THEY DID IT! (Never in doubt....)

Well folks, sorry its a little late in getting posted, but I am pleased to announce that all four of our Crazy Ladies are Bona Fide running heroines - they took on the streets of London, and won! Of course, it was never in doubt......

On Saturday evening, the four ladies, Keith and myself ventured into the city to check in at a Hotel near St Pancras, where there was a large pre-match pep talk for the runners, and a bus to take them to the start in the morning.

Apparently the pep talk was very good (me and Keith were "forced" to stay in the bar), with all sorts of helpful tips, and when the chap said "If you normally drink a bit at weekends, then you don't need to completely abstain tonight - in fact one or two glasses will probably help you sleep", the girls didn't need a second invitation.
So, yes I can confirm that this picture shows the girls with glasses of champagne in hand as an aperitif, and yes I can confirm that they also managed to sink a bottle of Rioja with their bowls of pasta that night!


However, the ladies did then go straight to bed after dinner to make sure they were fresh for their 7.15 am pick up! Cue alarms going off at 10 to 6 am so they could all get their porridge in before finally putting their official race numbers on. I somehow managed to stumble downstairs to get a pic of them just before they got on the bus. (I then went straight back to bed in a typically "supportive husband" fashion).




They managed to look excited rather than nervous in the picture, which is great, although why Liz decided to pose with a Lucozade bottle between her legs and why Lisa was doing an impression of a US long haul trucker is anyone's guess!

So, off they went, and then a little later, off Keith and I (foolishly) decided to walk from St Pancras to Tower Bridge in honour of the girls' efforts. A slight distance misjudgement almost made us miss the race.....

I'm sure the ladies will want to tell you themselves about how amazing the support was, but suffice to say, it was clear from all the texts and phone calls we were getting that LOTS of people coming down to support - JD, Nads, Ed, Louise, Suzanne, Paula, Bins, Becky and all the rugby gang, and Jim and Kim, who were all running around the South Bank and then into Docklands; the Dunns and the Stocks who were in the Docklands area (and strongly deny they were anything to do with the Gas Leak); Roughly 9 of Liz's family who were at the NAS headquarters at the Holiday Inn at mile 14/22; Sue's family who had come down especially, Lisa's family were on the course somewhere too - and its at this point that I realize that there were far too many people for me to remember being there, let alone remember where they were.

So a massive thank you to everyone who was there, and a massive sorry to everyone I forgot. For my part, Captain Lewis and myself met up with Rhino, Shirt, Trina, Andy Thomas and Clara, and Mama and Papa West, just as a bar right next to Tower Bridge was opening. Imagine that....


So, we went out on to the Bridge just before mile 13, searching through the crowds to find our brave girls, and thanks to our special early warning system we were able to gauge when they would come through. That early warning system was a frankly ludicrous phone call from Siani not even remotely out of breath, and telling me they had passed 11 miles!

I have to say that when the girls came past us on the bridge they all looked ridiculously comfortable for 12 miles, as shown here, where Liz and Sue even found time to have an impromptu sing/dance off to some S-Club 7, in front of the Tower of London!

Ready? All together now......2,3,4, "Reach! For the stars...climb every mountain high and..."


Again, I'm sure the girls will want to tell you their own feelings about the crowds and the local support on the day, but it sounds like the people running around Docklands did a truly wonderful job of cheering and keeping them going. It seems that through military planning and amazing coordination (or possibly through extreme enthusiasm and luck!) we managed to have supporters chanting their names every couple of miles. Absolutely brilliant.


When we saw them again on Tower Hill at 23 miles, I thought they all looked in pretty good shape - all still smiling, if not running quite as fast, and definitely coping with the hailstones much better than some of the supporters (ie Me!)


After that, it was a mad, and frankly unsuccessful dash to try and see them on Birdcage Walk going towards the finish - I'm afraid the crowds around St James Park took their toll. I'm sure it was the very same crowds, however, who helped carry the girls home those last few hundred yards.


So, how did they get on? Brilliantly, actually. The girls all had to battle through the heavy crowds near the start, but got into their rhythm beautifully, and came home in pairs - Liz and Sue got home in 4hrs 45 mins, with Lisa and Sian (who were still recovering from their knee and hip problems) coming in soon after at 4hrs 54 mins.


So thats slower than Gordon Ramsay, but quicker than the Masai Warriors! Faster, and clearly more glamorous than the Page 3 girl who ran, and who looked understandably miserable limping through the hail at mile 23. And, of the running Wombles, I believe Orinoco overtook the girls, but they still managed to come in ahead of Great Uncle Bulgaria!


Special mention at this point should go out to the Ladies' friend and running mentor Liz, who managed to get round in a frankly insane 3hrs 6 mins. My legs hurt just imagining it!



We managed to meet the girls in the public area on Horseguards Parade soon after the finish - it was amazing to see them so buoyant and jubilant after such an effort, and I think everybody there was just bursting with pride and admiration as they proudly displayed their medals.


What a an effort, and what a day. The atmosphere was just incredible all around London, and the runners were just amazing, the girls, the elite athletes and all the people dressed up in heavy, uncomfortable or just plain embarrassing costumes to try and raise money. It was easy to see why this has become the biggest single fundraising event in the World.

And for us, of cours, the fun wasn't over yet, as we all headed back to St Albans for a post Marathon knees up. That is, however, another story....

Saracens - A pre-Marathon Interlude

Just a quick post (before we talk about the BIG day), to let you all know about a very pleasant interlude we took at Vicarage Road last week, managing to combine a day at the rugby with a bit of fundraising as well!

Witness this motley crew, as they lurk around the entrance to the ground - a positively villanous collection of St Albans ne'er do wells. AND at least three of them are Welsh....oh, and another one was Nick Turner.

The day started extremely well, with a fine breakfast Chez Lewis consisting of tea and Sue's finest Scottish Square Sausage Rolls - A truly rare delicacy perfect for Sunday mornings. The more hungover the better.

Shirt came up trumps by transporting us over to Watford in the Tabard Bus - massive thanks for that fella - and I managed to provide some fine Single Malt to fill up the crew's hip flasks - this was of course entirely necessary on medical grounds given the snow that was covering the ground that morning!

So, off we went to the game for an afternoon of fun and rugby. We managed to turn up on time, which is more than Ospreys did!

Shirt even displayed further creative skills by taking some action shots - even getting the very moment here when Jackson slotted another penalty for Sarries. Although given the size of this picture, perhaps we should run a spot the ball competition....

It was a fine win for Saracens in the end, and a difficult time for Messrs Lewis, Evans and, er, West (my brother, not me). It only got worse as Cardiff lost to Toulouse as we were tucking into Sunday roast at the Farriers Arms. Thank God the Cardiff football team won for some Welsh redemption!

So why post these details? Well firstly, cos it was lots of fun, secondly, because Shirt sent me lots of photos, and thirdly because despite it being a very gentle and impromptu fundraiser, we still managed to stick the best part of £200 in the ladies' charity funds....

Well done one and all! Roll on Munster in the semi final.....

A note of thanks from Siani D....

Despite my high risk training strategy of trips to the knee surgeon, physiotherapists, osteopath, and asthma nurse resulting in an 'alternative training' strategy of no running, the occasional drink (!), much limping and tears of frustration..... bizarrely enough I find myself about to embark on one of the biggest physical, mental and emotional challenges of my life.......sharing a pre-marathon hotel room with La Mase! Yikes - no pressure there then!

I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who has supported me on the way - and of course to the fan club who are travelling into London tomorrow to see the sights....(that's us Crazy Ladies running - not the tourist attractions, naturally). Your emails, texts, messages of support/wonderment/derision/laughter/congratulations/offers of sponsorship have all been truly amazing - and have really confirmed what great friends you all really are.

Enough emotion....you'll all be pleased to know that tonight I persuaded the rest of the girls to finally join me on the last leg of MY pre-marathon training plan.....champagne followed by a rather juicy rioja to accompany double chocolate fudge cake and a divine cheese plate....say no more! Looking forward to strolling tomorrow and a snifter of port on the way round, for pain relief of course, and to catch up with you all at the end - as I have always said - death or glory!! XX

NO MORE SLEEPS!!!!

The last few months have been quite an adventure -I would like to think that I have learnt to drink less gin, not live like a student and stay out of trouble but alas not and all my claims of going on the wagon from mid February were as everyone expected a complete joke! Wine and cheese is good for you and that's that! This time tomorrow we will be very drunk, relieving the race and what brought us here and i am sure we will be quite gutted that its over.....yeah right!!

As we sat in the hotel bar tonight pondering on our reasons for running I got a call from Matt to tell me that my total was now up to £4950, significantly more than I ever thought I would raise. Looking at the recent entries I find one from Ann's family and also from Trina, both of whom were a major factor in me deciding to run for Breakthrough Breast Cancer and therefore a reminder of what its all about. I do hope that Ann is up there having a bloody good chuckle tomorrow morning as i stagger through the streets of London although I hope her time keeping doesnt rub off as i want to finish before Wednesday! I will do Ann and Miss Trina proud in the bar tomorrow night....cheers ladies :)

Thanks to everyone who has sponsored and supported me. To Jamie and Keith the best fundraisers in the world and of course to my running/fashion buddies who have got me to the start line. To them I promise that I will not call the boredom card too early!!! Sweep stake on the first bowel movement anyone???

Mase xx

Spring Fashions in London!

Well, in the final run up to the big day, I thought I'd take this opportunity to show you all what the trendsetters are stepping out in this Spring!

April is a time when all designers are thinking about how to make the most of the gradually improving weather, in terms of their latest leisure wear lines.....

Or, in other words, since lots of you have expressed an interest in making your way into the Big Smoke to support the Crazy Ladies on their Sunday Fun Run, we decided it would be a good idea to get the girls to show off their respective running gear, so that everyone has a chance of spotting them in the crowds!

So lets start with Lisa and Siani, running for Breakthrough Breast Cancer Awareness. Based upon the Stade Francais RFC kit, we have bright pink vests, modelled beautifully by the ladies here. The colour is designed not only to be highly visible, but also to tone perfectly with sweaty red faces circa the 18 mile mark. Its bright, its bold, and it shouts "look at me! I'm a runner, AND I'm glamorous!"

Top marks to both ladies for their posing skills. A future series of Britains Next Top Model surely beckons both of them....

So, next up, what is the chic Scot around town wearing for this years Marathon? Well somehow, Sue has managed to get a very Scottish white and blue into her uniform for the Herts Community Foundation. The clean crisp white of the vest is surely the best way to show off a Celtic tan, with the light blue piping just enough to add a certain je ne sais quoi to the whole ensemble.

Again, please note the extremely sultry catalogue pose from our model here, complete with highly suspicious looking jar of vaseline in one hand......

Last but by no means least, lets see how the hip young things running for the National Autistic Society are dressing this year. Mint Green seems to be the colour in vogue for the NAS, clearly designed to stand out from the crowd, but also to present an exceptionally cool image. I'm sure Liz will be feeling cool calm and collected throughout the race with the aid of this gear.

Once again, our amateur model has risen to the occasion with her posing skills, with a beautiful smile, and a helpful, double handed reminder of what her name is!

So, ladies and gents, with this bit of high fashion editorial, hopefully everyone who is brave enough to come in to London and cheer our ladies on will know what to look for! I will try and send out some more e-mail confirmations of where to go on the big day, and it would be fab to see some of you down there.

On a personal note, can I just say how much I am enjoying these last couple of weeks of training, mainly because pasta and pizza are favourites of mine, and they currently form about 75% of mine and Liz's diets! Awesome. I may need to start hitting the road myself soon though.....

Take care one and all.

JW

The Ladies Get Emotional!

This afternoon Sue, Lisa and myself went to ExCel in Docklands to pick up our race numbers and timing chips.

All was calm until I entered the building when I began to shake uncontrollably (Sue was obviously feeling it too as she headed straight for the loo). I have never been so nervous in all my life, in one single moment the saying "we are running the marathon" turned from a dream into a reality.

I went up to my registration area and was greeted by a couple of really cheery people who gave me some positive words of encouragement and told me that the hard work was done and now all I had to do was enjoy it (neither had ever run the marathon). I was a little disappointed not to have be registering with the elite runners, but I have been led to believe that the numbers start at 38000 so my 38235 must mean I am special!!!

Once registered we were guided towards a wall covered in messages, a lady approached with pen and paper and asked us to write down our reasons for running the marathon. Without thinking I wrote "I got drunk at my own wedding and agreed to run the marathon" - quite true although there is also the issue of raising lots of money for The National Autistic Society - a charity close to my heart. Lisa and Sue took more time over their messages and as soon as I read them I was in tears - yes, the emotions had started to take hold.

I felt compelled to read a few more message on the wall but soon found it all too emotional. So many people running for so many worthy charities, all with their own stories and motivations. I realised then how proud I was to be part of this wonderful event and very privileged to be sharing the experience with some good friends (Yes, I was in floods of tears - both then and now)!

I looked at Sue, my crying buddy and sure enough she hadn't let me down - she too was in tears. Lisa helped us through this moment by suggesting that we did some retail therapy - so off we trotted to buy the customary T-Shirt and some "gel" packs.

This whole journey has been a very emotional experience for me and it is now only 4 bedtimes until the day is upon us. Lets hope I can hold it together long enough to get across the finish line without losing to much vital water though tears!!

Hope to see lots of you on the day, either along the marathon route or joining us for a celebratory beer later at The Beehive. Thanks again to all of you for support up until now.

Liz x

7 More Sleeps to go

Well that is assuming we manage to sleep for the next 7 nights !!!

Who would have thought it eh - one week to go and we will actually be running the London Marathon - that sunny day, wine and a general conversation when the plan was orignially hatched now seem such a long time ago. The first route that we trained on - twice round a 1.5 mile circuit from the gym to where we are now, hopefully ready to tackle the 26.2miles that London will present us with next sunday. I don't think I actually believed we would get this far and I am now so excited about next week but also very nervous as well.

We will try and keep you up to speed, no pun intended, on how things go this week in the run up or run down !

Obviously we are now at the "tapering" stage, where we should be cutting down on our milage and the speed we run at. Unfortunately on our last long run yesterday, planned for circa 5 / 6 miles, I managed to take Liz, Lisa and myself on a really lovely scenic run through beautiful Hertfordshire countryside. It was a long time, circa 6 years, since I had done this route and underestimated quite how long it was - so returned to chez Lewis 1 hour 45 minutes after we left -oops , that was not the plan. The three of us were all feeling quite lethargic yesterday with heavy legs so think rest is now needed. Lisa has had her hip "put back in" this week, so she was really feeling the pain from that - not helped by the rather chilly nip in the air on the day we also decided to try out our running vests with no other long sleeved tops underneath them - glad we tried it yesterday and think they may be going back on for next week. I also dispensed with my trusty woolly tights that I run in under my shorts - not comfortable at all so they will be back in place for next week along with my just about holding together cashmere socks - no blisters for me to date so far with that combo so plan to stick with what has worked so far. No one will ever mistake me for a serious, proper runner as no aerodynamic, go faster leggings for me !

Back to the important stuff, the remaining training plan for this week is two x 3 mile runs on tuesday and thursday and that is it.

Focus should now be on rest and balanced nutrition - haven't got the food part off to a flying start this week though. 18 of us gathered at the Lewis household this morning for brekkie of rolls on sausage before we all piled over to Watford for the Saracens vs Ospreys game - if anyone has ever grilled square sausage and has seen the amount of fat that comes off of them then you know this is not the healthiest breakfast possible - Glasgow is not coronary heart disease city of Europe for no reason you know. It does make a great breakfast sandwich though!

Many thanks to Liz for sorting out all of the tickets for this game and to Shirty for borrowing the Tabard minibus to transport everyone over - also to Jamie for supplying the whisky / whisky mac for the hipflasks and to Keith for co-ordinating today and keeping everyone topped up with tea / coffee over breakfast. This "event" was done as a bit of a fundraiser for our charities but I think everyone will agree that it was a great morning /afternoon. Ok the Welsh supporters may not have been too happy with the final result but it was a good game and well done to Saracens for their 1st semi final place in the Heinekin cup and their first sellout game. Also well done to both teams for turning out some fine looking lads and for putting an Argintina rugby team beside us - happy days all round !!

The boys had a great journey back over to St Albans and went off for a sunday roast and to watch the second quarter final - Lisa, Liz, Nicky and I had decided to go by car, rather than in the minibus and took at least 40 minutes to get out of the car park watching some fantastic examples of carpark rage going on during this time. Hint for the future, if Lisa Mason gives you THAT stare, don't even think about trying to pull out in front of her cos it is sooo not happening....

We have had some piccies taken of us in our running vests and these will be posting up on the blog over the coming week so you will know what to look out for if you are going to be down in London next Sunday.

As I said at the start of today's post, who would have thought it???

Well, here we are, we have all achieved the fundraising targets for our charities and all we need to do now is get out there and run next sunday..........

At the risk of getting caught up in another one of my oscar speeches, I would just like to say that I genuinely do not believe that we would have got to where we are in our training preparations without the incredible support we have had.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING YOU HAVE DONE TO GET US TO WHERE WE ARE NOW AND FOR YOUR ON-GOING SUPPORT THAT WILL HELP TAKE US ROUND THE COURSE NEXT SUNDAY.

Lots of Love, the Crazy Ladeez xx