Stop the Traffik is an amazing charity who work to fight to prevent the sale of people, protect the victims and prosecute the traffickers.

 

They are based in countries around the world including the UK, India, Australia, Belgium, USA and Bangla

desh and all money raised through my 10k will go toward the Global Fund. Stop the Traffik will make sure that funding tackles root causes such as poverty and gender

 discrimination amongst the most vulnerable groups, targets early intervention and rescue, safe houses, good options for either going home and building a new life, or if that is too dangerous, finding a new place to live and work or study. Finally, the fund will help frontline professionals follow through on prosecuting traffickers and seeing that this does not remain a crime with high benefits and low costs.

Some more information taken from the Stop the Traffik official website:

• TRAFFICKING IS...
  to be deceived or taken against your will, bought, sold and transported into slavery for sexual exploitation, sweat shops, child brides, circuses, sacrificial worship, forced begging, sale of human organs, farm labour, domestic servitude.
• TRAFFICKING IS…
  where family members and friends deceive parents to release their children or sell themfor as little as $20 each, selling them on to local gangmasters or serious organised international trafficking rings.
• TRAFFICKING IS…
  growing. 2–4 MILLION men, women and children are trafficked across borders and within their own country every year. More than one person is trafficked across borders EVERY MINUTE, which is equivalent to five jumbo jets every day. a trade that earns twice as much worldwide revenue as Coca Cola.
• TRAFFICKING IS…
  where victims usually suffer repeated physical abuse, fear, torture and threats to families to break their spirits and turn them into saleable commodities. a person can be sold and trafficked many times.

Stop the Traffik focuses on 3 main areas:

• Education: Spreading the message, creating awareness and understanding of people trafficking.  
• Advocacy: When people act things change. Engaging with those who have the power to minimise the trafficking of people. 
• Fundraising: Financing anti-trafficking work around the world working with those vulnerable to and those who have been trafficked.

We have to work together to fight to prevent the sale of people, protect the victims and prosecute the traffickers.

we are SO in the running groove!!

today ladies and gents, i found my groove!!! not on the dancefloor, for that groove was unleashed many years ago, but on the streets!!! today i ran 8km!!! in just about an hour!!! and i feel amazing!! admittedly a little achy now, but so worth it!! Lady Gaga had been replaced by Chris and after a difficult start with crampy legs, visit to the loo after about 15 mins, and a giant blister, i persevered and found my running groove!! a nirvana state which i had heard talk of from experienced runners but never imagined i would ever attain myself!!

yet here we are! happy sigh!! and lots of these!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

what is the secret i hear u all ask!! well, once u push thru the leg crampy pain, get your breathing under control and work thru the barrier which tends to hit at around 23 mins, u just keep running! and running... and running! usually 35 mins is my average, i have managed 45 on a couple of occassions but this evening we were out for 68 minutes! including toilet break in the park (in the public toilets, please note, not behind a tree!!) and a couple of pauses to shake off cramp/ cross the busy road/ make up an excuse so i could pause for breath!! and once in the groove i discovered it is actually possible to hold a conversation whilst running, something i have attempted and failed at many times! oh the joy! no need to temporarily withhold my thoughts any longer (altho i suspect chris may have been enjoying some welcome peace!)!

and incase u are wondering, or have read previous blog where i mentioned that i was going to be doing this as a sponsored run, i am indeed raising some awareness and funds for a very worthy cause! See blog above this for more details!! :)

run into the ground!

after today's run i feel officially terrible! disgusting really. sore. achy. trembly. too weak to get off the couch and into the shower. to even move and get a much-needed glass of water. i think last week's craziness has got to me. spring harvest. 7200 guests. 55 stewards. 8am start and 1am bed. non-stop activity, cheerfulness and enthusiasm. it's finally got the better of me!

moan. about running. moan.

that is all.

(disclaimer: a more positive blog can be anticipated shortly- in the meantime let me encourage u to visit my 10k race sponsor page for a most worthy cause! and to make this wretched pain worthwhile!!)

Barcelona!

such a beautiful city! despite the rain we had a wonderful weekend wandering the streets (yes, i think we covered every street!), soaking up the culture, taking in the architecture, visiting real places of interest and enjoying some delicious local cuisine! our wonderful hosts are extremely familiar with the city and we were treated to an impressive tour, complete with history, places of interests and unusual wee coffee shops and stores we probably never would have found ourselves!we were cooked a fabulous dinner on the Friday evening, complete with delicious cocktails and a Brazilian recipe cake for Chris's birthday!! After a leisurely morning we became familiar with the transport system (genius, you can travel on any bus, train, fenicular, etc and go as far as u like, changing as often as u like for up to 1 hour 15 mins and it only counts as one single!!) our stroll along the beach became a race to get to the cafe at the end due to the monsoon style rain and wind we were out in! after drying off a little we walked to the Sagrada Familia- having seen it 6 year ago i was impressed at how much work had been done on it since then, altho it is still not completed! 

the afternoon was spent wandering the

 streets of the Gothic Quarter, popping into very cute shops and being given an unofficial Shadow of the Wind (one of my favourite books, set in Barcelona!)

tour which had me most enthralled! the evening took us to one of the nicest restaurants i have ever been in, the food was outstanding, very healthy and the atmosphere was just lovely! over there it's considered normal to go out for dinner at like, 9pm earliest, with happy hour in bars from 10pm- midnight!! so we were very happy by midnight, especially visiting the Fairy Forest bar, complete with a actual trees, twinkly lights and a wee pond!!

the following day we wandered down to the Marina, explored the shops, 

tried some Spanish snacks and then caught the fenicular up the mountain to Parc Montjuic where we then took a cable car to the top!! here we had a luvly time at Montjuic castle, dating back to 1640! our weekend was complete with a final wander down Las Ramblas, the main street in the city where there are countless cafes, market stalls, artists and street performers! when we visited Barcelona in 2003 we stayed in a rooftop youth hostel on Las Ramblas which was basically a small rooftop sauna with bunkbeds and a sliding door- most unusual! our journey 

home was uneventful and whilst i was sad to leave the beautiful city behind i am now happily anticipating our return there in the summer! taster weekends are SO the way forward!!

first 5k complete!

i feel knackered, accomplished and rather pleased with myself!

i was excited at being able to run for 43 mins today, was pleased that i'd actually done my first ever 5k run, but will now need to work on bringing the time down and the distance up for the actual 10k, or this race could take me a while!! actually, my initial aim was to actually just complete the race, then i began thinking ok, if i can do it in 1 hour 15 that'll be good, now i might aim for 1 hour 10!!!

however, i feel having started from a level of 0% fitness with week 1 involving having to run 2 mins, walk 2 mins 5 times, being able to run for this long is a bit of a miracle!!

see, miracles happen! :)

new tunes!!!

i am havin such a luvly nite exploring music! thanx to some top tip-offs from musically-inclined mates i have been enjoying the likes of Bon Iver, The Kills, Holly Golightly, and discovered a website 4AD which has a bunch of bands and musicians and includes a free sampler album you can download! there is a nice sounding band called It Hugs Back who's song Work Day is fairly cheery and easy to listen to!

Tickets for the Wee Chill music festival go on sale soon, and Camera Obscura are playing king tuts this month along with Attic Lights which should be a good nite all in! :) they recently filmed the video for their new single in Stereo, and were looking for folk to come and be in it! unfortunately i couldn't round up the troops at short notice so missed a good wee free gig!

and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs new album, It's Blitz,  just came out- i'm excited! i'm holding off til i can get the actual cd in Fopp tomoro, but couldn't resist downloading their single 'Zero' which i LoVe!!

so, there's some links to keep u all entertained!

another step forward!

ok, i'v finally done it and registered for the women's 10k! there's no backing out now as £23 of my well-earned cash has now secured my place at the start line! my training is fairly varied, ranging from 20 mins of feeling horrendous and wanting to crawl, to actually being able to run for 32 mins and feeling pretty good! i'v discovered the worst time for me is straight after work when i'm already tired after a long day! unfortunately that is the best time as it fits in my day! so we're pushing on through!

however, there is a potential *disasterous* clash- my X factor audition has also been registered but here's the bad news- round one is on Sat 9th May and if i just so happen to make it to round two i will have to choose between running the 10k or the possibility of stardom, fame and fortune (really the huge tempter is getting to possibly meet Simon and Cheryl!!!!!).

Dilemma! however, i think we'll just cross that bridge IF and when we come to it!!