The week before last I ran a marathon. 26.2 miles. Ok, maybe I should come clean. I didn’t run that marathon. Not the London one. And actually I didn’t run the whole thing. I walked some of it. And I also didn’t do it all in one go. It was spread out over the whole week. But, despite all that, I still completed a marathon last week. Something which before I would have doubted I could do. And if I’m really, really honest, half way through the week I was still doubting I could do it. But do it I did, and actually I’m pretty damn proud of myself as it happens. I’ve been rather quite about all ... read more
Challenging myself to Swim the Distance
Anyone who follows me on Twitter will know that one of my least favourite times of the week is taking my kids to their weekly swimming lesson. I've always considered swimming a life skill and it's also something that both of them enjoy, but boy, the whole getting them out of the pool, showered and dressed again in a cramped changing cubicle thing can drive me mad! Especially as all three of us are tired and hungry at that point. To make the whole thing somewhat more bearable though I've started using the time that they're in their lessons to try to improve my swimming and have a bit of me ... read more
Our SwimFin Summer #SwimFinSummer
I was absolutely delighted to receive an email at the start of the summer asking if Little Miss C and Master C wanted to work with SwimFin trying out their funky swimming aids. Imagine being a child and being able to swim along pretending to be a shark whilst singing the Jaws theme tune to yourself and that's exactly what SwimFin allows you to do. We saw a couple of these in action at our local leisure centre earlier in the year and all three of us just stood their open mouthed at how utterly cool they looked and I'd even gone home and done a bit of google work to find out all about them. ... read more
Review: Perfect7 Woman
When I first saw the press release about new Perfect7 Woman from Seven Seas the headline really stood out for me. What's the perfect time to think about ageing? Now, I admit that I can officially no longer say early thirties when talking about my age, and forty isn't all that far away now (yikes!) but the idea of having to think about ageing was a bit of shock to me. I know I'm getting older, but the word ageing seems to have negative connotations about it somehow. But, the truth is that I am starting to think more and more about my body, how it's doing, and what I'm doing to it, and ... read more
Baby & Child Foot Health
One of Master C's favourite books at the moment is Topsy and Tim's New Shoes. In it, as the title suggests, the twins go off to buy some new shoes with their mum, and Topsy decides that she wants a pair of pink party shoes rather than the sensible pair her mum wants her to buy. Even with the sales assistant explaining why it is important to have shoes that fit well and don't crush all your toes together it's a hard sell to get Topsy to agree. It's a scenario that I'm sure many mothers of girls have, and I know I've certainly been there with Little Miss C before. It is so, so important to ... read more
Review: Pamper Parcels
It's is exhausting being a mum. To be honest I'm finding having a four year old and a two year old more exhausting than the newborn days. There are still some sleepless nights, but there's also all the stuff that needs doing in the daytime. Masses of laundry, school homework, forms that need returning, pre-school visits to do, school run, nursery run, swimming lessons, playgroup, shopping, cleaning, school uniform to mend, school shoes to buy, the daily routine of getting through meals and bath and bed time. It can feel like an endless treadmill. Christmas just adds to the workload. There ... read more
Challenge Complete
I did it! The weather was hot, hot, hot. The sun relentless and the hills bigger and harder than I remembered them being. But I managed it. 5km round Verulamium Park, only breaking into a walk for a few seconds when the people in front of me slowed down at a narrowing in the path. I crossed the finishing line though and had a medal placed round my neck. Challenge complete. The route looped round this large park and zig-zagged up the hills towards the highest point in the park. The terrain varied from short grass, to hard paths, to long grass and even mud through the wooded areas. A large ... read more
The Color Run London 2014
The start may have been slow - 75 minutes after the published start time we finally crossed the start line! - but we did it and we had a ball. The Color Run London 2014 can most definitely be classed as well and truly done on life's list. Five km round the streets of Wembley in north London on a very hot Sunday afternoon, and every kilometre marker we passed resulted in another colour of paint being thrown at us. In the colour zones it all went a bit mad. Not only were there official paint throwers, but runners were scooping up handfuls of paint from the road and throwing it around. ... read more
Couch to 5k – so nearly there!
Yesterday's post brought two exciting packages. First my race number, and t-shirt for The Color Run which is happening THIS SUNDAY and then also my race number for the main 5km race that I'm doing in St Albans just one week later. Suddenly this is all feeling very, very real! The good news is that all my training seems to be on track. On Saturday I finished the Couch to 5k training programme with a 30 minute run (sandwiched between two 5 minute walks) at the National Trust's Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire. It was my first time running there and in away it felt strange not going ... read more
Couch to 5k – week 8 in review
The only problem I'm having with progressing in the Couch to 5k running programme is that each week the training runs are getting longer and so you have less time to squeeze other things into your week - like blogging about it! But, on the flip side I'm finding myself really looking forward to my runs more and more and even going as far as wondering if I can squeeze in extra ones. I never thought I would have been saying that nine weeks ago! So, week 8 of the couch to 5k programme is quite simple. Each of the three runs is a 5 minute warm up walk, 28 minute job and then a 5 minute cool ... read more