Monday 17 December 2012

xmas stress is killing me


This Xmas is nearly killing me. I don't have any time left to breath and still haven't even completed the horror called xmas shopping. The shop is busy like in hell and on top of that we did this tree decoration job with surprising deadlines. I worked all night through on that super cute London bus road garland(check my art blog for details). 
At least I managed to attend karate on Wednesday and on Thursday I went climbing even though I was facing an all night bus building session. Yesterday, on Sunday, I ran through parks between my seasonal duties of gingerbread baking and gift hunting. The weather has gone milder again which meant lots of mud. Then today I panicked when faced with realities of the Christmas season. I do not have any more time left for running until next year! So I went for a late night run and ran pretty fast again. I'm quite sad of not been able to run for such a long time but I guess I can make it up with some winter sports when I get to Finland next week. And to be honest; fuck this mild weather, I need real winter with ice and snow!

Monday 10 December 2012

gaining back superpowers

After two weeks of feeling miserable I'm finally getting myself back together. I detest illness. It's the stupidest invention on Earth. Can I just choose never to be ill again? My whiskey drinking habits are obviously not helping and for the first time ever in my life I have decided to make a New Year's resolution. I HATE our stupid culture that starts showing Weight Watchers adverts right after we finished our Xmas dinners but for one time only I have to give in. This marathon will not happen if I continue enjoying whiskey this much! So I will promise to drastically cut down drinking and start a real training routine on a New Year. Wow

Today I went running and I ran fast! Faster than ever before(12km per hour to be precise). Maybe it was the long break from running or the super chilly weather that made me do it but it was amazing! I loved every moment of it and this bizarre thought came to me: I might actually like the actual act of running.



Yesterday I was a superhuman by the way. I cycled that horrible hill home in hangover, wearing a pencil skirt and a way too hot winter jacket whilst carrying two small xmas trees, xmas decorations, pots and pans and other kitchen utensils, some clothes and art materials. 

Saturday 1 December 2012

chronic exertional compartment...WHAT?????


It's first of December and I went to a marathon training day. Christmassy indeed. I was rather worried about the whole thing as I had the most horrible week being stupidly ill. It's my last day popping antibiotics. But then again I would have been very pissed off if I would have missed this as well on a top of everything else I missed this week. Above is my very grown up wallet suffocating in a plastic bag meanwhile I was outside running with other marathon trainees. It was a crisp and very cold day, actually very nice for running. It was bit weird running in a big group but soon I got talking to fellow runners and it wasn't bad at all. We did a light jog through Regent's Park to a running track where they made us to do THRESHOLD training. I'v never heard that word before but basically it means running bit faster than is totally comfortable for short periods of time. They asked us to go in two groups according to what we though we could handle: four times four minute sprints or three minute ones. I obviously went to the hardcore group which made me realise that I really do think differently to other women. It was me, all the guys and just few women in our group and the pathetic group was, well all women. I think it's just a mindset what's different not the actual ability. Women tend to underestimate their capabilities whereas men do the opposite. I was bit annoyed by this. C'mon girls where's your attitude! So turns out I'm competitive. They did say not to compete with others but I might have secretly done a bit of competing. I'm proud of hanging in the front half of the group all way through.



There was a Christmas tree..

I tried to take notes when they lectured on all sorts of things. When it came to sports injuries it  was all way too medical for me. I had no clue what they were talking about for the most of the time. 
Overall it was an useful experience. I defiantly learned some basic rules about training. The thing that amused me was that we were meant to consider ourselves as athletes. I see myself as Usain Bolt now. Oh yeah.



Monday 26 November 2012

superheroes don't drink whiskey


Last Friday I finally tested my professional winter running equipment. Looks like I'm sponsored by Karrimor. Either the equipment failed or my body just had enough of me wanting too much from it but bit after the run it just shut down. Well, I went to bed and thought nothing of it until the next morning. I had promised to go climbing as soon as the climbing centre opens. I felt shit but went climbing anyways. There was some sort of big happening going on. We didn't participate on any of the competitions such as SPEED CLIMBING. We took all the freebies though. Below are the freebies. I will leave them visibly somewhere in my room so anyone who visits will get a very false picture of me as super serious action woman. The truth is that I am far from action person or desired superhero. Today I got finally ill for real. The whiskey drinking on Saturday night might have not helped me after all. Bugger


Thursday 22 November 2012

gone with the wind


Natures forces were punishing me for my partying lifestyle today. The wind was RIDICULOUS! I tried my best to cycle to Science Museum but I swear I was moving more backwards than forwards. Luckily the way back was a piece of cake since this time wind was on my side. Should have built wings. Anyways, back home I was buzzing so much that I decided to do some running as well. When running wind doesn't really bother that much. I felt energetic and pushed myself up the hills to Highgate TWICE. My body graves for these kind of nice adrenaline rushes but I'v been burning the candle from all the possible ends lately. Partying, partying and partying and training and working lots just doesn't happen all at ones. I'm not stupid, I know this very well. But I'm a new single person and it's the party season and... I will do something very obvious and do a New Year's resolution: will cut down partying A LOT. I'v been always annoyed by New Year's resolutions but I think one is needed this time around. Otherwise this girl is going to end up in a hospital rather than running a bloody marathon. Yesterday should have been a warning example. After spending whole day in horrible hungover I went to karate and I was SHITTIER than SHIT! My brain didn't work at all and I felt annoyed, frustrated and angry. Yep.

Tuesday 20 November 2012

I have all my stuff but don't run enough


Rubbishly I only managed to run ones in the last week and that was yesterday. Well at least I finally managed to move all my shit and now it's all  in a nice pile in the corner of our living room. Guys won't mind... On Wednesday I did karate, of course. Big bloke who also happens to be a brown belt bruised my arms pretty well. I did put on a good fight! On Thursday I got stupidly drunk, on Friday I suffered and on Saturday we went climbing again. It pays to go bit more regularly. We finally managed to progress to the next level of difficulty!

Yesterday was a sunny and brisk day. Brilliant for a good run. Also brilliant for a nice walk around Hampstead Heath. This bird animal was in one of the ponds. I don't understand what's going on with it's wings!



Sunday 11 November 2012

I want to be eight again!


What a weekend! At times(like today morning) it was so shitty that I really wished to be like this super girl and not a grown up woman in a middle of a stupid relationship mess. Life was so simple as a eight year old! Maybe if I just sew a super costume and put it on, it would take away all these pointless grown up problems? It's so stupid idea that it might just work.
Yesterday at least I did some serious sport stuff. In the morning I went trough those boring sit ups and press ups etc. and then ran around muddy parks. What really is great about my new home is that I'm close to my favourite parks again: Queen's Wood, Alexandra Palace and Highgate Wood. Later on yesterday I met my friend Satu for a wall climbing session. We were both pretty tired and even more hysterical than normally. We have a standard level of hysteria every time. Wall climbing is not to be taken too seriously... But yeah, this time we finished early and headed to the pub for some recovery drinks.

Friday 9 November 2012

walking and painting but not running


Life is most certainly back on some sort of track. I just don't know what track which is actually just exciting. Last night I finally went back to karate after which I rushed to my new home to take one of the guys for a walk. Yes the housemate in question is the same one than in the picture above. And yes that is my bed with my childhood favourite bedsheets. Today I cycled to the big Homebase to buy some paint but accidentally ended up to Sports Direct as well. I still don't like the shop but they had even bigger reductions. I managed to get long running pants for a tenner! The key is just to ignore all the pink and opt for any other colour which means black, black or shocking yellow. So I got another highly visible running top, running gloves and even a headband. Weather is getting chillier and chillier!

The mission of the day was to paint my walls. I thought it would only take couple of hours after which I would have plenty of time to go for a dog walk in sunshine and then later on test my new running gear. It took couple of hours just to tape and protect everything! At least I finally discovered what The Sun newspaper is good for... Dog walking happened in the darkness and running didn't happen at all.


Tuesday 6 November 2012

new home, new start


I have a new home! I moved on Sunday to my cute little room in a house I share with three blokes and occasionally one dog. I feel happy which is a new sensation after the long misery. My work journey is tiny bit longer now which wouldn't really matter if there wouldn't be that bastard called MASSIVE HILL. My main transport is my bike and this hill does make a difference. Phew. Tonight after surviving from the hill I decided to push myself even further and go running. It was my first night time run and went surprisingly well. I feel excited about this superhero project again! So excited indeed that I also decided to try to replace my alcohol obsession with a far healthier spinach obsession. I really really adore spinach. So I stuffed my face with spinach pasta which I washed down with uhm...glass of wine. I hope overdosing on spinach will make me strong like Popeye. My only wish is that I would get those mega muscles on my legs rather than arms.

Saturday 3 November 2012

Halloween, no running and pretty damn ugly food


I'v been homeless for bit over 2 weeks now(oh well, pretty luxurious homeless who had happily stayed in my friend's lovely flat). For the last week or so I have concentrated on flat hunting, drinking and ugly food. I've even missed the last 2 karate training sessions. Above is the ugliest most disgusting food item ever. We purchased one with my sister Kiira from a bizarre cake fair. She flew here to take care of me in the middle of this life changing mess.

Below are the pumpkins we carved.


Then we baked some more ugly food. 


Last Thursday I finally found a new home and tomorrow I will move. I'm excited to get my life back on track and my superhero project back on agenda!

Thursday 25 October 2012

I need a room


I really didn't want to include any serious emotional meltdowns into this harmless blog but since I might be in the middle of one, I might need to mention it. This broken heart shit and starting your life all over again IS BLOODY DAMN HARD. Last few days have been especially weird and I could swear that my dear old head is playing tricks on me. My initial excitement towards running has vanished but I am committed to gain it back. In fact I am convinced that setting my mind to this crazy running project will help me fight through this shit. So I went running again. It was shit. Somehow this whole drama had made my body weak as well. Bloody unfair! I tried to book a place in a marathon training day though. Hope I get it.
In the middle of love disaster the shittiest thing is that one has to sort out big practical things such as WHERE TO LIVE. That's what I'v been doing. I have to rent a room in a house share since it's impossibly expensive to live alone in London. But turns out that even just rooms can be ridiculously expensive! I just went to a Speed Flatmating event. Idea is nice: people who look rooms to rent meet people who have rooms to offer. It was a disaster though. The moment I'd written my budget on the sticker I was meant to wear I realised everyone else was having much bigger numbers on their stickers. Place was full of business people with money. And I thought house shares were mainly for hippies...

Tuesday 23 October 2012

running with a heart failure


Last week my life came crumbling down. I left the love of my life and the lovely flat I shared with him. We knew this was probably coming but I had been still hoping. I didn't really anticipate broken heart to be the biggest challenge on my superhero project though. I'v been feeling totally opposite to a super anything!
Now I'm living on my friend's sofa. The sofa is located closer to central London and also means totally different running routes. My first run with a broken heart happened last Sunday. I ran by the Regent's Canal and around Regent's Park. That's exactly where I ran for the first time ever in London over 7 years ago and felt like I was in a movie! I thought it would be emotional and bring back all the memories from the beginning of our love story but I felt nothing. It was nice to run again though and the colourful Autumn leaves looked lovely. The pictures above I took bit later when I was walking to meet a friend for a Sunday brunch. Brunch turned out to be an all day and night wine drinking session and I think I undid the running completely!  

Wednesday 17 October 2012

Putin and shit


I lost. Putin went too far. I am also having shittier than shitty time in my life. I haven't ran since last week. Tonight was karate training which was a welcome break to my otherwise extremely shitty week. Was nice to fashion my brand new belt as well. Orange is the colour of the season. Pumpkins and shit. Did I meantion shit already? Well, let me say it ones more: SHIT. 

Sunday 14 October 2012

Puff Daddy nearly destroyed my future in karate


Yesterday was the official Diddy Day. Only in Chicago but still, I'm not making this up. So obviously we had a party. I make a rubbish Puff Daddy as you can tell from the picture. I look more like some sleazy Italian(no offence Italians). And I still haven't learned how to do those gangsta hands. Only thing I was successful at was endurance. Somehow I crawled home just before 4 in the morning...

...and that was a BIG problem. You see, I had my karate grading test today afternoon. I was meant to just pop to the party for few hours and then call it a night. I really didn't think I would survive alive from the grading. This is me walking towards the leisure centre and feeling sick.



Against all the odds I didn't have a heart attack, instead I got a brand new orange belt. It was tough though. Very tough and stupid and totally not advisable. Lesson of the story: Do not pretend to be Puff Daddy!



Friday 12 October 2012

action woman versus action man

My bum is broken. To be more precise the right bum cheek is broken. This is my first official sports injury. I have to say I didn't expect it to be the bum!

Then there's this copycat dude out there whose agenda on how to appear heroic is totally stolen from me. He is Vladimir Putin. I should point out to mr Putin that if I would have policies they would probably totally argue with his ones so maybe this copycat move is  a political suicide for him. He has been warned.

example 1: Karate moves

At least I do some kicking but I have to admit that I only have a yellow belt and in this picture it is just a white one!

So he appears to have a black belt. But is this just a marketing stunt? He doesn't even kick. He just does some stretching!

 example 2: wall climbing

I climb higher. Clearly.

This just looks pathetic. Someone is helping him and he looks scared.

 example 3: mountain climbing

Again I climb higher. I am above the clouds already and I carry my stuff!


Someone else clearly carries all his stuff...hmpf

example 4: hiking by the river

Yep there I go. Small balancing issues but otherwise all good good.

Now this is LOW! Going TOPLESS!!!! Unbelievable celebrity stunt!

I think the scores are 3-1 to me. I give Putin 1 for the black belt. Should give minus points for the tasteless half naked pose.

Thursday 11 October 2012

this runner just got bit angry


I started the porridge season this morning. Porridge is winter breakfast food and I thought that the weather felt miserable enough for it. I picked Scott's porage oats because of that kilt wearing hunk. It felt like an appropriate choice for a wannabe superhero. As I was tucking into my porridge I overheard something alarming. Telly was left on next room and the news reader was just reporting about  the rise on eating disorders. What was most alarming about the news was the younger and younger age of the cases majority of them being girls. It's easy to now that eating healthily and being physically active is the way forward. Unfortunately this message doesn't always translate this innocently. Being fit means different things for guys and girls. Boys have a variety of sports heroes to look up to but girls get the wags and airhead celebrities. For a girl being fit is not about achieving something or being heroic or feeling great, its about LOOKING GOOD. Looking good means being thin and passive and not getting dirty. No wonder girls faint on treadmills meanwhile blokes meet their mates for a friendly match of football.
Deeply in my thoughts I forgot that I was meant to try to avoid the rain and do my running early today. I ran in the rain. Well it wasn't too bad and I managed little over an hour through several parks. 

I had to buy few bits and bobs for an outfit for Saturday's party. I needed them cheaply and forced myself to the Wood Green shopping hell. Then I started getting of the track a little bit. Now I own these super cute gloves...



...and then I also have a very technical new running shirt! It claimed to be very cheap in TK Max and I got fooled by the fancy labels. I have a good reason for this purchase too. Today I discovered a brand new spot for blisters: between my boobs! My habit of hiding the keys in my sports bra doesn't seem so clever anymore and this top has a small pocket for them. It's also highly visible hence the orange colour. Will be so safe when jogging in the darkness and car drivers will spot me, the running Halloween pumpkin, from miles away! Oh and it has funny holes for thumbs.


Being so excited about my newly found materialism towards sports gear, I ventured to Sports Direct. That's where I got angry again. At least the running section was strictly divided into his and hers, hers being entirely PINK! Pink is an ok colour but what it stands for nowadays and when pink means female version of the real version, I can not stand it at all! But there was a sale and I grabbed this MALE bottle. Might get handy when my runs get longer and longer, I reasoned.



I also got more socks and settled for a pretty lavender colour instead of the pink. I hate lavender too because it's the other option alongside pink for us females. But the socks were only few pounds...




Wednesday 10 October 2012

zig zag nails and stationary superwomen


I was delighted to spot these superhero themed gift bags and coasters by Max Hernn today. There were some cool greetings cards as well. I know what everyone will get this Xmas from me. Oh, and note my super amazing finger nails (which obviously has nothing to do with marathon training)!

Tonight was a karate night again. First half of the class was intense. Lots of jumping and kicking which I love! I also love the bits when we have to yell. I think that I have a great mindset for karate since I really enjoy imagining myself as Jet Li or Bruce Lee or Kung Fu Panda or anyone from Matrix or...you got the picture.

Tuesday 9 October 2012

superhero genes!



There's at least one real superhero in our family! My second cousin Terhi just completed a triathlon in 2 hours and 34 minutes! When I was eight I started playing basketball just because she was the coach. We visited her family often and I looked up to her because she was bit older and therefore super cool. Clearly, she is still super cool! She also gives me faith in my mission of becoming a superhero ninja warrior. There's clearly super genes in this family! Although she has always been very sporty and I haven't really. My basketball career didn't last many years either. I got distracted by other things in life.... Hey ho, I choose to believe in super genes!

Sunday 7 October 2012

eat shit, suck balls


Today I tested my very technical running socks for the first time. They promised A LOT including an anti-blister function. Above are my toes after the run.... I ran bit faster than last week which is 10.48 km per hour. 



Later on today I got this message from a cashpoint in Camden. So I decided to eat shit from Camden Market. The lamb tagine I got, didn't seem that shit in the end.... I did not decide to suck any balls. This is not that kind of blog.



I managed to drink some shit though after seeing Looper in the cinema. It was okish apart from the usual shit where all the main heroes are blokes and they are very violent but somehow still cool and the women(all 2 of them) are strippers or mothers. Yeah, nothing new in there.



Saturday 6 October 2012

being a guinea pig


Our friend Jason studies sports massage. He needed guinea pigs for his masseur skills and bought his massage table to my friends house. It was my first ever so called official massage experience. I'v been always suspicious about massages. It didn't help that there was audience watching and giggling but after a little while the bizarre experience got bit more relaxed. My thighs were mega tight and I think I might need his help also later on during my marathon training. My legs are newborn right now! It's amazing!
The guinea pig in the picture is Niina, not me.

Thursday 4 October 2012

it's torture time!


This is what I call BORING exercise: press-ups and sit-ups and other various forms of self harm and torture! My philosophy goes that any sort of sport is great as long as it's fun. This sort of exercise is NOT fun! In fact I hate the whole word exercise. It's the whole world of fitness and gym going that I don't really understand. It concentrates too much on looks and calories and dieting and just boring things. But I have decided to listen to the experts when it comes to marathon training and the official London Virgin Marathon magazine advised to work on core stability. Oh yeah, that's the fancy word they used for these basic movements! 
After this self harm session I did my second running around pointlessly in my new shoes. They are still good. I tried to only run for half an hour but accidentally spent 40 minutes hopping around park and the neighbourhood. 

Wednesday 3 October 2012

becoming a NINJA WARRIOR!



Above you see what I imagine I will be in few years time. Last winter I joined my local karate club just because a nice lady from there happened to ring our door bell and asked nicely if I was interested. I found myself saying yes (I'm easy, I know...don't try to sell me anything). So far I have reached the level of yellow belts...not that cool yet but I will be a ninja warrior one day! Wednesday is my training day. It wasn't very physical this time. We did lots of technique stuff and some slow motion fighting. I imagined being in a movie scene...

Tuesday 2 October 2012

Big Feet!


 I went to the Sweatshop! Well I decided that it was time to buy proper trainers and the reasons I chose the Sweatshop were:

1: it really has a funny name! I mean I can not stop thinking of a shop that sells bottled sweat (I know my level of humour is one of a 7 year old)
2: it had good reviews and promised to offer me proper tests and stuff on my running style
3: it is very local: this small but oh so cosy branch is just under the railway arches off from Holloway Road.

Turns out it really was a nice shop. The friendly shop assistant made me run on a treadmill several times to find me a perfect pair. Also turns out that my right foot moves bit wonkily and that I have been using way too small shoes and that the pretty Nike shoes really are not for me. So I got these ugly Brooks ones. At least I like the blue bits and they are not too white(just thinking of all the mud in this country). She also sold me a discount pair of sports socks with all sorts of scientific sounding functions. I really didn't know socks could be so technical. I was also given all sorts of leaflets with motivational slogans. The shoebox was full of inspirational text too. I give you few examples of motivational text: Running is a force for good, Every runner has a dream, Run Happy..... and because I am rather cynical and can't deal with cheesy slogans, I'v been having hard time not laughing out loud hysterically.



My old shoes are much smaller indeed!  And this is me laughing at my new big feet! Obviously I had to do a small test run and so far so good!