Summer arrives - couch 2 5k and strawberries

The sunshine has arrived! This is a momentous thing, having come from the frozen north where winter lasts for ever (especially this year!) and it has inspired me to be healthier.

I know, I know, me and every other person in the Western world. But still. I'm at least 10 kilos heavier than I want to be, and 2 dress sizes bigger than I'd like, so it's time to do something about it.

In this case, "something" is starting out with beginning some exercise and eating more fruit and vegetables (bonus: they're cheaper than eating out, so there's that) - I think baby steps are definitely the way to go here.

I've started doing the Couch 2 5k programme again (I'm sure I blogged at length about this previously) - it aims to get people who do no exercise (hi!) from that point to being able to run 5km. It worked last time (in that I went from being totally utterly unfit to being able to run for 30 minutes consecutively without dying), and I surprised myself by finding I actually enjoyed it, so keep your fingers crossed for me this time too...

The first run went well - I didn't die - and I had breakfast on the beach. Strawberries are awesome. Tonight we are having salad nicoise, which rocks.

Breakfast of champions

(Side note while I think of it: I'm likely to write a bit about food and the like on this blog - and not all of it will be the super-healthy food you probably think I ought to be eating in order to lose weight. I thank you in advance for not commenting on this.)

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I did it!

When I started the Couch to 5k programme back at the beginning of March, I couldn't run for a full minute - and wouldn't have wanted to, in any case.

Today, I ran for 30 minutes, continuously, and not only didn't die, I actually quite enjoyed it. This may indicate serious mental health issues, but physically, I'm obviously much improved!

Running for 30 minutes is the goal of the programme, and this is the last week - apparently I can now run 5km, should I so wish. I have my doubts, since Paul pointed out that this was only true if I consistently ran at 10km/hour - this is unlikely, to say the least. But now I know I can run for 30 minutes, the aim will be to run further in those 30 minutes, and see how far I can get, until I can really run for 5km. And, having said that, Google Maps tells me I'm already doing about 4.5km, so that's pretty close, I reckon!

I'm almost looking forward to it, or will do, once the weather is reliably sunny again. (At the moment, it's mostly sunny, but there are occasional rainy bits. Soon it will be sunny all the time! I can't wait!)

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It's still raining.

But I did go running - it was easier in the rain, oddly. I managed the whole thing, wasn't even close to dying, and then went to the supermarket afterwards.

We have lots of food now, I need never leave the house in the rain again.

In case you're interested - and I assume you're all hanging on my every word, else why would you be here? - meals chez nous for the next few days might be:

Lunch (today and tomorrow) - spinach rice (without feta, since I didn't get any)
Dinner (today and possibly tomorrow) - vegetable Thai green curry and rice (possibly with tofu, if I can work out how to cook it...)
Sunday dinner - chilli con carne
Monday dinner - white bean, chorizo and tomato stew
Tuesday dinner - chicken korma
Wednesday dinner - lemon tuna pasta

All this for the princely sum of €30. I amaze even myself, some days.

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It's raining.

Or, if it's not, it's grey and bleh. I haven't actually got out of bed yet to check. I'm supposed to go running this morning; would it be too rubbish of me to put it off til tomorrow?

If I do put it off, will I actually go tomorrow?

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Week 7 and lunch

Week 7 is all runs of 25 minutes, but with crap music. So I'm going to repeat Week 6, day 3 until it's time to move on to Week 8. Today's run went ok, too - I think I'm getting better at this. The last couple of minutes is still horrendous, but that might get easier with practice. It had better - next week, they add more minutes. Apparently the aim is to have me running 30 minutes non-stop by the end. Oh goody.

Today's attempt at cooking lunch was what can only be described as a failure. I tried to make Spanish omelette, and, well, it didn't work. All the ingredients were there - and cooked, even - but you would struggle to call it anything like an omelette. More like scrambled eggs with potatoes and red pepper. Tasted fine, as long as you don't actually look at it.

Will it keep til tomorrow? I had planned to have a nice half tortilla to eat for lunch tomorrow; instead I have a bowl of scrambled eggs. In theory, it should, since it's the same stuff as the tortilla would be. But my grasp of food hygiene is such that it's only blind luck that we haven't both died of food poisoning by now, so I'd welcome any advice...

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Quinoa, running and jewellery

Excellent stuff, quinoa. I recommend it. Today I had a sort of quinoa tabouleh - except I don't know how to make tabouleh and I don't have any mint. So really, it was just tomato, cucumber, red and green peppers and quinoa, with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

But it was nice, so you should go and eat it. It even made tomato nearly edible.

Running yesterday was a triumph - 25 minutes all in one go, and I didn't die or cheat and have to walk - starting when you've walked up the hills and steps to the flat bit is the way to go, here, rather than running up them which is what kills me normally.

As far as jewellery goes, I've made a bookmark, and I've written a tutorial on how to make a helmsweave bracelet. But not done huge amounts else.

Bookmark:

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Week 6, Day 2

Running before breakfast is a bad idea. I have known this for a while, but I remembered it again today... Sadly, I only remembered it 10 minutes into the run, which was to be followed by shopping. Bad timing, really. Must try harder next time...

On top of that, the run knackered me, since I decided to run to the supermarket rather than the way I normally go. Won't do that again, even if I'm going to the supermarket.

My next-door neighbour informs me that this weekend, our town hall is hosting some sort of event. With flowers and food. We shall go and investigate this afternoon - if you're very good, I might tell you all about it. (Other than Josh, none of you are being very good and introducing yourself - and the day when *Josh* is better behaved than anyone else is a sad, sad day for humanity ;-) )

Also, are purple poppies common? I've never seen them before, but by the bus stop at the top of the hill, there's 2 purple poppies growing - they're pretty. Can I start a heroin farm and make a fortune from them?

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Week 6, Day 1

Today's running has gone back to sane levels - 2 blocks of 5 minutes and an 8 minute run, rather than all in one go, which is knackering. Sadly, the hills are still in the way - some inconsiderate bastard seems to have forgotten to move them.

Going to take my pen and paper to the beach and write the chapter where they're at the Palace - I half wrote it in my head weeks ago, how hard can it be to get it done properly now? Then my revolutionaries will have an army, and then I've just got a war to write. Anyone done any writing of battles? Or sword fighting? Let me know...

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Week 5, Day 3 and storywriting

Day 3 was a bitch. At the beginning of this week, the longest I'd run in one go was 5 minutes. I was quite pleased with that, all things considered. One week later, and the runs are suddenly 20 minutes long, all in one go. I can't help but feel this is a bit of a steep learning curve! But I didn't die, and although my legs feel a bit like jelly, I'm sure time on the beach this afternoon will help them...

I managed to write 2100 words on my story yesterday, even with all the interruptions to be domestic. (Paul thinks I'm going mad when I start sorting socks into pairs - I do it occasionally, and he always looks a bit worried - it's quite a long way outside my normal domestic range of "How long has it been on the floor? Does it smell? It's probably clean enough.") I'm going to take paper and pen to the beach and do more story - we're almost up to one of the bits I've actually outlined, so that will help significantly!

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Week 5, Day 2 and other bits and pieces

Today was Day 2 of Week 5 - Day 1 was simple enough, 3 5-minute runs, with some walking interspersed. It went quite well (principally because the running bits managed not to coincide with the hill bits of the path) so I was feeling quite optimistic about today. And then I discovered they changed the podcast. Day 2 is not the same as Day 1, and has 2 8-minute runs with some walking.

Those of you who point out that's only an extra minute of running will be first against the wall, come the Revolution. Because 8 minutes at a time is not the same as 5 minutes at a time. Even if I did manage to change my route to minimise the uphill bits (not quite enough to get rid of them all, but at least they happened at the beginning of the runs, rather than the ends). However, I did it and didn't die. Kind of dreading Day 3, now, though, in case they've changed it again...

Slowly uploading my jewellery into my DaWanda shop (which sells in Euros) - and even more slowly, putting some of the listings into French. Something I've been meaning to do for ages, but which is proving to be just as slow and painful as I expected it to be... Still, once it's done, I can finally create my French jewellery shop on ALittleMarket - maybe it will mean more people buy things. It will at least give me something constructive to do when I can't sleep at night...

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Week 4, finally done, and photos

I did my 2nd iteration of Week 4, and tried varying the start point this time, to see if it made it easier. It didn't - the opposite, in fact, since today's timing left me having to run up a steep hill. It nearly killed me... I'm moving on to Week 5 now, I'm bored of Week 4, I've done it twice. I'll come back to it if Week 5 is too hard.

Today, you get photos. I walked the coastal path back between St Jean and Beaulieu (to the supermarket) and had my phone with me. So the pics aren't exactly award-winning, but I like them, so you get to see them too. Aren't I nice?

The last few exist because of the different textures they show, even without a zoom. The ones with yellow flowers are better if you can see them bigger, the contrast between in focus/out of focus is clearer then.

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I haven't forgotten you all...

It was pointed out to me that I hadn't written here in a while. I'm sure you all missed me deeply... I'm not quite sure what I've been doing instead, but I hadn't forgotten you all. I just didn't have much to write about, obviously.

Wedding invitations are mostly sent out - at least all the ones I've written so far. Still a couple to do. Restaurant is pretty much sorted, though we need to go and get something in writing from them to look over and check we agree with it. (We ate there on Friday. They do good food.)

The weather's been lovely today - I might have some photos if I can get them off my camera. But I bet you're all bored of photos of sunshine on the beach - tough. The only downside is that the beach is overrun with tourists. Horribly shouty tourists.

Running: I've decided to do Week 4 twice, since it's knackering. Today was Day 2, Part 2, and I finally managed to do all the running bits without having to stop. I'll do another day of Week 4, then move on. Kind of dreading what Week 5 might bring. My technique to actually doing it is not to find out in advance what kind of intervals they put in, so that by the time I do find out, it's too late and I'm already out there and have no choice but to carry on... Working ok so far!

Jewellery. Easter being just gone, I've made some topical cross-shaped jewellery - pendants and earrings.

There's a larger steel cross pendant in the same pattern, but I've not got any photos I like of that yet.

And I've also made another fan pendant - the tutorial set this up to be a pair of earrings, but I modified it a bit, made it a bit bigger, and turned it into a pendant instead. I quite like it, though the wire could be neater.

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General bleh; running good.

Soaked and cold. Running today was much better than Day 1, since this podcast has vocal cues in it, telling you when to run, which make the whole thing much less hassle.

Saw two tourists looking very lost outside my front door - they were looking for a cheap cafe. Round here, that's not so easy to find, but I was nice and directed them to a couple of the slightly less touristy places, which might charge a reasonable amount. Then again, they might not...

Wedding invitations going mad. Family going mad over wedding. Considering telling everyone it's cancelled and starting from scratch. Am looking forward to being married, can't help but think wedding day is going to be psychotic mess, as is usually the case when you get this many people in one place with alcohol, when some of them are related to me.

Going to have a shower, put the heating on and go back to bed. Maybe next time I wake up, the day will be better.

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I'm home!

First things first, Google Analytics says everyone stopped reading my blog when I changed the template to look prettier. Now I can't imagine many of you being *that* design conscious, but I suppose you might all be and have run away in horror at my poor taste... In case you're still out there, though, does anyone know why GA might have stopped counting my blog views?

Running: Week 3, Day 2, belatedly completed - I've been ill, but the sunshine now I'm home was too good to miss, so I decided to make myself go running. It was harder with hills, but not as bad as I feared!

Wedding preparations are going apace: We now have a dress, shoes, a photographer (my brother's girlfriend, though I think everyone's going to have to volunteer somewhat), a mayor, a venue, a date, at least one witness, and hotel rooms for (most of) his and my family. We have a ring for me, and we will have a ring for him, when I get round to making it. I now have the stuff to do so.

Still left to do:

• writing invitations (anyone reading this before they get married: handwritten invitation letters sound like a great idea. They take a lot of time. Be warned...)
  
• sending invitations
  
• checking Paul has a suit
  
• booking a restaurant
  
• apparently, finding flowers... (Really? Are they totally essential?)
  
• doing something about a wedding list, in the unlikely event anyone wants to give us presents
  

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Week 3, Day 1

Things I have learnt this week:

• Running on flat ground is much, much easier than running up hills.
• Mud is not a good surface to run on.
• Low-flying geese are an actual hazard in this part of the world.
• Loose rocks will one day kill me. If the geese don't get me first.

Some photos, because it actually wasn't raining, and running by the river was quite pretty.

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Week 2: done!

I have finished Week 2 and can finally move onto the next podcast. I didn't like the music this week, so I'm glad it's finally over and I haven't died yet. Though one of the last running bits of this week always falls on a steep hill. Damn near kills me every time. Next week will be in the UK, so we'll see how I stick to the plan when running in miserable weather... But for now, success and sunshine!

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Week 2, Day 2 - and some good news

Week 2, Day 2 went well - better than Day 1, anyway. The hills have got smaller... I took some photos this morning at the end of my run, so you can see where I end up, in case you're interested. The statues are prettier than the pics show...

Oh, and the good news? Paul and I are now properly and officially engaged! We're going to get married in the autumn, here in France at the mairie; date yet to be fixed...

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Week 2, Day 1

Why are the hills always in the wrong place? I swear, they do it on purpose.

Week 2 is harder than week 1. I'm kind of dreading week 3, now.

However, today, I'm off to Italy for lunch and market shopping. Because it's Friday and it's sunny again.

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End of week 1!

I have done my first week of running; I get to move on to a new podcast on Friday! And I'm still not dead!

Things I have learnt this week, in no particular order:

• It's pretty much 5km between Villefranche and the bus stop at St Jean Cap Ferrat.
  
• There are a *lot* of hills between here and St Jean.
  
• The buses at St Jean don't run very frequently.
  
• It's not summer yet.
  
• A sweater is a good thing, especially if it has pockets.
  
• Porridge is actually surprisingly edible, if you don't look at it.
  
• Running really is faster than walking. Even at the snail's pace that I do it.
  

Speaking of pockets, what do people who Do Running Properly use to put things like keys, ipod, phone, money, bus pass, that sort of thing, in? Because when summer finally does get here, I'm definitely not going to want to be wearing a sweater...

(First person to suggest a bum bag gets shot. This is not the 80s anymore.)

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Running, part 2

I have continued running! I have run again, and am still not dead!

My story is still not any further. I've done the washing up and made this pendant instead:

But I ought to be doing writing. Or food shopping. *Shudders at the thought of walking to the supermarket*

What shall we have for dinner, loyal readers? If you answer early enough, I might actually take you up on your suggestions...

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