Jo Herrings Adventures

Its taken much consideration on how to write my marathon blog. It feels like there was 42.2 different themes that appeared for me on the day. From flat out denial, early bird wakeups before a marathon, perhaps over resting prior to race day, extreme use of meditation, body to brain pacing (instead of watch interrogation). Toilet management with a case of the upset tum. How to manage heat and whirling wind over 42.2km Treating endometriosis at 22km of a marathon. Dealing with the crowds when you are seemingly the only runner left on the road and they would rather cross the street than wait for a slow coach runner while there were no cars on the street. When all the small cheering children make you desperately homesick for your own nieces and nephew. How to run in a foreign country whilst you don't understand the supporters cries. How to converse in English, Spanish and Italian during the course of a marathon. The love and support from around the world that motivates you in the fi...

Running my first half marathon in 2010 What always strikes me when I attend a race of any distance, is how it takes all shapes and sizes, creatures great and small. And I am no exception. There are people who are young and old, of every race and religion, men in turbans, women in headscarves, topless and toned, slim and leggy, rotund and rouge red, bouncing, compact and flailing. But like all things in life, if You put your mind to goal then it doesn't matter what your genetic code you're going to do your best to complete that challenge. I had lunch yesterday with a dear friend and we discussed how we describe our body shapes on dating websites. She is a completely different shape to me exceeding 5'11 and with a booty I think JLo would covet. I am 5'6 with all the right curves in all of their respective places (I wish I had the confidence to say all the right places !). We both described ourselves as curvy....yet she thinks I'm skinny, sporty skinny but ski...

I've let my blog go a bit dormant over the past year. This last few months have not really been terribly travel blog worthy but more a tale of running. I entered in the Valencia Marathon back in January and 10 months later here I am a month out from the big day. I'm not going to lie, the training has been hard. Some days are definitely worse than others and some are quite simply the best days of my life. Curiously I have just read an article on Manic Depression and I think this is how my running feels while I am on the roads/towpaths/tracks/foot tunnels to bring in the miles of training that one needs to do to prepare for a day where you run 42.2km. But there is one thing for sure, every time I climb my 3 floors to home and I gulp back water I feel better. A sense of achievement sweeps over me and I recall the grafitti ("Have a nice day" was yesterdays discovery), the smiles and raised eyebrows of acknowledgement of fellow runners, fierce geese chases, disgruntled ...

To celebrate my return to health and with 2 months left to knock off some New Years Resolutions I got on Skyscanner and booked 2 weeks in Cuba. Now I am not your classic beach holiday kinda girl. I own a bikini but loath to don it at the best of times - let alone now I have some funky scars. Alas I know no-one in Cuba, so with hopes of experiencing life free of the trappings of Capitalism I rolled up my sleeves and set off on one of the strangest, friendliest, easiest, safest, stunning, peaceful, inspirational, theory destroying journeys. I arrived in Havana late at night on Sunday and after delays in London and Madrid and the long queues at both Havana's customs AND bag collection, I fortuitously blagged a ride to the Hotel Nacional with a tour group of Brits. For anyone planning on going make sure you have a hotel booked and transfers sorted for your first night. I ended up in Hotel Victoria around the corner from The Nacional (Havanas crowning glory of a hotel which deserves ...

For completeness of the story I thought I would add a wee update to the Endometriosis story of September 2013. I went in for surgery on October 3rd. I should have seen it as an ominous event as when I was on the phone booking the appointment whilst sitting on the Cornish coast the man next to me had a seagull steal his Cornish Pasty! It was a swift and frighteningly successful attack, that left the nice Welshman beside me without lunch. I didn't eat for 12 hours and reported for duty at 1pm. Not to be seen by a Consultant til after 2pm. We had people coming into the day surgery looking for relatives with packed lunches which I thought was a brave move. Just so you know in future the people in day surgery have not been allowed water or food since the day before....this generally means they are cranky so eating in plain site is probably best avoided if you want to keep the NHS focused on keeping people healthy and the surgery lists on schedule. I was confused by the Consultan...

We started out in August 2005, me young, free and happy, you so experienced, vibrant and offering so much. We had a great start when I was on the bones of my bum, living in huge flat shares and eating tomato soup for months on end. We had a break in 2007 when I wanted to have my Spanish adventure, and you waited for me. We saw the highs of 2008 with flaming bottles of champagne and sports cars, abundance was embraced. We had such fun. I suppose we'll refer to that as our Heyday. Then on my birthday in 2009 things changed. You seemed to contract a little. Things got a little scary there, as we questioned our role in the world, would we ever recover from this recession, would we keep our jobs; you as the best of the best , me in the world of Finance. And will we be able to come through it together? I really tried, I got into running for you. Its something I'll always appreciate you for. We both really showed each other the town during that time. Fresh starts didn't come be...

Catching up with friends, and sharing my health situation with them (again didn't think I would be writing this on my mostly travel blog but you know, it is my story) and many have looked at me quizzically and say " oh, what's that then? ". So for the purposes of clarity I thought I would help educate my readers on Endometriosis. (Feel free to revert to Everest , The Royal Wedding or the perils of travelling solo here if you prefer my usual subject matter) something that I have discovered is widespread issue for women and goes massively undiagnosed. According to Endometriosis UK it is " a gynaecological condition where tissue similar to the lining of the womb, grows in other areas of the body, most commonly in the pelvic region. This tissue responds to hormones in the same way as the lining of the womb but with no outlet it can cause inflammation, scarring and adhesion's, leading to severe pain and many other symptoms ." And when they say pain, ...