The age of Aquarius...

Well, yesterday saw me reach the ripe old age of 33 and to celebrate Tom took me to The Box Tree restaurant in Ilkley (see above pic.) We must have passed this place a million times on random journeys through Ilkley either on foot, by car or on our bikes and we have often thought about eating here. It's the only Michelin Starred restaurant in Leeds and is reknowned mostly for the fact that Marco Pierre White cut his teeth there. Tom & I love eating out and finding new and exciting restaurants. We expected The Box Tree to be special but I think that truly underestimates the eating experience we had and so we have found a new favourite place to dine (to be kept only for uber special occasions though.) As you can imagine we had a small dilemma in that this month is our 'no added sugar' test, so would we break it for my birthday??? We were undecided until the first course came and then all words like 'no' were thrown out of the window. I mean could you resist Milk Chocolate Delice on an Irish Coffee sponge with Earl Grey Tea Ice-Cream??? Say no more! Oh, and thank you very much Tom, it was a fantastic birthday treat. x

So, no more of this flippancy and birthday talk, what's been going on this week with my training? I took the plunge on Tuesday and went for my timed mile time in the pool
and PB'd by 50 seconds making my new time 25 mins 19 seconds. Not that I'm going to be breaking any world records with it but I'm really pleased with my improvement.

The harbingers of doom (known as weathermen) threw all kinds of spanners in the works regarding my plans on the bike this week. I had wanted to get out and ride this weekend but with the weather warnings all saying snow and lots of it I knew I wouldn't get out so on Wednesday I took the opportunity to get 80 miles in before the sky fell down. And then lo and behold after a few drops of the white fluffy stuff came and went, the sky cleared and after running the Dewsbury 10km today (I'll get to that in a mo) I went out for a 3hr ride... not a drop of snow in sight, although it was windy. So things on the bike are coming along, I do need to start working on some hills now that I'm getting a little more consistent, oh it's a long hard process!

Running wise, where do I start? After The Brass Monkey, an irritated tendon, no running for another week and a trip to see a foot surgeon I think my tendon is getting more coverage than Posh Spice! Said tendon has behaved this week and after a jaunt to another foot man in the way of a podiatrist I have seen a small improvement. Foot exercises which require a spiky soft rubber ball (the kind dogs love to chew) and strapping for my foot which help stabilise it have made a difference I think. I did my long run on Thursday (on the treadmill may I add due to the nasty weather) with my foot strapped and it definitely helped, more so afterwards than during. Then today I tested it out on the Dewsbury 10km course and it didn't twinge or niggle a bit which is the best news, hopefully I won't wake up with it the size of a golf ball tomorrow though! Am I turning a corner with 'The Tendon'? Here's hoping!

And a huge well done to all the many Virgin Road Runners (Lisa P and friend Zoe included) who threw themselves into the jaws of a windy out and back course today and especially to Khara who has endured problem after problem injury wise only to break 50mins and go home with not only a PB but a huge smile too!

I'll sign off with this quote that kind of puts the whole 'tendon' thing into a little box...

If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire, then you got a problem. Everything else is inconvenience. Robert Fulgham.

H. x