Tag: health

Bangers ‘n’ Beans

Bangers ‘n’ Beans

by TartanJogger ♥ 13 Comments

It’s that time of year: midway between Hallowe’en and Guy Fawkes Night, where the dark, cold sky seems to be filled with the scent of woodburing stoves, coal fires and fireworks.

Tarbert Youth Group had their fireworks display on Friday night, and Lochgilphead’s Lantern Parade and bonfire was last night.

Here, @TheWelshWookie and I always celebrate with a bowl of amazing Bangers ‘n’ Beans soup:

photo (1)

Ingredients:

4 or 6 sausages (we used mexican chilli sausages this year)

4 or 6 new potatoes- just leave the skin on- chopped

A can of haricot beans

A pint of chicken stock

A carton of passata

Smoked paprika

Dried oregano

Worcestershire sauce

As @TheWelshWookie doesn’t measure, I’m afraid I can’t be specific about quantities. Let’s say ‘to taste’ 🙂

Grill the sausages. Cool slightly and cut into chunks.

In a large pot, add the stock, passata, haricot beans and potatoes and bring to the boil for a minute or two.

Add the paprika, oregano and worcestershire sauce.

Add the sausages. Bring back to the boil.

Simmer for 30 minutes or so.

Enjoy with homemade wholemeal bread.

Delish!

Today’s stats:

Run: 5k

Time: 30:20

Weather: cold and wet, I ran on the treadmill again

Trainers: Nike FreeRun +5

pile-on-the-miles-2013-logo_thumb

 

Pile on the Miles so far: 17k

Makin’ Space

Makin’ Space

by TartanJogger ♥ 13 Comments

Since collecting my treadmill on Sunday, we’ve been working around the other stuff that was in one of our spare bedrooms.

photo (1)

What you can’t see in this picture is the desktop PC in front of the treadmill, the musical instruments on the other side of the room, and the storage unit filled with electrical bits and bobs including a DVD player, video recorder, PS2, etc, etc.

Here’s where we got to, mid way through the clear and sort, when I was just about ready to throw everything away….. @TheWelshWookie wouldn’t let me 😉

photo

And here we are, with the new set-up: the desktop PC is gone, the MacBook has relocated upstairs, and the TV is wall mounted, so that we can watch it while using the treadmill.

photo (2)

And, yes. At my age, I do still have my TY Beanie Bears on display. Does that say something deep and meaningful about me?

The wires and cables still need to be hidden, so we’ll pick up some trunking for that next weekend, but all in all, I’m delighted with all of @TheWelshWookie’s hard work today, setting this up.

Me? Well, I helped a little. And I watched my first two Christmas movies on Christmas24. I did run 5K watching the end of the second one, just to test out the wall mounted TV, of course 😉

And in other news, not only did the Zombified TartanJogger and @TheWelshWookie make it into the Lennox Herald as reported earlier in the week, we made it into the Helensburgh Advertiser too!

The article and picture are here  🙂

Today’s Run:

Run: on the treadmill. 5K.

Time: 34:40

Weather: very wet, dark and windy, but I don’t care, as I ran indoors!

Trainers: Nike FreeRun +5

Have you done any changing about in your home recently?

Pile on the Miles 2013

Pile on the Miles 2013

by TartanJogger ♥ 21 Comments

Welcome to the Weekend!

Oh, and to a new month too 😉

Do you have any plans for November, aside from Santa Dash training, Christmas shopping and keeping your toes warm?

This month, I’m joining in on Run Eat Repeat‘s November Challenge: Pile on the Miles 😀

pile-on-the-miles-2013-logo_thumb

I’ll let Monica explain: she tells it better than I could…..

This is from her blog:

Pile On The Miles is an annual event in blogland where we challenge ourselves to walk or run more during the month of November. The goal is to pile on extra miles not pounds during this food filled time of year!

This is the 5th Annual Pile on the Miles Challenge!

The first one was in 2009 and I won 2nd place for the most miles. I took it over in 2010 and would LOVE for you to participate.

What: FREE Online challenge to walk or run more during turkey month.

Who: Everyone is invited to join. Everywhere around the world!

When: November 1 – Nov 30.

Where: Virtual! Sign up on this form and come back to RunEatRepeat.com each week to stay accountable and be entered in a drawing for prizes.

Why: To challenge yourself and encourage others to move more this month. This is about setting a goal and staying accountable with check-ins. It is not a competition for the most miles any longer – it’s about YOUR GOALS.

Me again, TartanJogger….

I’ve taken the plunge and signed up to complete 150K during November, which works out at 5K per day. Having done the 5×50 Challenge earlier this year, this should be achieveable. I’ll give it my best!

Is there anyone else out there joining me? Has anyone else signed up yet?

Happy Samhain!

Happy Samhain!

by TartanJogger ♥ 4 Comments
Source: http://scottishanduniversal.newsprints.co.uk/order/26058698/egp_len_181013zombies_06_jpg
Source: http://scottishanduniversal.newsprints.co.uk/order/26058698/egp_len_181013zombies_06_jpg

Happy Samhain, or Hallowe’en!

I hope you’ve all had a fun day 😀

I’ve been to a seminar, and on my way home, I treated myself with a trip to Costa. I had spotted a new, festive drink on their Facebook page that I fancied trying, and so I rolled up to the drive thru, and as I opened my mouth to order I could not remember what it was called! I ended up asking for ‘one of those new apple-y things’ 😮 Fortunately, the  barista knew what I meant!

photo (4)

It’s called an Apple Spice, BTW, and it was delish.

In other news, @TheWelshWookie and I found out that our photo is in the local Dunbartonshire newspaper this week, The Lennox Herald.

That was a little Hallowe’en shock for us 😉 It’s of the Zombie Night Run, pictured at the top of the post.

photo (5)

We’re stocked up, ready for any kids who come guising tonight 😉

Wednesday Wisdom

Wednesday Wisdom

by TartanJogger ♥ 2 Comments
Source: http://www.fitsugar.com/Motivational-Fitness-Quotes-21383537?slide=4
Source: http://www.fitsugar.com/Motivational-Fitness-Quotes-21383537?slide=4
Tuesday’s To-Do List

Tuesday’s To-Do List

by TartanJogger ♥ 14 Comments

Tonight, I’m not running. I’m having a rest day.

funny-panda

Instead, I have several other things on the go:

1. I have a new copy of Women’s Running to enjoy!

photo (2)

2. I have some Christmas cross stitch projects that I’ve only just started: I’m running late with these 😮

3. I have Steven King’s Doctor Sleep to finish reading.

4. I have Spanish revision to do.

I took a beginner’s Spanish class in the spring, and I recently received notification that they are running a ‘post-beginners’ class. Naturally, I signed up! It is conducted by video conference, so I travel to Argyll College in Lochgilphead where I am linked in with students from Campbeltown, Oban, Dunoon and Rothesay. It’s an interesting way to learn! So, this evening I’m dusting off my notes from the beginner’s course, and practicing my basic pronunciation.

Any help or tips on learning the lingo are appreciated! 😉

Testing the Treadmill

Testing the Treadmill

by TartanJogger ♥ 4 Comments

Tonight, I gave my treadmill a wee road test (pardon the pun!)

screen-shot-2013-03-15-at-12-07-28-pm

I was late home from work; the clocks have changed meaning it was pitch dark outside, and the rain was pounding. Perfect treadmill testing time!

I ran for 20 minutes, just to give it a go, and get a feel for it. The machine was really steady and sturdy; it felt better than some gym treadmills I’ve tried. I set my Nike SportWatch to register my shoe sensor instead of the GPS, and away I went!

I was running reasonably fast (for me) but only registered at running around 10-11 minutes per mile. So, I increased the speed. I probably should have increased the incline instead- but I’ll try that out next time.

All in all, I enjoyed the novelty of it: being able to watch TV as I ran was fun, but in the long term I’m pretty sure that it won’t replace outdoor running for me 😉

treadmill-minute

Today’s Stats:

Run: 20 minutes

Distance: 2.1 miles

Trainers: LunarRacers

Weather: wet and windy, hence the treadmill run!

Today’s Life Lesson: the day after helping lift a treadmill is not the day for wearing a skirt- bruised shins is not a good look!

Has your running week gotten off to a good start?

New Toy!

New Toy!

by TartanJogger ♥ 23 Comments

Would you like to see my new toy?

photo (1)

OK, so it’s new-to-me, rather than new, but it is a decent, solid, heavy duty electric treadmill.  I figured that it would be better to buy a second hand one like this, rather than a new one that wasn’t up to much.

I love it!

This purchase isn’t designed to replace my outdoor runs: far from it. I only want to use it to enhance my existing running: maybe for speed training, and for days when the weather is really bad, now that we’re heading towards winter Me and ice don’t get on well at all: @TheWelshWookie calls me Bambi on icy days, as I struggle to walk if there’s even a hint of ice, let alone run on it!

Big thanks to @TheWelshWookie, as he did most of the work lifting this from the seller’s second floor flat, into the car (which I accidentally scratched 😦 ) into our house and upstairs to the spare bedroom.

It’s now in situ, and @TheWelshWookie has big plans to get the TV wall mounted on the wall in front of it, and setting it all up with the surround sound he has in the room; just to help encourage us to use it. Sounds like a plan to me!

I’ll get some pics up once we’re organised!

Any treadmill owners out there? When do you use yours?

Yum!

Yum!

by TartanJogger ♥ 10 Comments

Last night, as I was making dinner, I realised that it has been a looooong time since I last did a food related post.

And then I realised that I hadn’t really taken many foodie pictures recently. Hmmm. I’ll need to rectify that!

Last night, I had a gorgeous stir fry with zero noodles and honey smoked salmon flakes. It was delicious!

photo 4

And during a recent visit to the cafe, I had chilli nachos. The portion was massive, but that was not a problem for me 😉

photo 3

The only other foodie pics I have to share are of a recent pit stop at Subway, where I had a steak ‘n’ cheese on seven grain oat bread. It tasted better than it looked:

photo 1

And of some pigs ‘n’ blanket crisps. They lasted all of five minutes!

photo 2

I’ll try to remember to do some better foodie posts, promise!

Do You Do Fancy Dress?

Do You Do Fancy Dress?

by TartanJogger ♥ 15 Comments

Do you?

Of course, I’m pretty sure that most serious runners do not do fancy dress when pushing for PBs or wins. But, do you ever run in fancy dress, either for fun running or to raise money for charity?

The reason I ask is because I’ve done two runs in fancy dress this year.

The Color Run UK back in July:

IMG_1627

And at the Zombie Night Run on Saturday:

20131019-205708.jpg

And I’ll admit that neither of these were timed runs. Nor did I run fast (or rather fast for me) in either of these runs.

When I run more seriously, I don’t wear fancy dress. Usually this is because I am pushing myself a little more, and trying to run as best as I can.

Our next race is the Mo-Run in November, and right now I’m planning to run it semi-dressed up: maybe digging my lime green wig out, and donning a mustachioed t shirt 😉

What do you think about running in fancy dress? Yay or nay?

If you think ‘yay’ do you do any training runs in costume?