LHG - the biggest adventure yet

cazmanian_minx

lionheartedgirl wrote: »

Thanks, get up, you're worthy! :rotfl:(you have to have seen Wayne's World to get that one!)

I did the shorter version of the Kintyre Way ultra in May. The full distance was 67 miles, the 'short' one was 35.5. Or should have been, it was actually 36.2!

It was an interesting day but very tough going as you'd expect. I was thrilled to finish it in one piece and still be OK the next day, no hobbling or anything! We had a week's holiday in Kintyre afterwards, it's such a beautiful part of Scotland and was great to be able to stay on and explore.

The next one is the Speyside Way in a couple of weeks. 36 miles along past a load of distilleries, finishing at the seaside.

Then the BIG one is the Saltmarsh 75 down back 'home' in Essex in October - 37.5 miles each day tracing the coastline. This is the one I'm really really excited about - the others, although wonderful in their own right, will have been training runs for this one.

Not sure if you know but there is a Cape Wrath running festival each year I prefer the off road stuff but it's definitely on my list of maybes!

Get your running shoes on and do it! I've amazed myself, I'm asthmatic and my ankle is full of surgical steel but by building up carefully I can go a long, long way now and have seen some amazing places along the way.

Busy weekend with a long knackering run on Saturday and trip to Kelvingrove yesterday, but the run helped me sort a few things out in my head so just need to get pen to paper/fingers to keyboard.

Great to see choogirl back too

Awesome!! I have slightly dodgy knees, but I've just started again with the aim of doing the Inverness half next spring and then either the Loch Ness or Moray full marathon in the autumn. I do know about the Cape Wrath series, it's actually my closest marathon - it usually clashes with the Mey 10k though, so people have to choose. It's supposed to be one of the toughest marathon courses in the UK though (and it has a ferry crossing midway through it!)

lionheartedgirl

I figured it would be but wasn't sure how actually 'near' it was other than 'relatively near' or 'not quite as far as the others' !

I have some pretty impressive metalwork in my ankle from a horrible accident a few years ago. I have to be careful doing too much on tarmac, and changing running shoes can be a bit traumatic but with the help of an excellent osteopath, I'm amazed at what my body will do as long as I look after it. Off road is more variable, better cushioned when muddy/wet plus prettier too so I generally stick with that.

Best of luck with your training, there are so many amazing places to run up here aren't there, as long as you don't mind a couple of wee hills :rotfl:

Pippilongstocking

cazmanian_minx wrote: »

Hello stranger Lots of changes, but:



WOW! It's my dream to one day do an ultra! Which one did you do and which ones are the forthcoming ones??

I've been lying down with a damp teatowel on my heid ever since I read that.

Waves hello.

Nice to see you back

I met a certain lady at the cocktail hour once in your fine city. Man that was a bit messy (but fun)

:rotfl:

lionheartedgirl

oh deary me it's been ages again.

been a bit down in the dumps but getting on with it. Money is pretty sorted I think - £1500 a month to debts :eek: should see it gone in just over 2 years. I have work sorted for 9 months of that but it is tough going and I am not really enjoying it. College has just gone back and I'm not part of it this year. It stings a bit but I know it's the right decision.

So I'm trying to work out something else instead, trying to sort the balance as ever. So many ideas but no real plan which is feeling a bit tricky. Been feeling a bit groundless for a while. But there are many wonderful things going on too, jsut too much time being spent away from them

lionheartedgirl

Once again it has been a while. But I keep coming back, sometimes lurking and occasionally posting, because I like it here Blog, FB, Twitter etc are all quite personal now but apart from a handful who I am in touch with in RL and/or via FB, no one knows me here and I like to witter about my money from time to time.

It's a big shiny new year. A couple of nice thoughts to start off with:

This is the first year in a very long time that I am in less debt now than I was this time the year before.

If I play it right, this should be my last-but-one year in debt. I need to stay very focused for this but it is doable.

Scores on the doors....

Mum and Dad interest free loan £8,200 (was £10,000 in Nov last year)
Family friend interest free loan £7,200 (was £10,000 in Nov last year)
Mum and Dad interest free musical instrument loan £2,000
FD Loan £7,893.95, 6.9%, finishes June 2017

Mint card £10,891.18, 6.9% Life of Balance
Virgin card £1,973.21 0%
BoS card £8,184.36 0%
NW card £102.47 0%

Total.....£46,050.17

It was just shy of £50k in November 2013, and I have added £4,000 to the total debt in 2014, so actually I am not too unhappy with my progress given the temping.

I had 3 holidays away, 2 separate weeks in Scotland in v reasonably priced cottages, and a few days in France for my dad's birthday. I could have put this money towards my debt but chose not to, and there are another couple planned for this year. Nothing flashy, but enough to keep my nose to the grindstone while helping me feel I still have a life and balancing this with a healthy level of debt demolition.

Everything extra will be thrown at the Mint card - I was offered a life of balance which was fee-free and I worked out it would be about evens with an interest free card and a fee to swap every few months over the course of a couple of years.

I can't wait to clear these down and then close them.

Finances have been OK. Christmas has been very reasonable but more than I had to spare. The man's birthday is just after Christmas so even being careful, it's an expensive time of year.

I said no to office Secret Santa and outrageously priced work Xmas lunch, and spent the money on bf's birthday lunch and Hogmanay lunch with Souk instead :beer:

My temp contract takes me up to about mid-July. Unless they offer me something else to what I'm doing at the moment, I won't be staying. I'm not sure they will anyway. So I will start looking again over the coming weeks. I'm not enjoying it, I've never been so ill so often and generally I can't wait to get out of the place. But it is money and I'm not up a chimney or down a mine so I can't complain at all.

Illness has meant running has been very haphazard and therefore very frustrating over the winter so far. I'm getting there now but I have a big race at the end of April and am concerned I've bitten off a bit more than I can chew again, and I might not get away with it this time! :eek:

Musical adventures took rather a back seat, but a few gigs meant I had a little money to put towards an upgrade and a couple of courses that I have really, really enjoyed doing over the last few weeks.

I always promise to come back regularly but it doesn't seem to happen. So, I won't do that again but I will still be lurking and popping in to update every so often. Knowing I have space here is surprisingly reassuring

Happy new year to everyone X

lionheartedgirl

Another quick long time no see update.

Things are currently rather in a state of flux - both good and bad.

I've just started a new job (good!), contract which I thought was for 12 months but seems now only 6 months (bad). But it's decent extra money (good) and I'm working as a self-employed contractor so means my tax won't be payable for a little while (good) so if I'm careful I can get my credit card debts right down over the coming months (extremely good).

I completed the big race in April (good) - a monster 53 miles, which I completed in 14 hours 40 minutes. Right near the back of the field, just within the 15 hour cutoff but I was absolutely thrilled as you can probably imagine (extremely good).

I've taken things very easy since, and haven't quite got back into training yet, feeling a bit adrift with no big challenges or events on the horizon (extremely bad). I'm feeling quite positive but just a little aimless!

I did a solo concert at the end of March (extremely good) which went down brilliantly but otherwise there is very little harp stuff in the diary (bad).

My car is currently on the poorly list - OK for now but not expected to last much longer (bad). He has done brilliantly thanks to some fantastic care from two wonderful garages over the years, but 12 years old and 178,000 miles on the clock is not a bad innings and I can't complain too much (good). I need to start thinking about what and how on earth to go about replacing him

Relationship is at a crossroads - I'm genuinely not sure which way to turn but fearing for the worst. I'm away with my mum next week to help her celebrate a big birthday (extremely good) and hopefully we can have a good natter about everything then.

Scores on the doors:

Mum and Dad interest free loan £6,600 (was £10,000 in Nov 2013)
Family friend interest free loan £6,200 (was £10,000 in Nov 2013)
Mum and Dad interest free musical instrument loan £2,000
FD Loan £6,624.84, 6.1%, finishes June 2017

Mint card £10,189.37, 6.9% Life of Balance
Virgin card £1,848.21 0%
BoS card £7,783.05 0%
NW card £0 YIPPEEEE!!!

Total.....£41,245.47

Overall - feeling positive and ready for the next chapter, whatever it brings.

lionheartedgirl

Just popping in for an update.

I finished things with bf a couple of weeks ago. Currently at the constantly crying stage where everything hurts and I'm worrying if I've done the right thing. Deep down I know I have, but I am so upset about how it all seemed to have gone downhill this year.

I am sub £40k which is brilliant news. I had some really nice feedback from work on Friday (bizarre place to work and either crazy busy or nothing to do, no happy medium) which was really appreciated - it doesn't often come in temping circles it seems.

I have booked a holiday and a weekend away for my birthday - things I had been desperate to get in the diary for months but was unable to down to a bf that was allergic to planning anything. It was pretty much the first thing I did once we'd split and I'm so glad I did.

Money will be a bit different now as he was sharing the bills, plus I'll need a dog walker on hand again as my hours are just that bit too long for them now and he was home a bit earlier and left a bit later in the morning.

I've stepped away from my main group of friends for a bit as they are mostly people I met through running and they all know him. I met him soon after, and most of the stuff we did in the week he will still go to and I know I will get upset if he is there.

I am desperately conscious I don't have many people around me up here. So this is the first thing to tackle once again. I have a few busy weekends coming up but am going to find it a bit of a slog getting through the weekdays without seeing anyone other than work people. I have a couple of ideas though so we'll see what happens.

On the plus side, the unease and arguments at home have stopped, and I am much more relaxed under my own roof. I don't have to worry about coming home upset if I've had a bad day and I don't have to worry about the place being a bit untidy, and my space is my own again.

Other news - my car is at death's door. I've made the decision to get some fairly big work done on it rather than replacing it, as I'd rather wait a few months, get my debt down a bit and then think about another one when finances are a bit more secure. I hate the constant worrying about money and living under a cloud of debt, but hopefully not for too much longer.

Hoping to have a more positive update soon!

cazmanian_minx

((((((((((LHG)))))))))))

If you got to the point where you felt you had to do it, then you almost certainly did the right thing. Hope it stops hurting so much soon.

RosaBernicia

Hi LHG

I second ^ what Cazmanian Minx says. More hugs from me - and we're here if you need ears to bend or test ideas on or just say 'aaaaaaarrrrrrggh this is rubbish let it end soon'.

Congratulations on your debt busting and your fab feedback - hope you have a wonderful holiday.


Rosa xx

lionheartedgirl

I wrote a post last night but sadly it got eaten!

I'm back again. Hoping to be around a bit more regularly. Think I'll start a new thread as things have changed so much.

Money is not great. It feels endless, like I will never actually get there. I took my foot off the pedal a bit through the summer while things were so raw, and as a result I'm not as far down the line as I'd like.

Lots of positive news and some less positive news. The job move turned out to be a disaster and I'm looking to go back again once they get back up and moving again after the new year. I wish I had stayed. It's going to be a pretty grim couple of months where I am now, but I have to remind myself it's a job, it's a job, it's a job, and try not to let it grind me down.

But more positively, I've had a wonderful lazy long weekend over the new year (thank heavens for the extra bank holiday in Scotland even if we do lose the August one!). I've not been 'away' away or anything, but had a few days out of my own house with nothing to do but relax.

I signed up to YNAB yesterday after so many glowing recommendations here, and I'm loving it already. I'd really like for this to be the year when things come back under control again, on the money front and on the actual living a life front.

Happy new year to you all, I hope it brings you many wonderful things.