It’s not my fault being the biggest and the strongest. I don’t even exercise.

Monday night, and like an obnoxious twat, I went for a run while Lucy was at Brownies.  It was only an hour, and I managed 7.44 km, which is about 4.6 miles, and while not fast, was up and down hills and all sorts, so I'm feeling pretty smug and pleased with myself. 

I don't know if you know Ealing at all, but there are some biggish hills there, and I ran the whole way because there were no people and things were going well.

I've had a pretty crappy February, with the diet not going very well and the kitchen and the very little running or cycling, and ended up doing a pathetic 45km across 29 days.  Rubbish.  March is already so much better; we're only at the 7th, and I've already managed 24km.  I'm back on the bike tomorrow, after a few weeks off; there will be swearing.  I'm starting to think more about the Ealing Half Marathon, and I'm gearing up to run 10 miles in the next few weeks; along the canal though, as that is flat and easier. I had a route in mind, but it turns out that that one would have been over 20 miles, so better have a rethink.

My massive weight loss has stalled too; nothing like eating normally, although I haven't put anything on and I'm hoping the running will get things going again.  I want to lose 3 pounds this week, as that will take me down into human weight territory, and will mean that I've only got a stone to go.  What fun it all is.

It's cold outside and I can't wear mittens because they're not flattering to my hands!

Hello campers and how's the weekend been?  Normally, I write about knitting on a Sunday evening, but this evening, I want to talk about running and how amazing it can be.

It was the Winter Run today, a 10k race through Central London, which sounds pretty amazing, and really, really was.  I ran it last year before injuring my ankle, and it took me 1 hour 31 minutes, which was pretty slow, but I did it, and I got a medal to prove it.  I then signed up for this year in a fit of adrenaline based madness, and promptly forgot about it, particularly when I had to pull out of the Royal Parks Half Marathon when my ankle meant I couldn't really train for it.  In November, Hattie suddenly piped up about my big run, and I went and checked through my emails, and hurrah, I was signed up again.  Hurrah might not have been my actual first thought.

I did manage some training, after a long time of no running, and managed 10k a couple of times without too much pain and difficulty, so I knew I could do it.  Signing up for the Ealing Half Marathon made the whole "you just have to get on with it" thing easier, plus I've done a hell of a lot of exercise this year so far.  In January, I've walked, run and cycled 211.3km, according to my Runkeeper app, and more if you count the UP band data, which I don't at the moment, as the bloody thing is broken.  

Well, the Winter Run is done, and I managed the 10k in a mighty 1 hour 24 minutes, which is more than 5 mins faster than last year, and I'm so pleased about that.  I've still a long way to go before the Ealing Half Marathon, but I'm on the right track.

The only crap note is that I lost my lovely Peerie Flooers hat; at least I can knit it again, and this time it'll fit properly; the old one was a bit loose.  

The mental dust diet only allows me one proper food meal a day, and it's going pretty well considering.  I've still only lost about 7 pounds in 3 and a bit weeks, but I've lost it from visceral fat (what?) and not from muscle, and this seems legit, what with me standing on a scale with bare feet and a small electrical current running through my body measuring all my stats.  I'm definitely looking leaner and thinner; and my waist and bust have shrunk.  My hips have not.  This is not great, but lets stick to the positive.

Hurrah for running, and I'm going to do it again next year, and let's hope I can shave another 5-10 minutes off that time.

Sewing as a force for good

I do love it when the things I like doing can be used for good things.  I've run races for Cancer Research and I was going to do the Royal Parks Half Marathon, but I'm not going to be able to do that this year - a combination of having hurt my back slightly and not being in the right frame of mind.  Who knew that disliking running would make it so much harder to keep going?

Back to the nice things.  Karen from Did You Make That? has set up a new fund-raising thing, called the Made Up Initiative where you give money to the National Literacy Trust via Just Giving, and then pledge to sew something by the 10th of September.  I'm not going to go on about how important reading is to me; I've been a keen reader since I was 5, I'm a primary school teacher and a SENCO, I've got two daughters who regularly fall asleep in their books and who have been members of the library since they were 3 weeks old, and I work hard to ensure that all the children I come into contact with have frequent access to high quality literature, so it's a cause close to my heart.

I may have bitten off more than I can chew though; I've pledge to make two Skater Dresses, one of each of the girls, and a Lady Skater Dress for me.  I've got to print out the grown up pattern, which might be a bit of a problem as our printer is a bit iffy at the best of times.  I'm sure it will all be fine, I've made three of the children's dresses before and they took about an afternoon, and I've got three mornings free next week while the girls are at tennis, so I'll keep you posted.  Bet you can't wait.

As far as the running goes, I'm going to restart the Couch to 5K programme in a few weeks, and start doing pilates again to strengthen my back and core muscles a bit.  I used to enjoy running, and I do quite like exercise, but I've really not been into into it since Easter, and I've been a very reluctant runner since then.  Hurting my ankle put me in a terrible frame of mind about it, and it's a real relief to have the pressure taken off by deciding not to do the Half.  Next year.
  

I'll distract the file clerk. Apparently he's really into bird-watching, so talking to a woman should blow his mind. And talking to this woman? It could kill him.

Long time, no blog.  Something to do with the summer holidays, going on holiday (Greece, and lovely, thanks for asking) (no, there was tonnes of money, and the cashpoints worked) (no, no riots in Stoupa, and Athens was a hot shithole, but I suspect it always was), the NASENCO course essay being due in September (nearly 2500 words, thanks for asking) and general STUFF and THINGS happening.  The children are away, and I am missing them a great deal, but also really appreciative of the time without them, particularly on Sunday morning after drinking my body weight in gin the night before.  I passed out in my clothes.  It was not good.

I'm supposed to be going for a run now, but my phone is nearly out of battery and I need to charge it before I go out otherwise I will get in a real snit about not having music, so what better thing to do than update you on all the fascinating KNITTING and SEWING TOGETHER CROCHETED SQUARES that I've been doing.

The list for this Year of Projects is substantially the same as it was when created.  Quelle surprise, so I'm only going to talk about what I have done, rather than what I will be doing.  If you are massively into lists, you can see the whole thing in all its glory here.

Anyway.

Petrie top in Yellow Wool Cotton from Liberty - I've started this.  I used some of the blue wool from my Vianne as a hem facing, and with the yellow of the main body of the top, it looks like a minion.

I might rip it back.  I have to have a long think about it.

Finish the Vianne in time for the end of the Outfit Along - well, I've got the buttonband to do on this one.  I need to use slightly smaller needles for the band, so it's got that sewn on look I like.  I have made mistake after mistake with this one, honestly.  I buggered up the lace, lost my DPNs, ran out of wool half way down the first sleeve; you never stop making mistakes, you just make them faster and more irreparably.

Elwood mittens for Lucy - I've made one.  Look!

Cute, isn't it?  Lucy loves it, which is the main thing.  I've trimmed the ends now, and started the ribbing on the second one.  That's the problem with knitting mittens and socks, the idea of making the same thing twice when there's already a perfectly wearable garment in existence.

Finish the &%^%^&^%&^ing Weather Blanket - there are 19 squares left to go on the Weather Blanket people.  19.  Less than a row.  And there are 21 to sew together, as I had a big push and did a lot of hungover sewing the other day.  Hurrah.

More soon.  And some sewing.  I will finish this essay in time to sew something before the girls come back.  Right.  Running time.  Yay.

I'm wearing a new, um, bra and it closes in the front and it popped-open and it threw me off.

Did you know that hippos can run at a top speed of 30 km/h, and can swim at about 15 km/h, so you really need to make up the time on the bikes if you want to beat them at the triathlon.

I'm running again, if you hadn't realised.  I ran on Sunday, yesterday and today, building up my distance to a mighty 5 km.  I've been avoiding running, then berating myself for not doing it, then getting depressed, then going out and getting furious within 30 seconds, and repeating a pretty negative cycle.  I've decided to go out everyday for a fortnight, alternating my "half marathon training plan" with running circuits of the track while the kids play in the park.  Apparently 3 circuits is a kilometre; I did it yesterday but with just my UP band to track it and it wasn't very good at it.  I might need to read the instructions, because you can get it to time an activity pretty accurately according to the blurb. 

It's all very positive at the moment though, with 4.9 kilometres on Sunday, 1 and a bit yesterday, and 4.85 kilometres today.  I don't run the whole way, because my ankle starts to really hurt after about 2k, and walking helps ease that.  But I am doing it.  Even though I only sporadically enjoy it, particularly going down hills.  

I don't intend to write too much about my "fitness journey" because it bores ME to tears, let alone both my remaining readers, but I will mention it now and again.  After all, it will have an impact on my sewing - less fabric used, more likely to take pictures of myself as I become happier with my body and the way I look, generally happier with everything.   I'm certainly not going to write a daily fitness journal, although I might show you a few post exercise selfies.

Cheers.