Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I am optimistic about this new year. I hope it is a good one for us all. I wish you much happiness and good health. May your plans and dreams come true xxx
I am also very pleased to tell you that I have now registered for a half marathon. It takes place in Liverpool on Sunday 17th March. So I am now accepting sponsorship and hope to raise some funds to help Starfish. I am currently enjoying the xmas break and have only been for one swimming session and haven't been out running at all. No excuse really but I had a nasty virus and am still sniffling abit. Didn't want to go out in the mancunian weather and get worse again. I shall start my training very soon though and will go out to run whatever the weather. Good luck in 2013 to my fellow runners and of course non runners alike ;) xxx

World AIDS Day2012

There are many wonderful charities and non-profits doing wonderful things in the fight against HIV and AIDS. The non-profit closest to my heart is The Rutger Hauer Association. They have done some fantastic things in the passed 12 years and will continue to do so in the future I'm sure. Please checkout this organisation if you haven't done so already and consider making a donation. Every little helps. Thank you.

I am also delighted to inform my supporters that Starfish now have the funds we raised from my Amsterdam marathon. The final total this year was £600! (Approx. 715 euros) Thank you to each and every one of you. I can't express my appreciation of your sponsorship deeply enough. I am now looking for a local-ish half marathon to do next year. Stay healthy and have a fab day xxx

Amsterdam Marathon 2012

Doesn't time fly when you are having too much fun?! I can't believe that this time last Sunday I was in Amsterdam very happy and starting to recover from the marathon. First of all it was fantastic to meet 2 of my dutch friends whom thus far I have only known online. Thank you Beja and Suzanne for travelling to meet me. You are both great supporters and friends and Glynn and I really enjoyed our steak dinner with you on Saturday night. Beja came with her family from Friesland and her sweet youngest Monique gave me an envelop of her pocket money as sponsor money. Bless her heart x.
The marathon started in the Olympic stadium (9.30am) which was fantastic and I hadn't even thought about having many eyes watching. It got about half full and I was able to spot Glynn so he took a few pix. Did all those people make me nervous or anything? Nah, I didn't care, I was too excited and pumped up raring to go and loved running in there. The weather was wet, windy and cold which for me is lovely It was a little too cold to keep muscles warm and I saw alot of injuries and a few poor souls who were hurt after just 1km. I had drank 0.5 litres of a fruity sugar/salt drink and hour before the start, also I had another with me to sip. The wind was a challenge lol. I managed 30km without and problems then my right kneecap started to ache and become sore. This didn't bother me but shortly after that it caused me to pull my right thigh muscle. Painful, but I didn't stop. So it took me a bit longer than I would've liked but finish I did. I saved my energy to run in the stadium again across the finish line. I think my body is telling that the leap from 10k to 42k is too great and so next year I shall go for the Manchester half marathon as last year saw the return of my local marathon after an 11 year hiatus. What an awesome event this Amsterdam gig is! It was very well organised and the marshals were all very friendly and funny. A huge thank you to them for looking after the runners as well as they did. I was stopped three times by some of them wanting to take photo's of my t-shirt. Also I frequently heard runners close behind me saying 'ah its Rutger!' So in a way he was there. Due to time constraints and the way this event was set up there really wasn't any opportunity to collect money in my bucket as I hoped. As I ran it occurred to me that Starfish is 12 years old this very month. I thought about all the great things they've achieved in helping people over that period of time. They've done alot of wonderful things and continue to do so and I'm sure they always will. I love helping and I will for as long as I can if you'll let me It also occurred to me that there is a bright star twinkling off the shoulder of Orion bearing the name Rutger Hauer which is now 10 years old. Twinkling right along next to it is 10 year old DD So it has been a fantastic weekend a great way to celebrate a decade of running and supporting Starfish. 10 years and 11 runs. I like to think I know what is important if life and having friends willing to travel to meet and support you is definitely up there! Thank you for your generosity. Gosh, finally I want to say a massive, heartfelt, stupendous, thank you to all my amazing friends who have supported me each and every year. I know I say that every year, but I so so mean and appreciate it. I can't do it without you, we are a team and I love you After a week my body has fully recovered and I can't wait to go out and run again. It will take a few weeks I think before my thigh is back to normal though. In the meantime I will go for gentle swims.  I am still so thrilled to be able to say that I have ran around an Olympic stadium! I am now in the process of collecting together funds and will be back when I have the grand total. My running event maybe done for this year but it is never ever too late to sponsor me ;) Take good care of yourselves Love Sarah xxx

The Fallowfield Loop

Yesterday 15th September was a beautifully sunny saturday. I had decided I was going to go out for a long run as I tend to do on weekends. Initially my plan was to run into the city centre and back but this is only 6 miles. I had set my goals on running further, maybe a half marathon! My partner, Glynn suggested The Fallowfield Loop which is a cycle path but also has a walking area where a few people hve been known to run. Glynn is familar with this because it is his usual cycling route and he dutifully printed out a map of it for me bless him. I am notorious for my extremely rubbish sense of direction and so took this map with me in case I did get lost, even thought the whole path is one long straight line :) This route is a 20 minute walk from our home and begins at Sainsbury's in Fallowfield. That will only mean something to those folks familiar with Fallowfield here in Manchester, obviously. I had my 'normal' running shoes on, shorts and t-shirt and adorned my small Sea Shepherd rucksack which contained said map and a bottle of water. It was a good run, I really enjoyed it despite the heat and the fact it was very hilly. In total I saw 5 other very friendly runners and the run back definitely seemed longer. Doesn't it always?! I am happy to say I am getting more tolerant at running in warm weather like this but will always prefer to run on cooler days. To run almost half marathon, it took me just over 2 hours 15 minutes. I am very happy with this because it means I am on target and will more or less be running the whole marathon in around 4.5 hours which realistically has always been my aim. My right foot has finally fully recovered from the front swelling and pain in the middle toes which I was experiencing. I am still undecided over which shoes to actually run in and will no doubt pack my Vibrams anyway. Really loved barefoot running and found it easier. It looks like for me it is not mean't to be though. I admit to being disappointed in this and I'll still train in them but can't use them for a run. As the Amsterdam Marathon is getting close now I won't go out in them and risk another foot injury :( It is very tempting though. Today all my muscles are aching but  this just serves to give me a sense of achievement and makes me feel fit. Here is a map of The Fallowfield Loop. 

So far I have raised £170 for The Rutger Hauer Starfish Association. I feel it would be wonderful and would really love to reach £200. Every little helps and this is a non-profit organisation. Please consider making a small donation if you care about helping the people of the world who are HIV+ or living with AIDS. It is easy to do online via my website. Here is the link and thank you so much! xxx

http://sarahstracks.webplus.net/page25.html

Also look at the links on the right over there and please visit The Rutger Hauer Starfish Association website for updates from them and to learn about what they do.
Thank you for reading and if you do for sponsoring me. Comments on this post and also spreading the word about Starfish and my marathon for them would be truly appreciated as well. Take care! Sarah
   

HIV Research

Just a couple of video's from University of California, San Fransisco which I find very hopeful. Its recent stuff so great news

Jay Levy



Diane Havlir

A new month a new run

A new type of running that is. Today I went for my first run 'barefoot' in my new pink Vibram 'five fingers' which look rather strange to say the least. I thoroughly enjoyed it which is somewhat a relief. You are forced to only take small steps which means you can't help but pace yourself. This is good for many reasons not least that I hope  my legs will be completely firm and toned by the time October comes. Dream on eh? The shoes are comfortable and I can see myself running barefoot in Amsterdam. I may have to buy a new pair of shoes though! Here is a link to my Facebook page just in case you haven't seen it. I would love feedbakc either there or here

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sarahs-Amsterdam-Marathon-2012/100180786790689

If you are curious to see these shoes of mine please visit this run page on Rutger' Hauer's offical site

http://www.rutgerhauer.org/rutgerhauer.org/fundraisingrun.php

Please remember that the real reason I am doing this is to help them to help women and children in developing worlds who need HIV treatment and care. That is the most important fact here and I would really really appreciate any donation however small as every penny, cent, euro etc does help. Thank you. Much love Sarah xxx

Changes

As you can tell at a glance I have given this blog a new template. I hope that you like it. I am grateful to all 8 of my subscribers if you are still here following this xxx The countdown clock is still here but is at the very bottom of the page. I have also been looking back of this blog with a twinge of nostalgia and decided that I quite like it actually, even if nobody else does LOL Time truly does fly. I apparently started this blog on 1oth January 2009 already! I had forgotten that I had written about the first science festival I ever volunteered for here, the same year. I should move that to my science blog really 'Chemistress' even if it will be out of synch. Those photo's are pretty great one I think. Captures the fun we had. As promised I shall be back with running news and HIV news. Take care xxx