Alarm - "Blllllliiiinnnngggg!"

Me - "shurrupp!"

That was the alarm ringing at 4am for me to get up and out for the 2 1/2 hour drive to Peterborough for a half marathon!

Thankfully as the World Cup Rugby has been on very early I was getting good practise in for early jumps out of bed..but usually onto the sofa and under a duvet!

Enough rambling, the day had arrived to put into practise some of the things that worked for me last weekend for Shine. I had been hydrating and carbing up all day yesterday. So today I just had to top up with a glass of water, and my dissolved bee pollen. Have 3 oatibix for breakfast, and a protein drink.

I was also doing this run as a Naked Duck - it was Damian's show, so to speak. I was a Duck incognito, not stealing the ducklight. Also, I had about 10 Nakd bars on me so I was also very much a Nakd Duck!

In the car I had a sports drink to sip on as I drove, and nibble on some home made flapjack, 2 Nakd bars and 9seed bar.

I had also packed a recovery drink and protein drink, plus Trek bar to eat in the car for the journey home!

Took me 2 1/2hrs to do the 120 mile trip. Got out for a stretch and light jog around the car park to recover from sitting and driving.

Becky then arrived, as did the rest of TeamVC and Damian. Damian was doing this half marathon in a 25kg bomb disposal suit, part of his Bombsuit Challenge. Digger was also wearing full battle dress and carrying a 55lb bergen/rucksack to keep him company.

I christened us Team VC as our fund raising is for The Veterans Charity, predominantly through Damian's "Bombsuit Challenge". But of couse, this was also part of my own agenda leading up to the Forces march, for my own Veterans Charity fund raising.

A little aside here and the reason why I drove so far for this event - Damian and Digger are also doing the Forces March next year, with me. The Perkins GER organisers deemed it essential that Damian would need ten people to support him for healthy & safety reasons. So I volunteered. It would also be the first time of meeting Damian and Digger, too.  This proved an invaluable meeting for so many reasons. Whilst running with Digger we chatted about the Forces March. I got the opportunity to learn about his experience and get some great tips. Training on the hoof in the middle of a marathon! Worth the journey, being a part of this half marathon and being a part of the fantastic support team.

The team moved straight onto Cathedral Square. Met the rest of Team VC, watched Damian get interviewed by the BBC, plus we all did team photo poses.

Poor Digger got caught up in bad traffic and arrived half an hour before we all due to race off.

Prior to us setting off I did a final pitstop, and hoped I wasn't going to need a wee enroute.
Also had a final Nakd Bar for energy, but didn't want to eat too much as I hate getting stitch!
In my bumbag I had some jelly beans and the GF Nakd bars, plus a sports bottle of energy sports drink (powder one from Decathlon).

We set off with the fun run Runners, half an hour ahead of the main marathon runnners, as requested by the Race organisers, for healthy & safety and also it was anticipated Damian would need a little more time.

I was slightly ahead of the Team VC, chatting to Digger. After a couple of miles of striding through a fast pace, as a team, Digger needed to keep up a faster pace, finding his own natural rythmn and as I was already supporting him by his side at this point, I increased my pace so he also had continued support. So now I am running lightly alongside this awesome man running with his 55lb pack! I just had a small bum bag weighing, oh, a mere half kilo of jelly beans and Nakd Bars!

Through out our run together, we kept an eye behind us on the Main Event, Bomb Suit Man! In our wake we left people eager for his run through! Digger and I had fun as a comedy duo singing and shouting along with the enthusiastic crowd of onlookers. I felt an enormous swell of pride as runners passing by, and onlookers, shouted out to Digger "Respect" and "well done" for his effort of running with that pack. I was enormously touched when Digger paid the highest compliment saying "Do you know what an amzing woman you are!". Actually no, I hadn't really thought about it. But then I realised after 6 miles, I was now in my "no-duck land" of running for longer and further than I had ever done before!

I can only credit my ability to do that run to my bee pollen, Kettlercise training, stubborness, and good attitude to sensible diet and training plan and also get up towalk about ache free the next day!

Digger and I have an official time of 2hrs 49mins for crossing the finish line, but we did start with the fun run Runners. We also walked initially so our slow time then may have a bearing on our chip time. Regardless of time, we both finished an amazing event, with the best support I have ever witnessed and been a part of. A big thankyou Quack to Peterborough and the wonderful organisation of the Perkins Great Eastern Run.

Took me 2 1/2 hours to drive home. A littl stiff after that journey so I had quick 5 minute run around the block to release the muscles,joints and ligaments. Husband had done me proud by cooking the best "recovery" meal I could have hoped for - eggs, bacon, baked beans and waffles!
2 glasses of wine polished me off for the day and a much needed early night to bed was had.

This story has a fairy tale ending too. Becky stayed with Damian, and the rest of Team VC to see him across the finish line (Digger and I went back to see them in for the final half mile). On the finish line Damian dropped down to one knee, got out a ring, and presented it to his girlfriend, Sam (running as support wiht Team VC too) and proposed. She said Yes, and all of this was captured on BBC East :0)

Yay! I salute Team VC, Digger, Damian and of course Veterans Charity - as we did it all for you!

A big thankyou to my dear friend Becky Smith who I coerced into another event. She is running with me on our next event..The Great South Run..whatta Girl :0)

And just for the record, I was up and out of bed at 6.00am on monday walking dogs, running with the horses, without a single ache or pain. Loving my body getting fitter - nearly an elite athlete??


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I have just returned from a brilliant holiday in New Quay, West Wales. Apart from beaches, pubs, coastal walks, mountain views, I did enjoy a different kind of visit, to the New Quay Honey Farm. I was curious to know more about bees and the properties of honey, pollen and royal jelly. I learned so much about the healing properties of a lot of things from bees.

I have put together a lot of facts and information on the healing aspect of pollen, royal jelly and propolis. I am going ot be using these as a regular part of my diet to enhance my training by improving stamina, healing sore muscles, improving my immune system which will take a battering plus the feel good factor of having a healthy diet. I also like the idea it will help with menopause and PMT plus mood swings!!! Oh, and increase my metabolism so help aid weight loss! Bonus!!

I am sharing this as food for thought for all of you to consider, especially those suffering with fibromyalgia and similar auto immune deficiency illnesses, and those training for all sports particularly endurance events. I am sharing a knowledge for you to decide and so do absolve myself of how it will or wont affect you.

I shall be incorporating Bee pollen into my diet for a number of reasons but mostly because it will provide me with a pure protein source and energy in abundance.

I also treated myself to the Pollen Enriched Honey and some Honey and Propolis Cream, ideal for my dry,mature skin. I am out training and playing outdoors most of the time, in all elements so this cream is particularly enriching for weather beaten skin too.

Propolis is the resinous substance produced by bees to protect their hive. They coat the inside and opening of the hive and mend holes with proplis. This makes the beehive the most sterile environment known to man. Propolis performs the role of auto immune system and acts as a combined antibiotic, antiviral and antifungal substance.

It is effective for the treatment of allergies, ulcers, ailments, infections, colds, flu, bronchitis, ear problems and many more.

Royal Jelly is the food of the Queen Bee.

Young nurse bees produce this gelatinous fluid in the hypopharangeal gland located in the brain cavity.  In the beehive, the only difference between the raising of a queen and a female worker is the diet in which the larvae is fed.  The queen is fed Royal Jelly, from the beginning of its development, when it is chosen as an egg to be nurtured to a queen, to its end, which can be some 7 years later, compared to the female worker, whose lifespan is only about 6 weeks.  The queen is fed only royal jelly for it's entire life and along with the conventional feeding by the mouthparts, the royal jelly is administered to the queen bee by the nurse bees licking her body and the Royal Jelly being absorbed.  If the Queen requires Royal Jelly, she will suck it directly from the gland in the brain of the bee in which it is produced!

As with all products of the beehive, it is recommended to include Royal Jelly in your diet on a regular basis like any other healthful food.  It has a white, milky, gelatinous texture and the taste is pungent and sour Of equal value to you is the freeze-dried Royal Jelly, encapsulated for easy addition to your daily nutritional regimen.  mix it together with honey. For even higher nutritional value, a mixture of  Royal Jelly, bee pollen and propolis in a base of Vitamin E would provide a whole dietary supplement.

Royal Jelly is manufactured in the glands of the nurse bees from bee pollen. The resulting jelly is high in natural hormone and offers an abundance of B-Vitamins - including thiamine, riboflavin, pyridoxine, niacin, pantothenic acid, biotin, inositol, and folic acid --  and Vitamins A, C, and E.  With 22 amino acids, Royal Jelly is a highly concentrated source of rich proteins including cystine, lysine and arginine. 

Royal Jelly provides important fatty acids, sugars, sterols, phosphorus compounds and acetylcholine, important in the transmission of nerve messages and assists in production of glandular secretions.  Royal Jelly is rich in nucleic acids, which include DNA and RNA, the very stuff of which life is made.  Gelatin, one of the precursors of collagen is another component of Royal Jelly. Collagen is a powerful anti-aging element that gives us a youthful appearance and skin elasticity.  Royal Jelly has been regarded for centuries as a contributing factor to human longevity and a healthful life, 
especially as the body ages.  Royal Jelly is high in natural hormone, which accounts for its ability to correct numerous hormonal imbalances such as menopause and menstrual problems.  Royal Jelly is found in many cosmetics around the world for this addition of collagen to their creations.  The presence of gamma globulin, an infection-fighting and immune-stimulating factor, has been documented in Royal Jelly.  Not surprisingly, Royal Jelly also contains decanoic acid, which exhibits strong antibiotic activity against many bacterial and fungal infestations.  If Royal Jelly did not have this built-in antibiotic factor, science points out, the nutritive richness of the 
Royal Jelly would provide an excellent growing medium for all kinds of harmful microbes.

The properties, benefits and improvements attributed to
Royal Jelly are as follows:

• Stimulant for - physical performance,
• better memory, learning capacity and self 
• confidence
• General health improvement
• Anorexia
• Increased Appetite
• Skin Conditions
• Sexual Performance and desire
• Influenza
• Increased resistance to viral infections
• High Blood Pressure
• Low Blood Pressure
• Anemia
• Arteriosclerosis
• Cholesterol Levels
• Chronic and incurable disorders
• Anti-wrinkle
• Sebaceous secretion (fat secretions of skin glands normalized).

What is Bee Pollen

Bee Pollen is the seed of a flower blossom, which has been gathered by bees and to which special digestive enzymes and nectar from the bees has been added.  Pollen is the bee’s source of protein, where honey is their source of carbohydrate.  The pollen is brought back to the hive and stored in the honeycomb cells for use later to feed the young.  The pollen undergoes a fermentation process in the hive that preserves it allows it to last forever in the hive.  Bee pollen out of the beehive should be kept cold (frozen) or dried at a low drying temperature, which helps to keep the enzymes alive as most enzymes are destroyed by heat.

In its attempt to collect its pollen, a bee lands on the chosen flower and begins transferring it from the flower into its pollen sacs.  These “sacs” are in fact a crevice in the knees of the back legs (hence bee pollen’s nickname of Bees Knees) and it is just compacted into this crevice forming a pellet.  It takes a bee approx one hour to collect these pellets, which are approx. 20 mgs, each containing up to five million pollen spores, each spore capable of reproducing its entire species. Therefore one teaspoon of bee pollen contains about 1200 pellets or about 2.5 billion grains of pollen. To collect pollen from the beehive for human consumption, beekeepers attach a collection tray to the hive that upon arrival back to the hive, the bee passes through a screen large enough for the bee that knocks off the pollen pellets that stick out beyond the bee’s profile.  This pollen is frozen or dried for storage.  Pollen is best consumed within one of year of its collection for optimum potency.

Bee Pollen is a protein, a complete protein and is the only known food to contain all 22 amino acids, which includes all eight of the essential amino acids needed by the body that we do not produce ourselves in our system.  As pollen is a complete protein, it is an excellent protein to include in your diet if you are looking to supplement your protein intake or replace other proteins in the case of the vegetarian diet.  Bee pollen has more protein per gram than any meat or fish.  Most protein “powders” used to add to a drink or shake mixture are generally a single type of protein (whey or albumen).  Bee pollen is easy to add to the same drink but you are getting a complete protein rather than an isolated protein. 

Bee Pollen has a sweet grainy flavour that suits pairing up with cereals or other grains but the flavour (and colours) is directly related to the flower the pollen has come from. Incorporation of bee pollen into your diet can be achieved in several ways.  Simply, it can be taken straight by the spoonful followed by a drink of fluid at which point it will dissolve or it can be mixed with a serving of honey.  Also, it can be added to cereal or granola, sprinkled on toast, blended into juice or health shakes, mixed into salads or sprinkled on sandwiches or ice cream. One teaspoon to one tablespoon per day seems to be a common recommendation although much more is reported to only increase the benefits.  It is detrimental to the components of bee pollen to heat it and therefore cooking or baking with bee pollen is not recommended.

Although the individual pollen spores have a hard coating, this coating is porous, the body can extract the components through this coating and has been clinically tested to show that orally ingested bee pollen particles are rapidly and easily absorbed and pass directly from the stomach into the blood stream.  Within two hours after ingestion, properties of bee pollen are found in the blood, in cerebral spinal fluids and in the urine.

As the effects of bee pollen will only be evident after a period of time with regular, constant consumption, it is essential to incorporate into your daily diet. 
It is also recommended to take bee pollen in the morning or more specifically, before your daily activities begin (rather than at the end of your day) due to the increased level of energy experienced after taking bee pollen.  For weight management, it is recommended to have your daily pollen 30 minutes before eating a meal for weight loss and 30 minutes after a meal for weight gain.
Vitamins and minerals are present in Bee pollen but their content depends largely on the flower the pollen comes from.  In particular, bee pollen contains all the B vitamins (this group of vitamins being more effective to us if taken all at once rather than isolated) and contains Rutin, which does not exist in many plants.
Bee Pollen has been documented to help relieve seasonal allergies.  For this purpose, the pollen consumed should be from a local source to your general location.  The pollens that people who suffer from allergies react to are not the same pollens that bees collect.  The ones we react to are referred to as wind pollen (anemophile) and the pollen bees collect is entomophile pollen (not the wind variety).  There enough similarities between all pollens that the consumption of bee pollen throughout the year allows your body to build an immunity to the pollens that are cast off into the wind and cause your allergic reaction. 

Other conditions relieved by the use of bee pollen include

• fatigue,
• prostate irregularities (connected to the amount of zinc in pollen and the absorption of zinc is aided by the pollen),
• low blood pressure,
• arteriosclerosis,
• pre-menstrual syndrome and menopause,
• asthma,
• skin conditions, counteracts the effects of radiation and chemical toxicity. 
• Body and mind functions improved with bee pollen include focus, feeling of well-being, alertness, sexual desire and performance and athletic endurance.

Please do use this with caution as there are also side effects. Read the warnings on the packaging. The instructions on my bottle of bees pollen does say have a small dose for 2-3 weeks until the body is used to it. The body needs time to adjust.

Some side effects are allergic reactions like itchy throat, wheezing, coughing, hives, and skin flushing. Err on the side of caution. Severe allergic responses are also possible including anaphylactic shock.

Added footnote 1.9.11 - I am now also having a teaspoonful of premium manuka Honey 15+. I have chosen a lovely friendly company with good work & bee ethics, the New Zealand Honey co. Check out their website on all the benefits of honey - "With antibiotic, prebiotic and antioxidant benefits, our honeys are a great way to keep healthy!"

Added foot note For the record, each day I have -
3 tsps bee pollen diluted in water half hour before breakfast
1 Propolis tablet (1000mg of propolis)
1 500mg Royal Gellee
1 tsp manuka 15+ Honey