Photo a day day 31

31st January 2012.
My new silicone moulds from Sew White. Also a mini pack of love hearts that were in the packaging.

Photo a day day 30

30th January 2012.
My friend Kimberley invited me over for lunch and to have a go at baking florentines. Here she is 'cleaning out' the bowl from the melted chocolate :-)

Review of the week

So this week my running and healthy eating efforts have been a bit pathetic!
I have ran on 3 days and walked on two. Total mileage for the week was 11.22. So in fact that isn't awful. I just need to be doing slightly longer runs and not missing any short runs.

My current total for the year is 55.3miles. Tomorrow a new week starts and I have renewed enthusiasm. I aim to get to at least 70miles total by bedtime next Sunday.

Photo a day day 29

29th January 2012.
Soft boiled eggs and toasted multiseed bread for breakfast.

Photo a day day 28

28th January 2012.
The cactus I saved from certain death! Currently living on the draining board in our utility room.

Photo a day day 27

27th January 2012.
Raspberry ruffle bars bought yesterday at the Cadbury outlet store.
My Nan used to love raspberry ruffles back in the days when they were individually wrapped sweets available from the pick n mix at Woolworth's.
These always remind me of her.

Photo a day day 26

26th January 2012.
New running shoes. They are a turquoise/baby blue type colour that doesn't show in the photo. Supposed to be £75 but I got them for £25 at the factory outlet store. Awesome :-)

Photo a day day 25

25th January 2012.
Milo just after our walk.

Photo a day day 24

24th January 2012.
My medal collection: Three years of Silverstone half marathons, two years of Swindon half marathons, one race for life and one London Marathon. Hope to add at least three more medals to my collection this year.
Think these are proof that a bit of grit and determination get you a long way. Also a big f you to those that laughed and thought I couldn't do it when I signed up for my first half marathon. Anything is possible if you believe :-)

Targets for this week and update on last weeks targets

So last week I set myself four targets: go one day without eating any junk. Not quite achieved I ate much more healthily on a few days but still had the odd treat.
Get up to 50miles total. I had 6 more miles to do yesterday after work but someone was off sick so I ended up working 9am-10.30pm so didn't get the run in.
Lose one lb is done and
Apply for at least three jobs is done.

So targets for this week hmmm.

Target one: lose one pound in weight.
Target two: apply for at least five jobs.
Target three: 25miles total for the week. I think this mileage is quite ambitious but aim high is what I say.

Have a good week everyone.

Low fat orange oaties

I made these using a recipe from the 'Best-Ever book of cookies' by Catherine Atkinson.

The oats I used were not toasted, I had no caster sugar so used light soft brown instead, no orange to use zest of and I ran out of honey so used less!

Recipe I was supposed to use below

Makes about 16
175g honey
120ml orange juice
90g rolled oats lightly toasted
115g plain flour
115g golden caster sugar
Finely grated rind of one orange
1tsp bicarbonate of soda

1. Preheat oven to 180c. Line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
2. Put honey and orange juice in a small pan and simmer over a low heat for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally until thick and syrupy.
3. Put the oats, flour, sugar and orange rind into a bowl.
4. Mix the bicarbonate of soda with 1tbsp boiling water and add to the flour mixture together with the honey syrup. Mix well.
5. Place spoonfuls of the mixture onto the prepared baking sheets, spaced slightly apart and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown. Leave to cool on the sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

These are listed as being 110kcals per oatie.

Photo a day day 23

23rd January 2012.
My awesome new mug. Looks kind of like a plant pot and on the side not showing in the photo is a picture of a very girly looking plant pot.

Photo a day day 22

22nd January 2012.
Blister! And also to the right the almost healed remains of my blister from two weeks ago. (sorry if you are grossed out)

Photo a day day 21

21st January 2012.
Overwintering cauliflower and broccoli. Slightly bug eaten but survived the frosts so far.

Photo a day day 20

20th January 2012.
Bread rising in a covered bowl.

Photo a day day 19

19th January 2012.
A box containing some of my cookbooks.

Photo a day day 18

18th January 2012.
Muesli for breakfast.

Photo a day day 17

17th January 2012.
Wholemeal bread I made in the breadmaker.

Photo a day day 16

16th January 2012.
My friend slipped on some ice on the way to my house and bumped her car. Photo of the damage.

Goals for the week

I am setting myself a few goals for this week. As in by the end of the day next Sunday. I have five shifts at work this week so need to use the rest of my time efficiently.

Goal one: apply for at least three jobs.

Goal two: get my total mileage so far this year up to 50miles.

Goal three: have one day where I don't eat any junk food.

Goal four: lose 1lb.

There we go! I needed to make some goals to motivate myself. They are reasonably easy to achieve goals but still require some effort. Hope everyone has a good week.

Photo a day day 15

15th January 2012.
My mini lemon tree with mini lemons.

Photo a day day 14

When I awoke this morning there was a mighty frost and it was -6C I took a photo of the winter wonderland type whiteness but it doesn't really show in the photo. Some places in the shade are still frozen now at nearly 2pm.

14th January 2012.

Photo a day day 13

So this photo was taken yesterday and made it into the Facebook album yesterday but only onto the blog today.

13th January 2012.
My friend Amy with our baking: smartie cookie tray bake and chocolate cheesecake.

Photo a day day 12

12th January 2012.
My Heart Runners welcome pack arrived.

Photo a day day 11

11th January 2012.
My dinner: Chilli with brown rice.

Training

So I am now in week two of my 16 week training plan for the London Marathon 2012.
I got my first blister yesterday. My own fault really as I am so untidy I couldn't find any clean running socks so just wore some normal trainer socks which don't come far enough up my heel so yesterday I had trainer rubbing straight onto bare skin for my run. Oops. Considering buying a couple more pairs of running socks anyway. Although I think I will wait until pay day as I am trying not to spend much money during January.

I have stuck to the training plan do far. Today is a rest day and I was considering going to an exercise class but that wouldn't be resting and my legs are slightly achy from yesterday's run so I have decided to give it a miss and save myself for tomorrows run.

I got my first sponsor for the marathon today :-) yippee and thanks very much to that person.

I am running in aid of the British Heart Foundation this year. A brilliant cause I'm sure you'll agree. If you would like to sponsor please visit virginmoneygiving.com/SophieCrees

Thanks. Also please repost the link if you can. I now have twitter so if anyone would like to follow me I am @Sophinda1

In other news I have been job hunting and general getting the house in order type things recently.

Hope everyone is having a good week x

Photo a day day ten

So it's quite hard to think of something to take a photo of when I am not really doing anything interesting.

10th January 2012.

Some of the garlic I planted last week happily growing away.

Photo a day day 9

9th January 2012.
Our small Christmas tree planted out in the patch of garden behind the garage that is normally left to its own devices.

Photo a day day eight

8th January 2012. Me before my run this morning. With my lucky hat on and last years marathon finisher t-shirt.

Photo a day day seven

Today's photo had to be taken early as I am going to work soon and will be there all day.

I am really fussy about how I have my tea so I give you day seven the perfect cuppa.

7th January 2012.
The perfect cuppa.

Photo a day day six

6th January 2012.

Merlin my rabbit enjoying being out in his run in the sunshine and jumping up to sniff the camera.

So I wonder whether in my resolution to update my blog at least once a week my posting a photo a day can count?

I now have the blogger app on my phone which makes updating easier. My laptop is old and slow so updating my blog previously required a lot more effort and patience.

Hopefully now I will do a general update at least once a week as well as posting photos.

I am a wee bit bored at this precise moment. The only shift at work I have this week is on Saturday so I have a lot of time to myself this week. I have done my job hunting for the day and I could do a bit of tidying but I'm just not in the mood.

I'm also in the I could read a book or do a jigsaw orwatch tv but I don't feel like settling to any of that kind of mood.

So I guess I'll just be bored then!

Photo a day day five

5th January 2012.
Lunch. Homemade butternut squash and sweet potato soup with toasted gluten free bread.

At the moment I am having a gluten free week to see if it helps with my nausea and tummy pains.

Photo a day day four

So I spent some of my evening making a slightly jazzy training plan chart. As it is now past midnight and therefore the 4th I took a picture and I give you photo a day day four and the caption I wrote for the Facebook picture.


4th January 2012. Princess Sophinda's Marathon Training Plan. Yes I have too much time on my hands. I feel it needs jazzing up. I may add some photos of previous races for inspiration. Once I find my cupcake stickers each completed run will get a sticker.

Photo a day day three

3rd January 2012 Rain and wind here

Photo a day day two

2nd January 2012.

My strawberry plant in flower and with strawberries on. Took this photo as it is completely the wrong time of year for strawberries.

Photo a Day 2012 Day One

1st January 2012.
Some of the overwintering onions I am going to plant. A new year is a time for fresh starts, new beginnings and hope for the future. I feel that growing plants is in a way similar. So planting these is symbolic of the new year.