26.2.08

Going to Do my Best




So you've read it here, although I panicked in an earlier post...I'm going to try to carry on with this marathon and even if I come in at 12 hrs 30 I'm going to finish the darn thing. In the mean time, we've made a little fundraising video. Yes, seriously a video. :)

Anyway, please remember although we're no Steven Spielberg we hope you enjoy it anyway.

23.2.08

From Russia

Went to a really great exhibition today at the Royal Academy of Art which featured paintings from 1870-1925 of French & Russian masters. The collection brought together for this exhibit was from the main art galleries in Moscow & St Petersburg and is the first time these paintings were brought together. It was actually a wide arrange of styles featured including Impressionism, Cubo-Futurism and Abstract and many many different artists including Gauguin, Cezanne, Pisarro, Monet, Kadinsky, Picasso, Matisse, Van Gogh and Malevich. I absolutely enjoyed seeing so much and can honestly say it was one of the best exhibits in London we had seen in a while. Here are a few of my favorite from the exhibit:

Kadinsky: Composition VII
Read that his use of musical symbols and the title suggest the analogy/relationship between music and colors. Studying music personally this suggestion doesn't surprise me as tones have often been compared with color.

Renoir: In the Garden
Renoir, what can I say---oh how I love thee!

Don't Remember the artist but I liked the dark colors, particularly the red

Matisse: The Dance
Loved this one and its actually a HUGE painting that takes up most of a wall.



Vrubel: Six-Winged Seraph
The internet doesn't do this painting justice. It's full of deep purples and looks like a mosaic in real life---VERY COOL


Matisse: Red Room
Have been to a Matisse exhibition before and love his use of patterns & textiles in his paintings. This painting is huge and again loved the colors.

21.2.08

What to do, What to do!??

Need advice as I'm in a huge pickle. Quick explanation (well sorta quick): Recovery has been rougher than expected in some ways, i.e. ENERGY. My days at the moment still always have to include either sitting down for long periods or taking a nap because I'm too exhausted to get through an entire day. I get dizzy and light-headed frequently and the chronic pain surrounding the original reason why I had surgery is back with a triple vengeance (stress probably doesn't help). I've done some exercise since my surgery, mostly A LOT of walking and last week I did 1/2 hr yoga and a few short easy jogs. This week I've gone gung ho and done yoga and 3-4 mile runs nearly every day. The reason for this madness is I'm seriously panicking about the London Marathon we've committed ourselves to which is in only SEVEN WEEKS!!!! This is only the first joy of it all cause we've been signed up for ages for three running races in March, the first one being a 10k in a weeks time and the second race a half-marathon (15 miles) the weekend after. By this point, I should be running 13+ miles without a second thought and I'm huffing & puffing for 3. The problem is is that it took a lot to get a spot this year with a charity and we've committed ourselves (signed things) to raise money in exchange for being able to run (fundraising isnt going well either but that's another story). If we drop out (does happen w/people), it may be another 3-5 years (seriously) before we'll get a spot because its THAT COMPETITIVE! I've wanted to do the London Marathon for like the longest time ever and I'm not the type to just quit and not follow through. But, this damn surgery took more out of me than I wanted and I'm worried that physically I'm just not going to be able to do this. The hard part is that I could be fine because I am making drastic improvements every day and its hard to predict how I'll feel in a week let alone 7 weeks. I don't want to make any drastic decisions but want to be fair to myself & the charity too. I know I'm being hard on myself because it hasn't even been a full month since the surgery and I'm already running 3-4 miles which is pretty darn good.

So what do you think I should do? Drop out now or wait and see how I feel? Part of me wants to just see how it goes but I'm freaking out that I'm making the wrong decision. Do you think its possible to make up this lost time in training, i.e. maybe doing two sessions of exercise a day? Am I crazy for doing this and worrying too much? Anyway--could use any and all thoughts/comments.