Upcycling

Toilet Roll packaging - who needs Paperchase?!

Awoke this morning having had a nightmare about not being organised for the craft activity stall - just what I needed! Is it not enough for it to be occupying my every waking moment?! I do however know why it happened - because I'm not organised. So the plan for the day was to do something about it. The plan for today was also to run five and a half miles.

Up and out my bed, looking out the window at the beautiful morning, it was without a doubt, perfect running weather but I decided not to go. Two reasons: my legs felt tight after yesterday and I didn't think running on them today would be the best move; and secondly it's Al's last day of his holiday and I wanted to spend as much of the day with him as possible so opted for a dog walk together instead of a run.

Back home and brunch eaten this just left the small matter of craft activities to get my head round.  I have sorted through the box of materials given to me by the lady at the pub, and have discovered there are over a hundred pill boxes for decoration - what more could anyone want? Small fiddly and time consuming got to be worth a pound?! I then made a couple of pillow boxes out of toilet roll tubes. I'm really rather pleased with these although there are significantly less of these to decorate (any local readers please save what you can between now and Saturday!).

What I'm less convinced about it my ability to find things to do with the pre-schoolers! Talking it over yesterday post parkrun (what will we find to talk about once this is all over?) the advice is to just give them some stuff and let them get on with it. I think this is why I didn't spend hours doing crafting activities with the boys when they were young - I'm fine as long as they were doing what I wanted them to do, but way too much of a control freak to cope when they wanted to do their own thing! I think I am in for a very rude awakening if I think anyone's going to follow my step by step instructions next weekend!

I have Etsy news! Someone unknown to me has 'favourited' my peg bag! Discussion over brunch as to where this sits in the list... the boys put it above a sale from someone I know but below a sale from someone I don't, Al puts it below a sale from someone I know, which is below a sale from someone I don't, because money hasn't actually changed hands.  He then squeezes a bit more air out of my already burst bubble by suggesting that perhaps she has 'favourited' it so that I will then go and look at her stuff and perhaps I should do the same with some random people.

I'm holding on to the hope that perhaps she was in fact looking for a peg bag and liked what she saw and maybe just maybe will come back to buy it later!

M - 618
HM - 175
Glasgow - 35
Total Distance covered  213.1 miles

And it's Hi Ho Silver Lining

... my sun is definitely shining today!

I was the second lady home at parkrun, all by myself, no help from anyone else, the silver medal is at last rightfully mine (at least for this week!).

I am not sure what made this morning different from the past few Saturday's, I didn't know when I started off that I was going to be able to knock over a minute off last week's time, to be fair I wasn't even that convinced whilst I was running, the only thing I can put it down to was the lure of metal!

I should point out to any new readers that this is entirely fictional and only in my head as there is no medal ceremony nor do I ever hear anyone else talk about it - but it was enough to spur me on once I'd realised it was within my sights.  Having worked out there were only two women in front of me and I was gaining on the nearer, I decided to go for it and overtake. Not recognising her I had no idea if she was going to come flying past at the end so I really tried to get some distance between us to limit her chances. Running up the hill for the last time I could hear some feet coming up fast and despite my best sprint finish I couldn't hold them off - but was ever so slightly relieved to discover they belonged to a male parkrunner and crossed the finish line ahead of my nearest female contender. She congratulated me afterwards on my run and said that she'd been trying but just couldn't catch me - I didn't tell her that that was the plan!

So for all my weeks of disappointment I am basking in the wonder of parkrun euphoria and have already decided not to run next week so it can last a fortnight!

This may have something to do with the fact that next week would be my fiftieth run and I'm not sure I want it to coincide with Gazebo Hell! There are also a couple of my close friends missing next week, so I think I might postpone the 'pleasure' of running round the parkrun course till the weekend after, when I will have the time to retire to the cafe afterwards for some much earned cake!

M - 619
HM - 176
Glasgow - 36
Distance covered              3.1 miles
Total Distance covered  213.1 miles

Pipe Cleaners and Pom Pom's

Let's hope it leads to another Blue Peter totaliser day! 

My new Garmin has arrived (or at least a newly refurbished one) I really want to get started setting myself some goals on my Garmin Connect page (and possibly even a training plan!), but so far all I've managed to do is put it on charge and at this rate I'll be lucky if I've even got it set up before parkrun in the morning.

I went to see the festival lady today - I don't think loom bands are going to cut it! Her colleague has brought in a huge box of craft stuff, they are busy collecting toilet roll tubes, and are - I think - expecting me to do something rather creative with them, oh dear! On my way home I call in to Tesco with C and am somewhat taken aback to find a 'Go Create' Eco Craft set making bugs out of egg boxes - perhaps my ideas aren't so off the boil after all!

The trouble is I need to order some other bits and pieces to turn my recycled items into something more interesting, but haven't as yet been able to bring myself to do this. I am so disillusioned and somewhat out of pocket by my failed attempt to make anything that people want to buy on Etsy (and they were things that I thought were nice) that I am reluctant to spend more money only to be left with a pile of pipe cleaners, pom poms and googly eyes if next week doesn't draw any interest from the festival goers. But I can delay no longer and so have placed a few tentative orders along with requests for speedy delivery as there is now a chance that they won't get here on time.

I sense a busy week ahead preparing - just as everyone goes back to school and I'm left without Al's help and the boys occasional company! I'm finding it all a little overwhelming and I just hope that it's worth it in the long run.

Talking of which (ha! ha!) five and a half mile route to find for Sunday - looks like I'd better stop writing this and get on with sorting my Garmin!

M - 620
HM - 177
Glasgow - 37
Total Distance covered  210 miles
Exercises fallen by the wayside along with my 'no exercises - no blog policy!

Loom Bands

Do I really have to go there?!


My energy levels don't seem to be improving! It's half past nine and I've just woken up from snoozing on the sofa in front of the TV. In my defense it's been a long day. Supermarket, back to school shopping, and a run - but thankfully no ice! The trouble is, I was supposed to be going to see the lady from the pub that is organising the music festival next weekend to discuss my crafty come and have a go stall.

I think I am in denial about it.  There are small signs that something is afoot - we have an egg box mountain in the kitchen and toilet roll tubes being stored in random places around the house.  What I haven't quite decided yet is what to do with them! Sitting outside the cafe after parkrun on Saturday the consensus of opinion seems to be that I should abandon all ideas of egg box caterpillars, ladybirds and spiders and just do loom bands.

I am very grateful that this whole craze has passed me by and I haven't had to have anything to do with it -yet! It is therefore somewhat reluctantly that I find myself buying a packet this morning with the intention of going on YouTube and seeing if I can work them out before next Saturday - but as yet the packet has remained unopened, discarded in the dining room and is just another visual clue that something's up.

Talking to the lady in the shop this morning, the craze is apparently on it's way out (which I guess is why everywhere is selling them off so cheaply) so perhaps I don't have to go there at all - maybe retro crafts and egg box animals is the way forward after all!

My run this afternoon was hard work, but I couldn't face any of the tidying up or other jobs that needed doing and the thought that I if I ran I wouldn't have to do my exercises was enough to get me out the door!

Just had an email to let me know that my replacement Garmin is on it's way, looking forward to getting to grips with the new website and planning some new routes - anything to avoid having to think about next weekend!

M - 621
HM - 178
Glasgow - 38
Distance covered           4.2 miles
Total Distance covered  210 miles

PS Happy Birthday G! And Happy Birthday yesterday parkrunfastfinisher!

Ice Bucket Challenge Day

For Motor Neurone Disease and WaterAid.

What has happened to me?! First thing this morning I see a post from Fellow Parkrunner referencing some hill and speed work training she has done last night and I can't help myself but to feel envious!

I have not been able to leave my need for speed behind and I am really struggling with this. It is so hard watching my friends get stronger and faster and want to be going there with them. The fact that I ran five miles yesterday and have no pain as a result is a huge step forward, yet it isn't enough to override my feelings of wanting to chase down my PB over 5K.

Talking it over with Al (who wasn't able to run yesterday after sustaining a skateboarding injury on Monday - but is perhaps the coolest Uncle his nephew could hope for!), I have decided that it has been too long since I passed any kind of milestone and I need to set myself a new interim goal, something to aim for that is distance related.

I think it is time to revisit a desire I had way back at the beginning to run a particular seven mile route and set myself a reasonable time frame for doing it. So here goes -
Sunday 21 September is now Seven Miles Sunday!

Today however, was my Motor Neurone Disease Ice Bucket Challenge day! Thank you very much Mrs Motivator! It was very cold, and having delighted in pouring cold water over H a few days ago there was no way I was going to get away with anything less than the three buckets I subjected him to!

I spent a lot of the morning walk with Al this morning trying to see if there was anything I could do to tie this in with my fundraising for Water Aid.  We did consider the warm bucket challenge for Sid (he's too old for cold) he would have sat there no problem and not hated us forever (unlike Dougal) but decided in the end it was just too cruel, I then thought of some ice cream eating challenge for both dogs to see if they licked or wolfed down an ice cream cone down but weren't happy feeding them ice cream - besides which we already kind of know the answer - Dougal's would be a very short video! In the end we settled for Dougal's ice cube challenge, for which I will donate £1 to WaterAid for each catch! (thanks for the slo mo editing C)

Later on this afternoon we were watching various celebrity challenges on YouTube when we came across Matt Damon's. A co-founder of Water.org he took the opportunity to raise awareness of the fact that 800 million people don't have access to clean drinking water, and 2.4 billion people don't have adequate sanitation by tipping a bucket of water filled from his toilet to emphasis the point that our toilet water is cleaner than some people's drinking water.

Oh how glad am I that I didn't see this until after I'd done mine!

M - 622
HM - 179
Glasgow - 39
Total Distance covered  205.8 miles
Exercises done

Arpeggios

Even the word sounds nicer than squats!*

Determined to have a better day after feeling so lousy yesterday, I set the alarm and got out early for my run. Decided on a five mile route and am relatively happy with how it went, although marginally disappointed around the three mile mark when I really thought I had found my stride and was starting to pick up speed, only to discover when I turned the corner that it had had far more to do with the wind being behind me for once than anything I was doing, as without it I was back to my usual form!

Home, showered and riding high on an adrenaline rush it became apparent that my 'lets get up and get out early' plans had  been replaced with 'lets have a pyjama morning' by everyone but me - only one thing for it a four mile walk around the woods with the dogs.

Had a lovely time, and met a really nice woman who may just become my piano teacher! Eh?! Long story - the walk took us a while - but apparently it's on my list of things I'd like to do and not for the first time I'm left wondering why a) marathon running bubbled to the surface first and b) why I didn't try to compile an actual list and then prioritise them so that I could be sitting working my way through scales and arpeggios rather than squats and lunges!

It's isn't however until I'm driving home that the reality of my present predicament hits me. I have just run five miles and walked four. To reach half marathon distance I would have had to set off round the woods and do my entire walk again! This is too far! The second blow comes a while later (you'd think with the clue in the word half it might have hit me sooner) if one run and two circuits of the wood is a half marathon.... 

M - 623
HM - 180 (said in your best darts commentary voice)
Glasgow - 40
Distance covered              5.2 miles
Total Distance covered  205.8 miles

* (and the Italian for squats - accovacciarsi sounds too nice for something so hideous!)

Sleepy

But hoping for a change in fortune tomorrow!

Aside from having his company for six weeks, one of the major perks of Al having a long summer holiday is that I don't have to walk the dogs, that is until this morning.  I am therefore a little taken aback when I do venture out with them to discover that it feels more like winter than August Bank Holiday Monday!

It's a ghastly day, the sort that makes you want to stay indoors and light the fire, we've more or less managed the first but have stopped short of going as far as the second, if only because we think the logs need to stand a while longer and the chimney hasn't been swept (although in fairness if there was wood I'd have risked the chimney!).

Yesterday's post has resulted in words of encouragement from Fellow Parkrunner about hanging on in there and focusing on the positive. I can't help but think that would have been so much easier if the sun had been shining! I need to get back out there and run and give myself something to feel positive about, I think I'm about to talk myself into an early morning run.

I want to enjoy the freedom of running - especially as my Garmin has been sent back for repair so I won't be able to track my pace or time. It hasn't been a day for going out, but by the same token I'm feeling a little cooped up and I just want to head out on the open road and run.

I think that's decision made, and as a statement of intent I am going to go and sort my kit when I've finished writing this, before I talk myself out of it!

We've had a nice time with Al's brother and family although I'm not sure how impressed they are with the weather that Yorkshire has to offer today, or the energy levels of their hosts!

C's back! (More than a little bit pleased to have him home!).

M - 624
HM - 181
Glasgow - 41
Total Distance covered  200.6 miles
Exercises not done - but I didn't want to overdo it having walked the dogs!