Run - running in Greece

It's hard to believe, sitting here on a grey day in a hoodie and trousers, that 10 days ago I was running on this beach under this blue sky.

This is the first time ever that I've managed to run consistently on holiday. Luckily there were a couple of easy(-ish) short running routes from or villa so I managed a run most mornings - sometimes it was only a couple of miles, occasionally it was 4 or 5 miles, but most importantly I did it.  It made me feel fit and energized on holiday, and it's making me feel brilliant now I'm back home as every run I've done so far since getting back has been really enjoyable.

Run - grey and cloudy

It's been a while. No real reasons - a bit of a loss of blogging desire, a touch of extra-busy work and home life, a dash of an amazing 2 week holiday (that already feels so long ago despite only returning at the weekend).

But I think I'd like to try and get back to creating a snapshot - literal and metaphorical - of my running, crafting, cooking or reading day. I will also play catch up and add some scenes from my holiday and other stuff I've been up to over the last couple of months - I think my blog works for me if it's a place to store odd memories and thoughts, and there are things from the last few months I'd like to remember.

First up, this is roughly the halfway point on my run yesterday. After 2 weeks of sunny seaside runs in Greece it was a bit of a shock to run through mud and puddles down to the sea, under a cloudy grey sky. But my (very short) hilly hot holiday runs must have had a beneficial effect as I actually had a great run - my legs felt light, it was lovely and cool and the grey sea still made my heart sing.  There will be (many) pictures from my holiday runs in the next few days, but for the moment I'm happy to be back running here.

Run - summer running

I haven't managed to take any running photos recently, although I've stepped back up to 4 runs a week over the last couple of weeks - I think the lack of photos is because I'm mainly running with friends at the moment, and I'm a bit shy about whipping my phone out to take a snap. But I did manage to take a quick photo on our morning long run yesterday - it really was glorious.

I know I bang on about how much I love running in the countryside - but, oh, I do love running through fields like these. And through woods, and along river paths, and past amazingly grand houses and historical churches - it really makes me feel connected to the landscape. Summer is in full swing now and we're spending a lot of time running along narrow paths through crops up to our waists - such a change from a few weeks ago.  And it won't be long before the crops are harvested and the fields ploughed up, but I'm not sad about the coming of autumn as it means new landscapes to look at, new smells and sounds to take in. Yes, I really do love running in the countryside. 

Run - craft - read - cook : a bit of everything

A minor technological fail, a few other real-life distractions and do you know what? It's suddenly 3 weeks since I last blogged.  I have been doing a bit of this and that, but not really enough of anything, it feels.

Despite running along seafronts and through exciting gates, it feels like my running is on a bit of a back burner at the moment.  I really want this to change so I'm trying to schedule runs with friends to make myself feel obliged to go out - fingers crossed it works.

Crafting is currently all about crochet - I'm on a desperate mission to finish the enormous blanket by next Friday. I think it can be done if I focus really really hard ... I'm on the border (the swatch in the photo) and it's looking ok but taking ages to do each round now the blanket's so big. And there are STILL about 50 ends to sew in - booo

Reading is happening (a bit)  ... The Goldfinch was such an epic read that I had to take a little breather for a while, but I'm just finishing off  The Summer Book by Tove Jansson, which is absolutely lovely (I will blog about it properly when I've finished reading it).

Cooking is actually something I've been doing a bit more of.  I was very inspired by Angel Jem to do some proper meal planning and make more use of recipe books, and it's been going ok. Despite the photographic evidence, we've been surviving on more than luridly pink marshmallow cakes, but this was a recipe I made with my youngest who thoroughly enjoys both the process and outcome of cooking. I will try and share some of the meals that have been popular in my house as I always find food inspiration very helpful (and meal planning quite laborious). Recently I've cooked a few dishes from Nigella Express : Croque Monsieur Bake, Rapid Ragu and Quick Chilli (not on the website) have all been surprisingly successful in our house.

So - I'm not sure what exactly led to my blogging hiatus - I think it's just very hard to get started again after losing the momentum.  But I'm going to really try and keep going this time - off to check comments and have a good catch up with some of my favourite blogs now to keep me inspired.

Run - running through the seasons

A few weeks ago this field was bare earth, and it was hard to see where the footpath should go across the mud.

Now there are bean plants nearly up to my knees, and a neatly worn path leads the way through the field from the gate on one side to a little hole in the hedge on the other.  For me, the rhythm of paths being ploughed over and remade as the seasons change is one of the (many, many) pleasures of running in the countryside.

Run - fun running

Another race today - this time a local 10k which goes through the local countryside that I do most of my training runs in.  I worked out that we must have been coming to this event as a family for the last 10 years - I think it was the second race I ever did after I started running.  Some years I've run the 10k, some years I've run the 2k fun run with one of my children, some years I've run both. I've even run it when 7 months pregnant! Today was very special as my daughter and I ran her first 10k together - I'm so pleased it was this race that she chose to run.

We had such a lovely race - the weather was great, the event was even better organised than usual with a great route (the route has changed several times over the last 10 years but I think it's now the best route), helpful marshals, all-important chip timing which proved it took us a minute or so to cross the start line (and so our official time was under an hour - hurrah!). I'm really proud of the way my daughter tackled the race and dug deep when she needed to - and most importantly we enjoyed running together, so fingers crossed we'll be racing together again. Oh, and there was a very enticing bbq at the end.  What's the point of racing if you can't have a treat afterwards?

Run - morning running

This morning I managed to go for a rare pre-work run. I'm really not a morning person, and didn't get out quite as early as I hoped, but I managed to fit in 35 mins round my local woods.  They're really close to where I live but I often run through them to get to other places, rather than in them.  Because I was very time limited I decided to see how far a run round the outer perimeter would be.  All went well until one of the paths I was following got narrower and narrower and finally became an overgrown mess of brambles and nettles.  A few stings and scratches later I emerged into this field.

As I scrambled over the stile and found my way back to the proper path, I realised how lucky I am both to have this on my doorstep and to have the time to squeeze in a short run. I've been stuck at my desk for the rest of the day, but I'm still feeling a little bit smug that I missed all the rain that's now pouring down and made the most of the lovely early morning. A great way to start the day and I'm really going to make an effort to run before work more often.

Run - another stately pile

I do like the fact that public rights of way in England allow anyone access to all sorts of exciting places.  A few days ago I got to run through the grounds of this stately home:

It was with my running group and I'm not sure we stayed strictly to the proper paths - but no-one told us off, and it does make an interesting change to be running somewhere like this. Back to the woods for today's run though - although they're my usual stomping ground it's lovely to see how they change through the seasons, and the bluebells are still looking particularly splendid.

Run - music

I very very rarely run with headphones, and  when I do I tend to listen to  podcasts or audiobooks. Sometimes I'm reminded why I prefer to run without a soundtrack.

A couple of days ago I ran out to see the bluebells in daylight. In the little south facing copse where the bluebells always flower earliest, I stood and listened after I'd taken a photo. At least seven different birds were singing (I'm no good at identifying birdsong so I have no idea what they were), and bees and hoverflies were gently buzzing . It was a lovely moment and made me really appreciate the sounds of nature.

Run - running into the sunset

My running group usually meets at 7.45pm and it's such a treat that we're now able to run (mostly) in the light.  The purpose of tonight's run was to find all the newly opened bluebells - it was too dark in the woods to take any pictures but they look and smell glorious already. I'm going to try and run again in the bluebell woods in the daylight later this week.

I also didn't quite manage to take a picture of the sunset - we emerged from the woods and ran across this field just seconds too late to capture it.  But it was so lovely to see all the new green growth in the field, and the slightly wiggly path. This path is re-formed every year after the field is ploughed, just from walkers and runners wearing it down and compacting the earth over the winter, so when the crops come through there's an obvious way across.  I love how it illustrates the passing of the seasons.

Oh, and we ran just under 6 miles, which was very pleasing for those of us on marathon-recovering legs.

Run - recovery

This is the view on my first post-marathon run on Friday - I was  lucky that the weather was perfect, I was able to run by the sea and my legs felt normal!  Still need to (literally!) tread carefully for a couple of weeks but I'm still so pleased with how the marathon went.  Time to look for a few more (shorter) events to put in the calendar, I think.

Run - normal legs

Although I've run a few marathons, it's always a surprise after the race when my legs don't feel like they belong to me for a few days. I think of myself as reasonably fit and healthy, but post marathon my joints creak, I stiffen up after sitting still for a few minutes, and stairs are an incredible challenge (to the amusement of my children). Post marathon, my feet seem to be fine, but the rest of me needs a few day to remember how to work properly.

Luckily the amazing after-glow of having running 26.2 miles is lasting a bit longer than the physical discomfort.  This probably isn't my last marathon-themed post as it feels like a big achievement, both mentally and physically, even though it was my 5th marathon. It's very hard to explain to someone who hasn't run anything of a similar distance, but the amount of training and preparation involved is immense, so when it all goes to plan it creates a truly fantastic feeling.

It's also quite draining, so I haven't felt like blogging for a few days - hope to get back on track over the weekend as I'm really looking forward to catching up with lots of blogs I've missed.

Run - a long day

We were up at 5.45 for porridge and last minute bag checking, on the road at 6.30 and only got home around 7pm. A long day - but I did it! I ran the Brighton marathon in lovely sunshine with some great companions. As marathons go, it was one of the best!

Off to bed now as I'm exhausted - and no more running for a while till my legs feel normal!

Craft - calming the nerves

II may have mentioned once or twice that I've been training for a big event. Well, tomorrow sees the culmination of all the training as I will be running the Brighton marathon, so before I head off for an early night I've been making a start on my new project as a distraction from all the nervousness.

It's the Lily Pond Crochet Along from Stylecraft. I'm very much looking forward to seeing it grow and progress as the new patterns are released every fortnight.

Run - slowly, slowly

Just a few gentle miles with my running group this evening to keep things ticking over till Sunday.  But it was still exciting as we were off road! In daylight! At 7.30pm! I am looking forward to a lovely summer of evening runs with no marathon to stress about (although I may have already been thinking about signing up for a couple of smaller races in mind - just to provide some focus, obviously).

Run - rights of way

One of my (many, many) favourite things about running is being able to run off-road on tracks and footpaths. Because a lot of footpaths are legal rights of way, we get to run in some amazing locations.

Today I stopped to stretch out my calves a couple of miles into my run, while standing on an ornate stone bridge overlooking this view.  The rest of the run (8 miles in total - last 'long' run before the marathon!) was just as lovely, as were the post-run hot cross buns and cups of tea with my running friends.

Happy Easter!

Run - last run in the dark

Hurrah! Now the clocks have changed, our evening runs after Easter should be in the light, or at least the twilight. I love the first runs of late spring / early summer, especially as the bluebells will be blooming and we might catch a sunset every so often.

But back to this evening's run - a lovely 6 miles with my running group, including a decent amount of tempo running - with another mile from running to and from our meeting place, so 7 miles altogether. Apart from 8-10 miles at the weekend, all my runs this week and next week will be around 4 miles. Except for the 12th April, when hopefully the trainers in the photo will look after me for 26 miles.

Run - spotted

My run today was hard, heavy-legged plodding. I had to keep reminding myself that I felt like this a couple of weeks ago and then had a great long run this week - better to get the bad runs out of the way now. One of the reasons it was so hard was due to running solo - I love running with others because its so social, and the chat is a welcome distraction from thinking about how heavy my legs are, or wondering if I need to stop for a wee.

But running alone does have the advantage of being able to stop where I like, especially if I see something worth photographing.  These lovely little flowers (I think they're dog violets) were hidden among the foliage at the side of the path I was running down - I was very pleased to have spotted them (not just for their distraction qualities).

Run - last long run

21 miles done! The last long run of my marathon plan is out the way - now it's just a gentle taper till the 12th April.

We ran along the canal again - this is the midway point, looking deceptively cloudy although the majority of the run took place in lovely sunny (but not too hot) weather.  Really relieved to have got this done - just hoping taper madness doesn't strike too hard over the next 3 weeks.

Run - second day of spring

Another day, another run. 9 miles in the morning, reasonable weather, ok pace. Just counting down the days now really (with one very big run to go - hopefully on Monday).

Spring isn't really springing quite yet in the local countryside, although a bit further on there was a lot more greenery.  I do love these browns - the browns of spring feel fresher than those in autumn, maybe it's the different light? Or maybe the earth is ploughed differently? Whatever the reason, pondering this sort of thing is a great distraction while running.