Health-kick up the bum...

Hello there,

My name is Liz.

I guess I’m reintroducing myself as I feel that I am reaching and have reached a bit of a turning point in my life. Relationship status changes, location changes and job changes.

I’m a runner, as some of you may know and, very likely will have guessed from this blog. I love getting out there and running over hills and through forests. I’ve now done 150 events which are at least a marathon in length, and you could say I’m hooked. Ultras are my favourite. I’d say an ultra was anything over 30 miles. They come in many different shapes and sizes. The very hilly. The very winding. The very muddy. The very rocky. The very, very long. I love the variation and the beauty of all of them. I find it fascinating to witness how the mere act of running so far breaks down barriers. 


You talk to people and people open up. You open up. You learn so much about others and about different experiences. It can be the best life lesson and it is all accompanied by an enormous sense of adventure.  It’s a kind of therapy. I would never wish to change it. There have been tough times when I really thought I couldn’t move forward, but it is in my heart (as cheesy as that sounds).

As my time living in the South of England come to an end, I have decided to reflect slightly. I’ve realised I do want to be the very best that I can be. I’m rambling. Sure, I ramble, but I’ve realised that I want to ramble more. So, here’s to more rambling. Let’s make this a daily thing, eh? So, in an effort to improve and learn, I’m going to ramble. This will be my kick up the bum. I’m going to write my thoughts. I’m going to write down my future travel and running aspirations. I’m going to write about the fact that my quads are aching, because I decided to do some weird lunge/ squat combo. I’m going to write about how I very nearly tripped over my kettlebell yesterday (although, that's probably not useful or advisable to anyone...).

So, here’s to my health-kick up the bum :) cheers!

'Die germs die!', I'm off to run an ultra...

LLC 130 countdown is seriously on (seriously...). I must admit that running 130 miles down another canal hasn’t been high on my list of priorities of late. This isn't because I don’t want to, because I really, really want to go on this adventure. However, I’ve been catching every possible bug/ germ/ cold virus going. All the germs seem to want to hitch a ride with me. Currently, I’ve had a cough for the last 6ish weeks and I’ve seen a nurse at the walk-in centre and doctor during this time. The nurse just told me my lungs were clear, I had a great lung capacity and I was just unlucky to catch one virus on top of the other and there was nothing she could do. Boo! I saw the doctor last week and he agreed that I had a temperature and prescribed some antibiotics (finally!). I know doctors are quite reluctant to prescribe antibiotics willy-nilly as they think everyone is becoming immunised to these nasty bugs, but I haven’t taken any or even been to the doctors for 6 years! 

So, I finally feel like I’m getting better and a lot of my energy has returned and now I’m raring to go and run from Liverpool to Leeds. The only annoying thing is that I haven’t run for well over a week and I wasn’t doing too much before that due to this nagging cough and hectic-ness at work. However, I do play with my kettlebell and work-out and I feel I’m up to the challenge.

When it comes to something so long I believe that mental strength is incredibly important and that adequate nutrition before and during is vital. So, I’m leaving nothing to chance – lots of vitamins, rest, sleep, crazy flavoured yummy tea and fresh nutritious food (lots of fruit salad). Bring it on... Rarrrrrgggghhhh!