A great day at the seaside (and a celebrity chef)!

I took the day off work today - my kids are on half term break at the moment (which doesn't coincide with most other schools in the area - this is a good thing and a bad thing), so I wanted to have a day to take them out somewhere.  My daughter pretty much decided that we would go to Southend-on-sea, though I think her only motivation for this was the little gift shop at the end of the pier!  I do like Southend though, because it's a seaside town, a little bit past its sell by date, but charming in a tacky sort of way.  The best part, for me, however is you do LOTS of walking!

The Southend pier, once the longest pleasure pier in the world (no idea if this is still the case) is just over one mile long.  There is a small train that goes very nearly to the end, or you can walk - we always do the latter.  We arrived just after 11:30am, so I decided to go straight to the pier and we would have lunch afterwards.  We park about half a mile from the pier and enjoy the short walk along the seafront before getting onto the pier itself.  When we paid our admission fee, the lady told us that there was a film crew at the end of the pier and we might be asked to wait, or we might not be able to get to the very end (where the gift shop was!), but we decided to go for it anyway - it's a good walk and it was a lovely (but windy) day.

The kids making faces at me on the seafront!

The start of the pier walk

As soon as we got onto the pier itself the wind started battering us!  But thankfully, it wasn't a cold wind - just the annoying type that blows your hair in your face so you can't see where you're going!  I must remember to bring a hat next time - it must occur to me every time we go to Southend - but I never actually bring one!  We enjoyed our leisurely walk - and passed about 50 pensioners (the only other folk out on a Thursday morning, evidently!).  When we got to the train station, there were two people from the film crew who asked us to stop and wait.  There was also an elderly man who was arguing with one of them profusely about how his tax money paid for the pier and he shouldn't be made to wait while the filming takes place.  It was so awkward I was tempted to leave - I asked my daughter if she was really bothered about going to the Lifeboats gift shop and she said she really wanted to go.  So I asked one of the film crew how long they thought it would be before we could get through, and as soon as she replied "it wouldn't be long" they were given the all clear to let us through.

We saw a gathering of people near a little cafe and when we walked by I noticed the sign said "Jamie and Jimmy's" - instantly I knew it was Jamie Oliver!  Low and behold - who was cooking in the restaurant - only Jamie Oliver himself!!  I so wanted to go up to him and chat, but he looked quite busy so I didn't want to disturb.  We went down to the Lifeboat shop and Verity got a few bits and pieces so she was a happy girl.  When we were walking back, who came walking towards us, but Jamie!  So, I ran up to him and asked if he'd shake my hand!  He chatted to us for a few seconds (asked if we were fishing), before we went on our way.  He was a thoroughly nice person and meeting him really made my day (I'm still smiling!).  I wish now that a) I would have asked if I could take a photo with him and b) ask him a bazillion questions about cooking - but hey, you never know when I might run into him again!

Me at the end of the pier (with wind battered hair!)

All total, our Southend walk came to 3.68 miles, which was good both for me and the kids (they both fell asleep in the car on the way home - something about that sea air that makes you sleepy!).  We did have a burger for lunch, but our pier walk earned me 303 calories, which was nearly the amount needed for my burger!

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Last night I was due to do cross training for 40 minutes and was toying with the idea of going to our local leisure centre and doing a class called "Body Attack".  I texted an old friend of mine who I knew used to go to the class and asked if she still went.  She said she didn't, but was going to another gym to do something called "X-fit" - a HIIT workout and I was welcome to come along.  I said I would, but I was quite frankly terrified about what I'd got myself into!

A lot of the training is with weights, but we did a mixture last night.  We did 3 sets of 5 front squats (done with this bar bell machine that rests on your chest to add weight), followed by a high intensity rowing and push-up section.  We started with rowing 600m, followed by 30 push ups, then rowing 500 meters, 25 push ups, then rowing 400m, 20 pushups, 300m, 15 push ups and finally rowing 200m and 10 push ups.  All total that lasted about 15 minutes and by the end of it, I was exhausted and my legs felts like jello!  The last exercise we did was killer - we lay on the mat holding a bar bell (with I'm not sure how much weight on it) above our heads - then we proceeded to raise our straight legs and touch each weight at the side with our knees.  You touch right and touch left for one - we did 3 sets of 10 of these! Today my arms and shoulders (and abs) are seriously screaming - tomorrow no doubt they will be worse!  It was a great workout though and I'll definitely add this to my routine on Wednesdays.

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Tonight my run was an "easy" 2 miles.  I was excited when I got home from Southend because I saw that my new winter Nike running gear had arrived and I was eager to try it out (even though it's not technically winter yet!).  I've got a jacket coming too, but it's arriving in a couple of weeks, so I just wore the leggings and the top - both fit perfectly, though I'm a bit self conscious about wearing the leggings!  I just need to remember that my ass is much smaller now than it once was!

Taken right after my 2 miler (which is why my face is beetroot red!)

The two miles went well (I managed to slow my pace down to 5.06mph this time!) and I'm loving the new running gear - it was very comfortable, warm enough for me to wear without a jacket and kept me nice and dry.  I may not get on very well with Nike shoes, but their running clothes are good!

Tomorrow is a well earned rest day!  My son is having a friend come round for a sleepover, so though I'm resting from running, I doubt I'll be resting in any other way!  Oh well - should be fun nonetheless!