Wellbeing

The foot is doing well. I actually imagined being able to run as I drove into work today. It's a long time since I've imagined having the ability to run!

I've been feeling a lot better too. The cold I had that seemed to have lingered on for about 5 weeks has finally upped and left my body, and for the last three or four days I haven't had to blow my nose once! This, in turn, has lifted my spirits and last night (despite not being able to go to do deep water running because of work commitments which meant I had missed the time slot at the swimming baths) I got home and went straight up to my gym and did some weights. I even did some for my upper body and did the dreaded airborne running. I'm up to 100 steps for that now, but it never gets any easier!

I've been waiting for the release date of Scott Jureks' book (Eat vegan and run), however saw a link on Runners World about it. Reading how good food had cut his "benched time" down after spraining ankles etc, and with a day of his typical diet on the website, I decided to give the smoothie a go and bought what I needed so I could have it when I got up this morning. Whilst in Holland and Barrett, I noticed they finally sell Chia Seeds. I stopped buying them from America after finding that the consistency of them when they were mixed with liquid was absolutely disgusting. They may be the food of the Aztecs, but hey... if they make you want to vomit then they are out! However, yesterday I noticed you could buy them milled (how I used to have them) or whole seeds. So, I bought the whole seeds and had a go with them in my smoothis this morning. I made it with almond and hazelnut rice milk, bananas, mango and pineapple, brazil/hazelnuts/almonds and a scoop of chia seeds. It was absolutely gorgeous... possibly the best smoothie I've had to date. The chia seeds (when whole) have a sort of "poppy seed" feel to them (which I like), so they were a good buy. I have only became aware in the last few days that vegans can often lack omega 3 and 6, so the chia seeds will sort that out (although I take a busy bee supplement that has them in too).

Last night I also made an absolutely fab stir fry (if I do say so myself!) with fresh ginger/garlic/chilli/coriander and loads of lovely vegetables which made it look so colourful it seemed a shame to eat it and mess the plate up. I used some clearspring noodles for the first time too... they were lovely and I'll definitely buy them again! With my new vegan cookbook that I bought for only £2.99 (knocked down from £14.99... we must be mostly meat eaters in Hartlepool) the sky is the limit.

Graeme is organising a night away for our 8th wedding anniversary in June. He advises me we are staying at a vegan hotel... how cool is that? It will be lovely not to be that 'pain in the arse' for just one day... you know, the one who constantly has to ask the waiters and waitresses to bring the packet off the bread etc, so the ingredients can be scrutinized! Sometimes, I find it quite embarrassing!

I have also found a good make of gel to try. They are called GU and are fully vegan with about 7 or 8 different flavours. I've only ever tried caffeine in a gel once, however have read good things about the benefits of this during running, so I'm going to try once I'm up and running again. Before I go back to India, I want everything to be tried, tested and tested again! These also have protein in them, and I know the benefits of using protein during exercise, so we will see how that goes too. I haven't ordered any yet... I'll wait until I get going... don't want to tempt fate!

I am waiting for a book I have ordered about ultrarunning. I love reading about peoples' experiences and how they felt during different stages of a very long run, however I seem to have read most of the books about this subject already. This book I haven't ever seen before, but it sounds like it will be very good. The name of the book fully reflects how I felt when I was on the bus back to the hotel after the Bangalore ultra. "And then the vulture eats you!" sounds to me like it will be a very good read!