family - AnnaTheApple

October 23, 2013October 23, 2013

A spot of afternoon tea

Hello! It’s Wednesday – half way there! Not that I’m living for the weekend or anything…

This week I’m joining the blogging link-up What I Ate Wednesday and share the delightful treats and meals I’ve been loving lately. Pop over to Jenn’s blog to see what’s going down

So here’s a recap of Saturday’s eats as they were pretty damn good. As I mentioned in my last post, I didn’t run Parkrun on Saturday. This was really hard and sad for me. Without sounding overly dramatic, it sucked. Ben went but I went to spin instead. I could have volunteered but I wanted to get the endorphins going and to be honest I was in a bad mood.

And let me tell you, spin was hard core. The usual person was sick apparently so we had a stand-by person do it. I assumed it would be a cop-out session. Ha. Usually we have little breaks between songs but not this time. It was just non-stop. And then the instructor goes “right, time for a 5 minute sprint”. Seriously?! It was 30 seconds of sprints, with about 10 seconds recovery, over 5 minutes. I was a sweaty mess.

After this I had my usual breakfast:

Same old same old. Porridge (oatmeal), almond milk and chia seeds.

Then after getting ready and usual house stuff, Ben and me headed to my parent’s where I dropped Ben off for some ‘man-time’ with my dad to watch the football and play Xbox. I picked my mum up and we headed off for a lovely spot of afternoon tea for lunch.

Besides from getting immensely stressed out trying to find a car park in the world’s smallest village square and ending up giving up and parking in a ditch, we arrived at Lilly’s Tearoom in Wickham in one piece (not always guaranteed when I drive).

We ordered soup to start because we weren’t sure afternoon tea would be an adequate lunch (rookie error right there).

Delicious pea and ham soup

I loved how beautiful all the crockery was. In fact, the whole tearoom was beautifully decorated and the service was fabulous.

Obviously we had tea

And then our ‘main’…

Heaven! We had the choice of so many different cakes (carrot, chocolate, lemon drizzle, coffee and walnut, rocky road, millionaire shortbread or Victoria sponge). Well, my mum and me both adore Victoria sponge so we both went for a slice of that. It also came with crustless chicken sandwiches and crustless cucumber sandwiches (but of course!) and scones with clotted cream and jam.

Yeah so we clearly did not need that soup!! We were both quite full by the end, only leaving a couple of the sandwiches (choose your battles I say – cakes all the way). It was perfect.

And then we looked round the little square at all the lovely little shops. And lo and behold I found the most amazing chocolate shop.

Because after so much cake, surely this makes sense??

So many beautiful and tasty looking chocolates! Well, I pushed the boat out and went crazy. I bought Ben and me a box to share.

I forgot to take a photo of inside, but I will share soon as it’s pretty impressive

The shopkeeper thought it was hilarious that I was buying this for just Ben and me to eat ourselves. How terribly indulgent, I know

Well, dinner wasn’t needed for quite a long time afterwards! Luckily Ben had had a pub lunch so we were both happy to have a nice late dinner.

I kept it simple and had roasted vegetables and sausages. I threw in a chopped cooking apple as well (because I don’t eat enough apples – it’s something I’m trying to work on ). I threw some herbs on it (rosemary and thyme) and then drizzled it with some oil and balsamic vinegar. LOVED this. Definitely happening again. And so easy – everything just went in a casserole dish and then in the oven for 20ish minutes.

And that’s that!

Last night I went for an easy 8 mile run and it felt pretty good. No pain, no major discomfort. Just a bit of aching but I was more concerned with the raging thunderstorm going around me! But more on that another day.

Have you ever had afternoon tea? I think it’s pretty much the best thing in the world. OK I’m easily swayed by anything cake-related.

What treats do you like to buy? A box of chocolates is fairly extravagant for us, but I just couldn’t help myself. Usually it’s Cadbury’s chocolate or Lindt!

What’s your favourite filling in a sandwich? I am a bit turkey or chicken fan, with loads of salad. And cranberry sauce.

September 2, 2013

Weekly workout and weekend catch-up

Hello September! I think September is my favourite month. It’s the month where I feel everything is starting again. Does that sound weird? When I was at school, college and university the new year would begin in September. It was the month Ben and me got married (it’s almost our one year anniversary!) And it’s the month where you can see summer disappearing and the colder weather creeping it.

Don’t get me wrong, dark mornings and dark evenings can be so depressing. As can cold blustery winds and relentless rain…but there’s something so lovely about curling up in bed hearing the wind outside and being snug and warm inside. And runs that aren’t stupidly hot!

This weekend has been great. A nice quiet one, while also having dinner with friends and seeing my mum for a coffee and slice of cake. Unfortunately Ben has come down with a cold. SORRY – man flu. So I’ve been making him lots of hot lemon with honey drinks and giving him some TLC.

And I finally went for a run! Hurrah! This whole week has all been about avoiding running and mending myself. This is what my workouts this week have looked like:

Monday: LBT (due to spinning fail) and circuits

Tuesday: Spinning

Wednesday: Spinning

Thursday: Pump

Friday: Spinning

Saturday: 4 mile easy run

Sunday: 11 mile long easy run

Yeah I sort of went spinning crazy. I really enjoyed it. OK it wasn’t the same as running but it was still good to get that “oof that was tough” buzz afterwards and sense of accomplishment. Don’t get me wrong, I will always choose running over spinning though.

One thing that annoyed me about spinning was one of the instructors kept talking about weight-loss and fat-loss – “burning those calories”. That is not why I go to spin. I go to spin to help compliment and improve my running without actually running. Spinning is a tough workout and really works my legs and works muscles that I don’t use when I run so I become stronger overall.

It just annoys me when people can be so narrow-minded. The gym is not all about losing weight! I get a lot of judgements from people as well when I tell them I go to the gym. Comments like “you don’t need to go to the gym!”. It just irks me that that’s all people think I’m doing.

Moan over. So as you can see I did go running eventually. I decided not to do Parkrun because I couldn’t guarantee I wouldn’t go into ‘race mode’ and do something stupid and reignite my groin problem (hmm, maybe I should call it something different? That sounds weird haha). Instead I ran the 4 nice and easy miles to Parkrun (while Ben drove) and then marshalled. I love marshalling because it’s great to cheer people on and a few people afterwards said it really helped

Later Alfie and me had such a lovely long walk while I listened to an old MarathonTalk podcast (interview with Nell McAndrew one running a stupidly fast marathon – she is amazing and sounds lovely).

Then we had dinner at my friends house which was great. Felt like proper grown ups having a dinner party!

Then Sunday I tentatively went out for my long run. I was so worried it wouldn’t happen. That I’d aggravated things the day before…but it went fine! My groin didn’t hurt but it didn’t feel completely sorted, still an annoying niggle, so I kept things nice and easy.

I don’t think I’ve ever run at such a consistent pace! It didn’t hurt and it felt amazing to get out for a long run. It just cleared my mind wonderfully of any stress.

This week I’m still going to take it easy on the running front. Probably keep going to spin but see how I feel for the Thursday running club session and then maybe Parkrun Saturday.

It’s two weeks until my next half marathon (Bristol)!! So I’m glad things are getting back on plan…finger’s crossed!!

How was your weekend? What did you get up to?

What’s your next race or big event your planning for?

What’s your favourite time of year and why?

August 26, 2013August 26, 2013

Reality TV stars at their finest

Oh I do love having a Monday off! This weekend England (not Scotland unfortunately – boo!) had a Bank holiday. This, for non-UK readers, is basically just a public holiday on the Monday. Though I’m not sure why it’s called a ‘bank holiday’ (though I know the banks are closed). Yesterday we got back from Essex seeing Ben’s dad yesterday and so today (Monday) we’ve just been chilling and catching up with the housework. So here’s my weekend catch-up.

Friday I got up early and went to spin which was good but as always hard. I was chuffed for getting myself there for the early class and then having enough time when I got back to pack and get myself together without stressing. Then we drove to Essex…and obviously this involved lovely bank holiday weekend traffic. *sighs*

Though it was perfect timing to paint my toe nails! I was very appreciative of Ben’s smooth driving.

After having a nice evening on the Friday, we got up early and headed down to the Chelmsford Parkrun for a bit of Parkrun tourism! It was so great doing a different Parkrun. I had no idea about the course (though it’s always 5k).

It was located in a lovely park with a pond. The weather was a bit drizzly but a nice cool temperature.

The run went well. I felt speedy and strong and was grateful for a lovely flat course (there was a very small steep hill but nothing scary or hard).

My father-in-law cheered us on and took some photos and it was good fun. Though the girls were very speedy! There were at least three so far ahead of me that I had no chance to catch them.

But I was very chuffed with my time – about 10 seconds better than my Parkrun PB! But the course definitely helped I would say as my usual route has an annoying hill we have to do three times. I came 5th female which I was very pleased with considering all four females in front of me did it in sub-20s and sub-19s. Yikes!

Unfortunately – God I don’t even want to type this it’s so annoying and repetitive – I’ve twinged my groin. YES I KNOW. Another flipping running-related injury. Jeeeeeeze. But I’m not making a big thing about it. It’s fine. I’m just having a nice week break from running (well, I’ll see how it goes ). I’ve got my spinning and pump so it’s all fine. I’m not panicking as it feels like just a small twinge that just needs a little rest.

Moving on! For the rest of the day we did something hugely embarrassing that I can’t believe I’m admitting. We did the TOWIE tour. Now I will forgive you if you didn’t know TOWIE stood for The Only Way is Essex. And I will also forgive you for not knowing that that is a ridiculous reality TV show set in Essex… coining those elegant phrases such as “I’m well jel” (translation: “I’m very jealous”).

Well, we did the tour. As in we walked around Brentwood and went into all of the main cast’s shops (as they all now own their own shops for some strange reason). And lo and behold! They were actually in their shops. Now we are talking proper Z-list celebrities here, people. I know. Calm yourselves.

All good fun. I will say that the majority of them were really lovely and didn’t mind me cheekily asking them for a photo. Apart from one. I think the phrase she used was “this ain’t a museum – have a look at the merchandise if you want a photo”. To which I promptly apologised and left the shop. I’m sorry I’m not paying £10 for a notebook to justify having a photo taken with her. I think she realised I was a bit affronted and called me back. It was all very awkward and I just wanted to get away as quickly as I could.

Not to labour the point too much but I do think reality TV stars shouldn’t be too high and mighty about fans wanting photos taken with them…after all, without us they wouldn’t be where they are. It’s not like they have ‘real’ talent like, say, actors and singers. Sorry if that’s a bit catty!

We also mooched around a few shops and I bought this top and skirt.

I’m not sure if together they go well but I was originally wearing a dress so I had to try them on together! Dorothy Perkins…how I love that shop.

In the evening we had a nice easy take-away (I had an Indian while Ben and his dad had a pizza – Ben was in heaven). We watched What Women Want (love, love that film! Such a classic) and had an easy evening.

We had a great time in Essex and it was good fun

Right, now I’m off to do some ironing and watch some Friends. Rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle living over here!

How was your weekend?

Reality TV: do you love or hate? I’m terrible. I love all that rubbish; Keeping Up with the Kardashians, The Hills, Made in Chelsea… But not Big Brother. I have some standards

Have you met anyone famous?

What Parkruns have you done? Any ones to recommend?

August 21, 2013August 21, 2013

Cheddar Gorge Half Marathon

Hi guys! Sooo on Sunday I ~~completed~~ survived the Cheddar Gorge half marathon. And I’m not tooting my own horn here when I say it was no small feat!

The day began very early, showering (ha, what was the point in that!) and having a good breakfast at 6.30am. My dad was supposed to come with Ben and me and support while my mum stayed at home with their dogs and Alfie as it would have been unfair to have left them on their own in the house another day (after Saturday’s BBQ). But my dad was really ill in the night and couldn’t make it so my mum came instead. My dad was devastated. I always joke that he’s my ‘soccer mom’ as he’s always encouraging me and giving me pep talks before races so it was a real shame.

Anyway we drove the two hours towards Somerset (grabbed a coffee en route – necessity!) and arrived with an hour to spare. Perfect!

It had rained a fair bit on the journey up and but it had stopped by the time we arrived and I started feeling excited!

We got ourselves together with our hydration belt (for me) and Camelbak (for Ben). Panic struck when I realised my gel had burst a bit in my bag. Very sticky. Gross. But luckily not too much of it had leaked to make a significant difference. It just meant I had to carry it running rather than keep it in my belt.

Look what we found!! This made me think of Claire as she’s always showing photos of Gromits from around Bristol and London.

Then we got our bibs and made the long journey up to the start. We left my mum (bless her wearing her flip flops) and she went off to have a mosey around the shops to come back later to where we would be finishing. Basically there was no ideal point to spectate!

We could tell as we saw the other runners that this was a different style of race. The runners did not look like your stereotypical road runners. They were hardy looking men and women ready for a challenge. It felt very relaxed which was great.

Ideal to be walking behind the first aid guys!!

We were sweating before we’d even begun!!

And we finally made it to the start.

Here are the elevation changes throughout the course:

Mile one: It began really really tough. A lot of up hill running. We ran through about four fields so there was a lot of jumping over stiles. My game plan had been to stay around 9 minutes a mile. I looked at my watch during the first half a mile and I was doing 10 minutes and struggling.

Mile two: It levelled out, there was a nice downhill section which was refreshing after the climb. Then some rocky bits to climb over and slide down which was good fun.

Mile three: This involved more running uphill across a big field. There was absolutely no point in trying to be speedy. Then we ran through a lovely bog soaking my trainers…good stuff.

Mile four: Still climbing. There weren’t a huge number of runners at all. There was maybe three guys I could see directly in front of me (obviously more further ahead!) and a few behind. I saw up ahead that two of the runners were coming to a stop and looked confused as to where they were going and a bunch of hikers pointed the way. It was that kind of race! There were ribbons on trees and marks on the floor but it was dodgy at times! I caught up with a guy and we started chatting which was really nice. It was his first off-road half marathon as well so it was nice to be in good company!

Best bit was passing a couple of marshals and them shouting “here’s the first lady!” What a boost! The guy in front of me did a bow pretending it was him, which was funny.

Mile five: What a dream! I zoomed downhill. I kept a great routine of doing teeny tiny footsteps and landing on the front of my foot to let gravity basically push me forward. I gained back quite a bit of energy doing this as it didn’t take as much to run it. Though obviously I had to be careful not to fall!!

Mile six: I took my gel, thankful to stop carrying it (putting the now less sticky rubbish in my belt of course!). I managed to get lost off the route by mindlessly following two guys. We ended up going through a very constricted path amongst brambles then realising it really didn’t feel right and backtracked to the correct path.

Mile seven: Oh man this was tough – one of the hardest parts. Serious uphill. I couldn’t run it. It was just impossible. My thighs were burning. The guys around me walked it too so I didn’t feel so bad.

Mile eight to mile 11: Can’t remember much apart from really loving it at this point. No more uphill’s for a bit and I felt like I was zipping along nicely gaining back some speed. My music was being annoying as I was using Spotify and it kept losing signal but when it did burst into life in my ear (half scaring the hell out of me) it was excellent. Otherwise the atmosphere of the race was great too. I’m quite glad I had the best of both worlds to be honest.

Mile 11: Oh mile 11. You ruined my fun. Suddenly in front of me were these steps of doom. huge steep steps we had to get up and it went on and on for what seemed like forever.

Mile 12: After finishing the steps I was flying again. Some fellow racers let me pass them which was nice and one even said “I want her shoes!”. Lots of downhill’s which I took at break-neck speed which I now cringe at thinking back to. All heading downhill to the town where we got some actual road running for a few seconds!

My mum was there with her camera and snapped a photo.

The final bit of the race was a short but very steep uphill. Then done!

Hurrah!

Crazy paces! My official time was 1:58:42. My Garmin stopped several times during the run because of my walking breaks – clearly it was unimpressed with my lack of hill climbing ability and gave up on me. I also came first girl and 20th overall out of 157 runners.

After finding my mum afterwards, I promptly collapsed onto the grass with some water and we waited for Ben.

Ben finished in 2:52:34. I was so worried he hadn’t enjoyed it because of his unfortunate lack of preparation but he was smiling and looking strong at the end. I was very proud!

Nope that’s not a lovely tan; that is just dirt

I’ll spare you the raw details but then commenced the Great Baby Wipe and Change of Clothes Adventure in the car park. We’re classy like that

And then we headed out to find FOOD (this was 3pm!) We found a lovely little pub and walked in praying they were still serving, which they were, hurrah! I hurriedly told the barmaid that we had just finished a race and didn’t always look so bedraggled! She laughed and said she’d seen worse haha.

Code of conduct for post race: always wear your medal. You feel like Mr T.

I had a butternut squash and feta salad to start (delicious but I was so hungry I really wanted to just get to the main!) and then for the main I had a delicious home-made beef burger with chips and tomato relish. Ohhhhh it was heaven. Alongside I had a cup of tea.

I inhaled everything. Those chips didn’t stand a chance.

I thoroughly recommend this race. I loved it. So much variation in the course, such good camaraderie from the fellow racers and the marshals were excellent. Definitely one for next year!

What’s your kind of race? Do you prefer the regular road race, or something a bit more crazy and off-road? I just know my next race is going to seem a bit dull in comparison now?

What’s your favourite running surface? Treadmill, road, gravel, grass, sand (you crazy!)…

Do you run with music or not? I get a boost from music and it helps me not get bored. Sometimes I like my own thoughts for 13.1 miles I get bored of myself.

August 19, 2013

What a weekend!

Hi guys! How was your weekend? Mine was pretty much a whirlwind. One of the best weekends in a while I think.

Ohhh before I start with the weekend: MY MUG HAS RETURNED!!!

Apparently it had been taken down to the canteen downstairs. My poster worked

Anyway…

Saturday morning Ben and me woke up late (whoops) for Parkrun and had to mad dash around the place to get ourselves together. I like to arrive at least 30 minutes before so I can relax a bit as I get so nervous and stressed before races. Even though Parkruns aren’t really ‘proper’ races as they’re so informal and just a bit of fun.

Anyway we got there and made it to the start. I didn’t really know how I was going to run but I did want to try as I’m not going to be back at our local Parkrun for a couple of weeks now. As soon as I started running I felt strong and happy. What was brilliant was that there was a bunch of guys who were running the same speed and I kept with them so it really helped.

With 5ks I just like to give it my all and hold on for as long as I can. Not sure if that’s a great strategy as the last lap is always so tough. My running club friend was right behind me as well which helped push me on but she managed to sail past me breezily on the last stretch. She obviously has a great strategy of keeping something in the bag because she looked very fresh as she zoomed past me hehe.

Amazingly I beat last week’s PB by about 5 seconds. I think I’m going to plateau soon because it just gets too hard now.

Then we zoomed home and got ready to go to my work’s summer BBQ. I was the designated driver as I rarely drink and I wasn’t going to drink the day before the half marathon anyway. My parents came with us too (my dad works in the company as well).

It looked a bit gloomy and like it was about to rain when we got there but it didn’t really matter as they had a huge marquee in the garden.

The marquee is that white tent on the side of the photos

There was mini golf, giant Jenga, a beer tent, a tent for other alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, a puppeteer, a face painter (more on that in a bit!) and a beautifully huge garden.

Oh and even very posh temporary loos! Of course I took a sneaky photo in the interior of the toilets as I was so impressed.

And there was a bouncy castle. *Sighs* I love my father. I really do. But seriously.

Within five minutes of arriving he was on that bouncy castle. I feared for his life

I stuck to sparkling water (which I really love – anyone else with me on that?) and just milled around enjoying myself.

I enjoyed a lovely plateful of BBQ food when food was served.

Burger, kebabs, a sausage (I’ve found I quite like actual sausages – since having turkey sausages things have changed!), rustic-flavoured bread, corn on the cob and salad. And maybe another cheeky burger and sausage afterwards…

So good. Always a good spread as these things!

Ben enjoyed himself too and was (in my opinion) daring and had a few glasses of wine! His mentality was that he hadn’t really done the training, had been in Germany for the week on business, had just come back from an injury…so why the hell not! If the odds were against him he might as well enjoy it haha.

Then pudding. Oh pudding.

Honestly I just did not know what to have. So I had one of everything.

Totally joking! Wish I could have, haha. No I was sensible and stuck very diligently to two puddings only. Believe me when I say I was enormously tempted to go back for more.

There was a conversation like this between Ben and me:

Me: “But surely a cupcake doesn’t count, right?”

Ben: “Anna, you told me to stop you from having more than two puddings. Don’t do it.”

Me: “Yeah…I don’t think I was being sincere though.”

Ben: “You’ll regret it for 13.1 miles tomorrow.”

Me: “Fair point.”

So I stuck with a slice (should I say slab?) of Victoria sponge and a brownie *grumble grumble*. No in all honesty it was perfect and in the evening I was thankful that I hadn’t eaten a buffet of cakes (which, let’s be honest, was a real possibility).

Obviously we had to get a bit of face paint action.

And of course so did my dad…

He had ‘LFC’ on his cheek…*sighs* Liverpool Football Club. Bless him. He kept checking his phone all the time watching the score of the match while we were at the BBQ as well!

Even the rain didn’t dampen our spirits. It was a great day!

When Ben and I got home we really didn’t fancy anything to eat which was annoying. So we had some crisps and snacky things and left it like that. Ideally I wanted to have a proper meal before the race the next day.

And then the half marathon on Sunday…well, I will continue this in my next post as it might be a bit lengthy otherwise and I want to do it justice. Though I will say that it was one of my favourite races of the year. It was epic! And we both survived

How was your weekend?

What is your best pre-race meal the night before? Usually it’s a pizza without cheese (so it’s less heavy and I’m not a bit fan of regular cheesy pizzas – unless it’s goat’s cheese of course).

Did you ever used to get your face painted? It brought back so many memories of when I was little!