A Lazy Blog for a Busy Year

Happy Hogmanay Fudgey Friends,

I thought today I'd do a very lazy thing & use some of my old posts - a kind of review of the year.

2010 has been a very busy year in Fudgey Land,there have been ups and downs, tears & laughter, and some incredible achievements that made me smile alot.

January
The Great Winter Run - 3 temp, reduced from 5k to 4.2k due to the snow but an absolute blast & also the lovely KMac's first road race.






February
unfortunately saw me suffering with injury so running wasn't so high on the agenda

March
The Meadows Marathon - it was actually the 5k that I entered. I was delighted not to be beaten by the guy dressed as an egg!
March also saw me take on a new role as a business analyst - out of my comfort zone into the unknown and it's been a huge challenge this year.

April
Mr Fudgey & I had an adventure to Dublin for The Great Ireland Run - not even volcanic ash could keep me from running. Delighted to record my first official sub 60minute 10k.

May
First up The Great Edinburgh Run. I was not in the mood to run yet managed to take 1 minute 30 seconds of my Dublin time so a new PB.




Next was the big event - what I'd been training for since the start of the year The Edinburgh half marathon. One of the best things I've ever done. I never thought I could run a whole 13.1 miles but I did it :-)



June
As part of a team of 23 lovely ladies I took part in the Race for Life & in the process we raised over £10,000 in support of our friend & colleague Judi who has pancreatic cancer.


June also saw us put the flat on the market & I jetted off to Montreal for a week leaving Mr Fudgey for the first time since we'd been married.

July
I looked back through my posts & there was a lot of running & training in July as well as some pretty good food

August
A lovely trip home to Benbecula & Mr Fudgey & I were the proud god parents at our niece Margaret Mary's christening, I was a Semi Finalist in The Scottish Slimmers Slimmer of the year competition, We sold the flat :-D & we celebrated our first wedding anniversary with a weekend to Windermere


September
My second half marathon - The Glasgow half marathon
I enjoyed much more than Edinburgh I think because I had no pressure on myself. I would love to break 2 hours but with illness in the last few training weeks it wasn't to be .....maybe next year.

October
The first ever Scottish kilomathon This one hurt alot!

November
We waved goodbye to the flat and shut the door on what had been an emotional chapter in Fudgey history & moved into our new house - which we adore. We honestly can't express what a difference it has made to both of us & the furry fellas.

December

Loads of snowy adventures & The Great Scottish Santa Run What a fun way to finish a great year of running.






2010 Challenges

1000km in 2010 - Done

so the final distance.......1077.17km (669.32 miles)

£1000 for charity - Done

My other challenge was to raise £1000 for charity - my chosen charity was CCLASP & I managed to raise £1094 excluding the gift aid, as well as taking part in raising £10,000 with Judi's Ray's of Sunshine & I also donated to KMac's Kilimajaro climb & Movember to name a few things.

Run a Half Marathon - Done

Just writing this post has blown me away as to how much I've packed into the last 12 months & how many good times I've had, of course I couldn't have done it on my own.....

Thank you

The biggest Thank you has to go to my amazing husband Mr Fudgey, he's been then for me at every race, put up with my mood swings - the runner's highs & lows, for all the amazing photos & the you tube videos - they wouldn't exist without him & for his patience with my blogging.

Thank you to all my family & friends for their never ending patience & support.

Thank you to my 2 bestest friend Smurfy & KMac - they made all the really tough times bearable & knew just how to cheer me up.

Thank you to everyone who sponsored me.

Thank you to Colin Fraser - my personal trainer who has made me hurt quite a lot this year - in fact I do right now, but gave me quads of steel & helped keep me at my target weight

Thank you to Clare Fulton for the awesome sports massages & getting me back out & running after the ITB & groin injuries.

Thank you to all my blog followers.

I could go on the list is endless but Thank you all so much for helping to make 2010 such a wonderful year.

In true Fudgey style there are tears! but they are happy ones.

All that's left is for me to wish you a very very Happy New Year when it comes.

I'll be back soon to tell you what's in store for 2011.

lots & lots of love
Fudgey
xxxx

Aches, Pains & Stress Relief Sessions

Hello Fudgey Friends,

How are you all? Did you have a good Christmas? I hope Santa brought you what you wanted.

I was incredibly spoilt by my lovely Hubby, family & friends.

My best gift by far was the Zorbing voucher from Mr Fudgey....for those of you who don't know what zorbing is:




I can't wait to go & we're hoping to make a wee weekend break of it, but I think we'll wait till the weather is a wee bit better!

On top of the Anton & Erin Puttin' on The Ritz Tickets for my Birthday - I think he may just be the bestest husband ever :-)

We had a lovely day & I got to speak to my folks & my sister before going to Mum & Dad Smith's for a fabulous afternoon, evening & meal.

Like most of us I've eaten far too much & drank more than I usually do - so this week it was back into the gym to try & undo some of the excesses.

I also think it's fair to say that for more one reason or another my stress levels have been particularly high over the last few weeks, but one of my ways of coping is by working out - so after the short Christmas break I was back with the regime.

Yesterday was circuits & though there were only 4 of us it was really really good & really tough. First circuit 1 min & second circuit 30 seconds. Stations I can remember were: bicep curl, tricep extension, underarm bent over row, boxing, i surrender, tricep dips, burpees, chest press,weighted sprints, lunges, squats, skipping, walking press ups, walking plank & plank. Everyone of us lifted heavier & worked harder than usual - guess we were all feeling the Christmas indulgence guilt!

Today I squeezed in a 5.5km run and a torturous PT session!
PT started with a teeny weeny cross trainer warm up then straight over to the squat rack, a little warm up set & then 3 supersets of 15 very heavy squats superset with 20 Komodos, then onto the strength training 4 supersets of 8 assisted pull ups & 10 shoulder press with 6kg dumbbells, 4 supersets of 10 underarm pull down & maximal press ups I think I managed 25, 25, 20 & 20 press ups in each set. Then medicine ball lunges x 20 superset with weighted step ups 20kg bar, 10 each leg. We started with the 8kg ball but had to go down to 5kg as my arms were really hurting by this stage - I think lifting just my arms would have been effort enough. I think we did 3 sets of that but I just wanted it to be over. Toughest session in ages, but great :-)

By the time I got home my arms felt like 2 dead weights, mind you at least this takes my mind off my dodgy shin which is playing up again & my sore knee which I hurt by running after a girl to give her money that fell out of her pocket - would have been fine if I hadn't been wearing wellies at the time. I'm going back to the doctor next week to see if we can get to the bottom of this shin thing - it's so annoying. It's never been right since I dropped that big metal wheelbarrow on it back in the summer!

I'm hoping tomorrow I might get an outdoor run in as most of the snow has melted away & the pavements are pretty well gritted - but we'll see how the aches & pains are doing.

Now I'm off to spend some time with Mr Fudgey & our 4 little furry purries.

Take Care all

lots of love
Fudgey
xxxx

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays

Dear Fabulous Fudgey Friends,

Firstly I hope you all have a fantastic day wherever & whatever you are doing.

When you are arguing with the folks over what to watch on TV or because someone drank too much or refereeing between the kids, or just generally feel bleugh because you ate & drank too much - please please please take a minute to think of those less fortunate who never managed to get to where they wanted for Christmas or won't be sitting down to a magnificent spread or won't receive any gifts at all.

Secondly huge apologies for leaving you blogless for a couple of weeks. The last 3 weeks have seen plenty of snow, ice, stressing about work & travel & getting everything done for Christmas - there has been no blogging, not a lot of training or running and certainly very little relaxing. I have a long list of people I should have called and caught up with and I haven't - honestly it is nothing personal and I am very very sorry. Mr Fudgey & I are certainly looking forward to no alarms for the next 4 days and a little bit of chill time.

Hope you all get time to do the things you want to over the festive break, whether that is seeing friends & family, hitting the sales tomorrow, making the most of the snow for winter sports or just relaxing. Enjoy!




Take Care, Stay Safe & Warm

lots of love
Fudgey xxxx

Santa Fudgey

Hello again Fudgey Friends,

No lie in for the Fudgey's this morning - up and on the bus for 8.30am. It was bitterly cold in Edinburgh first thing.

First stop was to collect my Santa Suit & then next stop Costa for a coffee and to warm up a bit.

Whilst in Costa I got into my Santa Gear. Then down to Prince Street Gardens. There weren't nearly as many Santas as in previous years - but still a pretty good turn out. Lots of little elves too taking part. There was some entertainment at the band stand - highland dancers & a young guy who apparently came second in Edinburgh's got talent who sang a couple of songs. They must have been frozen - it was pretty cold.

As it approached 11am, all the Santa started to line up ready for their 2 laps round the gardens. I had hoped for a place near the front so that I wouldn't get caught up in the Santa shuffle as mostly people walk & they actually didn't want people to run today due to the snow and ice. Mostly though the foot paths were clear & had been gritted. I found myself right on the start line and beside Mark C who ran 50 marathon in 56 days - I had read about Mark in one of my running magazines and he has inspired me so much - so I felt really honoured to be stood beside him. I'm not sure what quite happened I think we all set off before we were meant to and I was prepared to walk as instructed but a group of 6 guys broke off at breakneck speed - followed by me and another guy - it seemed we weren't meant to go & everyone apart from that front group slowed to a walk - I then decided sod this - if they're running I'm running & took off! I perfected an innovative style of running while holding up my Santa suit trousers!! I was out on my own and it felt fabby there were loads of people cheering and lots of little kids watching who all waved & I made sure I waved back....with one hand still holding up the trousers. As I came back round to the Ross Bandstand a lady told me I was the first female Santa :-) On the second lap just after the exit from the bandstand I was slowed up by the back of the Santa pack - but I managed to weave in and out by running up the grass & round the backs of benches - coming a long the top stretch of path a lady exclaimed - 'Oh you've been round already' There was no official finish line just a row of people handing out the medals & they told me I was one of the top 10 - only about 7 or 8 people had finished ahead of me & I was the first female Santa - how they figured that with all the beards I don't know but I was so elated. Today wasn't a race by any means It was fun and I really had fun and enjoyed it - I have no idea how long it took me to run the 1.5k course - no garmin - no watch - just me & the one size fits all Santa suit!


I have to say a massive massive Thank you to long suffering Mr Fudgey who trailed out early on a cold & frosty Sunday and as always provided fabby photos.

Thanks also to everyone who donated to When you Wish Upon a Star Thank you so so much. I raised £40 with your help.

Looking forward to relaxing the rest of today now.

More Snow - more Fudgey Adventures

Hello Fudgey Friends,

How are we all? I am so sorry that my posts are not so frequent at the moment - I'm just so busy just now I keep wanting to sit down & blog but time just keeps escaping from me.

Well last Sunday I made my Thai green curry - vegetable for me with courgettes & prawns for Mr Fudgey with carrots substituted for the courgettes - both were really good.

Thanks to Scottish Slimmers for
another great recipe.



Stranded
Monday morning came & Mr Fudgey & I thought that all was starting ti return to normality - we got the bus into work no problem....then the snow started. We couldn't get home. Thankfully I work for a brilliant company who really look after their employees and they arranged a hotel for me for the night and for everyone else who was stranded. Mr Fudgey and I went out for a lovely meal and then went to see the latest Harry Potter movie. Much as we both would have preferred to get home to our cosy housie we made the best of the situation and at least didn't have far to go to get to work on Tuesday.

Adventure Fudge
On Tuesday though there was no more snow the temperatures had plummeted and you'll all have seen the terrible scenes of people being stranded on the roads for hours on end. There were still no buses home, but I was grumpy Fudgey as I still had the same clothes from Monday & was worried about the cats and the house. Huge Thanks to Mum and Dad Smith for going and feeding our babies and doing some bits and bobs about the place - it was very very very much appreciated - especially the venturing out in the awful weather. At lunchtime Mr Fudgey & I took the decision to try to get home regardless - we took a bus half way & then walked the rest - it took us 2 hours & 5 minutes walking and we later discovered the temperature had been between -7 & -11. We got home safe though and were so happy. The downstairs toilet was frozen up - with no water coming in at all - but other than that all was well.

Workout Wifey
Workout Fudge aka She Hulk (Thanks Hubby)made a welcome return on Wednesday & Thursday. Wednesday was a PT session and though it was really tough I saw a glimpse of just how far I had come - I managed to squat 50kg - I couldn't have done that a year ago.
The session included assisted pulls ups superset with dead rows, underarm grip pull down 32.5kg, superset with 15kg bicep curls (4 sets of 10 each).3 super sets of 15 squats 50kg & 12 lunges with 30lb dumbbells. Finishing of with cable hamstrings & swiss ball crunches.
Thursday lunchtime I managed to get in a quick 30 minute run on the treadmill too and really pushed the pace - looked like a beetroot by the end - but felt fudgeytastic :-)

A long long week
Wednesday, Thursday & Friday we didn't have much trouble getting to & from work - journeys a little longer than normal but not too bad & by Friday we were starting to thaw nicely. The downstairs toilet returned to working order when the inlet pipes thawed out & all the snow slid nicely off the conservatory. I felt completely drained though and so glad it was Friday night.

Baker Fudgey
After doing our big shop this morning I was busy baker Fudgey in the kitchen & have so far made Cappuccino Marble cake, Cranberry & Orange muffins & Carrot cake.

These are to take to the office on Monday as a Thank you for the donations to When you wish upon Star & I'll be taking part in the Edinburgh Santa Run tomorrow. I am so so excited about this - it's just for fun and I can't wait.

I'll be back tomorrow with a quick post on the Santa run

lots of love
Fudgey xxxx

Another Snow related blog

Hello Fudgey Friends,

How are you all? Is there anyone out there who hasn't had snow this week?
Snow seems to be a recurring theme across blogland this week & sorry to bore you but my post does also contain snow related stories.

So I last blogged on Sunday & had been out running in the snow - well it continued to fall on Sunday & by Monday morning was about a foot deep.

Mr Fudgey & I attempted to get into work but the main street was deep in snow & there were no buses all day Monday - so we both had to work as best we could from home. I had to phone and cancel my podiatry appointment & it was rearranged to Wednesday morning.

On Tuesday we struck lucky as my ex boss Neil passed us at the bus stop & picked us up - giving us both a lift to work. It was a good job too as again there were no buses though a service did start around lunchtime. It was forecast for more snow on Tuesday evening & I left work a little after 2pm so I could get home in daylight & before the weather closed in again

On Tuesday night it snowed - not just a little - we got another foot of snow overnight and though we had checked the web and knew there were no buses ventured out to see if the main street was passable & there may be a service either later or if we could get a lift with anyone we knew again or Dad Smith had kindly offered that he could drive us.....Snow Chance.
It was worse than Monday! The usual 4 minute walk to the bus stop took 20 minutes. So again podiatry appointment cancelled and working from home. Wednesday was by far the worst day and I had severe cabin fever. I really feel for those who were house bound for longer than us - they must have been going mad.
On Wednesday afternoon I decided I wanted to go & photograph a car just behind our house that showed how bad the snow had been.
Silly fudge put on her pink wellies with 3/4 length trousers with the result the snow went in the boots & when I got in I couldn't get them off. 10 minutes after struggling frantically I asked Mr Fudgey to help me & he really struggled to get them off my feet too - I was howling with laughter as he was pulling the boot & dragging me along the floor with it! Eventually we got them off & first snow lesson of the week learnt!
On Wednesday we also started to run low on a few things like teabags & milk and had run out of bread - we decided that on Thursday even if we couldn't get to work we would need to venture to the local shops.

On Thursday morning it only took us 2 hours to get to work - still we were both glad to get there. We also stocked up on supplies. Another snow casualty was my early morning PT session which I had to call and cancel as I wasn't going to make it on time. I did manage to squeeze in a 20 minute run though on Thursday & rescheduled my PT session. I also went and bought some bird seed and nuts for the little birds in our garden - Fudgey snow related incident number 2 coming up.....
after a 2 and a half hour journey home from work - though an hour of that was waiting for a bus we eventually got home. I decided I'd go out into the back garden to put out the seeds & nuts I'd bought. The garden had been untouched since the snow had fallen - it was so deep we couldn't open the conservatory door. I went round the side of the house and into the garden where the snow was above my knees and hung up the seeds and nuts, then I decided it would be a great idea to make a snow angel.......all was going well & lying on the snow was surprisingly relaxing, until I tried to get up, as I shifted my weight forward my 2 legs sunk into the snow, I put out a hand but there was nothing to push against & my arm sunk into the snow....I ended up hands & knees down in the snow struggling to get out.....all the time laughing, I managed to get myself up & when I came back into the house I looked like I had been whitewashed....second snow lesson of the week!

Friday morning we'd thankfully had no more snow and we both got to work OK albeit another 2 hour journey. My department Christmas lunch scheduled for Friday afternoon was the next casualty of the bad weather - but thankfully it's just been postponed till later in the month.
I've never been so glad to get home as I was on Friday evening.

Rearranged PT - as I mentioned before I managed to fit in a PT session too this week - back to the strength training - it doesn't seem to be getting any easier - but lack of gym action this week probably hasn't helped. I'm hoping to get back on track this week if the weather & my workload permit. Losing a couple of days in the office this week and working from home mean I have plenty to catch up on.
I also need to seriously get my eating under control & get a couple of pounds off - I think I lost my appetite & found an elephants.

This weekend has been fairly relaxed - yesterday we didn't do much other than some housework and go to the local shops for some essentials. I made carrot & butternut squash soup and Mr Fudgey & I cleared a path from the house to the road. We also finally had our street cleared by the snow plough. In the evening I made roasted veg & turkey breast fillet for dinner before we settled down to watch Strictly & then Escape from New York

Today we went off for our big shop. Later I went to the local shop for stamps and posted some cards, on the way back I fed the swans some bread - the poor things seemed ravenous. The plan now is to make Thai green vegetable curry and watch the strictly results.

Well that's been my week - I hope that you are all safe, warm and well.

Take Care out there
love
Fudgey
xxxx