Random Running Ramblings xx

Liverpool Rock n Roll

HOW TO RUN THE RNR MARATHON BY BEX FIELDMOUSE

AT THE END OF THE MANCHESTER
Cross the line and burst into HYSTERICAL sobs and swear blind that you are NEVER doing it again. Have your brother David Marsh there to laugh at you. Be in such a state that St John's offer you an wheelchair. Refuse whilst crying. Walk around the corner. Sit on the floor and announce maybe you WILL do Liverpool after all.
WEEKS LEADING UP TO RNR
Regularly have melt downs and constantly ask "What if Manchester happens again?!" constantly.To anyone and everyone who will listen.And even if they don't ask them anyway. Cry randomly. Have a disastrous 20 miles and worry even more. Ask about Manchester again.
WEEK OF RNR.
Ask your class to make good luck posters for all the runners. When the do, cry hysterically in the middle of the lesson. In front of 30 kids.
WEEKEND - FRIDAY!
Start to panic at approximately 9.05 am about not being able to do a 7 minute journey in 40 minutes (i.e school to station) and CONSTANTLY ask TA if she thinks you will make your train. Cry when she laminates the posters. Arrive at station 30 minutes early. Faff. Get on train and arrive at Lime Street. Meet up with running sister Amaris Alice. Cry again. Go to expo to get number. Have trouble doing this because you entered as Bex Fieldmouse and your ID says Dennehy. Meet the RF!! Unpack entire bag to get out mouse costume for photo in Frankie Smith's booth! Scream the Expo down at the arrival of Gina Marathon Biggs. Check into hostel and go for tea. Mistake a pepper grinder for table leg.
5k WARM UP
Dress as a mouse!!! Get photos with EVERYONE!! MEET THE RF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Feel like you can't run 3miles let alone 26 the next day. Make friends on the way around. Hold hands over the finish and have the best 5k ever! Make into Liverpool echo!! Go for lunch with the RF and have the most DELISH ice-cream of mint choc chip, ferror rocher, squirty cream and chocolate sauce!!! Worry you may not finish cos of this. Chill in hostel!! Have tea with a girl you met at the 5k!!! Go to bed whilst panicking and constantly asking WHAT IF......? Get woken up at 3am by some tool setting off the fire alarm. At first think it is someones alarm and then think it is time to get up. Realise it is too dark adn the alarm is too loud for this to be the case. Ask What if I don't finish cos of the alarm?! Go back to a sort of sleep!
MARATHON DAY!!!
Wake up and immediately freak out. Go to breakfast and constantly question breakfast choices. Will I finish if I don't have porridge? Does it matter if I have cocoa pops. Should I bring malt loaf? Who set the alarm off? Why? Go to marathon. Get a text of your mum saying she loves you and that your daddy is watching. Cry. Get a call from other half. Cry. ry to find your brother David Marsh to run with him. Fail. HAVE A COMPLETE MELT DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cry. Ring him 23 times. Ask EVERYONE where he is. Go to start, whilst crying. SEE DAVID MARSH. Cry again. Start marathon and HAVE THE BEST TIME EVER!!!!!!!!!! Cry at 18 miles when they play Penny Lane. Hug random strangers. Hug the RF. Pat random dogs and dogs you know. Randomly say that you are NEVER doiing this again. Several times. Get to 22 miles with the 5.15 pacer. Have your brother say ..we can nearly do sub 5..if you DON'T stop and DON'T hug anyone!!!! Run the fastest 4 miles of your life!! Cry whilst doing this. COnstantly say I can't do this. Have complete strangers say you can!! Cross the line in 5.00.50!! 22 mins faster than Manc!!!!!!!!!!! CRY!! Hug your bro.
Stagger to tent and to sign up for next year!!!!!!!! Best day ever!!
DAY AFTER!!
Cry cos it;s all over!!

Thanks for making it the best weekend ever RF!!!!!!!xxxxxxxx

D

Daddy

Well RF

Today is Father's Day and for me it is the single most hardest day of the year. Even though it is the 24th one without my beeyooteeful Daddy it still never gets easier.

My Dad is the reason I started to run. When I was 3, he was diagnosed ith cancer. Every day for 6 years, he fought that disease. Some days were good. Some days were bad. But he never stopped being the best Daddy in the WHOLE world. When I was little and before he got too sick, he used to go out running most nights. So running was in the family. In 1986, when I was 4, we went to watch him do the Wycombe Half Marathon. And by the way IT'S HILLY!! But he battled the hills, the same way that he battled his cancer. Head on. I dunno his time (probably quicker than me!) but I do have his medal. I will wear it down the aisle on my wedding day (obviously with a dress too). I always used to ask to go with him running and he promised to take me when I was older. That day never came. On July 13 1991, my Daddy fell to sleep for the final time. He was 44. I was 9. You NEVER get over something like that. You do however learn to cope and to adapt to a life without the best role model anyone could ever ask for. My Daddy is the reason why I can't stop running. When I get to mile 24 and am in absolute bits and crying in the Marathon, one of the BIGGEST things that keeps me moving forward, is the thought that no matter how much it hurts me, it is nothing compared to the pain he must have felt at the end of his life, when the cancer had taken such a hold over him, he didn't even know who I was. He is the reason I sign up for Marathon after Marathon. So I can do my little bit to raise money to those charities that day in and day out work tirelessly to find a cure for this b*tard of a disease. I truly believe that we WILL find a cure. One day. But when we do, I will still not stop running. Not until I literally cannot run anymore. Because, you should live every day on this Earth as if it is your last. My Daddy taught me that. And that is exactly how he lived his much too short life. I love you Daddy, thank you for giving me the gift of running, without which I would not be who I am today and without which I would not have this beautiful running family, again without whom I would not be who I am today. Sleep in Peace,

And one day, we will run together xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Park Run

                       My days RF
So this morning I did 6 miles (3 at Park Run and then an extra 3!) HATED EVERY STEP!! My bones were like my Grandma's. I forgot my inhaler. It was boiling. Some little scamp replaced the air with treacle! Each step was a struggle!! Yet somehow I got a course PB!!!! Erm HOW?!!! xxxx PS How on earth did I ever do a marathon let alone 6?!!xxxxx PS I had a sprint finish race with thsi REALLY tall man and I won! Xxx

Manc

Hi RF
Marathon Number 5...I can honestly say it was HORRIFIC....I got to mile 16 and just bombed. Ran on to mile 23 then just broke down and walked/cried all the way to the finish. Anytime anyone said anything to me I cried..and when I came over the line and saw my mum, my Bro David Marsh and my Bros Kenny Worralland Frankie Smith and sis in law to be Jennie Watt and then Jennie Rooney, I broke down completely. But I DID IT. It wasn't my best time by a LONG way but I did it..and I think (hope) it will made me a stronger runner.....Love you Daddy, I did it for you xxx Thank you to everyone for you amazing support..I love you all xx PS I did it xx
Lots of love and scampers from a very weary, broken and battered Little Fieldmouse xxx
PS I DID say to my bro DM, 'Never again, I am pulling out of the RNR Mara but you all know me..Liverpool. I am coming for you xxxx

Abbots Bromley

RF!!
Match report for the Abbots Bromley 10k!
1) Arrive at race so early, registration isn't even open i.e 9.15 for a 11 am start. But at least you didn't miss it.
2) Get number and panic because they only give you two pins and what if your number comes off!
3) Get pins off another runner and panic over...
4) Check out STUNNING scenery (all lakey and countrysidey)
5) Ask to pat a dog. Have the owner say "You can run with him if you like"...get so over excited he has to tell you three times that he was joking!
6) Pat two dogs which are spaniels and one only has three legs. DIE OF cUTENESS!!!
7) Go to the loo about 5 39848 times having to pass same marshal each time so that I am sure he thought I had a problem!!
8) Start race. 
9) Chat to runners. 
10) Runners are brillo pads.
11) Get lapped by front runner at 4k (he is at 6 at least!)
12) DON'T stop for the dog at 5k! How proud are you all of me?!!
13) Pick out runners ahead of you on the return 5k and think 'I can pass them!'
14) PASS THEM!
15) Finish in 1hour and 1 minute!
16) Curse that 1 minute!
17) Have your other half cheer you over the line!
18) LOVE
19) Pat the 3 legged spaniel again!!!
20) Pick up new car! (Pink Fiat 500!)
21) Get ready to go to fan zone to watch England beat Wales with afore mentioned other half!
22) Arrange to take Hutch for a run tomorrow!!!!!!!!

HHOOOORAYYYYYYyy
xxxxx

Royal Mail

Race report for royal mail ten k!!! Minor Moran Dennehy disagreements last night about what time to arrive in that I wanted to arrive 6 hours early ("what if we kiss the start?!") and the boyf wanted to arrive at a sensible time!! Any hoo ..got there a respectable hour early and picked up the race t shirt which normally I can't look at till after!! ("what if I don't finish?!") and there no x smalls but LUCKILY aged 12 -13 fitted like a sweep glove puppet!!! Soooo it was a 2 lap course round Greenwich Park...and it was bbbeee yyyooo tttee fuuull!! Sunshine! dogs!!! London skyline!! It was described as hilly but that was an understatement!!!! Mount Everest more like!! But I made it *whispers..i had to walk at six thousand feet!!* and I didn't stop for ANY dogs...even though there were millions..till I finished..then I accosted people in the street to pat them..pat their dogs..not them OBVS!!!! Now in pub with John watching Newcastle NOT get relegated and then we are going to a THE DISNEY SHOP ON OXFORD STREET!! Hooray!! ‪#‎thumper ‪#‎tinker bell ‪#‎Winnie‪#‎nottoldjohnwearegoinyet!! Xxxx

GSR

So when were waiting to meet up with everyone at the GSR, I was stood there with my Bowel Cancer vest on...it looks like this...xxx And a girl walked past me (not a runner) and tapped me on the shoulder and she said "Thank you. My Mum died of Bowel Cancer too." We hugged and I cried (of course) but I was absolutely touched that she had bothered to stop and say something xxx She has probably already forgotten me but I will NEVER forget her. Such a tiny gesture, such a HUGE impact. So to all the charity runners on here, thank you and keep running. You never know who you are reaching xxxx
With love
Bex Fieldmouse xxxxx

Running: True Lies

Running races for me is literally as addictive as cheese is to mice, carrots are to bunnies and bones are to dogs! 


I have been racing now since 2005 (well, if you can all it racing..I am FAR from fast but it is a race I am in it so...!)

Anyhoo, I have now done more races than I can count (after all I only have ten fingers!) and I have noticed a common theme ....hence the reason for this blog...

The true lies of running races!

1) " The finish is JUST around the corner!"
Hmmm..... I am not entirely sure WHICH corner they mean but sure as rabbits are rabbits, they DON'T mean the corner that I am just about to run around..or the one after thar..ore the one after that ..and well you get what I  mean!

2) " This is the last hill!"

Yeah...and yesterday pigs flew over the Mersey!

3) "Lookin' good!"

This could be true...if you replace the word good with drunk/mental/insane/ crazy/like your head is going to fall off/like a mop!

4) " NEVER AGAIN!"

This is my favourite!! If we have said it once, we have said it one hundred million times! The first time that I met my bro, David Marsh was crossing the finish line of the 2011, Liverpool Marathon and my very first words to him were, 'I am never doing this again!' One week later, I had signed up for Liverpool 2012. During which I spent the last mile or so telling Ste Higham, that I was NEVER doing this again...guess what I will be doing on June 15 2015?

BUT ..without all of these supportive shout outs.and yes they ARE supportive..running wouldn't be running..racing wouldn't be racing and we wouldn't be the running family that I have come to know and love!

Now ...what race to do next...!??

And this one time at band camp...

Long Lake Camp For The Arts -Summer 2009

To this day, I will never forget the first thing the Camp Director (Geoff!) said to us in our first meeting, "This camp will change your life!" 
And guess what it did....
Without Long Lake, I would not have friends from all over the world ,I wouldn't spend HOURS putting the world to RIGHTS with Lily Carruthers!, I would not have met the girl that is to be my Maid of Honour (Rachael Romano - I am looking at you!), I would not have seen kids that swear blind that they HATE sport willingly taking part in Sports Sundays, I would not have experienced 4th of July in America, I would not have believed kids could be SO talented, I would not have lost 'the game!'  I would not have seen 'my kids' do and become things that they didn't even dream of, I wouldn't have experienced Parent's Weekend Food and.
.I wouldn't thought I had the guts to stand up on stage on Counsellor Talent Night and perform this poem I had written!

Ode to Long Lake

In my first week here at Long Lake, I have never felt so alone,
I missed my Liverpool Life and I wanted to go home.

I used to lay awake at night and worry in my bed,
I didn't think I could make it through the ten weeks that lay ahead.

But now, I stand up here tonight and look at all the friends I've made,

I look back on my summer time and I'm super glad I stayed!

So, listen to my poem now about a camp that's in New York,

I really hope you like it lots and don't just think that I'm a dork!

The success stories we have had here, have all been really sound

Such as a Winnie the Pooh Bear bottle, that was lost and then was found!

There've been campers up there on the stage acting out their hearts

Giving it their all, as they become their parts!

The dirty knives and forks here, we put them in the Moo

The handle goes in first, you know just what to do!

The cups here, they are silver, I'm afraid they are not gold

But they do contain drinks that are hot as well as cold!

In the dining room, it's clockwise that we go

You do not run around, instead you go dead slow!

Now, the dinner trays that we eat from, have 6 entire parts,

It's just one TRADITION here at this place that's for the arts

So is raising hands, when we want you to be quiet

And we all know that here it is impossible to diet!

Please ensure your beds are always top to tail

Because if you leave them otherwise, it's inspection you will fail!

Day trips to the water park and theme park there have been

And Harry Potter and Star Dust are the films that we have seen!

The talent of the kids here, it really is insane

And by the way those playing, I just lost the game!

The campers here have learnt many a play and song

There is always singing here around the lake that is so long!

It is over in the fab that you may create your wonder piece

And it is in the magic forest that the wonders never cease!

Another thing to do is play at D and D

With Alex 'Moustache Man'  who makes us say tee hee!

The Dance Department rocks and we all know who you are,

Up there on the stage and shining like a star!

Not forgetting music and that makes us all say YAY!

I hope that you have practised your scales well today!

Waterfront was awesome with Rambo the camp's boat

Remember when you are swimming please try to stay afloat!

The costume girls and techies - we all must not forget
Remembering the props team, and those that built the set!

Down at Circus Lot, you can dangle upside down

Unless you're really funny, in which case be a clown!

The directors of our camp are Geoff and Carolynn

And they have taught us front hugs are nothing but a sin

It is the famous 'sex talk' that the Upper Camp have had!

They second step on the Herm is really really BAD!

We are the Sports Department, you all know that we rule

The fact that we teach sports, it makes us really cool!

Kicking grass is what we do, we did it all the summer

Even though it rained alot which was a total bummer!

We always got our guns out, each and every Sunday
And that was what made it, always such a funday!

America V England many sports games there have been,
Land of Hope and Glory, and then God Save our Queen!

The English Dodgeball team, we were nearly undefeated
The US may have beat us once but that's only cos they cheated!

When it comes to sports, we English are the best
And we can beat the USA- just put us to the test!

American Football is a sport,  not worthy of its name
Because you use your hands the whole way through the game

America is a a place of many a funny word
Calling football , soccer is really quite absurd

And calling crisps chips, just really isn't right
And who would know that a torch would be a flash light!

Calling petrol gas, is something you all do
And so is saying the bathroom, when you really mean the loo

Over in the UK, it's a biscuit that we eat
But over in the States, a cookie's the same treat!

The British we queue up and the Americans wait in line,
If they're sneakers then they're yours but if they're trainers then they're mine!

We will take out rubbish and you will take out trash 
And I'm sure it's just the English, that have ever eaten Smash!

I guess now it's time a certain Ringo Starr got a mention
Even though that cheeky swine is not worthy of our attention

He was in The Beatles and they were really super,
It's just a shame the drummer was such  party pooper!

Well I hope you like my poem, cos it was written for you all
Thank you for the memories, I've really had a ball

The camp is nearly over and I will miss you very much
But through the joy of Facebook, I know we'll be in touch!

The 24th August, we will go our seperate way
But I hope you know in Liverpool you can always come and stay

Good Byes are never easy, in fact they're very tough
But I am going to have to say it now because I think I've talked enough!

So now as camp and poem are both almost at their ends,
I would like to finish off by saying - good bye to you my friends!