2nd karaoke night photos!

We had our second karaoke night yesterday at Lucky Voice. Unfortunately, Dr G and Su-Bo had to drop out at the last minute. A good time was had by all (hopefully!) and particular highlights for me were the renditions of The Bloodhound Gang's 'The Ballad of Chasey Lain' and Justin Timberlake's 'SexyBack'! The only lowlight was having to admit that I was the one who put Justin Bieber on...

Benjamin treating us to some Barry White. Or was it the Bloodhound Gang?!

Gemma carefully considering her song choice ...

Or was she?!

355 days to go!

Yesterday was the day of the London Marathon, which I should have been running if it weren't for an pesky injury. It was also the first time that I've been to watch the whole race and after racing around (not literally) to see the start and then various points along the way (Greenwich, Westferry, Embankment), I was exhausted!

It was great to go and see where I'll be lining up next year and get some good practical advice on the course from JT. What a difference between the happy and excited runners at Greenwich (6 miles) and the tired and sore runners along the Embankment (24-25 miles)! I kind of wish that I'd only seen Greenwich and then I could fool myself that it was smiles and laughter for the whole 26.2 miles ...

I came back full of inspirations and with some recommendations from other people from the running club about which physio to try for some more specialist running advice than my former physio could offer. I now have a year to raise the remaining £1300 towards my target and no excuse for reaching - if not exceeding - it! It's our second karaoke night today, which should kick off the next phase of my fundraising nicely :-)

What I didn't mention in my last post was that I'd been persuaded by JT to go to the first of the Assembly League fixtures the following day. I was easily swayed by the promise of a short and easy race, with "runners of all standards" and just a "little" hill at the beginning. Considering that my only previous race experience had been a 10K Race for Life last year - in which I'd finished near the front of the pack - having hundreds of serious club runners overtake me at the start of the race was a humbling experience! Nethertheless, as I hadn't run much for several runs, I was pleased with a time of under 24 mins (2.8 miles) and very happy not to be last at least :-)

After some discussion with JT, I'm thinking that the Dublin marathon in October might not be a good idea. My injury is getting better but I still have pain after a few miles and don't want to rush back into an intensive training schedule too soon. So the alternative is to wait until the London marathon next year and do a half marathon in the autumn. But which one?! There is a possibility that I'll be in Montreal for a conference justbefore the half-marathon there, which would be a great reason to extend my stay for some sightseeing and running. My other choice was the Royal Parks half marathon in London this October but apparently that's already sold out. There is the Run to the Beat half marathon at the end of September - quite a new and funky one by the look of it.

However, I'm aware of my recent run of paying to enter races that I'm then not able to take part in due to injury and think I may have previously blogged about tempting fate!

In da club

I went to running club last Wednesday for the first time in more than two months. I was pleased to manage a fair paced five mile run although my hamstring was up to its normal tricks by the end. Two hours later, my hip/hamstring had completely stiffened up but I had enjoyed catching up with my fellow runners, a refreshing drink and some cheesy bar snacks!

I'll continue with the stretching/strengthening and delay running again until my muscles have recovered. At least the evenings are lighter now that the clocks have gone forward so some post-work running is just waiting to be enjoyed :-)