The Big Day - brilliant and not at all painful

This list aimed to ease the pressure on 'having a great birthday' but I still managed to have 'a great birthday'! Here are my forty favourite memories of December 14, 2013.

1. When the alarm went off (5am) I was dreaming about running a half marathon. I was at 6 miles and it had only taken 32 minutes. My friend Monica appeared and reminded me that time slows down when you're hungry and I should probably eat something. (6 miles takes me about an hour in real life!)
2. Heading out for my run in my newly unwrapped running gloves from my mum and having cosy, even sweaty, hands for the next three hours
3. Spotting a car crash being retrieved on Seafield Road and realising that that last time I headed out for a 20 miler, I ran past a car crash being retrieved on Seafield Road. How weird is that? Should I alert the police next time I plan a 20 miler?
4. Running along Portobello prom enjoying catching some seaside ions at the start of my run, deserted and pitch dark, of course
5. Realising the hill between London Road and Picardy Place is the worst hill I run. Worse than Arthur's Seat, I'm sure.
6. Running past the zoo. It's only 7 miles from my house but it always feels like I must have come really far to get there.
7. Fuelling my run with a cheese string (it has Lisa Simpson on it) and a handful of pine nuts. The pine nuts were really hard to open and I expect a few rodents would have thanked me for all the ones I dropped
8. Listening to my running coach Angie on her podcast, as I ran down Maybury Road, talking about fuelling, hitting the wall and lactate threshold and realising it wasn't doing my performance any good at all at that particular moment
9. Running down the hill towards Silverknowes Prom to Thunder In My Heart by Leo Sayer and really feeling the endorphins kick in (mile 16!) and knowing the wind would be at my back till I got home
10. Realising at Silverknowes Prom that I'd miscalculated and my 20 miler was going to be a 22 miler. Darn.
11. Mile 20! Hurray! At Granton! And the first thing to be ticked off my magic list!! Still 2 miles from home! Bah! (it felt much harder from here on in)
12. Finally stopping running on Leith Links and my knees aching instantly
13. Being bombarded with presents and cards by excited children as soon as I got in the door
14. Enjoying the feeling of icy water on my aching legs
15. Watching icy bubbles slowly escaping from my legwarmers (over my knees) for the duration of my bath (10 minutes)
16. Hopping out the bath when I realised I'd got in without taking my iPod off first (amazingly it's still working!)
17. Scoffing eggs, bacon and spinach as I dried my hair, and the way food tastes after 22 miles (just awesome!!)
18. Sitting beside other mums at Helen's open ballet class and being able to casually and comfortably chat to people I don't really know very well. I couldn't do THAT in my twenties. 
19. Feeling so proud of my little dancing girl, and realising that even though she loves ballet, she isn't enjoying tap & jazz - I could see that *because I'm her mum*.
20. Distracting children with the iPod/iPad and being allowed to open my presents at my own pace instead of having them thrown at me by over-excited children 
21. Arriving at The Vintage and Katie the server saying "Hello. it is your birthday? Happy Birthday!" and giving me a massive hug!
22. Katie asking Helen to wear her earrings while she listened to Helen's iPod - Helen was delighted and Katie got a wee blast of Kelly Clarkson.
23. Scott's delighted face when he got a shandy. And asking his dad to put it out of reach for a while so he didn't down it in one
24. Dave toasting me for my birthday before we started dinner. He looked so sincere and full of love and made me excited to be his wife
25. Having my very favouritest food, goat's cheese brullee, brought to me in a massive dish with four candles and everyone singing happy birthday - I felt so happy and delighted to be the centre of attention
26. Singing "Jackson" with my lovely husband at Sugarcube, and ticking of the second thing on my list!!
27. Hearing Helen hit perfect notes when she sang "Same Jeans" in karaoke - better than the rest of us, she must have the singing gene!
28. Scott performing Baseline Junkie, Radio Edit perfectly - despite the 'real' words appearing on screen
29. Sugarcube was great, clean, loud, attractive, and the staff were really friendly and one of them had pink hair (he was a boy)
30. It was windy and cold and wet outside and I raged against my December birthday which has always made it so hard to do the things I want to do! Nobody wants to go out and do stuff in rotten weather and your hair gets *ruined*!
31. Robert singing at karaoke. He was brilliant with a slighty Vic Reeves Pub Singer edge and I thought of Billy Connolly's line about trying to find a party, walking around with a carry-oot listening for singing - well THIS would be the singing!
32. Iced cappucino despite wet, cold, windy weather
33. Trying to take 40 photos to represent my day (only managed 27)
34. I got nothing but brilliant presents. 
35. Scott giving me a chess set (one of my forty things is to learn to play chess) and instantly starting to ask me if he can please teach me to play chess now
36. Helen giving me a little jar with a chalkboard section on the front so you can label the jar. I wrote 'farts' on it in chalk and started the family euphamism "quick! go and get the jar!"
37. Forty presents from my mum, all of them spot on! From lip balm and emery boards to  almond butter and notebooks, to a 'Marathon Package' of my choice, including entry fee, travel, meals and childcare - every single thing was something I would have chosen myself
38. Leaving Dave at the Vintage (he didn't mind to much) so we could all fit in the taxi, which turned out to be big enough for us all anyway
39. Helen fell asleep on the settee when we got home and woke up when I carried her to bed (she is much heavier than the last time I carried her to bed). She grinned and said "jerky plomp! you woke me up!" and giggled before falling asleep again
40. In bed at 2238, shattered but my heart was racing from having eaten too much!

The Forty Fest: The List

Tomorrow will be my fortieth birthday.

I've learned from the last 39 years (or at least the ones I can remember) that December birthdays are difficult to celebrate. Too close to Christmas, the celebrant and their friends tend to be tired, busy, skint, preoccupied with shopping, family, exams and staying warm to really want to celebrate.

(It occurs to me right now that perhaps all my friends for the last 39 years just haven't wanted to celebrate with me... I hope that's just pre-fortieth insecurity. Not that my birthdays haven't been great, but they've taken a fair bit of work and organising.)

So, for my fortieth birthday, I decided to stretch out the celebrations with a mini-birthday every month, seeing a different friend or group of friends and having a celebration on the 14th of each month.

But 40 is a more fitting number than 12, and so my list of forty things was born. I've spent a few months thinking about what I'd like to do for my birthday, and who I'd like to celebrate with. My list is as follows, in no particular order.

1. spend a day smiling at everyone I see
2. learn to meditate
3. run a spring marathon
4. go dancing in a nightclub
5. spend a night under canvas
6. join the marathon maniac club
7. skinny dip with friends
8. get my engagement ring re-made
9. try a burlesque workshop
10. have a McGonnagal Supper
11. Learn to play chess with Scott (my son)
12. Knit a scarf
13. Run a sub-4-hour marathon
14. raise £4000 for Parkinsons UK
15. have a full medical
16. become a mistress of the chin-up
17. get my teeth whitened
18. go on a bus tour with my Mum
19. dance a duet with my best friend Hannah
20. go to a fitness professionals convention
21. try poledance
22. hoop a 5K
23. paint a fairy door
24. host a fundraising hafla (or three)
25. finally visit the Scottish Parliament
26. one month fitness challenge - get more sleep
27. write My Running Story
28. integrate yoga into my life
29. have a beautiful mirrored studio to work in
30. be able to do handstands, or walk on my hands
31. learn 10 things about myself
32. run 40 miles in my birthday week
33. duet at karaoke with my lovely husband
34. have tea in Edinburgh City Chambers
35. get on All Request Friday on Radio 2
36. meet 40 new people 
37. make a difference in Malawi
38. fitness challenge - 40 full push-ups continuous
39. not let my roots get out of control 
40. get a daily make-up regime

Some of these are volunteered by my friends and family, some represent where I thought I'd be when I got to be 40, and some are whimsical and frivolous. Some will be more challenging than others. There's nothing there I really don't want to do, because let's face it, it won't get done.

This blog will be my record of doing these forty things. Thanks for stopping by to hear about my journey - I hope you'll come back and see my progress!