Early rise and into the swimming pool for training today. I swam 20 x 25m lengths and felt much better doing it, less tired and my arms are definitely getting stronger. I am well on the way to my target distance of 24 lengths per day for the duration of the charity swim. Donations now up to £20 (thank you for your kindness) so I am well on my way to my target to raise £100 for Aspire.
Eli and I went to Brunton Park to see Carlisle play Preston in the totes.com league cup this afternoon. Goals from Ryan Bowman and the new trialist Yannik Salem saw us through to a clear and well deserved victory. I look forward to the home match against Swindon on Saturday ^.^
After the match Eli and I did some shopping then stopped by Liz's to mop up the lake in the kitchen (freezer is defrosting due to power outtage).
Home finally and time to catch up with blogs and such like.
Mine's a cup of hot water please....
Tuesday, 31 August 2010
Monday, 30 August 2010
Score!
Today I got up early and made cheese omelette for breakfast. I went swimming and completed 18 x 25m lengths in 18 minutes, a new personal best for 2010. I am very pleased with the way my training is going at the moment.
I returned home and got changed before heading out with Eli to Brunton Park. It was open training day today with an opportunity to meet the players and get autographs and photographs so we were really looking forward to it. Eli had her photo taken with Matty Robson, her favourite player.
I got changed again when we got home. Hazel and I went out on the ministry today, starting off with a call on one of my neighbours, then some street witnessing in town. As the continental market was there for the Bank Holiday, the city centre was very busy, so I was able to speak to a few people. Hazel and I had a nice time, even though we didn't get much response.
When I got home, our friend (ex-neighbour) Steve called round for a cup of tea in the garden and to spend some time with his favourite cat, Maulberry. She used to go visit him when he lived in Charles Street, and she misses him now that he has gone to Longtown to live, so it was nice for him to come round for a quick visit to see her again.
Finally, after getting changed (again) Eli and I went round to Liz's house to check everything was ok. The power was off, so we took the stuff from the fridge and freezer to bring to our home to keep here, as she will not be returning until Wednesday. I don't think the ice cream will last that long ^.^
Cooking dinner now...
I returned home and got changed before heading out with Eli to Brunton Park. It was open training day today with an opportunity to meet the players and get autographs and photographs so we were really looking forward to it. Eli had her photo taken with Matty Robson, her favourite player.
I got changed again when we got home. Hazel and I went out on the ministry today, starting off with a call on one of my neighbours, then some street witnessing in town. As the continental market was there for the Bank Holiday, the city centre was very busy, so I was able to speak to a few people. Hazel and I had a nice time, even though we didn't get much response.
When I got home, our friend (ex-neighbour) Steve called round for a cup of tea in the garden and to spend some time with his favourite cat, Maulberry. She used to go visit him when he lived in Charles Street, and she misses him now that he has gone to Longtown to live, so it was nice for him to come round for a quick visit to see her again.
Finally, after getting changed (again) Eli and I went round to Liz's house to check everything was ok. The power was off, so we took the stuff from the fridge and freezer to bring to our home to keep here, as she will not be returning until Wednesday. I don't think the ice cream will last that long ^.^
Cooking dinner now...
Sunday, 29 August 2010
New Personal Best
This morning I swam 16 x 25m lengths which is my new personal best for 2010. I am ahead of target in my training for the Aspire Channel Swim, and feeling confident that I will manage to complete the challenge.
This afternoon I attended a meeting for worship at the Kingdom Hall and we had a lovely talk about the benefit of meditating on things to gain deeper insight and understanding.
It is a very windy day, and I had to fight the gale all the way home on the mobility scooter, and felt really cold when I finally arrived home.
Tomorrow being a Bank Holiday I may go swimming but I will have to be early because Eli and I are going to Brunton Park for 10.30am for the open training session with Carlisle United Football Club.
Catch you later!
This afternoon I attended a meeting for worship at the Kingdom Hall and we had a lovely talk about the benefit of meditating on things to gain deeper insight and understanding.
It is a very windy day, and I had to fight the gale all the way home on the mobility scooter, and felt really cold when I finally arrived home.
Tomorrow being a Bank Holiday I may go swimming but I will have to be early because Eli and I are going to Brunton Park for 10.30am for the open training session with Carlisle United Football Club.
Catch you later!
Saturday, 28 August 2010
Ahead of Target!
Hello again ^.^
Update re: Aspire Channel Swim 2010 training - This morning I swam 14 x 25m lengths, a new pb for the year. I am now ahead of my target working towards 24 x 25m lengths per day for the charity challenge next month.
Re: Mum - had text today asking if I had phoned her (I did, but nobody picked up) informing me that the signal may be better in Cork.....! (Does she think she has told me about this trip before? Even more worrying, HAS she told me about this trip before and I have completely forgotten?... argh.. I can't think about it now!)
Re: Carlisle United Football Club - there is an open training day with opportunities to meet the players and get autographs ^.^ on Monday from 10.30 to 12.30 at Brunton Park. Eli and I will be going, naturally ^.^
I have guests coming over for lunch so I must cut this short and get back to my cooking.
Best wishes
Update re: Aspire Channel Swim 2010 training - This morning I swam 14 x 25m lengths, a new pb for the year. I am now ahead of my target working towards 24 x 25m lengths per day for the charity challenge next month.
Re: Mum - had text today asking if I had phoned her (I did, but nobody picked up) informing me that the signal may be better in Cork.....! (Does she think she has told me about this trip before? Even more worrying, HAS she told me about this trip before and I have completely forgotten?... argh.. I can't think about it now!)
Re: Carlisle United Football Club - there is an open training day with opportunities to meet the players and get autographs ^.^ on Monday from 10.30 to 12.30 at Brunton Park. Eli and I will be going, naturally ^.^
I have guests coming over for lunch so I must cut this short and get back to my cooking.
Best wishes
Friday, 27 August 2010
Just one of those days...
This morning I managed to swim 12 lengths, a new PB for this year and on target for my 24 lengths per day schedule once the charity swim starts. So far so good...
Then the bad stuff started. Alex is in hospital (heart attack) in an inaccessible part of West Cumbria. I have no spare funds and no transport and nobody to take me there so it is sit at home and fret time when I should BE THERE.
Next.. when trying to find info in order to get sorted ref Alex.. found out that my Mum has gone to Galway. As far as I knew, she was going to be in Yorkshire for a few days then back home. I wonder why, when I am the one doing the research into the IRISH side of the family tree.. nobody bothers to inform me ahead of time that such a visit is likely??? And why do I only find out because I take the trouble to call one of my family? They ALL have phones, mobiles and the internet, and I never get told anything unless it is bad news for ME, and not always then.
Maybe because nobody gives a damn about telling me anything anyway.
In future, my family (and I use the term advisedly) can just get on with it.
So here we are on a Friday evening, miles away from the one member of my family I can say without reservations treats me like family, while he lies in hospital with almost nobody to visit him!
Life can be the pits sometimes.
Then the bad stuff started. Alex is in hospital (heart attack) in an inaccessible part of West Cumbria. I have no spare funds and no transport and nobody to take me there so it is sit at home and fret time when I should BE THERE.
Next.. when trying to find info in order to get sorted ref Alex.. found out that my Mum has gone to Galway. As far as I knew, she was going to be in Yorkshire for a few days then back home. I wonder why, when I am the one doing the research into the IRISH side of the family tree.. nobody bothers to inform me ahead of time that such a visit is likely??? And why do I only find out because I take the trouble to call one of my family? They ALL have phones, mobiles and the internet, and I never get told anything unless it is bad news for ME, and not always then.
Maybe because nobody gives a damn about telling me anything anyway.
In future, my family (and I use the term advisedly) can just get on with it.
So here we are on a Friday evening, miles away from the one member of my family I can say without reservations treats me like family, while he lies in hospital with almost nobody to visit him!
Life can be the pits sometimes.
Thursday, 26 August 2010
The thing about personal best is...
First things first.. the Aspire Channel Swim. This is my third year of participation in this charity event. The objective is to swim the distance of the English Channel (22 miles) in a swimming pool during a 12 week period. This year it starts on 13th September, so there is not much time left for preparation and training.
The first year I took part with a team named "Swim Like Bricks", chosen because between myself, Eli and Joan, the team members, none of us could swim far or well. Eli and I had only just started going to the pool. My personal best was 2 lengths at the time, and Eli could about manage a width of the pool. Joan was our star member with a personal best of about 40 lengths. To cut a long story short, we completed the distance as a team, and individually we managed 22 miles for Eli and myself. Joan completed 20 miles before having to retire due to ill health.
Last year the same team (this time named "Fantasy Starfish") plus a few good friends, took part again, and completed the distance as a team. I managed to finish the 22 miles individually as well. Eli was recovering from major surgery and was not able to do very much, but she still supported us well. Joan and I have since had deteriorating health, and have not been back to swimming for almost the entire year since the event.
That brings us to this year's swim. I am going solo for this event as Eli will not be well enough to take part, neither will Joan. I have begun my training and so far (this morning) managed a personal best of 10 lengths - a distance of 250m. To complete the 22 miles I have to swim 1416 lengths of our local 25m pool. I plan to do about 24 lengths mondays to fridays with weekends off. This gives me the opportunity to catch up if I have to miss a day through poor health or for other reasons.
Why am I telling you this?
Two reasons:-
1) Aspire do wonderful work, and I want more people to know about the charity and about the Channel Swim.
2) I want you to support me with messages of encouragement on this blog, and , if you can afford it, I want you to please make a small donation to the charity using my fundraising page online at www.justgiving.com/JosieMAlderton-MakingWaves
It doesn't matter how small an amount you donate, they all add up!
Thanks for reading. Please visit my fundraising page soon, and check back on this blog for regular updates about the Swim.
The first year I took part with a team named "Swim Like Bricks", chosen because between myself, Eli and Joan, the team members, none of us could swim far or well. Eli and I had only just started going to the pool. My personal best was 2 lengths at the time, and Eli could about manage a width of the pool. Joan was our star member with a personal best of about 40 lengths. To cut a long story short, we completed the distance as a team, and individually we managed 22 miles for Eli and myself. Joan completed 20 miles before having to retire due to ill health.
Last year the same team (this time named "Fantasy Starfish") plus a few good friends, took part again, and completed the distance as a team. I managed to finish the 22 miles individually as well. Eli was recovering from major surgery and was not able to do very much, but she still supported us well. Joan and I have since had deteriorating health, and have not been back to swimming for almost the entire year since the event.
That brings us to this year's swim. I am going solo for this event as Eli will not be well enough to take part, neither will Joan. I have begun my training and so far (this morning) managed a personal best of 10 lengths - a distance of 250m. To complete the 22 miles I have to swim 1416 lengths of our local 25m pool. I plan to do about 24 lengths mondays to fridays with weekends off. This gives me the opportunity to catch up if I have to miss a day through poor health or for other reasons.
Why am I telling you this?
Two reasons:-
1) Aspire do wonderful work, and I want more people to know about the charity and about the Channel Swim.
2) I want you to support me with messages of encouragement on this blog, and , if you can afford it, I want you to please make a small donation to the charity using my fundraising page online at www.justgiving.com/JosieMAlderton-MakingWaves
It doesn't matter how small an amount you donate, they all add up!
Thanks for reading. Please visit my fundraising page soon, and check back on this blog for regular updates about the Swim.
Wednesday, 25 August 2010
slow progress is still progress ^.^
Training for the 22 mile Charity Swim continued today with a new personal best for the year of 8 lengths (200m) in about 10 minutes. If I increase the distance by 2 lengths each session, I should hopefully be able to complete the required 24 lengths per day for the Aspire Channel Swim.
I had coffee with my friend Tina, then completed a costume alteration when I got home. I spent some time in the back yard in the sunshine while the rabbits had a run outside for an hour or so.
Back to Japanese study for me.
Take care all.
I had coffee with my friend Tina, then completed a costume alteration when I got home. I spent some time in the back yard in the sunshine while the rabbits had a run outside for an hour or so.
Back to Japanese study for me.
Take care all.
Tuesday, 24 August 2010
How to lose track....
Yesterday was Monday, but not, as I believed until nearly 3.30pm BANK HOLIDAY Monday! My whole day was thrown out of whack because I was under the mistaken impression that it was a Bank Holiday, so no shops would be open, ditto swimming pools, restaurants and such like.
So.. I didn't go swimming, when I could have. I didn't go shopping, when I could have. I did go to the only restaurant I was pretty sure would be open near to our home (Woodrow Wilson) for tea.... and got stuck there for the duration because of the really heavy rainfall that decided to grace us with its bounty of spare water.
The only redeeming feature of this weather was that I decided I didn't want to get soaked going home so I would rather go see a movie (next door) and hope the weather improved by the time I came out (which it did).
I saw "Salt" - the new Angelina Jolie film, and made my way home at about half past ten.
So, today... I had to get back on track!
Swimming update. I managed my pb for the year of six lengths today. Tiring, and a bit slow compared to last year, but at least I did manage to complete it in 7 minutes.
Home for lunch, fed cats, put on laundry... this afternoon I have to study Japanese for my lesson on Thursday.
Busy busy busy..... ^.^
So.. I didn't go swimming, when I could have. I didn't go shopping, when I could have. I did go to the only restaurant I was pretty sure would be open near to our home (Woodrow Wilson) for tea.... and got stuck there for the duration because of the really heavy rainfall that decided to grace us with its bounty of spare water.
The only redeeming feature of this weather was that I decided I didn't want to get soaked going home so I would rather go see a movie (next door) and hope the weather improved by the time I came out (which it did).
I saw "Salt" - the new Angelina Jolie film, and made my way home at about half past ten.
So, today... I had to get back on track!
Swimming update. I managed my pb for the year of six lengths today. Tiring, and a bit slow compared to last year, but at least I did manage to complete it in 7 minutes.
Home for lunch, fed cats, put on laundry... this afternoon I have to study Japanese for my lesson on Thursday.
Busy busy busy..... ^.^
Thursday, 19 August 2010
A busy thursday..
This morning I had planned to go swimming, but the weather was very changeable, and I had two deliveries to wait in for, so it was nearly eleven by the time Eli and I set off for the pool. Today I managed to swim 4 lengths (100m total) before lunch. We had lunch in Woodrow Wilson in Carlisle then went home so I could do some costume alterations for Ray in time for him to travel to Inverness and the Hebrides this weekend with Swede Dreamz Abba Tribute Band.
At 3pm we met with Sarah and Chris for a curry before heading home. This evening I sorted out some fabric to cover some cushions to turn my bed into a daybed. As I use my living room as a bedroom as well, I need to make it look more like a living room during the day.
Tonight Ray picked up the costumes and we discussed some more problems with the family tree (his father and my mother are first cousins) then I finally was able to come online to catch up with my blogging!
I think my bed is calling me.....
At 3pm we met with Sarah and Chris for a curry before heading home. This evening I sorted out some fabric to cover some cushions to turn my bed into a daybed. As I use my living room as a bedroom as well, I need to make it look more like a living room during the day.
Tonight Ray picked up the costumes and we discussed some more problems with the family tree (his father and my mother are first cousins) then I finally was able to come online to catch up with my blogging!
I think my bed is calling me.....
Wednesday, 18 August 2010
Skype
I am now skype activated and ... I own a microphone/headset thingy.. so I can now HEAR my skype calls instead of having to type messages :)
I love this technology stuff!
I love this technology stuff!
It's been too long.....
Argh! Just got back from first training swimming session. I managed... 2 (yes... 2) 25m lengths and I feel absolutely exhausted! It has been months since I was in the pool, and it really does show :(
Never mind. I have a few weeks to train before the Channel Swim starts, so I just have to do my best and build up slowly.
Bye for now
Never mind. I have a few weeks to train before the Channel Swim starts, so I just have to do my best and build up slowly.
Bye for now
Aspiring Channel Swimmer
It's that time of the year again and I am putting on the goggles, squeezing into my swimsuit and dipping my toe into the water for the Aspire Channel Swim 2010.
Those of you who have been around my facebook/twitter/blogs for a while will know this is my third year. In previous years I have been part of a team [2008 was with "Swim Like Bricks" and 2009 was with "Fantasy Starfish"] but this time I am going solo.
The Aspire Channel Swim starts next month and takes place over 12 weeks. 22 miles to swim, which I will be doing in The Pools, Carlisle. Please visit my fundraising page regularly to keep up to date with how I am doing. If you have the means to sponsor me even better, every penny helps and will be gratefully received.
Obviously, the swim will be taking over the blog rather a lot over the next 12 weeks, so you will also be able to track my progress here, and in the usual places (twitter, facebook).
I apologise in advance if it gets a bit repetitive! (so does swimming up and down a pool for 22 miles!)
best wishes
Those of you who have been around my facebook/twitter/blogs for a while will know this is my third year. In previous years I have been part of a team [2008 was with "Swim Like Bricks" and 2009 was with "Fantasy Starfish"] but this time I am going solo.
The Aspire Channel Swim starts next month and takes place over 12 weeks. 22 miles to swim, which I will be doing in The Pools, Carlisle. Please visit my fundraising page regularly to keep up to date with how I am doing. If you have the means to sponsor me even better, every penny helps and will be gratefully received.
Obviously, the swim will be taking over the blog rather a lot over the next 12 weeks, so you will also be able to track my progress here, and in the usual places (twitter, facebook).
I apologise in advance if it gets a bit repetitive! (so does swimming up and down a pool for 22 miles!)
best wishes
Radio Cumbria
Hello everyone!
Well it seems I am in demand again by Radio Cumbria, this time for a brief interview choosing a piece of music for the Juke Box on Kevin's show at 3pm, and chatting about things such as learning Japanese and why I like "Drumming Song" from "Lungs" the album by Florence and the Machine.
I hope you all get a chance to hear me live on radio :)
Well it seems I am in demand again by Radio Cumbria, this time for a brief interview choosing a piece of music for the Juke Box on Kevin's show at 3pm, and chatting about things such as learning Japanese and why I like "Drumming Song" from "Lungs" the album by Florence and the Machine.
I hope you all get a chance to hear me live on radio :)
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