Monthly Archives: April 2011

Book 89 of 100

The Magic Faraway Tree – Enid Blyton.  This one is for very small children so there’s not much in it for the adult reader.  The story is clearly designed to inspire children to play so the events of the book are easy for a child to replicate – there’s lots of flying about in beds and on upturned tables.  Any Daily Mail readers should avert their eyes now, because Dick and Fanny have been rechristened Rick and Frannie in my version.

London Marathon

Mr Beet was dead jealous of all the London marathoners – he’s got the bug since last week’s Brighton marathon.  But today we were supporting rather than running.  We handed out jelly babies and shouted ourselves hoarse at mile 11.

Wheelchair racers

Elite women

Elite men

30 Things – Run a Marathon

My marathon training for the last six weeks has been virtually non-existent, due to problems with my hamstring which all originate in my weak buttock.  The advice from my physio was to take 3 ibuprofen at the start, grit my teeth and get on with it.  We went down to Brighton the night before and we had an early start the next day, so we had our pasta dinner, laid out our kit and got an early night.

It was very, very warm, which was tough for the runners but did mean that lots of people came out to support us along the route, which was appreciated.  My Mum and Dad were at Ovingdean which was around the 9 mile mark and I got a hug and some encouragement from them.  I was so undertrained that by the time I got to 12 miles I was already feeling very tired.  And it’s one thing feeling tired at that point on a long run when you’ve got another 6 miles or so to go, but quite another if it’s still 14 miles.  I was wearing a top that had “I love to run” written on the back, and by that point it had become bitterly ironic.

Mr Beet was an absolute hero and even though he could have run much faster he stuck with me and encouraged me round.  The support round the course was awesome and I got lots of jelly babies from generous spectators.  There were plenty of out and back sections of the course and I liked to cheer on the runners coming the other way, which distracted me from my own woes!  Finally finished in 5.23.

Books 87 and 88 of 100

Girls in Love – Jacqueline Wilson

The Princess Diaries – Meg Cabot

People notice what you’re reading on the tube.  When I was reading Ulysses I got quite a few people starting a conversation with me about it.  This week I have been reading books aimed at 10 year olds, with pink covers covered in hearts and princesses.

Book 86 of 100

Dune – for the first 50 pages or so I was a little lost (this is one of those books that comes with a map, appendices and a glossary) but then I really got into this.  Some of the characters are supposed to be psychic, but they are the worst psychics ever and are always getting tricked, ambushed, double-crossed…