Making Poverty History

U2's Bono said: "2005 is our chance to go down in history for what we did do, rather than what we didn't do. This campaign is critical, coming to a stadium and a pulpit near you."

Although the MAKE POVERTY HISTORY WHITE Wristbands are the latest fashion craze and are being worn by all the hottest celebrities in the UK including: Bono, Ronaldinho, Roberto Carlos, Davina McCall, Dermot O'Leary, Sir Paul McCartney, Scarlett Johansson, Busted, Jamelia, Denise Van Outen, Sugababes, Travis and loads more... The white bands stand for so much more...

By wearing a white band we will be part of 'Make Poverty History', a unique worldwide effort to end extreme poverty – for good. Over the next 12 months a series of landmark meetings are taking place where world leaders can finally stop 30,000 people dying needlessly every day, just because they’re poor. With your support extraordinary things are possible in 2005.



ActionAid belives that MKEPOVERTYHISTORY offers an unmissbale opportunity to sow seeds for lasting change. ActionAid are one of the few organisations that have something to say on al of the key demands - aid, trade and debt.

NLSON MANDELA COMES TO LONDON TO MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY
TRAFALGAR SQUARE, LONDON, 12 NOON, THURSDAY 3RD FEBRUARY 2005

He will be addressing a crowd of thousands in Trafalgar Square in London to
put pressure on world leaders to ensure more and better aid, drop the debt and deliver trade justice. He will also be calling on the public to get involved and take action.

The finance ministers of the G7 (Group of 7 industrialised Countries) will
meet the following day in London.

White bands, the symbol of the campaign, will adorn the square, Nelson's Column and will be worn by members of the public

How Can you help?

I have a number of these bands - get your MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY white band and wear it prominently - on your wrist or arm, through the laces in your trainers, around the straps of your handbag or any way you like. One size fits all - come in a long 31cm strip - tie to the size required.

By donating £5 (includes P&P0) to ActionAid via my justgiving account they will also get Giftaid worth 28% extra at no cost to you. All money goes direct to Actionaid.

1. Click here to get your wristband.
2. Enter your name, the amount you are donating and 'Make Poverty History' in the comments section.
3. Email your name and address to me: michmitchell@hotmail.com and I will get your wrist band to you ASAP.

Many thanks for your support!

Alternative training

Checking out a few of the other blogs it appears that a few of us are starting to hit 'the wall' already....ok so maybe not quite yet, but there are a few eeks and tweeks and colds and stuff...best be careful.

A friend of mine (Darren Mc) sent me on this
Alternative training guide - although i'm not sure that i would recommend it :-)

Enjoy!

Je suis blessé

or as they Irish put it 'Feck!'. I've spent weeks trying to build up the energy and enthusiasm that is required of a virgin London marathon runner to get off my ass and get out and run 4/5 times a week. I finally thought I was getting to grips with it - putting in a good 8 miler on sunday but alas one step forward and two steps back. :(

Last week I mentioned that my left foot was at me, unfortunately things have not improved since, so yesterday I went and got it checked out. 'A pulled ligament, rest for 3/4 days, take anti-inflammatory painkillers like ibuprofen and see how it is then' is the response I got.

Normally I would jump at the opportunity of not having to drag myself out for a 4/5 mile run in the freezing cold after staring at a computer screen for 11 hours or so. But I can't help but feel abit pissed off. Although having said that I know that it's better to rest now than have to face this a few weeks/mmonths from now.

So the sitting and waiting begins...

In the mean time I get a chance to focus more on my fundraising and I've also added a forum to my blog (see right hand side) where you can post ideas about races/fundraising etc

My longest run EVER!

I made a conscience decision that I was not going to do a rerun of what happened last weekend. Although I did head out with friends for come really nice Spanish tapas, I limited my alcohol to less than one glass of white wine. I still had a very enjoyable night out and today I enjoyed a nice hangover free lie in.

I debated whether to do my 8 mile run around 12/1pm or whether to wait till later in the evening, I opted for the later. 4pm I stepped outside and bloody hell was it freezing. Thankfully it did not take long to warm up (although I don't think my ass quite thawed out till I got back to my warm flat). To my surprise I ran the first 2.31 miles in 21 minutes...I stopped and walked for a couple of metres while I drank some water and off I went again for another 2 miles...again another 20 minutes, feeling good I repeated this twice over.

The end result 8 miles in 81 minutes. To be honest I'm bordering on saying I'm shocked. I did not expect to run this fast (believe me, this is fast for me) I felt good and still had energy left in my legs. I enjoyed it and quite chuffed with myself now. It rounded off quite a good week.

DAY	DISTANCE	TIME	COMMENT
Monday	5 miles	57 mins	5 miles making up for poor 2 miles yesterday. Ran in gym.
Tuesday	1M jog 3X1 mile 3 mins recovery 1 mile jog	1 hr 7	12 jogs no prob. 1 miles @ 10 minute is quick enough for me. No speed.
Wednesday	4 miles	44	In gym. Very tired this evening after long day at work.
Thursday	3 miles	33 mins	Enjoyed this run.
Friday	-	-	Rest
Saturday	-	-	Rest
Sunday	8 miles	81 mins	Very cold outside. ran @ 4pm. Felt good. Eneregy in legs. longest run EVER to date.

Rest day...woo hoo!

After working for nearly 11.5 hours yesteday including a 2 hour meeting (fun) I really enjoyed my run.

Thursday
-----------
3 Miles @ 33 mins

In my eyes I've earned a rest day, so I'm off out for a meal and maybe cinema. Dave expressed an interest in going to see House of the flying daggers Its suppose to be pretty good...but I'm not pushed.

Something I spotted that is not at all running or fundraising related...

'Dancing badgers and, erm, breadfish have won the hearts of thousands of internet users voting for their website of the year.

The Weebl's Stuff cartoon animations were so popular the website won 40 per cent of the vote for the Yahoo People's Choice Website 2004 award. It beat off competition from nine other sites to land the title.

Check it all out for yourself at www.weebl.jolt.co.uk/history1.html www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/46/ and www.badgerbadgerbadger.com.'

Enjoy! Have a good weekend..Ive got a 8 miles to look forward to on sunday but for now I'm going to enjoy my rest days.

My left foot!

Although I do enjoy my weekly cinema fix, I am not referring to the story about Christy Brown... has to be said a very good film and known to have reduced many a good man to tears.

I am hesitant to use the word 'Injury' for fear of jinxing it....but over the past 5 days or so I definately have a discomfort on the top of my foot heading towards the foot/leg intersection (very medical)with slight swelling around the ankle. It is there and I am very aware of it (is there even when walking), keeping an eye on it but as yet is not a good enough excuse to stop running for a few days.

Tuesday night
-------------
1 mile warm up - 12 mins
3X1 miles - 10.5 mins
1 mile warm down - 12 mins.

Quite cold out with a good windy. Snow in alot of northern areas, but London once again managed to excape.

Wednesday night
---------------
After a very long day at work...so much for a 9 -> 5 job I ran 4 miles. I came in from work and just fell onto the bed, it took me a good few minutes to drag myself back up and out again. Totally lacking in eneragy and enthusiasm I finally got my act in gear and heading out for what actually turned out to be quite an ok run

first 2 @ 11 mins second 2 @ 12 mins.

Never been so happy to head to bed though. I live to fight another day....got to keep an eye on this foot of mine and I am soooo looking forward to fri and sat. rest days.

Thats more like it

Hey there
After last weeks poor performance (many reasons) I made decision that this week was going to be much much better. After yesterday long hard day at work what better way to end it all off than running a few miles

3 miles @ 11 mins
walked for 3 mins
2 miles @ 12 mins

Did manage to get caught in one of the heavy down pours but quite enjoyed the run itself and quite happy with a 5 miler to start the week off with. Start as I mean to go on...

Sitting in work, with a sore head... the air vent above me has gone on the blink again. :( One of my work mates said its 26 on one of his many geek toys. Nasty! See if I'm complaining when I've to run my 5 miles tonight in the cold.

Just had a right crappy afternoon at work getting 'stress' from all areas...grrrrrrr...a run could be just what I need...

1 tequilla, 2 tequilla...

...3 tequilla, floor!

Hey there. It's sunday evening, and although I didn't have a hangover parsay, I did have that dry dehydrated feeling all day.

The morning after the night before I wasn't best pleased with myself...knowing full well I had a 7 mile run scheduled for today. Last night was my friends 30th birthday see, and being Italian she likes to throw a party. Sure I didnt have to drink...or at least drink as much as I did but I did and I paid for it today. Not the best training yeh!

No need to worry the only hitting of the floor I was doing was dancing to the music but I did have a few wines to many and a Sambuca for good measure. Why do we try to re live our student days?? Its not big and its not clever...but it was fun...(sneaky grin)

So how did my 7 miler go today? Well, as you probably already guessed...it didnt. I struggled through 2 miles and I gave it up as a bad job. Tomorrow is a rest day though so I plan on heading out for a few miles...its the least I can do to make up for a somewhat poor week.

You live and learn.

DAY	DISTANCE	TIME	COMMENT
Monday	-	-	Rest day after yesterdays 6 miles
Tuesday	1M jog 2X1 m (or 11-14 mins) fast-with 800m or 5 min jog recovery Im jog	11 average	12 jogs no prob. 1 miles @ 10 minute is quick enough for me. No speed.
Wednesday	-	-	Forgot to check diary-did not run (was scheduled for 4 miles)
Thursday	-	-	Sick-not feeling well this evening so didnt run
Friday	4 miles	45 mins.	Outside abit windy but quite enjoyed this evening.
Saturday	-	-	Rest
Sunday	2 miles	22	Was suppose to do 7 miles but went out last night and no engery today. The end to not a good week race wise-can only but improve next week. have to up the milage.

Ultramarathon

Not that I was actually thinking of running one...but I was interested to know what the longest race in the world was...and it is a 'Ultramarathon'

'An Ultramarathon is any organized footrace extending beyond the standard marathon running distance of 42 kilometers, 195 meters (26 miles, 385 yards). Ultra races typically begin at 50 kilometers and can extend to enormous distances. There is no limit.'

If you are half as curious as I was - check out 'What is an Ultramarathon' for more info

We believe you...

I was scheduled to run last night, but wasn't feeling good, so decided to swop with tonight instead (my rest day)..fair enough...but when i went to enter such into my diary turns out I was meant to do a 4 mile slow run at 41-44 pace on wednesday night, and guess what...of all the excuses in all the world...I forgot! seriously I honestly thought that i had a rest day on wednesday. Where was I? Well in the pub having a few drinks of course...(great training yeh.) hmmmm...

I'm not going to beat myself up over it..instead i will probably go for a light run on saturday (also arest day) and add an extra mile or two (depands on how i feel) onto my 7 miler on sunday.

Cream of the crop

I started thinking about the title of todays blog 'cream of the crop' when I came across this article http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20010608 I couldnt have but it better myself :-)

I think we all know at this stage that Paula has decided to run again in this years marathon...or if you don't you do now :-)
Check out Paula returns article on the London Marathon website and BBC site.

25th Flora London Marathon Elite Announcements so far

'The London Marathon keeps adding elite runners to its roster - and at the same time race organizers have said they have managed to cut 45 seconds from the course - creating what will be an amazing 25th anniversary event. Olympic Gold and Silver Medalists, Stefano Baldini and Meb Keflezighi (not to mention Athens fourth place finisher, Jon Brown) will join the two fastest marathoners in the world - Paul Tergat and Sammy Korir; 2000 Olympic Gold Medalist, Gezahegne Abera; European Record-holder, Antonio Pinto; the last five London Champions: Evans Rutto, Abera, Khalid Khannouchi, Abdelkader El Mouaiziz and Pinto. Not to mention another six or seven athletes that could go for the gold. We're sure there will be more announcements between now and race day, April 17, 2005...'

Article taken from Marathon Guide

Half a job Bob!

Last nights target:

1 mile warm up

2 X 1.5 miles @ 11-14 minute pace

1 mile warm down

Having worked a full day and enduring a 2 hour journey home from work after an 'incident' at Clapham Junction my training partner pulled out of our evening run.

That left me with the folowing delimma...will I run outdoors at night...?

PROS: Better training for me than indoors
CONS: Its cold, dark, wetish and windy out...not to mention a female running on her own..

CONS won out. So what did I do but hop on a bus to the gym.

Why do we do that?

Reminds me of this photo that was doing the email rounds awhile back. Only in America! (To be fair I think its for wheelchair access)



So I did my 1 mile warm up (12 minutes) stretched and then headed into my first of 2 X 1.5 miles. At the .5 mile mark I noticed that I would have to up pace quite abit to get anywhere near 12/13 minutes....but I was finding the going tough so my mind starts to wander and I start to think....

'right, I can push myself and do this 1.5 miles in the required time ...but will I be able to do a second...probably bow out tired after the first few minutes...so what if i do one mile, ya i could do that. Do one mile take a rest and do another'

Thats what I did. I did the 1st mile in 10 minutes walked for 5 minutes and ran another mile...another 10 minutes. Sore leg syndrom.

I managed my 1 mile warm down in a much more relaxed 12 minutes.

No one said i have to stick to the schedule religiously and when I look at it today I'm actually pleased enough with my running...speed is not my fortia...but as my da use to say in my cross country days 'keep plodding along' and thats what I do...I'll get there in the end :-)

Priceless

If someone offered you £10, £50 or £100 for your London Marathon 2005 medal ...would you sell it?

I wouldnt. It's something I will keep forever.

Obviously the 2004 marathon didn't mean as much to one person...who has posted their London Marathon 2004 on ebay with a starting bid of £3

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2897&item=5156077078&rd=1

How much is a medal that someone earned by putting months of physical training into and maybe even raised money for a good cause in the process?

or maybe this was just a spare..maybe someone didnt turn up on the day...but what is the winning bidder going to do with it? pass it off as their own?

Fancay Flat 21km/13mile run along the Thames-Jan 16th

I was just taking to a work mate of mine who has a friend that is running in the marathon...seems all the rage these days :-) anyway they have organised a "TSUNAMI RUN" on Sunday 16th January.

A flat 21km/13mile run along the Thames from Putney to Kew Bridge and back.

Starting at 9am outside Bar M/Putney Pier on Embankment (on the south side of Putney Bridge, first right off Lower Richmond Road).

There are 3 drinks tables along the way and one at the finish.

read the full email below:

"Hello again everyone!

I forgot to copy this in for those of you who didn’t receive it from Nicky this week. This will be our long run for next weekend (16 Jan). I think it’s a superb idea!

Is anyone else sitting watching the news of the terrible effects of the Asian Tsunami and feeling helpless and wondering what you could do to help?

Well, we really want to be able to do something to make just a small bit of difference to those poor people who have been affected... so wethought we would focus on our strengths and do what we do best and RUN

TO RAISE MONEY!

So, we are organising a "TSUNAMI RUN" on Sunday 16th January. A picturesque and flat 21km/13mile run along the Thames from Putney to Kew Bridge and back - perfect training run for Paris/London Marathon.

We will start at 9am outside Bar M/Putney Pier on Embankment (on the south side of Putney Bridge, first right off Lower Richmond Road). There will be 3 drinks tables along the way and one at the finish.

We're asking all runners to donate £5 (more if you want) - a little bit of which will cover the drinks and the bulk of the donation will go to the Disasters Emergency Committee - www.dec.org.uk - which is an umbrella group of UK aid organisations - including Action Aid, British Red Cross and Oxfam - working to provide clean water, food and shelter to thousands. Importantly, EVERY penny donated goes to help the people affected.

If you or anyone you know is unable to run but would still like to help, we are looking for volunteers to man the drinks tables - all drinks will be provided, you just need to get to your spot - you'll be briefed fully beforehand.

Please pass this on to as many people as possible who you think may be interested. We'll need to ensure we have enough drinks so please could you let me know ASAP if you'll be running / helping.

I have attached a map of the course (kindly supplied by the Serpentine

Running Club website). If 21km/13m is a bit far, there is the opportunity to turn back at Chiswick Bridge (10mile). The nearest tube station to the start is Putney Bridge and nearest
overland station is Putney.

There'll be cars where you can leave kit at the start.
Please can you make sure you get to the start by 8.45 so we can start promptly at 9am.

Looking forward to seeing loads of people there and to being able to
make a bit of a difference!

Nics & Kev"

More feedback...

"The group meets about twice a week to do a scheduled run on Tuesdays and Sundays. The regulars are about 20 in total but there has been a pretty good response from just the people I have emailed so the numbers should be a lot more.

Just turn up and pay on the day."

The run/walk technique

My target for yesterday was 6 miles at 65-70 minutes pace...somewhat less than a stroll in the park to the likes of Paula Radcliffe but for me i struggle to run for any longer than 15 minutes outside (can run 40 in the gym) without taking a breather...be it a short one.

Fair enough, so I have to practice my breathing technique...breathing in through my mouth, and out again defies all laws...but its difficult. Even as a fit 15/16 year old running in the fields of athenry I could never get to grips with it.

Surely I'm not the only one out there that has this problem? I was quite reassured when I logged onto http://www.runnersworld.co.uk forum and found many people are in the same situation.

By allowing myself a breather every 10/15 minutes I was able to continue for 70 minutes without to much effort. I take heart from this and look forward to my 7 mile run next sunday.

Thank You!

From the bottom of my heart and on behalf or ActionAid thank you to each and every one of you that have donated.

http://www.justgiving.com/michellesmarathon

GuessMap-leave a message

By clicking on GuestMap you can mark where in the world you are viewing my site from and if you like leave a message. Enjoy!

Measure the Distance

I set off on my first official long run of 2005 - the target 6 miles (10 km) in 65-70 minutes. With the help of my radio (have to now look into getting a better one...a radio headphone would probably be best-I know Sony have one) I completed 70 minutes in the wind but was left wondering what distance i had actually covered...especially when my jogging got increasing closer...

I came across a website that cheered me up (I managed to jog 6.21 miles...nice one!)

Check out http://www.uk.map24.com/

Sainsbury's-Is life better?

Sainsbury's slogon is - "Making life taste better". Well I'm afraid they left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.

At the beginning of december I sent an email to my local Sainsbury's to ask for permission to collect money (with collection bins and official permission from ActionAid) outside their supermarket with suggested dates on which to do so.. all these dates have now passed-no word from Sainsbury's and even attached a stamped address envelope. Disappointing!

Happy New Year? Asian Tsunami disaster

While we were all nursing our hangovers, swollen turkey stomachs etc mother nature was up to no good a few hours from here-where up to 145,000 people are now reported dead and thousands of more are still missing. BBC reports on this can be accessed via

http://news.bbc.co.uk

ActionAid's website is

http://www.actionaid.org.uk/

In the wake of the Asian Tsunami disaster that has struck so many people over the past week, you may be wondering how you can contribute and what organisation you might contribute to…here is one option…

ActionAid are one of the UK's largest overseas development charities, working with over 5 million people in over 30 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

ActionAid is currently providing emergency assistance in India. Worst affected along the 700km coast of Tamil Nadu are 600 communities of up to 700,000 people, where over 7,000 people have been confirmed dead.

ActionAid have 30 full-time staff and nearly 300 partners and volunteers working in the area providing safe drinking water and sanitation, essential medicines and food supplies to families. A mobile team of doctors is in place and ActionAid is also counseling traumatized survivors.

ActionAid assessment teams are also being sent to Sri Lanka, the Andaman Islands and Thailand.

They need our support and generosity.

'Richard Miller Director ActionAid says

"survivors now face a new threat – disease. Water and sanitation systems have been destroyed, leaving children and the elderly especially vulnerable to disease. Unless we take action immediately, the tsunami will continue to take lives.
ActionAid is well-placed to prevent further loss of life and begin the painstaking task of rebuilding devastated lives – we have done it many times before, but never before on such a huge scale. That’s why we need your help today.
Your gift today could help reconnect water supplies and protect a whole community from disease. You could help poor families rebuild their homes. Or you could give fishermen new nets – so they can start to feed their children once more.
Whatever area of work you support, you will help people who have been left with nothing."

How You Can Help?

anyone wishing to help can make an online donation through my website

http://www.justgiving.com/michellesmarathon

Thank you for your support!