Racing!

I did another race a few days ago. Was lots of fun, here's some photos from my day

I booked this 10K ages ago. I think it is a good job I didn't see this in advance!

The rain definitely fell, and fell and fell and fell.

Hiding in the car while I wait for the race to start...

Starting to wonder if this is actually a good idea?

Once I was over the finish line I definitely was pleased I ran though :-) The rainbow arch was the finish line.

And when I got home the girls had made me trophies :-)

Racing!

I have not blogged for ages, an in a departure from the norm thought I'd do a post about myself!

I am still running and still loving it. I've always wanted to race but really struggled to find one that fits into life (isn't too far away/too late/means missing church on a Sunday) but recently someone introduced me to a website that features a fair few wee club races that are more likely to be on a Saturday than the "big" races.  This meant that I fairly easily found a 10K (6.2 miles for those who prefer it in old money) race not *too* far from home, in Haddington :-) (East Lothian).

My wonderful friend gave me a lift (in their Jag, don't you know ;-) ) and made sure to be at the finish line round about when I expected to finish. Thanks Helen, you made a really fun day even more fun and it was lovely to have a friendly face to search for at the finish line.

I had gone to the race really hoping to finish in under an hour, perhaps I wanted it more than  I realised as I was a little disappointed with my time of 1 hour 1 minute and 0 seconds but as I reflect I realise I still beat my previous personal best and it was a *scorcher* of a day, far too hot to go and run!  I am really pleased with my run (now) and look forward to doing another, after all, I need to run one in under an hour!

Here's some pictures that Helen took on the day

Trying not to look too nervous

Girl's day out!

Trying to get to the finish line!

Well deserved medal and drink!

Did I mention that I won a medal?

Helen surprised me at the end with a wee bottle of champagne, much appreciated.

Eek, that was me!

Helen's husband even bought me flowers to congratulate me on my first race... 

Finally, there was a photographer taking official photos, this was mine. I LOVE it. There is nothing about it I don't love. I think I am going to buy the version without his email address. What a brilliant memento of a brilliant day :-)

Variety is the spice of life

So here is a selection of various things going on in our life

Most days Naomi walks home from nursery with me (obviously) and one or two of her friends. Quite often the children run into our back garden and seem to think by plonking themselves on the top of the climbing frame we won't be able to make them go home! We do arrange quite a few play dates but sometimes we need to do things on our own, so far we have never been unable to get them down!

Making themselves comfy, they're in this for the long haul!

I am a little concerned, with the summer holidays only a few days away that someone forgot to tell the weather, it could be a long old 7 weeks if we don't get a bit more sun than this!

bath time hilarity

Naomi didn't want to smile

Doesn't every house have a potty with a cat in it on the bed?

Naomi had a "trial lunch" at her new primary school where I went too, we had "aheetas" for lunch (Fajhitas) and got to find out how everything works, like where to queue and where to put your tray when you are finished.

At a different time she went to school for two whole days! Here she is looking far too grown up!

Ready to go!

Big girl hair

Miriam has a go bouncing on Naomi's friend's trampoline

We have a new abacus in the garden, it's never too early to learn some maths!!

And finally, for now, Naomi has been running with Mummy a bit, here she is at the end of a 2 kilometre run (1.2 miles for those who prefer it in old money)

Running

Some time ago I took up running and it definitely helps keep me sane during these early years of small children-induced madness!

Naomi has been asking for a while now to come out with me and although I was a bit overwhelmed at first with the idea, I recently got my head into gear and let her come out.

Here we are ready to go (wearing leggings and a T-shirt like Mummy!)

Here we are at the finish "line" (we ran to a sign). Naomi had a blast.

And here is the all important info from my GPS watch!

I am proud that I am doing something healthy and inspiring Naomi to do it too, she's already asked to go out again and I am looking forward to having something I can do with her :-) it won't be long till she is outpacing me!!

planking poll

As part of my trying to do some exercise thing that I like to do I like to have a run 2 or 3 times a week.  Now that I am 16 weeks pregnant that tends to be once or twice a week and is a good deal slower than I used to go but I do still go and I do still enjoy it.  As part of my trying to be generally fit but be a bit fitter I do also do a few exercises to help me strengthen my core.  One of the exercises I do is to "plank" (picture to follow).  For a bit of fun I thought we could all try and guess how many weeks pregnant I will be when my stomach no longer fits and I am grounded.  The winner wins the joy of winning and a chocolate bar!

First, this is a plank.  This is not me.  The Internet does not need any pictures of me planking on it.

For reference this is what I looked like at about 30 weeks pregnant with Naomi

And this is what I look like now (at 16 weeks)

Make your guess, winner will be announced once I can't plank any more!

Running

For those who don't know,  I have taken up running as a means of keeping fit.  I now run about 5k (just over 3 miles for those who prefer it in old money) in about 30-35 minutes so try and do that two evenings a week and once at the weekend.

Having not been out for a fair few days I decided to go out despite the rain,  in fact light rain is about the best weather for running as it is refreshing but not too cold. That said,  about half way into my run the rain came on hard and although I still enjoyed the run I was pleased to get home and have a bath!