Filed under: extreme ironing, half marathon training, hastings half marathon, running
There is a serious point to all of this Hastings Half Marathon extreme ironing silliness: Team Steam is raising money for St Michael’s Hospice in Hastings, where Phil‘s Mum died last May. So here’s a little bit about the lady herself.
And she was a real lady.
Brenda was always well turned out, even if she was just pottering in the kitchen. There were always fresh flowers on the dining table. The house was absolutely immaculate. She loved pretty things, despite sharing a house with boys. She wrote letters and cards on a daily basis. And she had very traditional views. Sometimes we didn’t agree on those, come to think of it (but I think that’s part of a normal prospective daughter/mother-in-law relationship!)
I only knew Brenda for about four years, but it was only in the last few months that I really understood her. She showed enormous strength of spirit during her illness, coping admirably with the chemotherapy and radiotherapy that assaulted her little frame. We had a lovely time the Christmas before last, and shortly afterwards she was given the all-clear.
When I saw her a couple of months later, I was shocked at how much weight she’d lost. And yet, she hadn’t complained. In fact, I don’t remember her complaining once, even when the cancer reappeared in her spine. Not even when she started to lose feeling in her feet.
She must have been scared at that point. And yet, she drew immense strength from her Catholic faith, right until the end. That amazes me now.
It saddens me that she won’t be at our wedding later this year, or get to know our children if and when we are lucky enough to have them.
But much of her spirit lives on in Phil. She’d be so proud of him today, even if she only showed it with a little smile and that roll of the eyes that she used to do.
RIP Mrs Steam Senior
Filed under: extreme ironing, half marathon training, hastings half marathon, running | Tags: extreme ironing, hastings half marathon, running, St Michael's Hospice
Check out my guest blog post over on the Team Steam website…
Filed under: extreme ironing, half marathon training, hastings half marathon, running | Tags: extreme ironing, hastings half marathon, running, St Michael's Hospice
Here’s the husband-to-be (he’s still getting used to that moniker) talking about why we’re going to be running and extreme ironing the Hastings Half Marathon course in aid of St Michael’s Hospice in Hastings.
Filed under: extreme ironing, half marathon training, hastings half marathon, running | Tags: extreme ironing, extreme ironing bureau, Hastings, hastings half marathon, irunbecauseilovefood, running, St Michael's Hospice, team steam
For those of you with a memory for the bizarre, you might remember a short-lived craze of the early Noughties called “extreme ironing” - which was described as “an adrenaline sport that combined the thrill of an extreme outdoor activity with the satisfaction of a well-pressed shirt”.
Stay with me here…
The basic premise was to take an iron and board outside, and iron a garment while participating in some kind of normal sport – people ironed on rock-faces, up mountains, underwater and even while base-jumping.
Quite quite odd.
Well, my husband-to-be was the man who invented it. (This was, you understand, well before my time.)
After setting up the Extreme Ironing Bureau, competing in the Extreme Ironing World Championships (bringing home Gold for Great Britain), writing a book on the subject, touring the United States for a month and allowing Rory McGrath to touch him up on They Think It’s All Over…he decided it actually was all over for him, and retired to the world of digital PR.
Extreme Ironing lived on, weirdly enough, and you probably remember the chap ironing merrily on the M1 last year as a case in point.
Well, my darling fiancé, Phil – AKA Steam – has decided to dust off the iron – and I seem to have been dragged along for the ride.
There is a reason for all this.
Last year Phil’s Mum, Brenda, lost her brutally short battle with cancer. She spent the last days of her life at St Michael’s Hospice in Hastings, where she died in peace with her family around her. The Hospice, like so many others, relies on donations for the vast majority of the £5m it requires every year to care for people like Brenda and their shellshocked families.
Team Steam will be running AND ironing the Hastings Half Marathon course in memory of Brenda.
If you’d like to find out more about the challenge, please visit Team Steam or go straight to our donation page.
In the meantime, here is one of our training videos for your amusement…
Over and out,
Mrs Steam
Filed under: hastings half marathon, running | Tags: British Military Fitness, cancer, gym, hastings half marathon, running, Ryan Giggs, St Michael's Hospice, yoga
My review of 2011 is going to be very short. A measly 33 blog posts and just one race under my belt says it all really, and I’m pretty sure those two stats are connected: a goal demands progress, and progress gives you something to write about.
I also gave up British Military Fitness in the summer. I just couldn’t make the timings work with my commute, and the Finsbury Park BMFers weren’t as nice and friendly as the Reading BMFers. I still miss those guys. 
Latterly, Phil and I have joined the local gym again for the winter. It’s worth negotiating on fees for anyone thinking of doing the same sort of thing. We paid upfront for six months and they bundled in the seventh month for free. It’s great for strength and conditioning work, so I’ve been trying to find the muscles that have been lying dormant since giving up BMF.
We’ve also bought the Ryan Giggs yoga-inspired video to do at home – see Phil’s review for his take on it. (Warning to the ladies: if you’re looking for whatever it was that made all those girls go potty for him, you won’t find it here. He’s about as charismatic as a wet lettuce.)
On the running front, I’m somewhat stuck in a four-miler rut. However, I will have to drag myself out of it pretty sharpish, as training for the Hastings Half Marathon begins in earnest now. Phil and I – accompanied by a few friends – will be running the (hilly) course in March in memory of Phil’s Mum, Brenda, who passed away in May this year after a brutally short battle with cancer. She spent her last days in the care of the wonderful staff at St Michael’s Hospice in Hastings, and we’ll be raising money for the hospice which relies so heavily on donations to keep caring for patients and their families. More to follow…
In the meantime, happy new year!
Filed under: half marathon training, hastings half marathon, Reading Half Marathon, running | Tags: events, hastings half marathon, races, Reading Half Marathon, running
My race tally this year has been nothing short of pathetic. After that terrible Riotrunner race (click for the race photo of the year), I tried to gear up for the Reading half marathon, only to sprain my ankle a couple of weeks before the day. That injury also ruled me out of the Hambledon Horseplay.
The rest of the year has been a write-off as far as events are concerned. It’s not the injury, but a lack of time and various other weekend commitments that have stopped me entering any other races. It’s a far cry from the days of Septathlon when I was capable of squeezing in at least seven events of differing distances per year.
But next year, I will try harder. First action for this early New Year’s Resolution: enter a springtime half marathon. But which one? Phil’s already put his name down for the Hastings half marathon, one that he’s always wanted to do in his home town. I’m sure it’s very scenic, but the route involves going up and down the coastal cliffs around the town. A PB course, it is not – despite the best efforts of the organising committee to persuade you otherwise.
And part of me is still determined to crack that flipping two-hour barrier. If I trained hard enough, I think I could maybe, possibly, if the wind was blowing in the right direction, do it once and for all on the Reading half marathon course. It’s fast, flat and familiar.
I’ve got to make up my mind sooner rather than later, otherwise Reading will sell out. On the other hand, I reckon you could rock up on the day and still get into Hastings…especially given they’re looking for backward runners…
Filed under: half marathon training, hastings half marathon, running | Tags: great north run, hastings half marathon, running
I won’t be running the Hastings Half on Sunday. No, not because of the lack of training but because I’ve come down with some kind of viral infection that has caused me to cough almost non-stop since Monday afternoon. I’ve even had two days off sick from work and spent them zonked out on the sofa, which really isn’t like me.
I think it would be a little foolish to run 13.1 miles, so I’ll be part of the support crew for Emma. She wouldn’t have anticipated running on her own when she signed up; there were five of us to start with. Slowly we’ve all deserted her, with dodgy knees, a bad back and a work summons among the excuses. It seems the least I can do is cheer her on, hopefully with a mouthful of fish and chips.
Worse still is that I seem to have missed the ballot for Run To The Beat as well as the Great North Run. Only charity places available now for both events. I don’t object to the idea of running for charity – I’ve raised several thousand by running two London Marathons for Whizz-Kidz, the Spinal Injuries Association and T4Trust – but I do find it difficult to ask the same family and friends, yet again, for sponsorship when they know I can run a half-marathon with relative ease. I’d also feel uncomfortable taking a charity place if I didn’t raise the minimum pledge.
When did running get so popular?
Filed under: gym, half marathon training, hastings half marathon, running | Tags: half marathon training, hastings half marathon
With only two weeks to go until the Hastings Half, and the prospect of a boozy hen weekend in Brighton next weekend, it was with some trepidation that I embarked on my longest training run on Sunday with my running partner.
There’s a reasonable footpath out of Twyford, along the river and into Dinton Pastures, a pleasant little country park, where are plenty of trails to run around. Unfortunately the maps within the park bear little resemblance to the actual footpaths, making it difficult to work out how far you’ve run. However, we ran at a steady pace for an hour and 39 minutes, so I would estimate that was a good 10 miles. I was surprised to feel pretty good throughout the run, despite my lack of any running at all over the last two weeks in Australia. Further proof that walking is better exercise that I gave it credit for.
The Reading Half took place at the weekend. I was reliably informed by a couple of girls at the gym this morning that it actually started on time: a feat never before achieved, to the best of my knowledge. Jolly well done to all that took part, especially the girls who ran it in about 1:46. I’d just be happy to crack two hours, but I don’t think Hastings is going to be the place to do it, even if I do get to the gym most mornings this week.
Filed under: half marathon training, hastings half marathon, running | Tags: artarmon, half marathon training, hastings half marathon, running
I’m in Australia visiting my oldest friend, her husband and gorgeous 17-month old son. He’s into learning new words, and I’ve taught him how to say “bamboo”. Random but amusing.
Clare and Bryn live in a suburb of Sydney – Artarmon - on the north shore. It’s a really nice, leafy area just fifteen minutes from the City on the train which runs reliably every few minutes and is clean. First Great Western could learn a lot.
I managed to get out for a short run on my first morning here which was more of a run-walk-run-consult map-run affair that allowed me to get my bearings. The cycle and walking paths are absolutely excellent, and teaming with people commuting to work on foot or on two wheels. I was out for about forty minutes and, after a 53-hour day, that was quite enough in the heat and humidity.
This morning, armed with a new iPod Shuffle bought at Heathrow during a tortuous delay, I extended my route out east and down through Flat Rock Gully – a pretty, wooded (and cool) creek. From there, I ducked under a striking suspension bridge and into Tunks Park whose marina opens onto Long Bay, part of Sydney’s Middle Harbour. It was a stunning run, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Even the incredibly steep climb back up from Flat Rock Gully back towards Artarmon. Good training for the Hastings Half.
Running seems pretty big in Australia. Lots of people run with their dogs; others on their own or with other people. I was over at Manly yesterday and there were hoards of beautiful people bouncing along the promenade in the heat of the day. I thought only mad dogs and Englishmen (and women) were silly enough to risk heatstroke in the midday sun. Apparently not.
