Running

I have been wanting to start up my blog again for a while. I love reading my mum's blog (sometimes it's the only way I find out what is happening at home!), when Liberty writes something that isn't a review I always take a few minutes to read it, and I'm slightly jealous that they are such good writers whereas I usually just fail epically. If I have the words, I'm ok, but finding words to put to paper has always been difficult for me.

Today I have something I want to write about.

Last summer, I started running. Various members of my family and the boyfriend's family had been running for a while and, despite being a skinny twig, I wasn't very fit. My step-dad is a bit of a fitness fanatic and is always telling me how good a bit of exercise is for the brain as well as the body. So I thought, what the hell? I suck at sports, I'm not very well coordinated (odd for a drummer...) and any time I had to run, in sports or just going after a bus, my chest would close and I'd feel sick for like half an hour after the smallest distance.

Mum and Liberty are part of the running club in my home town, and part of that running club is a Beginner's Training Program. It's an 8 week program where you start off small, running for a minute, walking for 90 seconds and repeating 8 times, 3 times a week, and build up slowly until you are running for 30 minutes solid. I started off doing that, with the help of mum and Liberty, and anyone else who decided to join us. It was going well until 3 weeks in, when they got bored of running for just 3 minutes at a time, and mum decided "let's run a 5k route and see how far you can go!"

So that's what we did. I ran for 13 minutes before I needed to walk, and didn't ask how long we'd been going until 7 minutes in. That may not seem like much, but to me that was a massive achievement. I don't know how long it took to do that 5k, and the boyfriend drove past on the way so we stopped and had a chat. He offered me a lift, but I was determined to make it back myself!

I don't count that run as a proper 5k. Every Saturday at 9am, all around the country, there is an event called Parkrun. It is a timed 5k event, which you can sign up to for free. All you need to do is be there on time and bring your given barcode so they can scan it at the end along with your time. There happens to be one in a town close by to us, so we try to go as often as we can. My first parkrun, Liberty coached me all the way round. I ran for 2 miles before I needed to stop and walk, which was a record for me. At the end, Liberty and I were neck and neck for the sprint finish, with mum (who had already been finished for a while) squealing rather too excitedly as she saw us round the last corner. Being the awesome sister that she is, Liberty actually pushed me over the finish line at the end, just so I would have the faster time. I think it was a difference of less than a second in the end... But I had gotten round my first 5k in 35:13, which felt great.

It took a long time for me to get a faster time than that. Each subsequent parkrun was slower and slower, but I achieved other things instead. The second one I was running with my younger sister Charlie, helping her around the course for a fundraiser. One week we went to a different, much harder parkrun, and that was the first time I ran the whole way without walking. Yes, sometimes (a lot of the time I think) my running was slower than walking, but I did it. I even continued doing parkrun when I went back to Uni, which involved not only finding where the parkrun is, but getting out and doing it on my own. It's hard to get up and run when you don't have anyone to run with. But I absolutely love doing the parkrun. It is now something that we look to do whenever we go anywhere with one nearby. Recently Liberty, Charlie and I went to London to visit our father, and we even got up to do one there. That was by far the hardest course we've ever done. It had TEN HILLS! So Liberty and I got personal worst times with close to 40 minutes, but it was really beautiful and so much fun, so we didn't really mind! I have gotten several new PBs for 5k routes, my fastest so far being 31:01, which I am so pleased with. My goal at the moment is to try and run one in under 30 minutes.

Running has also pointed out other problems that I have with my knee. I've always had a bit of a bad knee, but it got to the point where I wouldn't be able to walk after a run because it hurt to move. Liberty had also been having trouble, and been to see a professional who said it wasn't actually her knee that was causing the problem, but the muscles in her legs being too tight. So now, not only do I run, but I have started doing yoga everyday for 30 minutes in an effort to stretch out my muscles more, to help me run better. I've gotten to the point where I can see how people can get obsessed with exercise. It's a really strange feeling for me.

Running has become a big part of my life. I like to go to sports shops and look at the accessories and running clothes you can get. Even though we didn't get to stay long, Liberty and I had a great time looking round the bit of the London Marathon Expo we made it to. I bought myself a leg roller massage stick thing, we got new running compression socks, we got fliers for other events and we tried a load of healthy food and drinks. And now, with absolute certainty, we can say our step-dad is crazy whenever he drinks beetroot juice. It may give you 5% extra oxygen level in your blood, but it is seriously gross! We enjoyed seeing Mo Farrah run past in the London Marathon (the boyfriend's mother is really jealous of that one. We were so close to the runners, it was ridiculous). I was so excited when my parents bought me a running watch for Christmas. I have had a water fight with Liberty at the unmanned water station in the Cheswardine 5 mile "fun" run. We didn't really run that one at all, but it was kind of fun how bad we were. I have dressed up as a reindeer with family to attempt to pull the boyfriend's sister, who was dressed as Santa, on a mobility scooter decorated as a sleigh around our town in a 5k Turkey Trot. That was hilariously bad. The mobility scooter had a speed limiter, which is slower than walking pace. The marshals had all left by the time we got round, and we cut out the last bit of the route. We so should have won the best costume though, we were robbed with that one.

All of the crazy things I have done since starting running has been great, but by far the best thing so far happened last weekend.

I ran a 10k.

My town, for the last 2 years, has been voted the top 10k route of the country. Last year, my mum, step-dad, Liberty, Liberty's boyfriend, my boyfriend, the boyfriend's mum and sister all took part in the race. I came home from Uni to support and to babysit my brother, and it was really a great day. So when the 2014 entry opened, even though I had only been running for a little while, I decided to sign up.

As race day came closer and closer, I was getting more nervous. I had never run that far, 5 miles being the furthest I had done. I was worried my knee would stop me, or stitch, or my new strange shoulder stitch (don't ask, I can't really explain that one). My aim was to keep up with mum, which I can just about do with parkrun now. I ended up running round with Liberty, and we quickly lost mum in the crowds. But I never really lost heart the whole way round. I got stitch during the ridiculously energetic warm up, so that was over and done with. My knee went stiff about halfway round, but didn't hurt while I was still running. I briefly got shoulder stitch, but that thankfully went away reasonably quickly. Having so many people cheering you on as you are running round really helps to keep your spirit up. We ran past our house where my grandparents, sister Ivy, and the two little ones were waiting with high fives. The boyfriend and his family were marshalling at the beginning (and so also at the end) of the course, and they are always ready with big encouragement. We saw Liberty's friend, our cousins unexpectedly, and someone I knew from school shouted my name out, which just really gave me an extra boost right after the demon hill Phoenix Bank. There was also a drum band which was playing in the town, but relocated to the top of Phoenix Bank, which was just genius placing. It really helped to get me up that hill. Once at the top of it, I knew there wasn't far to go to the end.

The course started and ended on the school field, and once we got there, I could actually see mum just on the other side, so we had managed to stay not too far from her in the end! I crossed the finish line in 1 hour 10 minutes and 4 seconds. It was the best feeling (helped by the fact I overtook a few people at the end :P) Liberty followed a few seconds after. Our aim for the 10k was just to make it round, running the whole way, but we said that if we beat Liberty's time from last year, it would just be the icing on the cake. Well, we smashed it by 3 minutes, and I ran the whole way!

I collected my goody bag, which included a bottle of water, a gingerbread man, a mars bar and a load of fliers, as well as a tray of yoghurts from the Muller factory in our town. My t-shirt is tucked away in my drawer, ready for my next run, and my medal is pinned proudly to my notice board.

I can't wait for next year.

C is for Comic Con

I know I said over a month ago that I was going to start blogging again, but I have a good excuse as to why I haven't so far... sort of. My computer won't connect to the internet at home for some reason. I know I could just take it to Apollo's house to write them (as I am doing now) but honestly the weather has been so nice I haven't really wanted to sit inside on the computer. But here we go, C date.

Way back in the Easter holidays, me and Apollo went to the MCM Comic Con in Birmingham. That's right! COMIC CON!

Anyone who knows him knows that Apollo is a massive comic book dork. It is safe to say he was very happy when I suggested Comic Con as our C Date. Being a bit of a geek as well, I was really excited about it too. Especially when I found out who was going to be there, but more on that later.

We decided not to dress up, but just to take in the whole thing and dress up next time we went. We did have comic related clothes on though of course. Apollo wore his Mighty Marvel t-shirt, and I wore one that says Batgirl on it. So on the morning of the Saturday, we drove to Birmingham, armed with a camera and plenty of money to spoil ourselves with.

Even just stood in the queue to get into the main building, we saw lots of people dressed up and got gradually more and more excited.

The Stig

Darth Vader

A blurry Batman and Catwoman

Once inside, we didn't really know where to begin. There was so much stuff, so we just wondered around having a quick look at everything so we could decide what to do later on, stopping every so often to take pictures with different superheroes and villains. I think it's best if I just put up a load of pictures.

 It was a really awesome day. We bought ourselves a few goodies too. Strangely enough we didn't buy any comics, but we did get a lightsaber (...yes we are children...), Pokemon badges (...even more so now), a Star Wars origami book, a few photo posters and Apollo got a drawing done of one of the characters in his comic he was writing for his extended project.

There was one other thing that made the day just that little bit extra awesome. A few days before the event, I got a message from Apollo with a link to a list of all the people coming to MCM to do photos and autographs, saying to look at a specific one. He obviously knows me so well, because I then practically screamed with excitement.

Andrew Lee Potts a.k.a Connor from Primeval a.k.a my favourite thing about that show a.k.a my first celebrity crush, was going to be at Comic Con. While I was there. I nearly died. I can't remember why exactly, probably because she is the most awesome person on the planet, but my mum gave me the money to have my picture taken with him.

The way the photos were organised was pretty poor to be honest because there were just too many people crowded into a small space, and all of the sessions overran. So we ended up waiting for ages, but I really didn't care. Because look!!!!!

Best man sandwich I have ever been in. That photo now stands proudly on my desk, and makes me smile whenever I see it.

Basically for the whole day we just wondered round, taking everything in, and getting overly excited about stupid things like Chewbacca hoodies and X-Men figurines and giant inflatable minions. Apollo got very excited by the Yu Gi Oh area, I'm not sure why... All in all it was an absolutely amazing day. I cannot wait for the next one.

Once we had exhausted everything we had an interest in, we decided to head home and stopped off for Chips on the way. Best date ever.

Highlight of the date: Do I really need to post the picture again?

Lowlight of the date: The fact that my favourite X-Man isn't famous enough to get a figurine -.-

Getting back into the swing of things...

Since the Easter Holidays, I haven't been keeping up my blog at all. It's not because I haven't had anything to write about, but rather that I haven't had the time or energy to write about all the things that have been happening.

In the last couple of months, I have:

• Been to Comic Con
• Visited my father in Portugal
• Went on the world's tiniest spinning teacups with my brother while my family participated in the Market Drayton 2013 10K race
• Watched the Exorcist
• Been voted Vice President of Warwick Glee
• Won Performance of the Year with I Knew You Were Trouble by Taylor Swift in Glee Club
• Finished all assignments and exams for my first year of University
• Had my younger sister visit me for a couple of days
• Bought an iPad with my birthday money

And probably a whole lot more that I can't think of right now.

So, my plan for the Summer is to get back into my blogging. I will start it off by writing posts about my C date and D date, then see where we go from there!

Four is...

Four is a number.

Four is two squared.

Four is the square root of sixteen.

Four is the number of sisters I have.

Four is the day in June my Birthday falls on..

Four is the number of books currently propping up my laptop to keep it cool.

Four is the number of times I have watched Pitch Perfect in the last couple of weeks.

Four is the number of times I will listen to You're My Only Shorty by Demi Lovato, before I decide I should really listen to something else.



Four is the number of times I will listen to it again before I actually turn it off... It is a secret wish of mine to sing that with someone XD

Four is the number of centuries it feels I have been waiting to open this:

Four is a number...

It is the number of years I have been happy with you:

Happy Anniversary to my Superman x

2013: Weeks 9 and 10

Where do I begin with the last couple of weeks? I have been so busy that I haven't managed to keep up my blog between Glee and assignments. Why have I been so busy, you ask? Well, for the last month or so, Warwick Glee have been rehearsing for the Masters of Show Choir 2013 competition. Masters of Show Choir is the only inter-University show choir competition in the country. Last year Warwick lost to Cambridge, so our President and Creative Director really wanted to step it up this year and show them what we're really made of.

These last two weeks of rehearsal have been intense, the last week especially. We had 5 to 10 rehearsals every night. I was actually only a reserve for the team, but I wanted to be there for as many rehearsals as I could so that I knew the songs and the dances. Ok, I didn't really know the dances in the end. I knew the moves (sort of) but not where they went, or in which order... It's a good job really that no one dropped out!

Apart from wanting to know the set, I also really just enjoyed being with Glee. Sure the rehearsals were long and tiring, but the people in Glee are some of the nicest, geekiest, funniest, weirdest, cutest, most talented people I've met and I love them all for it. We actually got to the point where we'd been spending so much time together, that quite a few of us were dreaming about Glee club!

But onto the actual competition. As it was down at Royal Holloway University in London, and we had to be there quite early, it meant we had to be up and meeting up at 8.30am... on a Saturday... after a week of daily 5 hour rehearsals... It was so worth it though. When we got there, we had to do a tech rehearsal so we could sort out any problems with lighting and sound. Later on we had a dress rehearsal to see how the set would be on one full run through. Here is where we ran into some problems. I don't know why, but the band was fine with everyone else's music, but as soon as it got to our set, they played too fast, they played too slow, they played the music completely wrong, and were generally just rubbish. It's not like the music was overly complicated either, and they were sent a recording of how it should sound as well. So our dress rehearsal wasn't exactly a run through. A couple of times our Creative Director had to stop the set to tell the band what to do. It wasn't helping the nerves of the team at all.

Luckily, everything was running ahead of schedule, and they were kind enough to give us an extra slot of time to sort out the problems. After that, we just sat around waiting for the show to start. I read my kindle while everyone was getting into costume or taking naps. Eventually it got to show time.

As I wasn't actually on the team, I got to watch all of the performances. Cambridge were up first, then it was Sussex, Swansea, Warwick and finally Royal Holloway. Each team had roughly 12 minutes of performance, then comments from the judges. It felt very X-Factor and Britain's Got Talent like. I have to say, even though I am totally biased, I enjoyed our set the most by far. Cambridge were very good vocally, and Sussex did an amazing a capella version of Black Bird by the Beatles, but our set was the most fun. The singing was great, the dancing was fantastic, and they just looked like they were having the most fun. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the other performances as well, but I just got such a buzz after Warwick went up.


After all the teams had performed, there was an interval while the judges went to discuss their thoughts and choose a winner. Naturally, me, the other reserves, and a couple of other members of Glee who weren't in the Show Choir team ran upstairs to pounce on everyone. I have never given nor received so many hugs from such smiley people in that short amount of time. Everyone was so pleased with their performance, it was lovely.

When they called the teams to line up again so they could go back onstage, we returned to our seats in the audience. I don't think I've experienced a more intense moment than while we were waiting for the judges to come back so they could announce the results. I was literally shaking with excitement.

There were 4 awards to hand out. The first was a Special Recognition award, which could go to an individual, or a team. When they were describing the reasons for choosing the team they did, based on the previous comments we'd heard, we guessed that it would go to Cambridge. When it did, we began thinking, "Can they win Special Recognition, and Masters of Show Choir? Is that possible?" We thought Cambridge were our main competition, so we began to get hopeful. The next award was for best arrangement, and deservedly went to Sussex for Black Bird as I mentioned before. The third award was for best soloist. There was one girl from Cambridge who I thought it could go to, because she was really good, and made singing Alone by Heart sound easy. But when the judges said that the award was going to a pair of soloists... for their amazing version of a solo song turned into a duet... everyone from Warwick knew who it was for. They were on our team!! And to be fair, they did sing Run by Snow Patrol amazingly. I must have heard it a thousand times, and I would still listen to it more, and still get goosebumps.

Then the moment came. The final award for Masters of Show Choir 2013. Honestly, I was so happy for our soloists that I didn't actually care about what would happen the rest of the evening. Saying that, it was still very nerve-racking waiting for the results. As with the other awards, the judges gave a mini speech of the reasons why they picked the team they did. They said it was a very hard choice, because there were two teams that were very deserving. Then they used a lot of keywords that slowly made every Warwick jaw slowly start to drop. Individuality. Personality. Interaction and friendship between members of the team. Basically everything we put in our show. When they finally (after what seemed like forever!) announced the name of the winning team, they screamed, we screamed, they hugged, we clapped and cheered and screamed some more.

WARWICK GLEE ARE THE OFFICIAL MASTERS OF SHOW CHOIR 2013!!!!!!!

They came back on to perform their big dance number I Don't Feel Like Dancing by the Scissor Sisters, and it was even better than before. Everyone was so happy it was just amazing to watch. Then of course there was much more hugging and congratulations and even some crying by our Creative Director!

The bus journey home involved a lot of alcohol and singing. That was probably my least favourite part of the day because I was sat in the front, so I couldn't really join in and felt a bit left out, but it was nice to hear how happy everyone was. But then one of the girls actually thanked me for all the help I'd given, even though I didn't think I'd really done much, just pressed a few notes on the keyboard sometimes. It made me feel really happy.

So, even though I wasn't really on the team, I feel honoured to have been there for everyone. This past month has been one of the best experiences of my life. I would especially like to thank our President and Creative Director for letting me be a part of it. Love you guys <3

Note: I will add any videos as and when they get put on youtube!

2013: Week 8

I have had such a perfect weekend. And yes, it was because Apollo came to see me :)

On Friday, it was another Allnighter at the student cinema. We went to the one last term, and enjoyed it so much that we were planning to go to this one from the moment we found out when it was. Armed with energy drinks, lemonade, sweets, the hundreds of packets of biscuits and giant bar of chocolate my mum sent me in a goody bag (thanks mum!), salty peanuts (they were on offer in Tesco), blankets and pillows, we headed off to the cinema.

I was very excited about this allnighter, partly because of the fun I had last time, but mostly because of the films that were showing this time.

Skyfall - The latest of the Bond films, starring Daniel Craig, Dame Judi Dench and Javier Bardem. When Bond's latest assignment goes horribly wrong, a list of agents is compromised, as well as Bond escaping to lice in the shadows. But when an explosion is set of at MI6, it becomes apparent that someone from M's past is coming back to haunt her. Bond returns to MI6 to help M, only to have to return to his own haunted ppast.

This film was amazing. There is no other word for it. I'd never seen a Bond film before, and I am so glad that this was my first one. I don't really find Daniel Craig particularly attractive, but he played Bond very well. Judi Dench was just brilliant, and I loved the bad guy, Silva. He was amazingly camp and creepy all at the same time. It was funny, it was sad, it was brilliant. And then of course there is the amazing theme by Adele, that I have a particularly strong love for. My sister was right when she said the opening titles were the most beautiful she had ever seen. All in all, I loved it.

American Beauty - Starring Kevin Spacey, American Beauty is a drama about middle-aged Lester Burnham, who is in the midst of a mid-life crisis when he develops an infatuation for his daughter's friend. Upon meeting her, he decides to change his life, quitting his dull job, starting to work out, smoking with his daughter's new boyfriend, and generally trying to make his life happier.

I have mixed feelings about this film. All the way through, I thought it was a bit cringey when Kevin Spacey fantasised about the 16 year old friend of his daughter. But by the end, I decided it was really good. It was very funny and light hearted, as well as dealing with issues like Homophobia, abuse and general depression in day to day life. I saw one of the twists coming from about halfway through, and Apollo called the other big one, but instead of feeling disappointed that it was so obvious, it just made us feel impressed with ourselves. That may be because we are childish and competitive with each other though... Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. I also found it kind of funny that it had Seneca Crane from the Hunger Games in it. I'm not sure why...

Seven Psychopaths - Starring Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson and Christopher Walken. When Marty, a struggling screenwriter, is having trouble with his new screenplay The Seven Psychopaths, he is somehow involved in the criminal underworld of LA after his friends kidnap a gangster's beloved dog.

I will admit that I didn't really understand this film. The storyline didn't seem to flow right, and I thought the basic premise of the story was pretty stupid to be honest. There was a lot of fuss over a small, kind of ugly dog. I suppose that it was supposed to be funny that this big gangster turned soft around his dog, but I just didn't really care. I'm not really an animal person, can you tell? It didn't help that the cinema crew ran into a big of trouble halfway through, and the film turned off for a good ten minutes, so we missed a chunk. I'm not really convinced that, had I seen it all the way through, I would have enjoyed it any more. I did, however, love Christopher Walken's character. I just thought he was so cute, and I actually liked learning about his past. He was definitely the most interesting character.

Brazil - I am going to have to find a summary of this online, because I honestly couldn't tell you what it was about! Starring Jonathan Pryce. A bureaucrat in a retro-future world tries to correct an administrative error and himself becomes an enemy of the state.

Yeah, I don't really have a lot to say about this film. I mean, I was awake through most of it (having only a couple of 10 minute power naps halfway through), but I have no idea what happened. This was the mystery film of the night, and started off much better than last term's, so I thought it would be alright. But I quickly lost track of what was happening, I didn't know anything about the world where it was set and so didn't understand why the characters acted as they did, or why someone who fixed air conditioning was considered a criminal... It just made no sense.

ParaNorman - Starring the voices of Kodi Smit-McPhee, Tucker Albrizzi, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Anna Kendrick. Norman Babcock can see ghosts, but no one in his town believes him, save for his new friend Neil. He is left outcast by everyone, including his own father, until an annual curse threatens the town, when Norman is the only one who could save them.

The night got good again when this film came on. I was actually really excited about this one. It is an animated movie, in a similar style to Corpse Bride and Coraline, and it was a nice break to have a more kiddy film. The storyline was really good and, as is surprisingly often the case, was actually quite deep. The tale of the witch of the town was dark, but I suppose that is the best way to get the big morals across to kids. In any case, it was a heart warming story, and I really enjoyed it.

The last film was Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade, but after over 12 hours of watching films and eating sweets, Apollo was done in. I think I would have been able to manage the last film as well, but I was more than happy to go back to bed. I think 7.30pm to 8am counts as an allnighter, don't you?

The next (or rather, later that) day, we basically slobbed around watching House. Or, in my case, falling asleep again.

Apollo took charge of taking pictures. Apparently he thought I looked cute.

We made fajitas for dinner, the first meal we've cooked for ourselves that wasn't pizza. It was yummy. On Sunday we made pancakes for breakfast/lunch. That didn't go so well...

They burned to the bottom of the pan, but also didn't actually cook. I'm not sure how that works. A quick phone call to Apollo's mum for some cooking advice meant we managed to make some decent ones though. Then Apollo decided that, instead of being sensible and having two to finish off the mixture, he wanted to put it as one giant pancake. It was more like an actual cake.

That picture doesn't really show off how thick it actually was. It took like, 5 minutes to cook, which is long for pancakes.

After such a good weekend, I was more upset when he had to eventually go home. But I am really looking forwards to 3 weeks time, when he is coming back to see me, and we are going to Comic Con for our C date. I cannot wait.

Monday Maths Madness 26

Sorry I missed Monday Maths last week! Busy with assignments, shock horror. Anyway, I have a few graphs for you today.

I hope you know that this graph makes the Japanese flag. Otherwise you will just be wondering why this is funny...

If I had the time/energy to make as much pie as I wanted, this graph would apply to me. Luckily (or unluckily depending on how you look at it) I don't have pie as often as I'd like.

They say you don't know what you've got until you've lost it. Then you realise you really want it again.

That's it for today. I have a ballad to practice for Glee. :)