Day 9 - Planning time

Ok, enough of self-pity. I am well. My legs pretty stiff as expected, tomorrow they will be far worse, but before the end of the week I will be asking for more :)

Weight today 67.4 - consistently low. No intention to beat any records here.

"I never saw a wild thing 

sorry for itself. 

A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough

without ever having felt sorry for itself."

DH Lawrence.

By the way, DH lawrence taught in the same street where I live, just 100 years ago. Right about the time when all these houses were new!

In a less romantic note, I learnt about this poem in the film "GI Jane" Hahahaha :) Nevertheless, I haven't seen that many groups of 4 sentences as powerful as these.

So... Planning time!

So I have overeaten beans and rice... But, I have a whopping £1.82 to spare, so someone has been shoooopppiiiinnngggg :)

So that makes so that is 50p worth of beans and 40p worth of rice. I may also trade some of the rice later on because I don't think I will eat a whole bag of it anyway.

92p left... I need to save for all those little "tiny" extras, which are not free although I can't measure them (some tabasco tears, cheese dust, sugar and salt...)

That should drive me through the rest of the week. And I still have a lot of chicken left!

	Gone	Left
Elapsed time	64%	36%
Bread Basics Wholemeal	64%	36%
Sains Pasta Shapes 500g	50%	50%
Rice Basics 1Kg	75%	25%
Frozen Chicken 2.5Kg	57%	43%
Coffee Basics	64%	36%
Milk Semi 3.4L (6P)	55%	45%
Porridge Oats 500g	64%	36%
Baked Beans	67%	33%

So if the % left is less than the elapsed time, that means I have been overeating. Nice, uh? :) 

 Now with the dishes of the day. PASTA for lunch, and rice with pixie cheesy dust for dinner.




The pasta dish is called "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" :)
The rice dish is called "Captain Hook ship sprinkled with Pixie Cheese dust"

Last week - get sponsoring now! :)
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Day 8 - Croydon Half - Daughter carrying competition

It was a lovely bright start in Croydon. Things were looking up after the night lost an hour and hence we ended up sleeping less than 5 hours, not bad for a Sunday (...)

I started warming up as if this was a conventional "daughter carrying" race

As you can see, she was getting used to the idea pretty quickly... :)

But it ended up being a bit more conventional and pretty hilly. Here, with the bad boys at the front, with the eye in the watches about to get going!

And, an hour and 28 mins later, riding like a blue unicorn after some goddamn ups and downs around Lloyds park and Sandilands... Mission accomplished :)

 The picture of the finisher and his lovely daughters :)

And the upside down daughter competition continues...

In another note, yummy chicken for lunch today, deep fried protein to recover those muscles in the daughter lifting contest :)

And my 3 Michelin Star dinner of the day. This is call "Mickey Mouse with Pinocchio nose"

Ok, I am knackered... ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz

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Day 7 - Neptune, may I?

So here we are, in the equator of this journey asking Neptune permission to cross the Equator. I guess he will answer tomorrow when I cross the finish line in Croydon Half.

The day started badly today. 67.1Kg is almost an all time record low. But since the efects of last night´s tabasco came a bit later it is possible that I will be below 67 tomorrow in the morning. That is more than 3Kg less than last Sunday morning. As I said this may not be totally a disaster from a racing point of view, but we'll see what else am I missing tomorrow...

Today I've binged on coffee - 3 double ex... The day has been significantly less painful I must say.

So it is carbs load up Saturday, so mountain of pasta for lunch plus a few sprinkles of cheese on top. This makes a couple of extra nothings in the last couple of days so I will have to make sure that there is something in the leftovers of the budget to cover some of these nothings... The wooden flower is not edible, shame :)

 I haven't put names to lunch yet... how about... "Same sh*t* with Cheese" :)

And dinner the same as yesterday, without the tabasco. I call this one "Where is the limit of rice and beans dinners?" as in the green bangle in the picture :)
Oh, and that is my foot and my slipper, dammit!

















Well, tomorrow is another great day. If I don't update this blog anymore is because I did not listen to the marshals and I decided to cross the road when the tram was coming!

Good night!

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Day 6 - Whimsical Rice and Beans alla Lalaloopsy

Weight seems to have stabilized, finally. I was starting to think that I was going to get rich with the "white label diet"... Still 67.8 Kg.

Apologies for writing a day later but this week I have been sleeping just 5 hours a day and I just run out of energy...

The day has been tough and I think those 5 hours of sleep play and the reduction in caffeine pay an important part on it... and then lunches are not happy so the days are loooooooonnnngggggg

I tried to take a picture of my hand to make it better but it is till a bowl of rice on its own (not because I am hiding a piece of chorizo underneath :)). A Spaniard eating without bread, that deserves a price on its own...

Loads of hours on water, no coffee, no nothing else later I drag myself into dinner... And since I am running in less than 48 hours I decide to invest an additional tin of beans. This is going to mean that I will have to buy more beans this week out of the remaining budget.

I call this one "Whimsical Rice and Beans alla Lalaloopsy". The Lalaloopsy run away when I added a few too many drops of Tabasco to make the dish Friday night special. No beer, just goddamn water.

Those drops of Tabasco were about to be THE mistake of this first week. In the morning that made me go below the 67Kg mark...

In a bit the summary for today ;)

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Day 5 - Are you Looking at me??

The day has not started well, 67.8Kg and this is not really within the after-race expectation. The funny thing is when I have been trying to lose some weight it has been pretty painful to lose every single gram, and now it looks like they are leaving without saying good bye... Let's see what happens tomorros. I am expecting it to stabilize since there is always a period of internal "cleansing" when the body adapts to a new diet.

Being in a hurry in the morning means my porridge usually will keep on cooking in my stomach in my way to work... :)

The morning has been long. Afternoon has been long. It is the goddamn coffee and the lack of proper sleep...

I can officially declare that I hate this pasta. It could be cooking for 20 minures and still "Aldente" would be an insult. However I have such a vacuum inside at 12 (yes, a Spaniard having lunch at 12!) that they are all gone before I can cry them good bye...

The afternoon is long as lens (Spanish phrase, I suppose some used to take lens pretty seriously...) I am missing so much being entertained by my coffee... My stomach hates me and my brain is going to commit suicide...

And back home a nice surprise awaits, a reminder of last weekend run! My label with my time came with the post. It is official: 1:26:40 :) It will be difficult this weekend but it is also true that I will be 2Kgs lighter (at this pace) and that I know how much I can push the race. And I play at home! Some of the streets I will be running are part of my dark video :)

Once my home duties are done, I am racing to get my dinner done, and since I have desperate for most of the day and groceries are decreasing at a conservative rate I decide to cook something special:

I am calling this one "Are you looking at me?" and since there is no one else around then I suppose that in fact it is looking at me, so I am going to have to wipe that smile off its face...

HAHAHA :) These beans with Rice were simply excellent. I am getting closer for a recipe to top up my levels of energy for Sunday...

Donation are still coming. You are all so awesome!

Good night everyone!

http://www.justgiving.com/marcoshungergames

Day 4 - To cook or not to cook...

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68.2 Kg - 2 Kgs. down since Saturday. Still I think within the margin after Hastings, but we'll see how are we doing tomorrow. Otherwise I can patent a new slim-fast diet!

My kitchen is filling up with pans I wasn't using before. That means now I need to cook whether I want it or not. Plus the Tupperware to take my lunch to work...

Lesson 4 - Convenience is not cheap. So you pay with a piece of your time...

Oh, that is my mouse, but not the edible kind :)

Lesson 5 - If you are hungry you don't get bored of the same food so easily!

So yes, it is pasta again. A loads of water throughout the day. To fill up for the moments of coffee pleasure... with water. Omg...

Back home and a nice cheap cup of coffee. And I must admit that coffee is not bad at all! I may switch from strength 6 to 4 from now on.

And to dinner once again. I cooked two portions of rice not thinking of eating until later, but I coudn't wait...

I call this "Chicken drumstick binging on rice surrounded by a gang of bread slices". None of them survived for long...

I am starting to think how will I fill up the carb reserves for Sunday. Suggestions? :) I still have a few pences to spare, remember! only 3 more days for the next run! It seems my legs won't hurt any more by tomorrow, so it is all well underway to have a decent run. I am more worried about the levels of energy for the marathon, but we will get there when we get there. I could try to run on an overdose of coffee :)

Good night everyone!

http://www.justgiving.com/marcoshungergames

Day 3 - and we hit 1000...

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And we hit 1000 pounds...

... I am speechless... you are all huge. Really, before I went ahead with all of these I thought a few times if all of these was just a big nonsense, but you have made it all worth it. THANK YOU.

Now, with the schedule today :)

The day started significantly better that means I cooked my porridge without spilling half of it into the microwaves.

Also I managed the whole day with half the usual amount of caffeine.



That was actually an homage to Dune and Frank Herbert :)

An the following is my sexy lunch today:

Another mistake, no salt... Yes, this was plain rice. Fortunately (maybe not) it was a sizeable amount, but it was bland. OMG!! And that was it until dinner. But I didn't miss it as much as yesterday. So either I was busier or my metabolism is slowing down.

Actually I have lost 1.5Kg since Saturday, but that can only be because of Hastings itself. If you ever feel bloated running has very interesting effect. Ask Paula Radcliffe :)

And dinner time at last! Opened my first can of beans. Was it good, tell me about that! Another piece of chicken. There is a price for those who find out what part of the chicken is that... I have just realised that the bag of frozen chicken is a mixture of chicken drumsticks and ... chicken butts!!! :)

Lesson 3 - Supply and demand. Where are chicken butts in this graphic?

Certainly at the "bottom", to the right!
Good night!
http://www.justgiving.com/MarcosHungerGames

Day 2 - I think I am starving...

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Let me explain - I am not starving. I just think that I am starving. Too much thinking about whether this is enough or not. It is indeed. It must be the lack of coffee...

The day does not start well. It is the first time I cook porridge, and I choose to microwave it... so half of it blows off. The rest was not too bad.

First lesson - no room for mistakes. You mess up your food, you don´t eat (unless you lick it from the microwaves). Unfortunately mornings are complex enough and didn't get a chance to get a picture.

So that was double espresso and porridge to start the day.

... and it is lunch time. I decided to keep me going with that breakfast coffee, and as a result lunch time seems to never come. But here we are, pasta again, yum! (Well, this is half of it now)

And I keep on thinking about food. Not good. I can't be hungry, honestly. But I can't stop thinking about it. On top of it no coffee.

So it is officially cold turkey - lack of caffeine = head aches...

Lesson 2 - I can live with less caffeine, but it is getting on my nerves!

First thing I do when I get home is getting a double espresso. I need to deal with the rest of the evening, and there is lots to do...

... and dinner, at last!!

That rice is smiling, or is it my imagination?? :) And two pieces of chicken! I must admit that this frozen chicken is not too bad at all!! I can only afford a piece and a half a day, but yesterday my stomach was still in Hastings running. So today I binge on chicken, hiii hiiiiiiiiiii! Like Michael Jackson would say :)

Oh, and it only a slice and a half of bread a day. Yesterday I over indulged in bread ;)

On another note, wow, what can I say... £840 plus £70 in gift aid. You are all so awesome, really... How come there are still so many things to sort out when we are all so incredibly awesome!?

Good night everyone and thanks!

https://www.justgiving.com/marcoshungergames

Day 1 - Hastings And a Bag Full of Carbs

Day 1

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Early wake up for a Sunday and a long drive down to Hastings. Great day, great atmosphere, it was clear that only something good was going to happen...

...Wifey presses the wrong button and the camera switches off instead of taking a photo at the finish line... :-) But she is so lovely that she recovered in no time and there you go :)

A long standing personal best was smashed and I entered the under 1:30 territory reserved to the badest'. 1:26:40.

...

24 hours earlier, in Croydon...

This is my food for the next 14 days:

	Price £	Units	Total
Bread Basics Wholemeal	0.5	1	0.5
Sains Pasta Shapes 500g	0.35	4	1.4
Rice Basics 1Kg	0.4	1	0.4
Frozen Chicken 2.5Kg	4.38	1	4.38
Coffee Basics	1.7	1	1.7
Milk Semi 3.4L (6P)	1.48	1	1.48
Porridge Oats 500g	0.7	1	0.7
Baked Beans	0.25	6	1.5
Bananas	0.12		0
		Total	12.06
		Left	1.94

That is an amazing 1.94 left which I will see how I accommodate (those bananas that I can't buy all at once, and who knows, maybe the deposit for a property?) ;)

And just tonight, the first supper. I had to skip lunch since I only felt like throwing up after that run:

Hmmmm :) A banana added later, that is another 0.12!

An amazing £589.58 have been raised to date, you are all so awesome...

Time to rest my bones, it has been a long day for a Sunday!

http://www.justgiving.com/marcoshungergames