Weight watching

Mondays pretty much start the same way for me every week… The alarm goes off around 5:45am, and, silently cursing, I take stock of how I’m feeling… light-headed (hypo), a bit stiff (hyper) or just tired (‘in range’)?  I drag myself to the bathroom and stand on the bathroom scales.  And I sigh.

 

Diabetes is an enormous daily battle that I won’t rehash for the millionth time here and now.  I’ve lived with diabetes for long enough now to be able make most days ‘better’ days, though I’m not impervious to the bad days by any means.

 

I’ve started writing this blog post a few times and I’ve held back – I’m scared of straying into unchartered waters and accidentally throwing opinions around on things I (and many other people) don’t really understand.  But here we go.

 

I can tolerate Type 1 diabetes most of the time, but where I struggle every day is with my weight.

 

About 18 months ago I devoted a huge amount of energy and effort to tackling my weight and lost 3 (and a bit) stone to get to a position I was vaguely happy with.  I cut my diet back to about 1200 (net) calories a day, ran 20-30 miles a week as well as doing four or five mornings a week on my exercise bike.  It was exhausting and took over my life, but I did it.  But that’s when it started to get difficult…

 

I’ve always found it (kind of) manageable to lose weight, but I’ve equally found it far too easy to put it back on again within a few months.  This time I feel like something is a little different.  I’ve had fluctuations obviously, but I’ve pretty much avoided piling the pounds back on.  But it’s much harder work than it was to get to this position in the first place.

 

What I’ve discovered is that actually, my body only really needs around 120-1300 (net) calories a day anyway and regularly eating above that means I’ll put weight on.  My diabetes consultant refers to it as being a ‘thrifty phenotype’ – basically if there’s an apocalypse, you’ll probably starve before me (sorry), but basically I don’t need a lot of food to keep ticking over.

 

This creates a number of problems for me.  The first, and most obvious one is that I LOVE food so I feel like I’m constantly faced with the choice of skipping one meal in favour of another.  Or I have the chance to go out and run 6 miles to be able have something.  Whilst I both love and loathe running (it feels like life support to some degree), my life doesn’t allow the same number of opportunities a week to pound the pavement, so more and more I feel like I’m choosing breakfast plus one other meal.

 

The second problem is food guilt.  I’m sadly not immune to the temptations of an occasional takeaway.   Having skimped on calories for the rest of the day (and/or been for a run), I’ve been known to dabble in a chicken chow mein from time to time.  The thing is that pretty much as soon as I’ve eaten it, I have an overwhelming feeling of guilt about what it’ll do for my weight and I’ll compensate for days afterwards too.  I have genuine regret about something I’ve treated myself to, and I’m pretty sure it’s not healthy (the guilt that is, the takeaway definitely isn’t…).  If I’m eating out at restaurants, I’ll pick a salad more often than not because it’s not a guilt-inducing.  Having a hypo is a nightmare when I feel like this – I’m eating calories that I don’t want to correct it and I resent them for it. 

 

The last problem is how it makes me feel.  I’m writing this after stepping on the scales to find out I’ve put an improbable 4lbs on this week, and it’s pretty much all I’ve thought about all day.  I knew last week I would have put a few on (about 3lbs) as I’d been away for Easter and it’s a lot harder to stick to a calorie goal while you’re away.  But being back home hasn’t improved things.  I know I used to be a lot heavier, but I look in the mirror and I’m fundamentally unhappy with how I feel.  I hate the nagging from my inner voice before I eat anything…

 

I’m used to seeing food as numbers – it’s impossible not to when you’re doing mental arithmetic before you eat anything.  But I see calories everywhere too, and calories scare me a lot.   Having diabetes puts me at a greater risk of stroke, heart disease and cardio vascular disease, than people who aren’t ‘in the club’.  I’m about twice as likely to suffer from one or more of those as a result of my diabetes, and being overweight doesn’t help my chances much either.

 

I’ve noticed that gradually, I’ve stopped cooking new things almost entirely because I know I can rely on the knowledge that what I eat most days, falls into safe zone and I don’t want to stray from that safety.  I know when I do stray, I’ll have put weight on. And when I put weight on I’ll be miserable until I’ve lost it all.  I feel like I’m resigned to logging everything I eat for the rest of my life to be able to stay at a healthy(ish) weight, and the though of that exhausts me.

 

I wrote recently about how a day off from having diabetes would be nice.  Having a day off from this food guilt and unassailable obsession with my weight would be nice too.

Oppo Ice Cream - REVIEW

(Disclaimer - Oppo sent me three vouchers, each for a free 500ml tub of their ice cream.  I've not been paid to write this and Oppo have had no editorial rights over the content.  All views expressed are my own.)

I think ice cream is one of those almost universally loved treats.  Whether you're a kid at the seaside or you've ended up with a scoop of something decadent on the side of a restaurant dessert, ice cream is essentially awesome.

Before Christmas, Oppo got in touch and asked me if I fancied reviewing their three new low calorie, low carb ice creams.  Given my almost constant state of dieting, that's a hard thing to pass up.  During some initial conversations I was told the Oppo flavours were 'diabetes friendly' too.

Normally I'd be wary of such a claim.  Many of us (rightly) associate 'diabetic ice cream' with the addition of a bunch of polyols that have unpleasant laxative effects if consumed in any great quantity.  You'll be pleased to hear that Oppo has none of those unpleasant things added to it.   The lower carb/calorie content comes from switching out cream and cane sugar for whole milk, Stevia and coconut oil.

The premise is that Oppo have taken 3 flavours and boosted them with an added touch to each one.  There's Vanilla & Baobab, Salted Caramel & Lucuma and Mint Choc swirl with Spirulina.

Mint Choc

Vanilla

Salted Caramel

And here's the nutritional info from the back of each tub.  I've tried to get as much of the ingredients in as possible too:

Salted Caramel

Mint Choc

Vanilla

As you can hopefully see, each two-scoop portion for each flavour is around 85 calories each, with around 9g of carbs per portion too.  Pretty good in my opinion.

Now reviewing ice cream is a tricky business as flavour is an incredibly subjective thing but here we go:

I'll admit I was a little sceptical of the Mint Choc Swirl with Spirulina when I saw the three flavours that were available.  Mint Chocolate is one of my all time faves, and I've had mixed experiences with Spirulina when using it in juices/shakes.

I'm relieved to be able to tell you that this is my favourite of the three and that the addition of Spirulina hasn't been at the expense of the mint-chocolatey goodness.  The Mint Choc is also the softest of the three in my experience and there's no trouble scooping straight from the freezer

Mint Choc yum!

Next up - Salted Caramel.  I think this is the sweetest of the three and the salted caramel flavour comes through well.  I'll confess now that I'm not sure what lucuma tastes like and it's presence in this ice cream must be subtle as I can't detect the taste of something unfamiliar.  It's definitely nice though!

Salted Caramel

Lastly, the Vanilla.  Good old vanilla right?  Well that's what I think anyway.  It's a dependable friend is vanilla - not necessarily going to rock your world, but you always know what you're getting.  What I especially liked about this was the abundance of vanilla flecks as soon as you lifted the lid on the tub.  Again, I'm not sure what baobab tastes like, but you can detect something beyond the vanilla in this one and I think the two complement each other nicely.

Vanilla - hopefully the flecks come through!

One observation I've got about the latter two is that they're solid ice creams - literally.  If you've ever experienced trying to eat something like Ben & Jerry's Cookie Dough straight from the freezer, you'll know what I mean.  Whilst the Mint Choc is soft enough to scoop straight from the freezer, I found better results with both Vanilla and Salted Caramel if I got them out a few minutes before I wanted to eat them.  That's not a criticism (in my experience, those 'harder' ice creams tend to be better), but just a public service announcement.

In the interests of fairness, I opened up the review process to both my wife and (five year old) daughter.  Whilst kids need no encouragement to tuck into ice cream, Mrs Hoverboards is a little less easy to please (particularly when it comes to added ingredients like baobab, lucuma and spirulina) so I thought the opinions of both of them might add some context.

My daughter's views can be accurately summed up with the sentence "can I have some more?!" - nothing too unexpected there I suppose.

Mrs Hoverboards was equally complementary too.  "It tastes like actual ice cream" was her immediate feedback.  And she's right.  That doesn't sound like a big deal, but I think if you're making a new product in a market where everyone has a lot of preconceptions about what ice cream is, to have something that ticks the boxes on flavour and texture is a good thing.

So, the conclusion - would I go out and buy it?  That's a tough one I think.  Oppo is branded as luxury ice cream, and it definitely comes with a luxury price tag (around £5.49 per 500ml tub).  It's not necessarily easy to get hold of either.  I had to visit 2 stores to pick up all three flavours, and when you live a 25 minute drive from one of them, you certainly feel like you're working for your luxury.  (You can find your nearest stockists via the "Stockists" link on the Oppo website).

I think if you're a regular purchaser of other luxury brands like Haagen Dazs or Ben & Jerry's, you should definitely give this a look in.  Per 100ml Oppo has about 80 calories, compared with 225 cals in Haagen Dazs Vanilla (and even 150 in WeightWatchers Vanilla).  It has significantly less fat that the Haagen Dazs alternative (and about 10% less fat than the WeightWatchers Vanilla too).

Let's be honest, spending over a fiver on a tub of ice cream is an extravagance - there's no other way to say it.  But if you're prepared to spend the cash, you could definitely do a lot worse than spend it here.

I rarely have ice cream in because I know I'm easily tempted to eat a lot of it and I know it'll make a big dent in my daily calorie allowance.  With Oppo I've been able to eat it without compromising what else I'm eating, and I've done that as part of a reduced calorie diet.  That ticks the boxes for me personally speaking.

At the time of writing, a £1 off coupon was available from Oppo's website if you hit the homepage.  If there's a stockist near you - give it a go and see what you think.  It's a lot to do with personal taste at the end of the day

Ultimately, for me,  I think it tastes good, one serving has fewer calories than a slice of bread and it's low fat.  Would I spend a fiver on it?  Occasionally, I think I would (that Mint Choc is very nice).  But I'd probably struggle to justify the cost if I went through it at any great rate.

Rainswept

The most intense training week I've probably ever had is finally behind me...and I actually feel pretty good about it.

If you remember from last week, I was planning on 2, 3, 4 and 5 mile runs this week, using the shorter ones to try and have some actual speed and the longer ones to translate that into some pace over more miles.

Family and charity commitments over the next week or so meant I actually had to pull one of Week 4's runs forward into this week so I had an additional 6 mile effort in there too, making it 20 miles for two consecutive weeks which is something to be pretty proud of!

To say I've done 5 runs in 7 days (something I've never attempted before) I feel pretty good and my times have reflected that.   My average pace across the last 20 miles is 9:26 minute miles compared with an average of 10:13 for the previous week.

I know for most people, they aren't anything amazing to write home about (and I look at others on Twitter who are training for the same race and they're a lot faster).  The one thing about marathon running is that for 99% of people entering you're only really racing yourself - it doesn't matter how everyone else does so I'm trying not to pay too much attention to other people and just focus on doing what I'm doing.

I talked last time about how conditions are something you need to bear in mind when running and managing your diabetes.  This week the weather has given me a fair few challenges, varying between warm sunshine and monsoon rain.  Fortunately I've managed to take most of that in my stride (pun unintended).

The most difficult run this week was the 6 miler this morning (Sunday).  Having been out four times already meant I was pretty tired but I'd had one of those nights with my diabetes that meant it was all the more difficult to motivate myself to get going.  I'd replaced my cannula just before bed as the adhesive had lost its usefulness but this is something you should generally avoid because if you put the new one in wrong and you don't get insulin properly, it can be pretty catastrophic and you're unlikely to know during the night.

For some reason I still don't understand, the new one only lasted about 20 minutes so I was still up at nearly midnight putting a third cannula in (and sticking it down with surgical tape to be certain).  To make sure I was going to be OK, I set an alarm for 1:30am to get up and check my blood glucose (which was fortunately OK).  I then had a hypo at 5:30am so I was up again to eat and raise my blood before I set off to run.  That's a fairly good (but thankfully rare) example of a diabetes rollercoaster - highs and lows and the physical strain of dealing with everything in between too.

Thankfully I managed to get round in a pretty decent time and made it home in the rain before it properly bucketed it down.

Next week is relatively easy, two runs and some non-impact/strength work. I'll be doing 5 miles tomorrow (Monday) and then 12 miles on Thursday after work.  That definitely won't be fun as I'm not a huge fan of doing my long runs midweek, but needs must this time.  The distances are going to start getting bigger pretty quickly now so the next 6 weeks are crucial now.

I'll finish, as always, with a mention of the fantastic work that Diabetes UK do and why I'm raising money for them.  Living with diabetes isn't an easy thing to do a lot of the time.  Having a self managed chronic illness  takes a lot out you and knowing there's someone there who can support you is an incredible help.  Diabetes UK offer that help and support to millions of people like me who need it and to say it makes actually living life easier is a huge understatement.  If you can spare anything to help me reach my £1,000 target for 2014, then please visit http:www.justgiving.com/broomhead - I'm incredibly grateful for your support.

Thanks

Coping With Christmas

This blog was first posted on the DiabetesUK website on 13th December 2012


Whilst Roy Wood famously pined for it to be Christmas every day, I sadly don't.  That's not to say I'm some Dickensian miser who can't bear the sight of a bit of tinsel or the jingle of some bells (well maybe in October - I digress).  I geninely look forward to Christmas, but I know it'll play havoc with me.

I'm a creature of habit, a person of routine, someone who enjoys certainty as much as it can ever be found.  Christmas (and I suppose I'm talking about most of December really) destroys a lot of that and makes life a little more chaotic.

Whilst there are plus points like seeing family and friends, there are the downsides like over indulgence.  Last year I was into my London Marathon training and was incredibly measured with what I ate, but that's not really the norm.  I think it's totally natural to want to unwind and indulge during your Christmas holiday and being diabetic shouldn't stop me from doing that - it just means a little extra work on my part.

With all that in mind, I've come up with a few tips for surviving the festive period (note that I'm not offering any tips on dealing with your inlaws...)

• Don't worry.  It's easy to get sidetracked by the number on your blood glucose meter at the best of times and with mince pies and chocolates flying around, I think it's inevitable that at some stage, you'll get a higher reading than you'd normally expect.  That said...
• Test a bit more often.  If your house is anything like mine, not only will you be eating things that aren't the norm, your mealtimes will end up being different too.  If you normally test 4 times a day, sticking an extra one in should mean you don't stray too far off course.
• Don't deprive yourself.  A slice of Christmas cake or an extra mince pie probably won't be your downfall (unless the slice of cake is the size of a house brick) and there's nothing worse than feeling like a martyr while everyone around you is having a great time.
• Keep the packets.  I'm terrible for throwing away boxes with nutritional information on them.  It's usually convenient to check the back of a packet for the carb values per serving (*cough* per mince pie *cough*) and adjust my dose accordingly.  It's less convenient if I've stuck the box in the recycling bin along with all the wrapping paper so try sand save them if it'll help you.
• Take the help that's there.  As you may have caught on, I'll definitely be sneaking the odd bit of dessert over the next few weeks but I'll make sure I've got things like low fat custard or reduced sugar ice cream to go with them.  No-one else round the dinner table can tell the difference anyway.  I've convinced myself I had low-sugar cranberry sauce last year but an internet search has proved fruitless (sorry!)

I suppose the message is the same one that should really apply regardless - enjoy everything in moderation.  Of course it's a bit harder to do when you're diabetic, but all the tools are there to help you.  Being diabetic is just different, not worse.

I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas and a very happy 2013.  I'll be back in the new year to talk about my diabetes study and DAFNE (amongst a whole host of other things).

Merry Christmas!

Andy

Birthday post - but no cake

Hi

Apologies I've not posted for a while - September seems to have flown by.

Having officially said goodbye to running for the year, I've turned my attention to trying to shift some weight.

As my exercise post-marathon has been sporadic at best, I've put on a fair bit of weight in the last 4 months.  I've spent a bit of time trying to ignore it but predictably that hasn't worked very well so now I'm actively trying to do something about it.

Obviously there are a number of benefits to this.  Being able to fit more comfortably in the clothes I own is one.  Not feeling knackered every time I have to exert any kind of energy is another.  And keeping my diabetes under control is probably the biggest benefit I'll get.  I've got my annual(ish) review at the hospital in October (I rescheduled from September because I knew I'd get a kicking) and so being in a bit better shape when I go will be good news.

My plan is fairly simple - try and lose 2lbs a week between now and Christmas.  The means I should lose about 2 stone by December 25th which would be pretty good.  I know the reality of that will be a bit different but it's worth a shot.  Weight is generally easier to lose when you're carrying a lot extra (as I am at the moment) and I know that come mid-December, I'll be into Christmas mode, but it's worth a go.

I'm using MyFitnessPal to track my calories and exercise on a daily basis.  If you're unfamiliar with it, you give it some information about yourself (height, weight, age, gender) and then tell it how much you want to lose and at what rate (between 0.5lbs and 2lbs per week) and it calculates a daily calorie allowance for you.  There's the option to add exercise into the mix as well.

Based on my current and target weights, I have a daily calorie allowance of 1440 per day (though I earn a few extra each day from exercise).  While that sounds like a fairly low number, it's essentially what I eat most days as long as I cut out the snacking that I'm incredibly prone to.

As I mentioned in my last post, I've invested in an exercise bike and I'm trying for 2 sessions per day on that to aid weight loss and boost fitness.  At the moment I'm doing 20 minutes 6 mornings a week and between 30 to 40 minutes each evening. On average that burns off about 550 calories per day.

After one full week of calorie counting I didn't lose any weight, but I'm attributing that to a general 1 week lag in diet/exercise showing in my actual weight.  Hopefully Saturday morning will show a reduction when I step on the scales.

What I have noticed is that my blood sugar levels have come under control very quickly and that my reliance on insulin has reduced significantly.  I'll talk more about that next time.

I've made my daily diary available for public viewing if you're so inclined.  As with the running, making this a bit more public gives a bit of added motivation so I hope you'll forgive the slight dullness of this post.  I've got some more interesting ideas kicking about for future blogs - don't worry.

Finally, the title refers to the fact that this blog is one year old now.  Thanks to every that's read some or all of the posts.  Hopefully you'll keep coming back.

Take care

Andy

150 not out

Training miles completed this week: 21
Total training miles completed: 150
Training miles left: 69 + taper off period
Training runs left: 12 (inc taper period)

Hello again

This last week has seen a couple of milestones fall by the wayside.  Firstly, as this week's title suggests, I completed my 150th training mile.  It sounds like a lot but I guess having that spread out over a fair few months it's probably not quite as fanfare worthy as it seems.

The other milestone was ticking off a 16 mile run on Saturday morning.  This one is important for a number of reasons I think.  Firstly, it's the furthest distance I've ever managed and I'm not hobbling around in agony so that's promising.  Secondly, I've now got an idea of how much the full distance is going to hurt and I know I can cope with the aches and the pains (to a degree) so that's good to know. I managed it in a respectable 3 hours, which, considering how I felt after about 7 miles, was a more than decent time. Finally, I managed the distance with good control of my diabetes.

Following on from my dietician appointment, we'd discussed monitoring my blood sugar while I was running to understand what I'll need to do to be at my bets come race day.  My figures looked like this:

Start: 22.1mmol (high but I'd eaten a decent breakfast and had a slightly elevated level from the night before)
8 miles: 8.0mmol - ate 4 jelly babies
12 miles 9.6mmol
14miles 5.6 - ate 4 jelly babies
Finish (after cool down etc) 6.4mmol

To be honest, I don't think I could have wished for it to have been any better than that.  Obviously I can't use one run as a guide and I'll be testing over the next 3 weekends as well, but it seems the "1-2 jelly babies per mile" advice that I read seems to hold out OK.  I'll monitor that going forward.

I did an easy 5 miles tonight but managed to do it in a record 50 minutes flat - knocking another 3 minutes off my best time for the distance.  Over the past fortnight I've got it down from 55 to 50 minutes so I'm very pleased with that.


I've been struggling over the last week with running.  Not in a physical way per se (although the aches after the long runs are a challenge).  It's the mental aspect of it which is now daunting me.  I'm confident I'll survive the course now - I've run enough to know that I think.  I don't think I've been prepared for how emotionally draining the training gets over the final few weeks.  Getting myself into the mindset of running long distances, and having the inner strength to keep myself going is a lot harder than I'd imagined and I'll really need to work on that between now and the race.


I think that's part of the reason I ran so quickly tonight - I wanted to blow away a few cobwebs and try and motivate myself.  

I've been wanting to go out and do a few extra runs over the last week or so - nothing major - just an extra couple of miles a week but I've stopped myself because I'm scared I'll overdo it and injure myself.  I found the 16 miles tough at the weekend and I guess that's to be expected at the best of times, but when I remember what I've been through to get here, coupled with the fact that a basic training schedule should be 3 runs per week, I think I should be pleased overall.  I feel confident I can finish the distance now and that's a great boost.

Nothing much happening from a diabetes poiint of view which I suppose is good news really.  I've been having a few higher readings in the morning of late but if I'm a bit stricter about testing my blood sugar a couple of times before bed then I should be able to eradicate those.  I've probably also been suffering from the effects of eating leftover birthday cake from my daughter's party but that contributing factor has now been dealt with...

A bit more fundraising money has come in this week which is good news!  Thanks to those that contributed this week, and another thank you to everyone who's put their hand in their pocket so far.  I'm now exactly halfway to my £1000 goal so, with a little over 6 weeks to go, there's a big push to get as close to the target as possible.  I had some incentives put my way this week, in that a couple of people have pledged £30 each if I get my time below 4:48 for the marathon.  As I've said all along, my time isn't important to me, but if I'm through mile 25 and that time is in sight, it should give me the motivation to get over the line.   As always, all money raised is being split between Diabetes UK and The Sheffield Children's Hospital Charity - two very worthy causes.

As I suggested over the last few weeks, the closer I get to April 22nd, the more I might shamelessly beg you for a few quid, so if you can spare anything at all, please click on the fundraising link above and donate.  I'll be eternally grateful if you do.

I'll leave it there for this week - got a big 18 mile run ahead of me on Sunday.  Hoping it goes as well as last weekend.

Thanks, as ever, for taking the time to read this - your support is incredibly important to me.

Have a good week

Andy

Don't stop me now

Training miles completed this week: 17
Total training miles completed: 129
Training miles left: 89 + taper off period
Training runs left: 16 (inc taper period)

Hello again - with 53 days to go until the big race - things are really starting to get serious.  

Last Friday saw me complete my last evening distance run (12 miles) in a pretty respectable 2 hours 11 minutes - an 11 minute mile pace.  It felt really good to do and it was my first run in what I'll actually wear for the marathon in April (unexpected heatwaves aside).  It was also very tough towards the end but I made it home relatively unscathed which is always the target.  I got my first blister but I'm not going to complain as it took more than 100 miles to appear.

I have to confess that when I got home, the thought of going back out and doing it all again (plus another 2 miles) was far from appealing, but I'm hoping that was more psychological as I'd paced myself for 12 miles and not 26.  We'll have to see how that goes over the next few weeks.

I did 5 miles tonight in 53 minutes - a best for me over that distance.  I was really surprised when I got in and saw that as I felt like I'd not paced myself properly and had very little energy while I was going round - particularly around 3.5 miles.  I guess the training is paying off and I'm able to work a bit harder than I expect.  Shorter distances afford me some leeway as well but the longer routes need to be a lot more disciplined.

The remaining weeks are very much a pattern of long run/short run, building up the distances as I go.  This coming weekend marks an important milestone for me.  It'll be the first run I've done under proper "marathon conditions" (i.e. up early ish and running from about 9:30am).  It'll also be the longest distance I've ever run and should give me an opportunity to banish the demons from 2008.  It feels as though the training has been building up to this run and I think it'll give me a massive boost physically and mentally if I can make it through intact.

I've got a bit more of an interesting diabetes update this week.  I realise my definition of "interesting" may be different from yours but...

I had an appointment with a diabetes specialist dietician last Thursday and it gave me a good chance to discuss what I eat now (and when) and what I should be eating to give me the best chance of getting round whilst managing my conditions.

What we found was that when I eat before running, my blood levels don't raise as much as she was expecting.  This could point to too much insulin (although I've tested previously and ruled that out to a degree).  She also said that what I'm currently eating for lunch (some salad leaves and grapes effectively) isn't really enough and I need to be eating more carbs and protein to build up muscle and improve glycogen stores for when I run.  She also mentioned that if I eat a few jelly babies every mile then it could reduce my chances of 'hitting the wall' at around mile 18 so that's good news.

We came to the conclusion that I really need to focus more on a running diet rather than trying to lose weight.  I've been trying to balance the two to a degree and I think it's more successful to shift my focus to running for the next two months and hope that the exercise will lead to some weight loss, albeit at a slower rate.

I've now started to incorporate rice cakes and fish/cheese into my lunch and I'm looking to switch to more chicken and pasta combos in the evening - particularly before a big run.

The other change I need to make is to reduce my insulin doses before and after a big run.  I have two types of insulin that I take (Background insulin twice a day, and quick acting insuling before each meal).  The exact amounts I need to reduce these doses by aren't clear yet and I'll need to experiment to understand what is best for me.  As a result, for the next few weeks, I'm going to have to take my blood sugar meter with me whilst I'm running to monitor my levels.  This should give me a guide ot managing my condition whilst I'm running.  Hopefully I won't crash too spectacularly this weekend!


It's all down to a combination of numbers now - mile times, sugar levels, insulin reduction percentages, carbs per mile to keep my sugar levels correct - it feels a bit overwhelming sometimes but it does come down to training and numbers - something I can conquer if I put my mind to it.

I'm going to stop blogging on my weight loss for the time being as it's not really my primary focus.  I'll still have a weekly weigh in, and I'll mention it occasionally, but it's not something I'll live or die by until May now.

No further fundraising at the moment - I've hit a bit of a plateau at the moment which is frustrating, but a number of people have pledged to donate before the race so I'm hoping I can still get close to £650 before I run.  I know £1000 was always ambitious but trying to get as close as possible remains my goal.  As always, all money raised is being split between Diabetes UK and The Sheffield Children's Hospital Charity - two very worthy causes.

If you've been following my progress for a while and would like to donate, please do consider giving just a couple of quid.  I know charitiable donations are often very personal things and so people rightly prioritise things that mean the most to them.  Every pound I raise will help and so please consider having one pint less this Friday night and clicking on the fundraising link above instead - it would mean a lot to me.

Thanks for sticking with this until the end, I appreciate it's been a bit long winded this week and I can be a bit boring at times, but hopefully it's given a bit of an insight into how things are going and what changes I'll need to make to get round the distance in April.

Your support has been fantastic and I'll do my best not to let you down.

Take care

Andy

Back on track

Training miles completed this week: 5
Total training miles completed: 96
Training miles left: 127 + taper off period
Training runs left: 20 + taper off period

Hello

It feels like a very long time since I wrote the last post, though it has only been a week as usual.

First and foremost, it's been good to get back out running.  The last week and a half has felt very frustrating and being back out tonight for a steady 5 miles felt really good.  I managed the distance in 56 minutes which is consistent with every other time over that route.  My foot started to feel a bit stiff towards the end but I think that's to be expected really.  Rest for the next day or so before heading out for a big distance on Friday night.


I've adjusted the distances on my next couple of runs to avoid doing too much too soon and leaving myself open to a possible setback.  Instead of 14 miles this weekend I'm going to conquer the 10 mile barrier instead and push on from there. I think that having been out of action for a little while will mean my ankle is a bit stiffer and I just need to be sensible.  I'll still have done more than 200 miles of training before April so I think erring on the side of caution is probably best.

It's been a slightly up and down week from a diabetes perspective, but sadly it's all self inflicted.  The weekend mostly consisted of takeaway (I had a rare weekend to myself whilst my wife went to visit some friends) and as I've mentioned a few times, insulin doses tend to be a bit of guess work.  I think those indulgences, coupled with a lack of running meant the last few days haven't been quite as controlled as I'd like but I'm close to a return to normality.

Fundraising has gone pretty well again this week which is nice considering I've felt very lazy and done little that should encourage people to donate.  We've added £55 to the total since last week bringing it within touching distance of halfway at £482.  I've got a few friends and family to lean on yet as well so hopefully I can make the push towards £600 in the next couple of weeks.  As a reminder, you can visit the fundraising page by clicking on the link.  All money raised is being split between Diabetes UK and The Sheffield Children's Hospital Charity - two very worthy causes.

Given my takeaway indulgences this last week I'm somewhat surprised to have lost another 1.4lbs to be down to 188.6lbs overall.  I do, however, remain sceptical about getting weighed after running so if there's little change (or a pound goes back on) next week I won't really be too shocked

A final word before I leave it for this week... There are only 66 days left until race day now so I'm inside the final 10 weeks and I think the hard slog is really going to start - there are some huge milestones coming up. The furthest I've ever run (training or event) is 15 miles.  That was 4 years ago and that was the distance that lead to my foot getting injured.  In the next 5 weeks alone, I'll be going beyond that distance 3 times (16, 18 and 20 miles) and that's quite a scary thought for a number of reasons. 

Firstly, making those distances is psychologically important for me.  If you've been with the blog from the beginning then you'll know that all the training and diabetes control has been a series of steps and small progressions to get me to this point.  Getting out running at all was the first step, gradually upping the distances until I got through 3 intensive weeks at the end of January was another.  Doing 10 miles this weekend will be the next one.  After that, I need to prove to myself that I can run these long distances without my body giving up.

Secondly, the 20 mile run at the end of March is critical for so many reasons.  It's the longest run of the training plan and it means that understanding mile times, my ability to pace myself properly and my ability to perfectly control my diabetes will be tested.  If I can manage that distance and still be standing (metaphorically at least) then I'll know I can go to London and give a good account of myself which is all I want to do.

I'm not ashamed to say I'm scared or nervous because I am (and because I think it's probably quite natural given the circumstances) but I've come this far and I'm determined to do it.

Thanks, as always, for taking the time to read this - it's great to have so much support.  If you do have even a couple of quid going spare, then please consider donating it using the link above - it's not even the price of a pint these days (so I'm lead to believe) and it would make all the difference.

Take care, and have a great week - I'll speak to you next week

Thanks

Andy

Patched Up

Training miles completed this week: 10
Total training miles completed: 68.5
Training miles left: 177.5
Training runs left: 28 + taper off period

Hello - thank's for dropping by.

There are 95 days to go until the marathon - it's starting to feel very close now, and I've still not done over 6 miles yet.  But that's about to change quite quickly over the next few weeks.

I'm now heading into the stage of long run/short run, with the next two being a slight exception.  When I originally finalised my plan, I realised I'd ended up with all my distance runs mid week and my shorter runs at the weekend - and running 14 miles on a Tuesday or Wednesday night didn't seem appealing so I swapped at one week.  This coming week is the changeover week.

I've done 10 miles this week (4 and 6) and 10 miles are planned in next week (6.5 and 3.5) and then it's 2 miles a week extra on the distance run until the end of March.

The title of this week's post is a reference to how I'm feeling at the moment.  My foot aches quite a lot of the time now, particularly after the long runs and on Sunday, I felt some pain in one of my toes so I've strapped it up as a precaution.  I think at worst, it's a tiny stress fracture but there's no evidence of that really - I'm just being cautious.  I also felt a bit of a cold coming on this week but I think I've held it at bay for now.

I think that feeling like you're facing a constant battle is probably natural during any kind of training like this.  There's probably a lot to be said for mental fitness as well as physical fitness and I've overlooked that up until now.  I'll be trying to focus a lot more on the positives over the next few weeks.

Saturday's run went pretty well - 4 miles in a few seconds over 44 minutes was pleasing.  The 11 minute mile is nice, but realistically I know that as I start going further and further, that will probably push back out closer to the 12 mile mark overall.  It's not something I'm overly worried about, but it's good to be able to track what you're doing.  Another bonus was that it didn't feel too horrific getting up at 4am to fuel up before running.  As I get in to longer distances, I'll probably be leaving the house at a more sensible time so I can adjust my eating time accordingly.

I did 6 miles tonight in 65 minutes - consistent with my last run at this distance.  It might be a sign of how far I've come that I'm disappointed that I didn't do it faster.  I managed to run the first 3 miles without stopping which felt great - an actual sense of achievement.  I'm not sure if it's the cooler air, my determination to run whilst feeling patched up or the fact that I remembered I'd forgotten my inhaler and so paced myself a lot more but it felt a lot easier tonight than probably any other run I've done.  My foot started feeling heavy towards the end of it and I've not doubt it'll hurt tomorrow, but I'm celebrating while I can!  I may have mentioned that I was using Endomondo to track my runs.  Here's an example of tonight's 6 mile run (though you can see that the GPS is a bit off on the map) - I thought I'd share it with you.


It's been a very strange week from a diabetes perspective.  Since my run last Tuesday, I've really struggled to keep my blood sugar in check, but not in the way I've been used to. I've found that it's been really difficult to maintain a decent level and that I've crashed a few times a day.  Whilst it's obviously good to be having lower blood sugar, too low is as bad as too high and as I've mentioned before, it's walking that tightrope in between the two.

I've been experimenting by lowering my insulin doses with meals but it's a lot of trial and error at the moment.  I've got a consultant appointment at the hospital on Feb 1st so I'll be able to talk through it all in a lot more detail then - I'll just need to muddle through on my own until then.  Runsweet have a lot of good information and advice for people with diabetes but I'm wary of making any drastic adjustments without speaking to a doctor first - I think that's just sensible.

I was talking to someone last night about how frustrating it feels in many respects.  I've made a conscious effort to adjust my diet and get back into a proper diabetic regimen for a good few months now and it almost feels like I've got to start and learn how to do it all over again.  I think I probably just need to understand the science behind it and it'll hopefully be fairly straightforward.

A quick mention on diet and such as that feels like quite a good segue there.  I've started tracking my food through the MyFitnessPal which is giving me a good idea of how many calories I need to lose about 20lbs over 20 weeks.  It also helps track what I'm eating around training days and my carb levels (to aid insulin doses).  It's quite a useful tool.  I'm think I'll print off the reports to take along to the hospital in a couple of weeks.

Final quick update on sponsorship. A few very wonderful people have chipped in this last week and the total (exclusing gift aid) currently stands at £157 which is quite good I think.  You can keep an eye on progress, stay up to date with the latest blog and track the countdown to the main event by visting the fundraising page.  All the money is being split between DiabetesUK and The Sheffield Children's Hospital Charity and you can read about all their work by clicking on one of the links.

A hectic weekend meant I wasn't able to go out and get any pics for my Sheffield photobook, but I'm hoping to rectify that this weekend so I can get a good start on that.

I'll leave it there for this week - appreciate I've gone on a fair bit there so thanks for sticking with it to the end.  I mentioned a few weeks back that the end of this week was critical and it's really positive that I'm just about through it relatively unscathed.

Thanks for your support - the messages I get really mean a lot

Take care

Andy

We're not in Kansas any more

Hello and welcome to my first post of 2012.  I hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year.  Apologies if this is a bit of a longer post than usual - I do appreciate that I'm more suited to brevity...


With only 108 days to go until marathon day, I'm going to start each new blog post like this:


Training miles completed this week: 9.5
Total training miles completed: 47
Training miles left: 199


It's as much as a reference for me as anything else, but it saves you reading the whole thing if you're in a hurry... The mathematically minded among you will probably notice that by the time I line up, I'll have banked nearly 10 marathon's worth of training miles.


The official London Marathon 13 Week Training Plan kicked in on January 1st (although I actually started on New Year's Eve).  As I've mentioned a few times, they provide you with a few plans depending on what your goal is.  Given my circumstances, I've opted for the 'Just-to-get-round plan' which, in practice is the 'Just-to-get-to-the-start plan'


Under this plan, you get a schedule of 3 weekly runs.  The overwhelming problem is that I can't physically manage 3 runs a week - certainly not of any great distance.   That's become apparent recently with the amount of time I'm needing to recover.  Whilst I'm not getting the same pain as I've had previously, the aches are becoming more profound and I don't want to do myself any further damage.  The physio exercises do help a bit though.

Instead I've modified their plan into a 2 runs per week schedule, taking the longest 2 of the three runs and adding a little on to the other one.  I might post it as a separate entry so you can see what's coming up.  I'm going to run each Wednesday and Saturday so I've got 32 more runs before I line up at Blackheath on April 29th.  That feels like a long way off yet, but I know it isn't.  If you're interested, there's an interactive map of the marathon route

As part of my preparations, I've now got a hotel booked for three nights from Friday 27th April.  The non-refundable nature of the booking just adds an extra incentive!


Last Saturday I got up and did, what looked on paper, to be a fairly straightforward 4.5 mile run.  What actually happened was that my "local knowledge" conned me into forgetting how unforgiving a couple of hills were and it felt like an incredible slog getting round. I managed it in 52 minutes (just inside my target 12 minute mile pace).

Tonight, I'd learned from that "mistake" at the weekend at chose a flatter route to do 5 miles.  Given the howling winds and rain, I managed a respectable 56 minute time.  However much I may have been seeking a bit of sympathy, I actually really enjoyed it.  It was the first run I've done with music as well and it didn't affect may pace one way or another which was very pleasing.  I also discovered that my running top isn't as waterproof as it looks, so that was fun...

A to B and back again...

With regards to my diabetes, Christmas was as I expected it to be really.  A few highs, a few lows and a bit inbetween as well.  The effects of a sneaky couple of After Eights is not to be taken lightly.  I had a check in with the specialist nurse at the hospital yesterday and she's happy that I'm doing the right things on my own.  I've got an annual review at the beginning of Feb where we'll start to really see how much progress I've made.  As long as my blood sugar is trending downwards, I'll be happy.  I'll have a blood test that works out my blood sugar levels have been over 3 months (as opposed to the tests I do at home myself). Christmas will have affected the results of that test a bit but we'll wait and see what happens.

I'm back on my diet proper after Christmas (where I think I only put on about 3lbs) so I'm confident of a normal return to blood sugar levels very soon.

As an aside, I've realised that as well as pacing myself with running and "hydration strategies" I'm going to have to pay a lot more attention to my blood sugar levels before and after running.  I need to monitor what the distance is doing to me and making sure that I don't go low when I'm 6 miles from home.

Finally, you all know I'm fundraising for Diabetes UK and Sheffield Children's Hospital Chairty but whilst I'm not asking for your money (just yet!) what I am after is your fundraising ideas if you have any.  These are a few that have been suggested so far. I'm not sure I can manage them all but I'm prepared to have a go at just about anything to raise money:

• Raffle
• Finishing time sweepstake
• Have my legs waxed (and apparently ask for extra donations if you want to tear the strips off yourself)
• Bag packing at a supermarket

If you've got any more, or would like to throw your support behind any of the above, then please let me know.  As I understand it, packing bags at a supermarket is lucrative for charitable donations but I have the feeling you need a fair few people to make the most of it.

I'll leave it there for now - you've been very patient if you've made it this far, for which I'm grateful as always.  This blog managed just over 750 views between 9th September and 31st December and I'm very thankful for each and everyone one of those.  I'm hoping that I can encourage others to spread the message about what this training is like for me and how much it's going to mean to achieve something I've wanted to do for over 20 years.

As always, you can find me on Twitter (@BroomOwl) or drop me a line (broomowl@gmail.com) if you'd like to get in touch.

Thanks for reading and I hope that 2012 is a great year for you.

Take care,

Andy

2011 - A Review

Hello.

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas.  And allow me to wish you an early 'Happy New Year' as well.

This is almost certainly going to be a longer post than normal so bear with it a bit.  I'm going to do my usual stuff about running and all that but finish off with a bit of a review of 2011 and a look forward to next year.

I mentioned in my last blog that I had three runs left before New Year.  Sadly that didn't quite turn out to be true.  I was all geared up to go running on Christmas Eve morning but I'd been feeling a bit more of an ache in my foot than was 'normal' so I decided to give it a miss.  I beat myself up about it for the rest of the day, but I think it was the right thing to do.  It seems like there's no point doing all the hard work just to be belligerent and run when I don't think my body can take it.

I did, however, get up at 6:45 this morning and managed 4 miles in a respectable 46 minutes.  The route is below, although I can't stress enough how steep two hills are over this distance.  Fortunately, these coincided with a couple of walk breaks so that was quite good...

It was nice to see the sun rising as I made it to the top of the first hill.  It was also nice to think I only had a mile left by that point as well.  Running on the flat feels really good and I managed a bit of downhill running as well today which felt OK.  I suppose training on the slopes of Sheffield can only be beneficial for the relatively flat course in London.

I'm starting to feel the after effects a bit more now and I'll have an ache and a bit of pain for a few days after each run now where before that wasn't the case.  With that in mind, I've decided to cut back down to 2 runs a week for a little while and see if that helps.  It'll make training a bit more difficult but as I've said a few times already, it was never going to be easy.  

I've negotiated Christmas Day and Boxing Day meals relatively unscathed diabetes wise which is really promising as well.  It's fair to say that December hasn't been as controlled as other months, but I feel like my understanding has been refreshed and that in itself means I can get through more difficult periods like Christmas without feeling like I'm spiralling out of control.

I've done pretty well to resist the various cakes, chocolates and biscuits that are laying around the house (to a certain degree at least).  I think my experiences with my diet and migraines over the last week or two is a bit of a factor in that as much as the diabetes, and, when all's said and done, I don't have the same appetite I used to have when I could eat plates of food without thinking.  I guess the diet and exercise has paid off quite a bit.

I had a bit of a difficult moment on Boxing Day when all the family went to my sister's house for lunch.  I'd just done my insulin injection (into my stomach as usual) when my daughter asked me what I was doing.  I told her that daddy had to do some medicine (which I've told her before).  But then she lifted her top up and started copying me saying "I do medicine".

I think I mentioned a while back when I was talking about my sponsorship and things about how I constantly have a worry that I've passed on my diabetes to her.  When she started mimicking my actions, it was quite difficult to take.  I'm now torn between doing my shot away from her so she can't see, or carry on as everything is "normal" - which of course it is for me.  I guess that's something I'll deal with over the next few weeks.

So - what has 2011 mean for me?  I've been thinking about some of the major things that have happened this year and while it's impossible to remember or mention everything, here are a few that have stood out for me:

• We finally moved house to be back closer to our family.  We sold pretty much a year ago and finally moved at the beginning of March
• Celebrated my daughter's first birthday (and now her second is on the horizon already), the old saying about how time flies never seems more true than when you're watching your kids grow up
• I had my first casino experience when I went to Las Vegas in September.  I've wanted to go for so long and it exceeded my expectations more than I thought possible
• I've made a lot of trips to see my beloved Sheffield Wednesday this season - one of the perks of being back home
• I've made a lot of new friends and contacts on Twitter which is really good
• I've got my physical condition back under control after a good three years of disregarding what I should be doing
• I've started running again after almost 4 years back when I thought it would never actually be possible again.  I know that sounds melodramatic but it's the honest truth

And now there's 2012 to look forward to:

•  My daughter's second birthday
• Running/walking/crawling round the London marathon course and hopefully making my magic £1,000 fundraising target
• A trip to the Olympics in London over the summer
• Hopefully a couple of long weekends away somewhere
• A friend's wedding in Poland on my birthday

And finally a few resolutions:

• Get good enough at photography to get one picture published somewhere
• Keep running and training for the Sheffield Half Marathon in 2013 (my nemesis)
• Do my best to focus on expanding my company 
• Stay involved with the community through sponsorship and donations
• Try and turn some online friendships into real life ones (if anyone online wants to of course)
• See at least 12 gigs (one a month seems a reasonable goal)
• Carry on my blog in some form or another after the marathon

I think that's about it for this year.  Thanks for all your support and kind words over the last 4 months or so. It's really encouraging and I hope I can do you all proud in April.  Remember, you can always donate to the cause on my fundraising page  if you'd like. Every single pound is most gratefully received and will do wonders for both charities. 

You can follow me on Twitter (@BroomOwl) or drop me an email (broomowl@gmail.com) if you fancy a chat.

Again, I hope you all have a great New Year's Eve, whatever you've got planned and I hope 2012 brings you joy and happiness.

Thanks for reading, take care

Andy

So this is Christmas...

The eagle-eyed amongst you have probably spotted that I've been naming most of my recent blog posts after 'appropriate' song lyrics so this title should come as little surprise.


This is the penultimate post of 2011 so I'll be firmly on topic for today.  Next week's will be a bit of a mix of training progress and a 2011 review/2012 preview.


I'm a bit sketchy on my dates this week (blame the impending chaos of Christmas) but I think I've run twice since I last updated this - 6 miles in total.  I had a mostly very pleasant 2.5 mile jog round Centre Parcs (Sherwood Forest) on Saturday morning.  It would have been completely pleasant had I not accidentally run through a bush at the side of the road and cut my face.  Whilst this is apparently amusing, I didn't see the funny side at the time.


Tonight I've done 3.5 miles (a new best distance) in 39 minutes which is just inside a 12 minute mile time.  Here's the route:

I managed my most sustained period of running to date as well which was pleasing.  I managed all the way from the start marker (above) to practically the Crown & Cushion pub.  It's not that far (just over a mile) but it represents a lot to me which is good.  Being able to take that impact without needing a break is good and hopefully over the next few weeks I'll be able to improve on that.


I've got 3 runs left before January and I'm hoping I can get a decent 4 mile run in before New Year.  My fundraising page tells me I've got 123 days to go before the marathon.  I truly believe that if I keep chipping away at it, I'll get there no problem!


Being diabetic this week has been....challenging.  As you probably know we had a long weekend at Centre Parcs this weekend.  That basically involved eating out for 3 meals a day for the better part of 4 days.  It also meant more indulgences that a) I'm used to and b) should have.  I roughly managed my blood sugar OK.  By that I mean I probably did as best I could given how difficult it was to find time to test my blood and make an educated guess about what I was eating.  I managed a horrifying 20mmol on the Saturday morning, and swung the other way to 2.7mmol on Sunday night.


As I've probably mentioned a few times, it can be quite frustrating when you're not exercising the amount of control you should be and that was certainly true this weekend.  I also 'confirmed' something that I've suspected for a little while, which is that a bad diet, even for a short time, leads to migraines.  I was in tears with pain on Sunday night which is probably the worst I've been for a long time.  I also know that once it's started, it's a good 3 or 4 days before it subsides properly.  It's just even more of an incentive to eat properly I guess.  Apologies for that segue...


I shall sign off there for this week.  To summarise, running - good, diabetes - OK, diet - causes migraines.


Thanks ever so much for all your support and kind words since I started this blog, you're all incredible and I truly thank you for all your encouragement.  Hopefully I'll do you all proud next year.  Remember you can donate (or invite others to) at the fundraising link above.   I know the charities don't affect a lot of you personally and I wouldn't dream of asking you to support something you didn't want to.  But if you know anyone who might like to then please feel free to share the link to the blog.


I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas and a good break from work if you're taking one.


Merry Christmas


Andy

Push things forward

Good evening


Firstly, apologies for this being a bit late.  I was feeling somewhat dreadful yesterday and wasn't feeling up to doing anything.  I hope you'll forgive the tardiness on this occasion.


Secondly, I just wanted to mention a few people who I've talked to this week.  Firstly, congrats to @actualdancrosby who, by his own admission could run very far at all early on in the year, completed a 10K run at the weekend in a respectable time.   Secondly, @Simple_John1 who mentioned to me this week that despite no interest in running or diabetes, he still takes the time to read this every week.  That gives me a decent indication that there's some substance in what I'm writing which is nice to know.


I'm writing this evening having just got back from a 2 mile run.  Circumstance has meant that I've done it not too long after having had dinner so I laboured round with a bit of a stitch again.  It's certainly not something I'll be making a habit of.


I also had a sly look at my time tonight which I haven't really done so far.  I ran 12 minute miles which I guess isn't too bad considering.  That'd be a marathon time of 5hrs 12 if I can maintain that.  I'd like to think I can get down to 11 minute miles by April but that's an aside.  Finishing is my goal.


I'm getting towards the stage where I need to be doing some more intensive training so I'm thinking about trying for 3 runs in a week and entering a 10K or something in the new year.  More on that next time I think.


Having felt a bit under the weather and such I've been tempted to resort to a bit of comfort eating (made all the more tempting having made gingerbread with my daughter at the weekend).  I've coped pretty well with that all things considered.  I've mostly resisted the callings of biscuits and sidestepped a tricky situation with a Kit Kat on Tuesday.  I also seem to have reduced the number of hypos I have which is a good thing.  Being able to stay in the 5 to 8mmol range is pretty good.  I'll have a better idea of how well it's been going after my clinic appointment in December.


Finally, I wanted to have a brief mention of one of my charities.  Whilst I'm sure you can all see my reasons for running for Diabetes UK (@DiabetesUK) but I felt like I should explain my reasons for supporting The Children's Hospital Charity (@tchcharity).


I suppose my reasons are two-fold.  Firstly, becoming a parent has made me appreciate all the work that children's charities do a whole lot more than I ever did.  Secondly, before my daughter was born, the doctor told me that because I have diabetes, there's about a 17% chance that she will get it as well.  And that's something I find very hard to deal with - I have pangs of guilt that I could labour her with this condition which seems so unfair.  The money I raise for TCH will go towards a diabetes camp they have for children.  I think I've mentioned before that I can't imagine a child having to cope with this condition while they're growing up and the work that TCH do feels so incredibly worthwhile.


Once again, thanks again for stopping by and reading - I do appreciate you taking the time to read.  I find it very motivating and it keeps me going when it's a bit cold and blustery outside.  You can find me on Twitter (@BroomOwl) or on broomowl@gmail.com if you fancy a chat.


Take care and I'll speak to you again soon


Andy