i'm a fitness freak (but you knew that)

image courtesy of fitness freak 

Have you heard of Fitness Freak?

It's a fabulous one-stop web site where you can find and book fitness classes in London - whether you're into yoga and want to try out a range of studios or a cyclist who wants to spin all over the city, it's a great way to see what's on offer at the best gyms and studios at a time and in the area convenient to you.  In addition, they also run fab fitness-themed events, including a 90s style underground rave disguised as a fitness class which is coming up on June 5 and sounds awesome! I recently re-watched the first series of the 90s TV show Spaced and am feeling a bit nostalgic for the Eurodance and glo-stick filled nightclubbing of my late teens ;)

Fitness Freak also have an online magazine that has all kinds of cool fitness-themed articles and reviews, including a "day in the life" segment which this week features yours truly!

If you're in London, what's your favourite gym or studio (or park!)?
And are you a Spaced fan too?! :) 

i am this person

Just a little thought for your Friday....I hope you're having a good day :)

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"At a certain point in your life, 

Probably when too much of it has gone by, 

You will open your eyes and see yourself for who you are. 

Especially for everything that made you so different from all the awful normals. 

And you will say to yourself, “But I am this person.” 

And in that statement, that correction, there will be a kind of love." 

– Miss Dodger, Phoebe in Wonderland

race report: julia jones running festival half half marathon (10.5km)

The U&R crew at the start line with our coach

Buon giorno tutti!  I had a wonderful time in Bologna last week with the Up and Running alumni.  Imagine a bunch of awesome inspiring women, to-die-for food and wine, a beautiful medieval Italian city, a kick-arse coach and a very enjoyable 10.5km race.....it was heaven and I didn't want it to end.

I have a separate post brewing on the foodie's paradise that is Bologna...but this post is all about the running.  Which, as evidenced in the pictures above, thank God I was there to do! :)

You've heard me talk about the awesomeness of Up and Running's online running programmes on here before and I've been coached by Julia for the marathon a few years back now....but this spring I took part in one of their structured programmes with other women from all over the world. I did the 10k course, which is an eight week programme designed to get you running a 10k race, and enjoying it, by the end.  I'd had a very lazy winter and had kind of lost my running mojo.  This course gave it back to me in spades.  It's amazing the difference it makes when your routine is just shaken up a bit and you feel motivated again.

And that's just the running side of things - the social side of U&R is brilliant. The support from the other people doing the course is heart-warming and utterly fantastic, I've made heaps of new friends.  It's like a virtual running club!

So, as an Up and Running alumni, I was eligible to participate in their annual retreat in Bologna, Italy, which I was very quick to put my hand up for - I'd had so much fun on the forum I knew I'd have fun with everyone in person :)

The retreat included, among many other wonderful things, a boot camp with our coach, Julia, on the Friday; some personalised coaching for improving our technique (I have lots of glute strengthening exercises on my schedule now!); and running either a 6km or a 10.5km race through Bologna on the Sunday as part of the Julia Jones Running Festival.  Yes, our coach has a running festival named in her honour!  She has done amazing work for raising the profile of women's running in Italy.

Sunday morning dawned bright and early, we were all up and raring to go!  I was sharing a room at the B&B with three other women so we were all quite excited and helped each other get ready which allayed any race nerves.  I had been a bit worried about my rather epic wander around Florence the day before as I had been a bit sore when I went to bed.  I also had blisters.  Thank God for Compeed!

The B&B put on a daily breakfast spread which included some delicious orange-scented croissants that I became a bit addicted to, but which I stoically turned down that morning and instead chomped away on my usual pre-race fare of toast and jam, banana, plain yoghurt and black coffee.  Then we all headed up to Piazza Maggiore for the start:

Photo courtesy of fellow U&R retreater Sunita 

The start time was meant to be 10am but the announcers chatted on for about 15 minutes...which was fine but some of us were starting to need the loo again! I didn't know if I really needed to go or if it was just nerves/desperation to get started.  Turns out it was the second one and my no-toilet record for races has been maintained!

Finally the pink balloons were released and we were off!

Image courtesy of Shauna

The race had a great turnout so it was a little crowded at the start but eventually the walkers and runners separated out and we could all fall into our own rhythms.  The race started off through Via Rizzoli, Bologna's answer to Oxford Street, and out to the outskirts, around and back in again.  It was a warm, almost muggy, overcast day with storm clouds brewing just over the horizon.  

Having not done the 10km distance for a few months, I had no goals for the race other than to run the whole thing and have a good time.  I didn't have any music with me so I soaked up the atmosphere and enjoyed the surroundings.  Bologna is a really charming medieval city and I kind of had to pinch myself that I was there, pounding the cobblestone lanes, passing ancient churches and Renaissance fountains.  I couldn't really stop and take any pictures (!) but it was beautiful.  I took pictures with my eyes instead. 

My mantra for the race was enjoy it.  Enjoy being there, on those ancient picturesque streets.  Enjoy being fit and healthy enough to run, any distance.  Enjoy the feeling of satisfaction that comes from knuckling down, sticking to the programme and getting motivated again!  I felt strong, happy and comfortable.  Just what I wanted.

In boot camp on Friday, Julia had impressed on us the importance of noticing our feet during running so that was something I tried to focus on during this race.  I concentrated on foot turnover rather than making my strides bigger in order to go faster.  It really worked!  

But otherwise, I was really in the zone for this race.  I don't remember a lot about the individual stages - some kilometre markers I don't remember seeing at all!  But that can be a good thing, there's nothing like the surge of adrenalin you get when you think you're about to see the 8km marker and it's 9km instead!  My fellow U&R 10k course participants, Tessa and Jennie, had been right in front of me since the start and I figured if I could keep up with them I'd be happy.  But at 6km, or thereabouts, they slowed down for a drinking break and I passed them!  Then I just tried to keep in front of the lady in the purple t-shirt, whose footfall I could hear behind me for the rest of the race.

At the 9km mark, there were some locals standing and watching who called something out to me - I responded with my very basic Italian "nove!  Uno altero!" ("nine! One more!").  I was told later that was very formal Italian to use...the locals were probably most amused!

The finale was coming up to the entrance of Parco della Montagnola, up a bit of a hill and then around the park where we'd done our boot camp a few days before.  I sprinted towards the finish line,  where I could see all the U&R ladies who had already finished waiting on the other side cheering.  The announcer also called out my name - "FILL-EE-PA MOOR-AY!" - as I crossed the line. It was awesome, I felt like a rockstar :) 

Then it was hugs and water and goody bag time!  There was an area after the finish where we could help ourselves to water, iced tea, bananas and what looked like a brownie but was actually a "Good Morning" chocolate cereal breakfast bar. And instead of a medal, we got a Running Festival portable bag hook, to hang your bag from on a table when you're out and about, which is already proving very handy:

After showers back at the B&B, we all headed out - in the torrential rain, the storm had finally started - for pizza, beer and gelato to celebrate.  What an awesome day!

Gelateria Gianni is where it's at.  

I really, really enjoyed this race.  My official chip time was 1:06:54 which I was happy with and it's not too far off my best time for the 10k.  I was just stoked with the return to form and the return of my mojo, to be honest.  When I think about where I was in February, as both the winter and my lack of motivation with running showed no signs of disappearing, in just eight weeks things were very different.  I'm back baby!  Whether you're a complete beginner or you're more experienced but feeling a bit stale and in need of a challenge and some support, I can't recommend the Up and Running courses highly enough.

Coach Julia (far right) with the Spring 10k course participants who made it to Bologna

Bring on the next 10km race....maybe that's the distance I'll rock this year :)

But during the retreat, the two Paulas planted the seed of us running the Barcelona Marathon together next year so who knows!

ice ice baby: my spa adventure tour in reykjavik, iceland

My trip to Iceland a few weeks ago was utterly incredible.  If you haven't been, you really need to add it to your list.  I'm already plotting a return visit!  I've written about the highlights of the trip over at cosmopolitan.co.uk so do check it out!

One of my favourite days was spent exploring the glaciers in a Jeep, where I saw snow whiter than I thought it was possible for snow to be.  The glaciers were shimmering with a white glow, it was blinding, like a movie scene in heaven where all you can see is white. The further we drove, the thicker the snow and the fresher the air.  All you could hear was the sound of the wind and the crunch of boots through the thick snow.

Iceland is full of natural beauty - geysers, waterfalls, rivers, fields with grass the colour of sand.  It's utterly stunning and you feel humbled being in the presence of these majestic mountains that have been standing since the dawn of time; breathing such pure fresh air, purer and fresher than your lungs have ever tasted, so pure you're certain five years of London smog and the half dozen cigarettes you've smoked in your life are now expelled from your system.

It floors you.  It silences you.  And it makes you realise how we really must look after this planet of ours.

Seriously, if you ever get the chance to go to Iceland, go - you will be spellbound!  And very relaxed if you happen to make the Blue Lagoon your first stop, like I did.....

Read more about my trip to Iceland and my favourite things that I saw, did and ate (it's always about the food for me, let's face it!) over at cosmopolitan.co.uk

Next.....all about Bologna, the Up and Running retreat and the Running Festival - stay tuned!

races coming up

After recommitting to regular training in March with the Up and Running 10k programme, my first race of 2013 is this week!

I'll be running the Half Half Marathon (in other words, 10.5km!) at the Julia Jones Running Festival in Bologna, Italy this Sunday.  I'm so excited, I've never done a race in another country besides the UK and Australia - this will be my international debut (ish!).

In June, I'll be doing another 10k - the Zest Alpro challenge which is an adventure course in Henley-on-Thames.  There's still time to join me for that one, you can do either the 5k or the 10k.

And then, the week after the Zest Alpro challenge, I'm doing the Loomba Foundation 5k in Hyde Park - I should aim to get a PB for that one as it's a lovely flat course and takes place in the part of Hyde Park where the Brownlee brothers had their Olympic triathlon victory. It's a great chance to support a wonderful cause too - the Loomba Foundation work to support widows in third world countries where they and their children often struggle to survive and face both social isolation and poverty.

After watching lots of people get their spring racing season off to a great start with the Brighton, London and Manchester marathons these past few weeks, I'm excited to finally get my season started too!

What's your next race?

eight years later

On Monday afternoon, I lugged a giant suitcase and backpack home from Gatwick Airport, through the arteries of London’s underground and on to the National Rail.  The extra weight was debilitating and left me feeling slow and tired.  Interestingly, thanks to weighing and checking the bags in as I left Reykjavik, I discovered that the combined weight of the suitcase and backpack was 27.5kg.

Exactly the amount of weight I lost seven years ago.  Today actually, to the day.  A coincidence, I wondered?  Possibly not J  But no wonder I was exhausted!

It’s strange to think that that one decision I made, on 25 April 2005, and all the phenomenal change that followed it, was the best part of a decade ago now.  In many ways I feel every one of those eight years – it does seem a very, very long time ago now, almost like it happened to someone else – and yet it feels like no time at all.  I still marvel that, not that long ago, my life was completely different.

I hate to think where I might be right now had I taken another path.  Had I remained oblivious to how much power I actually had to be the architect of my own destiny; had I kept telling myself I didn’t deserve the things in life I desperately wanted; had I not stepped up in that moment, staring very clearly into the future I would have if things never changed, and the glimmer of hope of how life could be if they did. 

I had no way of knowing what would happen because of something so simple, something I had in fact attempted to do countless times before – lose some weight and get my health under control.  It turned out it was a doorway into everything else that was possible in my life if I stopped making excuses, stopped giving up every time something got hard and started believing in myself.

I must emphasise that losing weight will not automatically make you happy, far from it.  Not everyone is unhappy being overweight….but I was.  And in actual fact, I wasn’t unhappy because I was overweight, I was overweight because I was unhappy.  And realising that was what made all the difference.   If being happy was my goal, then everything else was just a bonus.  

Was I scared?  Maybe not at first but as time went on I certainly was.  Sometimes I still am.  It’s all very well to see your problems and situation in the harsh light of day but where do you go from there?  At the start of a very long road, the thought of taking even one step is terrifying.  By being aware of what is holding you back, taking steps to do something about it means change.  Changing your life.  And not everything in your old life will survive the journey to the new one.  That’s definitely a good thing.  They get replaced with better things.  Fear gets replaced with strength.  Excuses get replaced with goals.  Self loathing gets replaced with self respect.  Lies get replaced with the truth.  And mundane everyday life gets replaced with adventure! 

Even now I’m still not sure what it was, but in that moment, on 25 April 2005, something in me snapped.  Suddenly, the sadness, self-pity and frustration at being so far from where I wanted to be just vanished.  I finally realised that would get me nowhere.  I needed a plan.  I needed to be positive.  I was fucked if I was going to spend another minute of my life dissatisfied, broken-hearted, bored, negative, frightened and in the corner.  All of that had to change.  The only way I was going to get what I wanted was if I started, right then that very second, and didn’t stop. 

Normally, seeing 103.5kg on the scale would have sent me into a spiral of depression, feeling useless and hopeless, wondering what on earth was the point, and my emotional GPS would have sent me straight to the freezer for a 4 litre tub of ice-cream.  But this time it was different.  It wasn’t a moment to feel depressed.  It was actually a moment to celebrate.  Little did I know what I’d started.

So friends, I urge you, whatever your goals are in life, run towards them.  Run towards your brightest, best life.  Don’t leave it another minute.  Start running, keep going and don’t stop.  

Whatever might have happened to you up to now, whatever decisions or mistakes you might have made, whatever unhelpful beliefs or behaviours you might have, don’t worry.  Just draw a line.  Today is a brand new start.  Right now.  Don’t beat yourself up about the past.  Use it only as a measure of how bloody far you’ve come.

No situation is ever hopeless.  You’d be surprised how much change can come about just from making one small decision.  I am living proof of it.

iceland bound!

I'm off to Iceland today! Heading over for a few days of exploring and writing about it for Cosmo - watch out for my article soon :)

Blue Lagoon Spa
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Have you been to Iceland?