Moonwalk Edinbra 2013

We arrive at the largest pink tent in the world.

Preparations begin for the night ahead;

Costumes are put on, and green sparkly makeup applied.

Meanwhile we are listening to drum bands and rock bands,

watching dancers,

learning about what the money raised is spent on, about the research it enables and the improvement in the quality of care for cancer patients.

A nurse gets quite emotional as she talks about the difference it means to her patients.

We get something hot to eat, and a neck and shoulder massage.

There is an emotional minutes silence.

A hug with the person next to you.

Music from the Rock Choir.

"Something inside so Strong" - the words stay in my head, and I sing them quietly to myself later in the night, and they help me up the hill  that is the Royal Mile at mile 23.

A warm up routine to get those muscles working.

Outside of the tent everything is dark and the tent is now decorated with giant glowing "moons".

We line up in our start group, waiting for midnight. It is much colder than everyone had hoped for, the sun of the previous days replaced by a grey day, drizzle and light wind. Clear ponchos are put on over the costumes and everyone rustles expectantly.

Midnight. Off we go, first stop Arthur's seat, up and up we go, there is a sound of gentle chatter, and the rustle of ponchos, but it is eerily quiet, and without any street lights almost totally black, some people are wearing lights, and they glow like Christmas trees in the darkness. We reach the top and see the lights of Edinbra spread out below us, but none of my photos in the dark come out well, and I give up until it gets lighter.

We walk through Edinburgh city centre and on the streets people are still out and about, everyone waves and cheers us on. The Castle is lit up pink for us, it is quite the sight!

Now we are walking through residential streets and it is oh so quiet, but there are houses with bra's hanging the windows, people waving from the ends of their driveways, ribbons and balloons tied to hedges. A child giving out drinks and home baking, a elderly lady waving a bright pink bra. Wonderful. 

As we pass Silverknowes we can see the sea, it's 3.30 am and it's already light. There is a chill wind off the water (gloves on now) and it feels like a long way to go, but there's a disco bus playing music and  cheerful volunteers encouraging us on. "Keep walking. You're doing really well."

There's a group of young lads playing guitar sitting on the wall and encouraging us to dance. At 4am!

4.30 and we see the sun, keep walking.

The light on the water is amazing, and I want to stop and take better photos  but I know if I do I won't start again, so walking and clicking, is the only way.

I start counting down the miles until I can have a cup of tea, and am impossibly excited at mile 20 in Portobello to find a beach side cafe van has opened early specially and is selling teas and coffees at reduced prices and giving away chocolate Brownies. I have never been so happy to buy a cup of tea. 

It warms me up and I gladly get take off the poncho, fed up with the rustling, and we are given oranges and sweeties by a hair salon, who have opened up to let everyone use their toilets. 

As we walk we admire the costumes of all the other walkers, we saw wonder woman and her twin, lots of sequins and feather boas, and the all colours of the rainbow. For some reason we always seemed to end up behind these three, so brightly coloured against the grey skies.

We skirt around the bottom of Holyrood Park, no need to go back up Arthur, but as we walk we pass a group of walkers heading out to do it all again. These are the elite walkers, the Over the Moon walkers, the once round isn't enough, lets do it twice walkers. We applaud them and wonder in awe how they are still smiling.

North Bridge, and we have done the last of the uphills, round the corner is a lady I was waiting to see, diagnosed with breast cancer 12 years ago she has supported the moonwalk for the last  few years, holding up a sign that says "thank you from people like me", this is her story.  She had promised me a hug on the walk the walk forum, and I walked over that bridge to get my  hug I had to try really hard not to cry. I was stiff and tired and ready for a sit down, but she was a reminder me of the reason we were there, and I really had nothing to complain about. 

and it was a good hug.

The next two miles were filled with the most cheerful volunteers possible,  

with the most fantastic signs.

I was ever so pleased to see this one!

and finally the finish line.

and a medal.

I may never take it off.

It's time for Moonwalk Edinburgh!

Moonwalk day has arrived.

The sun is shining.

The mermaid outfits are finished.

The arrival of the crocheted fish from dottycookie had me squealing with excitement.

In the interests of modesty, and in order not to frighten anyone away I haven't posted a photo of me modelling the outfit, but here is my bra - everyone wears a decorated bra to increase awareness of breast cancer,

and here is the complete outfit, with a silk shrug for a little warmth, and a long blue/green mermaid plait.  Just need to add some sparkly makeup and the transformation will be complete.

Tonight whilst you are sleeping in your beds I shall be walking 26.2 miles around Edinburgh (up Arthur's Seat, and along the coast) starting at about midnight and hopefully finishing at around 8am.  It has been lovely having you along with me virtually on all my training walks, all 492 miles of them, and thank you so much to those who have sponsored me. It means such a lot to me to know that every mile walked will make a difference to the future of breast cancer treatments.

Wish me luck, hopefully I'll be back tomorrow - with  a medal.

you can read more about my fund raising and sponsor me here - thank you xxxx

cherry blossom

 

the cherry blossom has finally arrived.

 

as has the pink carpet of tulips.

 

I heard one of the gardeners saying they were 5 weeks late this year,

 

there doesn't seem to be as many as last year, but it is still a glorious sight.

 

sewing news.

 

There is something insanely satifying about turning a pile of scraps into something new,

 

choosing the eyes to match each fish might just be the best bit of all.

 

and turning even tinier scraps into teeny pictures is even more fun,

 

almost addictive.

finding solace in sparkly things.

the last few weeks have been interesting.

the car broke down dramatically. AGAIN. this time on the brow of a hill, so that it required the company of two police cars whilst the car was loaded onto a tow truck, and driven to the garage - who announced a unbelievably large repair bill. We applied the "three strikes and you're out" rule, and have changed the car.......

meanwhile a valve burst on the hot water tank and we had water dripping through the ceiling.

I wrote a "to do" list, and once it reached two pages of A4 I got a bit overwhelmed and went for a cup of tea instead, and got out my colouring pencils and drew a picture of a mermaid outfit.

Then I started to collect lots of sparkly things. In times of stress you can never have too many sparkly things. This week things have been much calmer. The sun shone today and all is well. It is the start of half term and if things start to get a bit hairy again at least I the start of a mermaid outfit. And a new quote to live by.

"life isn't about learning to weather the storm, it's about learning how to dance in the rain"

do you have a favourite quote or saying? I could do with some spares. just in case......

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asics gel cumulus trainers

Since registering interest for my upcoming marathon I've walked 452 miles in training, lost 1 1/2 stones, and worn out a pair of trainers. When Sportsshoes.com were offering the chance of pair of trainers to review via Britmums I jumped at the chance.

 

 

When I went into our tiny local sports shop they had about 12 pairs of trainers. Sportshoes.com had 888 pairs in the women's section. Oh boy. How on earth can you choose from that many? But once you've filtered for activity, and size which are the obvious place to start it gets easier. Then you can filter for price, brand, colour, feature and most importantly type. This is where you can choose the trainers that are most suitable to your own feet. There is plenty of advice on the site how to choose the right shoes for you, and you get to have fun making footprints whilst you do it!

 

Power walking requires a certain type of trainer, and none of the shoe companies make the perfect one, so I sat with my list of requirements - supportive fabric eg. goretex, wide toe box - plenty of wriggle room for those toes, supportive flexible sole and came up with the selection of asics lady gel cumulus 14

 

 

which ticked all of my requirements, and had many more including gel cushioning, memory foam for comfort and my personal favourite - go faster stripes! - technically these are described as 3M reflectives - for running in low light, but I'm calling them go faster stripes and that's final.

I also personally really liked them as they aren't pink. I don't mind pink, but I just don't like that the sports companies assume women want pink and therefore it's almost impossible to find a pair of women's trainers without pink on somewhere.....

 

So I ordered a pair, a size larger as recommended for power walking (extra toe wriggle room) and was very excited when they came, and hugely disappointed to find that after all my deliberations they didn't fit..... too narrow.  At this point I rang customer service, and got some very helpful advice, discussed the comparisons with another brand, and the operator went and found out all of the information I asked, and very helpfully suggested I tried a man's pair which would come up with a wider fit. I was also emailed a size comparison chart as a women's 8 is not the same as a man's 8 if you consider the European sizing (42/42.5) to help choose the perfect replacement.  Sportshoes.com have a 14 day no quibble returns / and or replacement policy, but as is often the case whenever you shop online you are liable for the return postage. I was fortunate to have a courier collect my shoes, but out of interest I took the parcel to the post office to get a quote, and it would cost £5.25 to return them second class postage, however if you wanted to have insurance as recommended by the returns policy the easiest way would be to return them recorded delivery at a cost of £8.25. The prices on the site are very competitive and there are some very good reductions to be found amongst all the ranges, which don't just include shoes but a good range of clothing and other products. The risk of having to return something is always there when you buy online, and for me the convenience of online shopping outweighs the risk.

 

My replacement pair asics gel cumulus have so far been a joy to wear. After a few short walks in them I was unsure whether it was a good idea to wear them for the 26.2 mile walk we had planned last week, long distances in new trainers is not the wisest decision, so I started out in them, and was prepared to change into my old worn out pair after 12 miles. After 12 miles they were still really comfortable so I kept them on, and didn't get a single blister.

 

 Fingers/toes/arms and legs crossed that this continues!

 

disclosure; I wasn't paid to write this post, but I did receive a pair of trainers. Since I had been saving up to buy some new trainers myself I have added my savings to my fund raising.

 

 

What's the most unusual thing you've ever bought online?