Really wanted to keep the pace below 7mm but struggled a bit and couldn’t dig deep enough at the end to bring it down those couple of seconds.

Very happy though and surprised myself!

Here’s the stats…

Yesterday was a cross (training) day.  As I had gone out for dinner (and ate far, far too much) on Friday, I didn’t get the allocated 30 minutes of cross in, so I bolted it on to yesterday’s workout (40 minutes cross).  I met my friend from Slimming World in the local park, which has an urban gym for anyone and everyone to use.  She’s used all of the equipment before, so I was shown the ropes.  Some of the machines/props I couldn’t use – hurdles (I am paranoid about falling over and smacking my teeth out on the next hurdle, even though I was assured I’d have to be travelling at some speed to do that), so I did a round of squats, stepping over the hurdles, then lunges, then star jumps.  The star jumps were annoying, as my trousers kept falling down.  I also couldn’t do a pull up.  I can live with that.  An hour and a half later, we were done, having put the world to rights, Helen getting poohed on by a seagull, and me getting slobbered on by a friendly Retriever.

Post-shower, M and I headed in to town, met friends for lunch, then mooched around for a bit.  There’s a new greengrocers just opened, and I got a huge amount of fruit and veg for less than £10.  I was very impressed.

After decanting the haul, we headed off to the library.  I haven’t been to our local library for many years, so signed myself up for a library card then moved towards the health section.  The lady who does my nails/waxing etc recommended the Dukan diet.  She was really pushing it, saying how well it had worked for her.  I will freely admit that I am very sceptical about anything that cuts out major food groups for periods of time, and then says you can have “celebration meals” twice a week (of whatever food you want) later.  I am not thinking of abandoning the Slimming World ship, but I just fancied seeing what it was all about.  To no avail though – the library didn’t have the book there anyway.  Instead, I picked up a book on yoga.  Reading the Moving Muncher’s recent post on meditation, I have thought that I need to work more yoga into my schedule, but I’m not able to make the local class (as it clashes with my Slimming World group).  This book (Everyone Try Yoga) is pretty good, has some familiar sequences that I think I can pick up again with relative ease.

Today, aside from my run, is filled with M’s cousin’s wedding.  I am not terribly excited about going, as I haven’t seen them for over 3 and a half year, it has seemed a bit of a cock up and encompasses some of my own personal wedding dos and don’ts (do make sure you put the right time on the invite, and do let people know if it’s changed other than relying on one person to tell one side of the family; don’t ask for sterling – foreign currency for honeymoon, yes.  Sterling, no.  Don’t uninvite family at the last minute – it’s poor form).  However, I’m sure it will be a lovely day (the weather’s certainly good for it), and it will be nice to catch up with some of the family that we don’t see all that often.

Finally, I’m sure you’ll be relieved to hear that, after my spray tan, I have returned to a normal colour, and look lightly tanned now.  Much exfoliation has happened to achieve this look.  I also owe some slimming statistics for April but I’ve lost my tape measure, so I’ll be hunting for that too…  Cue a photo and stats update.

The team is contacted by Judge for a retrieval job. Mr. Johnson wants to meet with them directly at the Alabaster Maiden for 7PM.

The Alabaster Maiden is a magician’s bar with a narrow clientele. With the exception of the magical runners in the party, the others will definitely seem out of place. To those who have never set foot inside the club, the place looks pretty dead for a club, but that’s because all the action is happening on the astral plane. In a warded private room in the back, their client waits.

The man is of Hispanic descent and has done little to hide his elven lineage. Mages that assense the man will see that he is an initiate of some clout. “Thank you all for coming. Please, sit. I have a business proposal for you. There is a historical artifact that I would like you to procure for me. It is a Spanish Doubloon with some unusual traits to it. I believe it may have some mystical properties, but without possessing it, I cannot say for sure. It has traded hands a few times, but I have tracked it down to a pawn shop here in Seattle. Normally, this would not pose a problem, however, the establishment is run my the Mob and they and I are already on poor terms.”

“Therefore, I am willing to pay you 15,000¥ apiece to acquire this coin and deliver it to me. I do not have full knowledge of what safeguards they have in this pawn shop, though I do know that their vault is warded. I can pay you in cash, or use some of the funds to see you safely out of the city, should things go poorly with the Mafia.”

The hiring party is a runner that that goes by the alias of Carnicería (Spanish word for Carnage). He is a well established mage from New York. The rumours on the Matrix tell that he is obsessed with his heritage and ensures that anything to further his power is rooted in Spanish Lore.

Mr. Johnson is willing to negotiate only a little on his offering price, but may be convinced to offer a cash advance, or other services in lieu of payment.

Once the runners are on board and begin their investigation of the pawn shop, the quickly learn that it’s in the heart of the O’Malley family’s turf. Local contractors have recently installed automated weapons to bolster the defences of the building, given the nature of the stolen goods they move through the building. However, all their plans unravel when they go for physical reconnaissance of the building and find that the place was hit in a blitz attack.

Knight Errant is on the scene when they arrive and if they want answers as to what happened, they are going to need to get inside the building. The camera feed recorded the faces of some of the attackers and it’s pretty obvious that the vault was hit in the raid. One of the officers has an inventory of the items that had been stored inside and given the state of the vault, that list is likely the easiest way for the runners to learn that their quarry was kept here and has now been taken, amongst several other worthwhile finds.

Using the camera data, the runners can see a woman enter the pawn shop and begin browsing the jewelry in the glass case in the middle of the store. As the attendant of the store comes over to try and close the deal, several men smash their way into the store and open fire. The woman hits the deck, but when the store clerk pulls out a shotgun from one of the display units, she grabs a hold of him and hits him with some form of spell that kills him instantly (mages might recognize the Death Touch spell). They then begin a smash and grab, but the woman blasts the ward protecting the vault, picks the lock and begins going through the vault for anything worth value. One of the thugs tosses a makeshift bomb into the vault after they’re done stealing and leave. The camera system goes offline when the bombs detonate.

Using the camera footage on the thugs or the mage woman shows them to all be prominent members of the 88′s, though this operation is way outside their usual operational range. With some quick research via matrix or contacts, they can find out that the Triad operates out of the Everett waterfront area.

Through investigation or brute force, the runners can learn about the Triad involvement. A few things will become clear. This smash and grab job was an independent opportunistic action, rather than anything organized by the Triad. No one has seen the Sze Kau since. Some of the higher ranking members of the 88′s (who don’t want open war with the O’Malley’s) may be persuaded to out the group’s usual safehouse.

Once again the runners appear to be one step behind the opposition. En route to the safehouse, they see the Triad getaway car riddled full of bullets and the Triad lay dead all around the vehicle. The goods stolen from the Mob have been emptied onto the ground and the Doubloon taken.

Using cameras and eye witnesses directs the runners to an old office building that has been warded and fortified. A team of runners is setup here after the delivery of the Doubloon to their hiring party, going back to remove evidence of their involvement. The firefight that follows should be intense, as the opposition aren’t merely stupid mooks.

If the runners can get one of the runners to talk, they can learn that they were hired by an antiquities dealer from Europe, named Castillo. He is currently in a vacation property on the Eastern side of the Metroplex. In case of double-cross, the team researched their employer and may be willing to cough up the intel, depending on how the runners conduct themselves.

The estate house that Castillo calls home is large and elegantly furnished, though it looks barely used, save for the security detail that monitors the house. There is a hidden elevator behind a wall panel in the living room that takes the team down to the collectors inner sanctuary.

The basement level is immense, at least six stories tall. The wall is covered in lavish teak wood with display cases set into the wall. An elaborate conveyer/hoist system allows a person to skirt the outer part of the room and see the goods up close with a commlink command. Opposite the elevator on the very far side is a small study-like area, where Castillo sits, reading a book. He seems unaware of the intrusion at first, but the runners are noticed before long.

He is willing to engage in small talk for a while, but will rapidly tire if they try to interrogate him. Assensing him reveals nothing, but once the runners agitate him enough he shows his true stripes, expanding in all directions to reveal himself as a Western Dragon. Covered in smoke-grey scales, Castillo locks down his inner sanctum and forces the runners into a him-or-us battle.

Should the runners prevail, they have their pick from the dragon’s hoard, including the artifact they were hired to retrieve.

>> Oh joy, retrieving some other piece of history for some rich guy who needs his status symbol…
>> Burn

>> Rumour has it, this job’s been started by a runner.  At least there’s a slightly lower risk of double-cross, if it’s true.
>> Wrench

>> As an FYI, this job may be a local one, but there’s quite a bit of international interest.  Be prepared for outside interference.
>> Anonymous

Here’s the stats…

With spring fast-approaching, it is time to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day or the Feast of Saint Patrick, Ireland’s patron saint. In the spirit of Irish culture, here are some fun activities that are sure to excite your little leprechauns!

1. Green Parade
Start off the Irish festivities at your house by having your nieces and nephews take part in Auntie’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Although blue is the color that was originally associated with St. Patrick, have the kids come over to the party garbed in green costumes of their own design. Prepare parade contest categories, such as “Most Creative” or “Most Green,” and award the winners with green ribbons in the form of shamrocks.

2. Hunt for Gold Coins
Purchase some small- or medium-sized black pots from your local arts and crafts store, and fill each of them with sand or small pebbles. Bury plastic gold coins inside the pots for the little ones to find. This could turn into a nice counting lesson for your younger nieces and nephews.

3. Blarney Stone Story Time
Prepare some craft embellishments like glitter, pipe cleaners, and pom-poms, and give each of the kids a sizeable garden stone (or a large potato) to decorate. After your nieces and nephews have finished with their creations, have them sit around in a circle to tell stories about their Blarney Stones. After one child has finished telling his story, he gets to choose who will tell the next tale by kissing someone else’s Blarney Stone!

4. Pot of Gold Relay Race
Set up some large black pots at one end of your backyard and fill them with chocolate gold coins. Then allow nieces and nephews to form their own teams. Runners will race to the pots of gold, dance an Irish jig around the pots, and then retrieve as many chocolate gold coins as they can carry. Should anyone accidentally drop any amount of coins, they must return all the loot to the pot, dance another jig, and then run back to the starting point for the next runner to try his or her luck!

5. Potato Leprechauns
Put out some art supplies like paint, glue, and felt or cloth, and give each of the kids a large potato to decorate and turn into a little leprechaun. Display the finished leprechauns in small black pots filled with chocolate gold coins—the leprechaun’s treasure. You can take this art activity a step further, and have nieces and nephews take turns creating and sharing their own limericks. The more humorous and mischievous the poem, the better!

6. Shamrock Shirts
Let your nieces and nephews partake in “the wearing of the green”—meaning to wear a shamrock on one’s clothing. All you need are some white t-shirts, green bell peppers, and green fabric paint. Just cut the bell peppers in half (widthwise) to form the shamrock shape, dip them into the green paint, and have fun stamping shamrocks onto the t-shirts.

7. Lucky Day Art
LDA stands for Lucky Day Art, Long-Distance Aunties! If you won’t have the chance to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with your nieces and nephews this year, then you’re in luck! Here’s an activity that is just perfect for celebrating Irish culture from a distance. Simply take some green construction paper and cut out three large, heart-shaped petals. Glue the green petals onto a white piece of cardstock in the form of a large shamrock. (Be sure to cut out a green strip of construction paper for the shamrock’s stem.) Write a good luck message on your shamrock card and send it to your nieces and nephews (e.g., “Good luck on your spelling test next week!”). The kids can never go wrong with a good luck charm from Auntie!

Photo: moomsabuy

Distance: 5.8 miles +
Difficulty: Intermediate, hilly
Highlights: trails, meadows, woods, solitude

This is by far one of my favorite runs in all of Santa Cruz – whether that’s because I continually managed to accidentally end up in the park when I first moved there, or because there really is one of the most impressive overlooks of the entire town during the run. There is also the excitement factor of not knowing which transient you will encounter on any given day. I had been running in the park for a solid few months before I blabbed about it to one of my roommates who stopped me half-way through the conversation to correct me on the local name of the park: Heroin Hill.

Clock tower

Starting at the Clock Tower downtown, follow River Street, which will take you past Patagonia and over Highway 1. I usually find myself amongst twitching bums with shopping carts while waiting at the stoplight to cross the freeway, but they have never been too hostile. Excitable, maybe – but never intimidating. You might occasionally be on the receiving end of rants about Jesus or government conspiracies, but if you’re like me, you will be too pleased with the fact that you are out on a run in beautiful weather to do anything more than nod, smile, and move on.

Shortly after crossing Highway 1 and passing a storage-rental place, Golf Club Drive will be on your left. Turn down Golf Club Drive and immediately you will feel like you can relax again because there are very few cars on this street. There is a man living out of what looks like it used to be ice cream truck and you might see him with his wiener dogs parked on the side of the road. I always smile at him, but he generally runs from me as I run generally in his direction. You will cross under a bridge with railroad tracks running over it and then you will be on a tighter road that eventually turns into a dirt road.  Trees and open space will soon consume the landscape and eventually the road will come to an end and the trail will start.

There is a map through the gate, but I have never found it helpful – and you’re a runner anyway so you cannot truly be bothered to stop for longer than a few seconds. The trail will split in four directions in front of you. One will curve to your left, two will be almost directly in front of you, and the fourth will be an old fire road. As far as I can tell, the fire road meets up with the two trails directly in front of you, but the one farthest to your left leads to a mysterious pond and a time warp. I usually always take the route second from the left that goes uphill, cutting through the meadow. I have encountered a few bums slithering from the grasslands while running through this meadow, but have yet to have a negative interaction with one. Most of them live in the woods and they don’t seem too bothered to share their home with the occasional runner.

Redwoods along the way (of course)

The trail through the meadow will take you to the edge of the forest and a long uphill battle will commence. Aside from the dark, murky water in an old foundation to your left, the scenery is entirely picturesque. At the top of the hill, you can create a short loop by turning left or a longer one by cutting right. Now is about the time you can lose yourself in the forest – take a deep breath of eucalyptus and dry grass on the wooded trails. You will pass a few more clearings and eventually the trail will intersect with a trail which appears wide enough for a vehicle on your left. Take this trail and begin a new ascent. If you continue on the trail you have been running on at this point, you will eventually reach a paved road (Glen Coolidge Drive).

Turn left onto the paved road, but stay close to the edge because it can be busy. You will pass UC Santa Cruz on your right and directly across from it will be a stunning view of Santa Cruz. There will be a pullout with a couple of benches here and a tight trail that sinks back into the forest. Go right on the trail and right again where the trail forks at the bottom. You will now be on the trail that you would have ended up on, had you decided to make this a shorter run. There will be other trails to your left which supposedly take you back to the meadow you started off in, but I have gotten lost on all of my attempts to reach it and have found some transient camps along the way.

The dirt trail will take you alongside a fence and there will be an opening into the neighborhoods. Take this left and follow the road (Spring St) downhill. These are some of the secret, more impressive homes in Santa Cruz, although not as flaunted as those on West Cliff. Towards the bottom of the hill, you will be at a four-way intersection. Turn left again to start the steep decline (Highland Ave). If you head uphill, you will be back at the entrance of UC Santa Cruz and quickly will be lost in clumps of earnest college students.

Mission Plaza

As you descend, you will pass small homes with lush, elaborate gardens and catch a glimpse of a nice overlook of mid-town and the westside. The street will eventually turn into a one-way, but continue to follow the sidewalk and the road will end in a cul-de-sac and there will be a small pedestrian bridge that runs over Highway1. I tend to enjoy running in places where cars cannot go and this happens to be one of them. The bridge will spit you out into the alley of a church and you may make more transient friends along the way. Stay straight ahead on the sidewalk and then cut right, past Mission Plaza. Take a left on Mission St and you will be dumped back out at the head of downtown/the clock tower.

Trail Map

Slow Park Run tomorrow and then 10 mile race in Alton on Sunday.

Week off work coming up so hopefully few double days and lots of miles in the sun!!

Here’s the stats…

And after those hills there were more hills….I have got to move somewhere flatter!

I came home and treated myself to a snow cone. 

Today I went for another run on the same route today but I guess since I was mentally ready for the hill it didn’t seem as big. I have a race on Saturday that a girl from work is also running and I really don’t want her to beat me. I think I can get her. She mainly works out at the gym and I don’t think she runs on the road ever. 

I got some more change for my jar today. My old boss gave me a bunch from the jar he keeps on his desk. I got way too excited. 

• Go Umpa Lumpa orange
• Be a colour resembling mahogany
• Impersonate someone off of The Only Way is Essex/Made In Chelsea/The Valleys (the UK equivalent of Jersey Shore) or something on Snog Marry Avoid

She said she wouldn’t let that happen.  Now, I cannot tell you how much I trust this woman – she has seen (and waxed) the unthinkable, and that’s just on me.  She has helped me get over my problem of letting other people see my skin (I suffer badly with acne, have had for a long time, and have far too many scars).  So when she said she wouldn’t let that happen, I went along with it.

The spraying experience was interesting, and I’m pretty sure some of the poses are there mainly to provide entertainment to the sprayer.  Anyway, job done, she warned me that the colour would need to stay on overnight, and was likely to get very dark (oh, and could I let her know in the morning if my armpits were still green, as it would appear the spray may have reacted with my deodorant…).  At least my nails are very pretty (she painted them before the tan).

The straw panel’s reaction:

• Plenty of stares on the way back to the car (though that could be a chest bouncing thing, as I have been told I cannot have my straps up on my bra, lest I get the dreaded strap mark);
• M looked, and then said “Oh, is that the lightest they do?  You’re a lot darker than I thought you’d be” (cue my whines of “I’m an Umpa Lumpa”)
• The cat thinks I’m marvellous.  I must smell fantastic.  He’s sniffed all exposed skin, and I’m pretty sure he’d roll on me if I let him, just to coat himself in it all (good job he’s black).

My reaction?  It’s not good when the whites of your eyes stand out so starkly.  I am hoping praying that the colour will lessen after my morning shower.  If not, I shall be forced to exfoliate to within an inch of my life.  Oh, and I must remember to text Sarah whether my armpits are still green.

Back in normal coloured person’s land, my run yesterday went well, the strength session (read: yoga) not so much.  Midges are an issue I had not legislated for.  I have to admit I’m not much enjoying either a) holding my breath as I run through them, or b) swallowing them.  Sadly, I cannot see a way around it other than waving a citronella candle in front of me when I run.  That could be possible, as it isn’t like I run fast, so the candle could probably stay alight for the duration.  Anyway, I’m pleased with my effort.  Friday is meant to be a rest day, with Thursday having been a cross day, but I’m going to have to roll the Thursday session to Saturday, as I’m out tomorrow night with friends.

I’m off to bed now, to sleep through the trauma of my colour developing even more.  Le sigh.

Now’s the time to start improving my short distance speed.
I shorten the hills reps from normal and hit them as hard as I could.

Hill repeats at split 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12.

Here’s the stats…

A big thank you to all the biker’s, clubs and individuals who came out to support the launch of the Bush Radio Biker Show Winter Charity drive this past weekend (27 April 2013). Almost 2 tonnes of non-perishable food as well and blankets and clothes were collected!

Please remember the giving does not stop – we will be posting information regarding more collection points in the near future.

Watch a short video clip of Saturday’s mass ride.

1 hr 30 min of Muay Thai/Kick Boxing

Ran .5 Miles + Walked 2 Miles

My “hilly” run
(Sorry about the rubbish pic)

Today is a run and strength day.  I’m not entirely sure what I will a) be using for the strength or b) what exercises I should be doing.  I don’t have free weights at home.  M has some, but they’re at his nan’s house.  Maybe I should look to bring them down at some point.  I suspect using one of the cats as a kettlebell (despite the bigger one weighing more than my normal kettlebell) is unacceptable, and I don’t think we have many tins of food.  Hmm… I shall have to think.  Route-wise, I am going to be mixing it up and trying an out and back route, rather than my usual loops.

Last night’s weigh in was a roaring success.  I have broken into the next stone bracket down.  WOO!!!  There is nothing better than seeing a new front number.  I am really pleased with that.  It was a 2.5lb loss, which is great.  I will be taking my measurements at the weekend for my monthly round up at the weekend.  I don’t know how much will have changed on the inches front, but it was a better month weight loss wise.  Oh yeah, and I should take a progress picture (groan…).

Richard Cudlip isn’t one of a kind, he’s one of 22,000 kinds, and London couldn’t function without them. Cudlip is a black cab driver, a licensed taxi driver who spends his days inside one of the world’s most recognisable vehicles and carries in his head the navigational secrets of the city. ‘I put the light on as soon as I leave my road,’ he says. ‘This morning I picked up a job in Balham that took me to Charterhouse Street. That was a nice start to the day.’

By the time we meet for a mid-morning tea in Borough, Cudlip has been to King’s Cross, Soho, Pimlico and Vauxhall, criss-crossing the city in the service of London. ‘Unless you’ve heard through the grapevine about somewhere being busy, you always think about heading for the stations,’ he explains. ‘And now, with Twitter, you have a good idea of where the customers are.’

Twitter hadn’t been invented in 2003 when Cudlip began doing the Knowledge, the gruelling test that every cabbie has to pass before they can drive the black cab. ‘I was working for Ernst & Young and I hated it,’ he explains. ‘My wife suggested I do the Knowledge. I’d wanted to do it in my early 20s, but I wouldn’t have had had the discipline. It’s the last thing you want to do at that age, driving round London on a bike, revising.’

Doing the Knowledge means learning by heart 320 ‘runs’, or trips from one London destination to another, being able to name all the principle roads and landmarks on the way – which amounts to 250,000 streets and 20,000 places of interest. This can easily take four years and sometimes as many as six. ‘The first run is Manor House to Gibson Square, that’s the one you always remember,’ says Cudlip, whose wife is now doing the Knowledge herself.

‘I loved it,’ he says. ‘It was the right kind of challenge. I got to visit all these bits of London I’d never been to. Those 320 runs give you the framework. It covers every postcode in a six-mile radius and gives you a route, in broad terms, around London, from one side to another.’

Cudlip now takes to the streets five days a week. The sort of things that would annoy most people –sitting in London traffic for hours– do not bother him, which is probably why he became a cabbie in the first place. What he enjoys is the freedom and flexibility. If he works a couple of long days, he can take a day off. If things aren’t working out, or he hits his financial target earlier than expected, he can turn off the light and head home. The choice is his.

‘Different drivers work different ways,’ he explains. ‘Some don’t do stations, they’d rather drive around. Others stick to hotels. Some just do airports, which is a very different way of working. You can wait four hours in the feeder park (the holding area for cabs) without knowing what sort of job you will get. You have to pay £6 to work Heathrow, just to cover the cost of the feeder park.’

Cudlip’s perfect day is made up of ‘lots of short journeys. That’s the absolute ideal. If you get a fiver including tip for taking somebody round the corner, it’s perfect. When somebody gets in, I might not know the building they want, but I can work it out close enough so I can make an instant decision about how to get there without having to programme a satnav.’

And even with the Knowledge firmly imprinted in his brain he’s always learning. ‘I love going out every day and seeing a new bit of London,’ says Cudlip. ‘I spent most of my life in London and thought I knew it, but now I know I had no idea.’

Here’s the stats…