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The Boggers Log
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AuldManKing wrote: »Super post tbl.
Showed it to the family as we're heading stateside for the summer. (Mainly NY though, so they may be a bit crankier)
We were in NY for New Year and if your clan need 8 positive things written about it I will ask either of my daughter and the challenge would be if I told them they were only allowed list 8
......could never get enough of NY. 0 -
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We finished up in Disney on Saturday and transferred to Port Canaveral, Orlando, to board the Disney Fantasy cruise ship for a 7 day cruise with ports of call at Cozumel, Grand Caymen and Disneys Castaway Cay.
The ship itself is huge, probably the size of a small rural Irish village. There are 14 decks, it's 1115 feet long, 216 feet high and weighs 130,000 gross tons. (Excluding the passengers that probably add considerably to that!)
I really wasn't looking forward to this part of the holiday as I usually get sea sick in the bath but so far I've been blown away by it. It's really smooth sailing and the standard of everything on board is superb. Unbelievable attention to detail and a huge variety of activities for all ages. The kids love it, there's loads of others kids for them to hang around with and different activities nearly every hour of the day, which means that Mrs TbL and I get to spend some time doing our own stuff.
Looks like Murph was right on the staff front, the missus got talking to one of them and he said most of them were from indigent countries, they work 14 hour days, 6 and a half days a week and don't see their families for months. Might have to start adding a few additional bucks to the tip!
They feed you morning noon and night and I'm really trying to manage the grazing as I'm starting to shuffle my hips and turn my feet in as I walk, I'll need a mobility scooter if I don't cop on
The gym is also well equipped and I was surprised by how busy it was! Managed to get a few miles done on the treadmill. It was the best view from a treadmill since I was running beside some scantily clad blonde young wan in Lanzarote a few years ago. Took a while to get the brain accustomed to running on the treadmill as the ocean drifted by in front of you. I did a couple of miles with 400 metres progressive tempos from 6.45 to 6.00 minute pace.
The missus booked me a massage and I was expecting the usual hotel massage type tickling! It was something called a bamboo massage and I'd low expectations. The masseuse appeared and her silhouette filled the door, she had a physique of an East German hammer thrower. The last time a bamboo touched my arse was 40 years ago when Mr Curran the 4th class teacher gave me a lash with his cane. She bate into me and by the time she'd finished I felt like I'd been intimate with a hay baler! I've her booked again for Thursday
I also heard that there is a running track on one of the decks and that 2.5 laps equates to a mile so I'll have to give that a lash as well as the Aqua Duck slide that circles over the top deck.
TbL0 -
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ThebitterLemon wrote: »
I also heard that there is a running track on one of the decks and that 2.5 laps equates to a mile so I'll have to give that a lash as well as the Aqua Duck slide that circles over the top deck.
TbL
Very cool. Enjoy
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ThebitterLemon wrote: »We finished up in Disney on Saturday and transferred to Port Canaveral, Orlando, to board the Disney Fantasy cruise ship for a 7 day cruise with ports of call at Cozumel, Grand Caymen and Disneys Castaway Cay.
The ship itself is huge, probably the size of a small rural Irish village. There are 14 decks, it's 1115 feet long, 216 feet high and weighs 130,000 gross tons. (Excluding the passengers that probably add considerably to that!)
I really wasn't looking forward to this part of the holiday as I usually get sea sick in the bath but so far I've been blown away by it. It's really smooth sailing and the standard of everything on board is superb. Unbelievable attention to detail and a huge variety of activities for all ages. The kids love it, there's loads of others kids for them to hang around with and different activities nearly every hour of the day, which means that Mrs TbL and I get to spend some time doing our own stuff.
Looks like Murph was right on the staff front, the missus got talking to one of them and he said most of them were from indigent countries, they work 14 hour days, 6 and a half days a week and don't see their families for months. Might have to start adding a few additional bucks to the tip!
They feed you morning noon and night and I'm really trying to manage the grazing as I'm starting to shuffle my hips and turn my feet in as I walk, I'll need a mobility scooter if I don't cop on
The gym is also well equipped and I was surprised by how busy it was! Managed to get a few miles done on the treadmill. It was the best view from a treadmill since I was running beside some scantily clad blonde young wan in Lanzarote a few years ago. Took a while to get the brain accustomed to running on the treadmill as the ocean drifted by in front of you. I did a couple of miles with 400 metres progressive tempos from 6.45 to 6.00 minute pace.
The missus booked me a massage and I was expecting the usual hotel massage type tickling! It was something called a bamboo massage and I'd low expectations. The masseuse appeared and her silhouette filled the door, she had a physique of an East German hammer thrower. The last time a bamboo touched my arse was 40 years ago when Mr Curran the 4th class teacher gave me a lash with his cane. She bate into me and by the time she'd finished I felt like I'd been intimate with a hay baler! I've her booked again for Thursday
I also heard that there is a running track on one of the decks and that 2.5 laps equates to a mile so I'll have to give that a lash as well as the Aqua Duck slide that circles over the top deck.
TbL
Reminds me of our honeymoon, we stopped at Grand Cayman for the day so herself wanted to hit the beach to work on the tan. Here I was curled up underneath a parasol sweating worse than on a tempo run just from the heat!! She says "Go for a swim to cool down". Not a bad idea I thought, now in those days I had hair and resembled Daniel Craig and fancied reinacting his beach scene from Casino Royale!!
Was just about to get up when the earth started to move, and I seen one of your scooter using pals making for the water. She was on the same cruise as us and that was the first time we seen her off a scooter. As she passed she commented out loud "Quick, quick get in the water, I gotta pee". Suffice to say I sat back underneath my parasol and never got to do my Daniel Craig impression. Any pool on the ship we seen said lady beside for the remainder of the cruise was avoided like the plague to.0 -
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We arrived in Cozumel on Monday morning, it was a little stormy and our activities were cancelled so we just spent the day pottering around the town, not a whole lot to see in the few hours we were there. When we were leaving Cozumel the captain announced that the weather was getting worse with 6-8 foot waves that would cause mild to moderate motion! Jazus I'd hate to experience severe motion, we were all slightly sick and walking down the ships corridors like the town drunk! That night the beds were rocking and vibrating like in one of those rent by the hour Vegas motels I had tried to get a few miles done on the treadmill but I was sliding from side to side and the feeling wasn't pleasant at all, so I called it a day after only 2 miles.
On Tuesday we arrived in Grand Cayman and we transferred from the ship to the island on a smaller boat. Again the weather put paid to the activities we had booked so we just got a taxi to 7 mile beach and spent a nice few hours there. Didn't get any chance to run.
Wednesday: at sea all day and there is a big Star Wars theme day on board. Lots of characters from the movie going around the boat taking pictures with the kids. My two young lads were also up on stage doing "Jedi training" which they loved and in fairness it was very well done, with Darth Vadar" appearing, through smoke, up from a rampart in the middle of the stage.
I don't get adults fascination with this Star Wars stuff, it's a bit mad Ted. Some grown men and women (with no kids!) had come on the cruise especially for this Stars War day!! They were dressed up in full Star Wars regalia and were really getting into it! They were buying merchandise, getting photos with all the characters and going into the cinema to watch the films. One lad even asked the character to autograph a postcard ffs!!!. They appear to me to inhabit some parallel universe. Might seem rich coming from a lad who spends a fair bit of time posting up inane ramblings on a log but Jazus get a life, your not obi wan knobi, you're an overweight man in his forties who needs to get out more
Got a massage again today and was a little disappointed that my East German hammer throwing princess didn't turn up, instead I got a Philippino girl. She was chatting away telling me that she was engaged and how hard it was to be away from your loved ones, some of the crew don't get to see their spouses for 8 months apparently. I jumped in and asked her if she could help get Mrs TbL a job!! That killed that line of conversation. In fairness to her she was excellent, she said she had trained as a physical therapist and she seemed to really know her stuff.
Headed out on the track around deck 4 for a few miles late afternoon, but only got half way as they had a section cordoned off for cleaning. Rather than bale, I decided to hit the treadmill and did a bit of a makey uppy session, did a mile wu/cd with 400 metres progressive tempo reps off 200 metres walked recovery. Happy enough with the way it went, glute seems to have held up and the breathing only got really ragged on the last 200 of the last rep. Ended up doing 7 reps @ 6.44; 6.27; 6.13; 6.03; 5.56; 5.46 & 5.39.
TbL0 -
ThebitterLemon wrote: »
I don't get adults fascination with this Star Wars stuff, it's a bit mad Ted. Some grown men and women (with no kids!) had come on the cruise especially for this Stars War day!! They were dressed up in full Star Wars regalia and were really getting into it! They were buying merchandise, getting photos with all the characters and going into the cinema to watch the films. One lad even asked the character to autograph a postcard ffs!!!. They appear to me to inhabit some parallel universe. Might seem rich coming from a lad who spends a fair bit of time posting up inane ramblings on a log but Jazus get a life, your not obi wan knobi, you're an overweight man in his forties who needs to get out more
TbL
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Friday: I've done a few mickey mouse 5k in my time but I never got the chance to do the Mickey Mouse Castaway Cay Challenge before so couldn't pass up that opportunity!!
Noticed on the itinerary, during the week that they were holding a 5k on the Friday morning so I decided to register for it. Castaway Cay is Disneys private island in the Bahamas and we docked there on Friday morning. Went down to collect my bib at 8am and was surprised by the amount of people that were milling about, they said that there was over 400 registered. They handed out the numbers efficiently enough and then we disembarked and walked to the start which was about 10 mins away. At the start line we had to endure a bit of happy clappy speeches and then they started singing that feckin Frozen song "let it go". Mother of Christ!! She started another spiel and I shouted out, "Jazus just let us go". Q a short silence and lot of reproachful stares in my direction. "Anyway..." she droned on! Eventually we were off, I had decided to run this at marathon pace but went out too fast following a teenager and what looked like a few army recruits who were leading, cost me badly and I died a death. The route was flat it took in a bike path and a runway but it was fairly warm. For the entirety of the last mile I wanted to walk as I was in a hoop. Crossed the line in 4 or 5th in 20.44. Shows the poor quality of the field and the challenge ahead of me, 5k's are a ball breaker! At least it gives me a (soft) benchmark to work on and I've a couple of 5k's entered over the next few months. In two minds on this, I thought the marathon training would have enabled me to get through this a bit more comfortably but on the other hand the glute/hip injury didn't flare up. Got a semi hard rubber medal at the end too, might keep this one
Spent the day snokerling in the beautiful turquoise waters with the young lad before heading back to the ship for our last night onboard. Had my fill of Disney crap and if I never see another Mickey again it'll be too soon
Another short flight later today for the last week of the holiday.
TbL0 -
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Arrived in Cancun on Saturday afternoon, it's American spring break so the place is nuts. We're not staying in the hotel zone but rather in Playa Mujeres, it's a resort hotel in the middle of nowhere but it's nice and we lucked out, getting a 3 bed family suite! The terrace is massive overlooks the ocean, and has a hot tub and hammock, just perfect for chillin Nobody's in the humour to do much except lounge around the pools and the small beach. We went to Isla Mujeres today, hired a boat to bring us along the different coves and beaches and did a bit of snorkelling along the reef. Had a fish lunch that was bbq'ed on the beach, 'twas class. Still only tipping along with a few very short runs, it's very hot and humid here but also very breezy.
Looking forward to kicking off again on Monday with a new plan and focus. I'd a very poor 2015 running wise and I'm hoping to pb across all distances from 5k to marathon in 2016, just hoping I can stay consistent
TbL0 -
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ThebitterLemon wrote: »
Looking forward to kicking off again on Monday with a new plan and focus. I'd a very poor 2015 running wise and I'm hoping to pb across all distances from 5k to marathon in 2016, just hoping I can stay consistent
TbL
Just do us a favour and not let this running lark get in the way of the travel blog and the good stories.0 -
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AuldManKing wrote: »Just do us a favour and not let this running lark get in the way of the travel blog and the good stories.
+1 but more importantly don't let a plan get in the way of running what you want when you want
PS Best of luck with getting back into it and hammering out those PBs0 -
Back from holiday yesterday. Enjoyed the week in Cancun, didn't do much but laze about and chill out. Got a couple of easy runs done but even with that I managed to put on a few pounds that I'll need to shed quickly. Tried to stay away from the touristy restaurants and one evening, on a recommendation, we ate in a Brazilian steak house. There was a big buffet in the centre of the restaurant with every sort of food stuff on it except steak. We understood from the waiter (who didn't have great English) that the buffet was the starter so Mrs TbL and the kids got some stuff while I decided to wait for the steak. Was getting pissed off when after another 15 mins there was no sign of anyone coming to take our order. Eventually caught a guys eye and asked him for a menu. He looked confused and sent another lad over and I told him we were ready to order. He pointed me in the direction of the buffet but I shook my head saying I wanted some steak, I ended up pointed at some meat that was been cooked on spit just inside the window. "Ah si", he said and a minute later a lad was standing beside me with a lovely slab of meat on a big skewer. Happy days. He sliced a small bit half off and waited as it dangled. A bit of an uncomfortable silence followed with him smiling and nodding at me, and me wondering what the fook he was playing at, twas missus TbL that twigged it, we all had small tweezer type implements on the table and he was nodding down at them. I picked it up and pulled off the sliver of meat and he walked off.
I'd only a small slice of meat on my plate so I called him back and got more. No sooner than he had gone that another lad appeared with another slab of different meat. Then another and another and so on. We had the most delicious meats, beef, pork, turkey, buffalo and a skewer of chicken hearts!! (Couldn't eat those).
I can safely say we never ate as much meat in our lives and it was dam tasty. It was only towards the end that we figured out they have a system for serving, you have a small disc beside your plate that's red on one side and green on the other. You were supposed to turn it green to sample a meat and red meant they'd stay away from your table till you turned it over to green again. My son said he noticed the waiters turning ours over to green but I didn't and as a result we had a constant serving of different meats. They must have thought we were complete muck savages!! Fantastic night but it would have been much more enjoyable if we had twigged the system rather than gorging like hillbillies than hadn't seen a decent meal in weeks.
Also have to get in a mini rant. We bought Star Wars toy light Sabres for the kids in the States and got them through US and Mexican airport security no problem but the pedants at Manchester wouldn't let them through. Said they were classed as "weapons" ffs!!! Asked to speak to a supervisor and then a manager as the lads were upset at the thought of not been able to bring them home after bringing them all the way from the States. (we'd already checked our bags in). Asked them to use a bit of discretion and common sense as they were light plastic but was told in no uncertain terms that they wouldn't be let through. Complete twats!!!
Ryanair, "may the force be with them", customer service were excellent (never thought I'd write that in all my life!) once we explained the situation. They arranged for them to go in the hold and told us they'd look after them and sure enough the light Sabres arrived on the carousel in Dublin safe and sound
Was really looking forward, all last week, to getting back on track and plan this week, but not so much this morning. Felt sluggish and demotivated. Plan today called for 5 & 3 mile easy double and I had to beat myself out the door to get the 5 miles done. Headed over to Seanad Pheistin on a beautiful morning for a run but I was very slow and sluggish. Got 5 miles done @ 9.33 which is almost a minute outside the top end of the easy pace range.
Had to go to London this afternoon for meetings tomorrow so managed to get the 3 miles done on the hotel treadmill. Finished up with some auld man stretching.
Going to try and be a little smarter this cycle and focus on consistency, weight & diet and pace management.
Onwards and upwards, once again
TbL0 -
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Bob Heffernan 5k, Tuesday 17th of May @8pm. No excuses, plenty of advance notice, your a chicken if you don't turn up.
If I'm in the country, I'll be handing you your ass!
Sure weren't you inhaling my methane in Trim, and I'd only one good leg to go with my one good eye.
I hate to see grown men cry but I'll make an exception here!!
TbL0 -
ThebitterLemon wrote: »If I'm in the country, I'll be handing you your ass!
Sure weren't you inhaling my methane in Trim, and I'd only one good leg to go with my one good eye.
I hate to see grown men cry but I'll make an exception here!!
TbL
We'll see old man we'll see, be man enough to turn up now.0 -
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