77km, 51:56

Thursday 17th: 4.03km, 23:59

Sunday 20th: 6.06km, 38.40

Total for week: 17.87km, average pace 6:25/km

I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself. I haven't felt like a 'runner' in ages, but I've been progressing steadily (if slowly) since January, and now that I'm up to running three times a week I feel much closer to being able to say I'm a runner without feeling like a fraud.

Another thing that will help me shake off the creepy conman feeling is passing the 250km mark on Nike Plus. I use a little gizmo that plugs into my ipod to track the length and times of runs, then my ipod sticks them on the Nike Plus website. Clever eh? Anyway, the website has different levels depending on how far you've run. I'm on orange level at the moment, but am only 26km away from 250k and moving up to level green! Getting away from the nasty orange background will be wonderful, and I'll feel a lot less like a newbie.

My other off-the-couch activity yesterday didn't go quite so well. I attempted to make some shortbread biscuits last weekend, but the recipe was a bit off so I didn't put enough butter in, but realised too late, and ending up having to stick an egg in instead. Hence rather cakey biscuits. Last night I had another go - I've decided I really want some shortbread, no matter how long it takes! They didn't go to plan either. Straight after last night 's run I huffed and puffed and probably dripped sweat around the supermarket downstairs before they shut to grab some butter for the next batch, much to the amusement/horror of the staff. However, in my haste I forgot to get more flour. I did remember shower gel, but obviously not much use for biscuits. So this time I ended up with too much butter. See the oily results for yourself:

Bit of a baking fail. They look much better than last time, but don't be fooled, they are greasy and hard as rocks! Maybe next weekend I'll get it right...

Peeling Myself Off the Sofa

That's basically what this blog will be about. Mostly my efforts to get better at running, but also other random things that get me away from endless cheap DVDs and TV box-sets. Anyway, welcome, pour yourself a cup of tea and make yourself at home.

So, on to introductions! My name is Louise, I'm originally from the UK, but at the moment I live in Saigon (or Ho Chi Minh City if you're being pedantic, but no-one really calls it that, except Hanoians and tourists) with my boyfriend. I work as an English as a Foreign Language teacher, so I move around a lot. Other places I've worked are Hungary, China and Taiwan. I think Hungary is my favourite so far, but I'd love to live in Germany too.

I ran on and off while I was at school, but usually only because we had to. I always preferred it to team sports though - I'm not the most coordinated of people, and PE lessons were more ritual humiliation than exercise, so running was relatively appealing. At uni I started doing a bit of jogging to try to burn off the ridiculous amounts of beer I was drinking, but it didn't go too well. I'd basically just go out and run for as long as I could. Not particularly fun! I started running

more seriously when I was living in Budapest, and fell in love. It probably helps that Budapest is a fantastic place to run - it's mostly flat, there are foot paths down the river, there's a running track around Margit Sziget, an island in the middle of the Danube, and the roads are quiet enough if you want to go explore around town. How could you not love running here?

I did a 6.5k race after a few months, and didn't come last (yay!), ran in a relay marathon (I only did 7k, not the greatest achievement), and then signed up for the Budapest Half Marathon in September 2009. I got round, and stumbled across the finish line in 2:12:27. Admittedly with (more than) a few walk breaks though, so I can't saw I really 'ran' it. After that work and studying and life got a bit too much to fit much running around, and I didn't really manage much for most of the next year.

So, now we get to Saigon. It's hot, it's humid, it's horribly polluted, it's busy. Not exactly the best running location. But I am determined to get back into running. I love running for the feeling of mental space, as well as feeling that I've done something good for myself, and I need that here more than ever! After some half-hearted treadmill training for the Siem Reap half marathon in December (which, sadly never happened), I decided that I would have to get away from the gym and get outside if I was going to run, no matter how uncomfortable it was. That was January, and I'm still going.

I started this blog to help me motivate myself to keep going. I'm progressing rather slower than I would like, and find it really hard to get out of the door as runs are nowhere near as interesting, or enjoyable as in Budapest. In fact, they're often downright boring, painful plods around the same circuit. There is also an almost complete lack of races in this part of the world, something which I usually find a great motivator. I'm hoping to be able to run 10k non-stop before we leave (I'm up to 5k at the moment), and do another half-marathon in spring 2012.

I also find it hard to motivate myself to do pretty much anything these days. Lying on the couch watching DVDs is much easier than getting out into the sweltering heat to do something in town, and now I'm in such a DVD-rut I find it difficult even to do other things around the house, like baking or craft projects. I'm hoping this blog will help me do some more interesting things. Not sure quite what though!

So, I'll be posting here about my running, and all the other randomness I will hopefully be miraculously motivated into doing.