Fabulous Mother-in-Law's first 10K

My Fabulous Mother-in-Law did her first 10K race today at the Dartmoor Vale Races - a very creditable 70:27. She was 7th in her age/gender group.

I'm really impressed - her running is so good and I'm so pleased that she's continuing after her achievement at Race for Life earlier this year.

I'll blog the activity I've done this weekend later on - just wanted to focus on her achievement first& exclusively!

From a very selfish perspective, it's lovely to be able to talk running with her & even lovelier being able to run with her. I'm very lucky to have such a Fabulous Mother-in-Law!

It's Too Late Baby...

How I should have listened last night when Husband queried whetehr I really wanted more chocolate cake instead of responding by really really wanting the second slice! I managed to sleep, but woke up still feeling over full at 6:15am - not right on a Sunday! B, J & Kitty came over for food - it was great to be able to eat so much allotment produce! Aformentioned chocolate cake had raspberries, Kitty brought some fab blackcurrant ripple ice cream, green beans, new potatoes, beetroot..... not quite enough tomatoes ripe yet though (I keep eating as I pick 'em!).

Anyway, momentous news - Kitty has completed her level 3 C&G Embroidery course! 3 years of intensive work with really impressive output. She's used the course as an opportunity to learn how to make corsets and shoes and I really admire how she treats embroidery as a media for her art as opposed to making pieces to simply show off her stitching.

Her impressive "no short cuts" work ethic has meant that we haven't seen much of her recently - apart to emerge occaisionally from her studio (aka craft cave) looking a tad preoccupied - Goldfish is looking forward to having his wife back! From a very selfish perspective, I'm hoping for lots of high quality chats-while-mountain-biking with Kitty as well as with C & X. She's also mentioned she might be up for some gentle jogging. Yay!

Back to exercise - another train trip on Friday meant an extra 20mins cycling and a very little walking. I went to Bedzed to "supervise" some filming for a DVD (i.e. I did the irritating client bit). Very interesting place - especially as people are able to live & work there sustainably. Interesting to compare/contrast with CAT - same principles, but Bioregional's output works in London commuter belt successfully as opposed to living in an eco rural idyll.....

My Fabulous Mother In Law

Torquay this weekend - my Fabulous Mother In Law had signed up to do the Race for Life on Sunday & I'd offered to join her.

Very relaxed day on Saturday - just a bit of gentle walking in glorious sunshine at Cockington. I skipped my beach hut jog as we would be running the next day.

My Fabulous Mother In Law was very nervous pre race - as was her buddy L with whom she'd trained. Photo was taken during the warm up.

Having established that I'm a (comparatively!) seasoned Race-4-Lifer and that I could talk whilst running, both of them said they'd rather I ran with them to help them complete the 5K. This mostly consisted of checking our pace frequently, attempting to get them to slow down a tad & using the simple technique of "if you can't tell me that you are OK, we are slowing down until you can tell me you are OK"! They both looked really comfortable & strong throughout. I was nervous that I was irritating them both so shut up - only to be told "start talking - you're helping us keep going" - I quite liked playing coach.

Right at the end, R was flagging a tad so L & I grabbed her hands & we went over the finish line together - brilliant moment.

And the time was 34:28. R has never run before - she is fit thanks to yoga & lots of walking, but runnng is a little different (she did train!). Her motivation was to raise money for Cancer Research as her friend is undergoing chemo atm.

Husband acted as our photographer and my Fabulous Father In Law came to support - as did many of R's buddies.

I'm so impressed with R! To finish the race was an achievement - to finish in under 35 mins was incredible. I enjoyed running with her & I'm really looking forward to jogging with her in the future.

Happy Birthday Middle Sister!

I am a rubbish big sister - sorted out J's pressie 2 weeks ago but failed miserably to post her card. J is ace at squeezing stuff into her schedule - she has a my gorgeous 2 year old nephew D and works part time as a teacher - not an undemanding combination! She finds running works well for her - she's notched up more than respectable times at the Manchester 10K over the last few years and has been great at encouraging others to do more - me included. Her husband & her are both keen walkers - but are switching their allegiance to cycling & kayaking as D's at the age where he's too big to stick in a baby rucksack thing but too small to walk far!

Skating yesterday went quite well - I got a rare "well done" from the instructor for my reverse snow plough stop. The more tricky moves are feeling more within reach now.

Running from work was a success in terms of numbers but not in terms of route. We have great new offices in a location that's easy to drive to but not easy to run from! So next week, we are considering driving into the Forest & doing some trails.

My Littlest Sister D

I'm going to write some more focussed blog postings as I'd like to talk about people who've inspired me to become more active.

Starting off with:My Littlest Sister D
D is 6 years younger than me & is Mum to 2 young children, my fabulous niece A and nephew J. She juggles some especially demanding childcare challenges with a new role working as a youth worker, supporting her husband S with the family business and giving over time to her friends and her faith. She has an amazingly "now" approach to life that I love. A few months ago, she discovered the Bad Mothers Club & started a brilliant blog charting her progress in getting into a beautiful dress for our Middle Sister's wedding - which she achieved with aplomb.D's blog made me realise that blogging could work for me in terms of tracking progress. That she was able to find the time and energy to fit exercise into her routine made me realise that my excuses were miniscule by comparison! D's always acted quickly on her ideas which seems to make them more likely to happen - something I've tried to learn from. I also love the way that she throws enthusiasm into everything - even bad days on her blog are written up with her distinctive sense of humour - much use of boooooo and rah.