I am campaigning for Amnesty International UK and in particular the cause of WOZA - Women of Zimbabwe Arise! 

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. I decided to celebrate retirement and completing a marathon has been my ambition for years - if I don't do it now, then never!  So here we go. I support all Amnesty causes. Of all the issues - famine, drought, AIDs, global warming etc - political intolerance is the one the spooks me most. If I had not lived in a moderate, liberal, democratic country, where I had the right to speak my mind, I'd have been a political prisoner. The thought of torture or long-term incarceration is just intolerable - the worst nightmare. If I can raise a little more money for Amnesty, by doing something I shall enjoy - running around the bracing landscapes of Scott's "Heart of Midlothian" - Princes Street, King Arthur's Seat, the 'Royal Mile' - it will be a suitable climax to 41 years of teaching the global lingua franca. Bless you for reading all this and for contributing - many better people than I will say thank you!  

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.

 

TRAINING DIARY

25th February

Started during half-term. Did 4.5 miles on Wednesday 14th Feb. Not too bad

Did 7 miles on Saturday 18th Feb.

Tuesday 21 Feb - (back in school!) did 7 miles in the dark! (But wore hi-viz vest)

Saturday 25 Feb Fantastic day. Did 13 miles (12.8 to be exact!) in glorious sunshine along Southend Sea Front. prob going to lose a nail on my left foot (!!!) but otherwise no probs. Question is, can I run tomorrow? Hopeful!

Sunday 26 Feb - 7 miles again. Not too bad.

Tuesday 28th Feb - 7 miles in the dark. That'll be 27 miles this week.

Saturday 3rd March - 9 miles.   

Added a few photos from training routes - starting with Prittlewell Park and the little burial mound of "the Prittlewell Prince", excavated in 2003, then Southend sea front, returning via McDonalds and Waitrose.

Sunday 4th March - 9 miles.  [Aiming to run Tues, Weds and Thurs - idea is to get to the point where my legs prefer running to not running!  Pipe-dream!]

Tuesday 6th March 7 miles Spurred on by new donations!

Wednesday 7th March 7 miles

Thursday 8th March 9 miles Hey! That's 41 miles this week. On schedule! And more determined than ever after such generous donations from colleagues.Thanks guys!

Friday 9th Rest day - Barbican for Mozart's K466 (my favourite!) and Mahler's 7th - the amazing BBCSO!  Ikram - you are a complete star! I shouldn't accept, but I will for WOZA. Many thanks.

Saturday 10th What a concert last night! Dave, how did we manage that coincidence? !!

Training - 10.3 miles this morning - but twingy hip so have decided to chill for a couple of days, use the gym, catch up on housework and school work.

Sunday 11th - Spring has definitely sprung. Bought new lawnmower - been promising it for a long time - and tidied up garden ready for another year. Want to build squash-gourd-marrow tunnel and think I know how and where. Also pond is a must-have this year. Such a gorgeous day - bees ravishing the flowering currant, ladybirds on every twig, birdies snatching straw from the strawberry patch for nesting!! Big tidy-up ready to get things going again.

I'll do a couple fo 7's this week then a longer run at the weekend but need to nurse this aged skeleton through. So many generous warm replies - thanks everyone for your amazing support.

Sunday 18th March  Didn't do the couple of 7s - training routine messed up by the Ofsted blight (funnily not included in the Biblical 12 plagues of Egypt - lucky Egypt - no Ofsted!!

However, did 7 yesterday and 10.3 today, so back on track. Need to start doing 2 runs a day at weekends. But 30+ a week up to the end of term is the schedule and so far so good.

It was high tide and brilliant sunshine along Southend seafront this morning - such a good feeling. Need some new photos to show the daffodils, crocus and blossom.

Tuesday - fantastic sunset and another 9 miles on the clock! Beginning to feel I could do two of these in a day.

Saturday 24th March New trainers and new running tops! Checked my gait again and made purchases from Original Sports (Progress road) - good deal: £120 Dasics for £70. Went for larger size to give feet more room.

Did 10 miles at lunch - but such a hot day!

Sunday - 7 this morning. Would have tried another 7 this evening but, with an hour lost to EST, and housework and schoolwork, ran out of time.

One week to go - strange dreams: flying outside, but attached to a plane, in the stratosphere, in the jetstream, with a spectacular sunset masking a lowering threatening sky and thinking "If I let go of this cord, what then?" Another staff member, also flying outside, was calmly painting balloons! - Are dreams symbolic?

Friday 30th  Been a bad week for running but back in the groove tomorrow! Thanks Natalie - for your card, your donation and your hugs!

Sunday 1st April - Did 9 miles yesterday; 7 miles this morning and 7 again this evening. Not too bad. Have decided doing two runs in a day is a good way of building up resilience and mileage. Nothing tomorrow as I've a 300+ miles round-trip to Nottinghamshire.

Wednesday 4th April 9 miles on Tuesday and 9 this morning - 41 so far since Saturday.

Friday 6th 9 again (with Ben) - that's 50 this week, but have tweaked a calf-muscle.

Sunday 8th gym (give calf a rest)

Thursday 12th 10 miles; Saturday 14th 13 miles; Thursday 19th 17 miles - need to get back into a rhythm and build up the distances. But managed the 17 without too much anguish. Gym on Friday, 13 miles Saturday, gym on Sunday.

Week hijacked by winter (!) and a broken down boiler. 10 miles Thursday. Still winter - 10 miles Friday. Still winter - rain, wind, people rescued from cars just up the road in Watery Lane: 13 miles Sunday. Next week need to start 20s! But good people - 87% of my target.. nearly there!

Monday - rest day - usual gym work-out. Foul weather again! Tuesday 18 miles - Rayeigh and back. Way to go!

Saturday 92% twds target! Thanks everyone - can't say how brilliant you all are!  10 miles on Thursday; 13 this afternoon. (Chiropodist in 20 mins!) Crack 20 next week - 3 weeks to go! Hope weather warms up!

Wednesday: 23 miles! Yeah! (4 hours - boooooh!)

Saturday 12th May: 10 miles (including some speed work - well, 'speed' being relative); Sunday 13th 60 miles on the bike, lovely day! Thanks Anna for telling me to very it more.

Monday: 23 miles again: 3 hrs 45 (just a touch better!)

Friday 18th 13 miles (a bit leaden in the legs); Sunday 20th 6 miles; Monday 21st 7 miles.

Total training mileage:369.1 miles

Probably my last run before Sunday - all the advice now seems to be wind down, have rest days, cross train, load carbs! So I'll do gym tomorrow, bike on Weds (or vice versa) then it's travelling north. Hey-ho - the worst yet to come!!

Tuesday - gym - just the usual.

Wednesday - Jon and I put our bikes on the trains to Cambridge, had a ride round, lunch in The Anchor (still good!) then cycled home - about 84 miles.

Thursday Leeds - no running. Friday and Saturday Edinburgh - no running.

Sunday - the thing itself: das Ding an Sich! 26.2 in 4.20.24 (official!) and temperatures of 27/28 C!! Great feeling after! Truly worthwhile as an experience in itself. Thanks to all the wonderful citizens of Edinburgh, who cheered and clapped and kept us going, the brilliant drummers and those who put out their spray hoses - I made a point of hitting each and every one!

Thank you everybody for all the support - wd have been impossible without it and the spur of knowing that I cd not let you down. You were all brilliant - team effort. We will meet our target, which is100% above our official Amnesty target and Robert Mugabe had better see that he commands so much voluntary support!

Love you all. So long.    Nh  xx