Week 4 Down

And I feel like I am today.

I run with a friend. A very good friend. She must be because she let me talk her into running with me. The thing is we found last week, week 3, quite hard and decided that we would run week 3 again this week. Give us time to get just a bit fitter before moving on to the next week.

Unfortunately when we went for our run on Monday I forgot to check which week my C25K iPhone app was set to (it automatically moves forward to the next session once you have finished a session) and it didn't dawn on me to check until literally 5 seconds before the first run started. Which meant we ended up running the first training session of week 4...

And you know what? It wasn't too bad. A 5 minute walking warm up, followed by 3 minutes running, 1.30 minutes walking, 5 minutes running, 2.30 minutes walking, 3 minutes running, 1.30 walking, 5 minutes running and then a 5 minute cool down walk.

However today felt hard. I don't know why that is but we both find that 1 day in 3 is extra hard. Today was that day.

The programme really kicks it up a notch next week. It starts off quite innocuous with three 5 minute runs, separated by 3 minute walks but the 3rd day is 20 minutes - YES, 20 minutes - with NO walking breaks. At. All.

Today that feels like an impossible task. I hurt. My feet hurt, my tummy hurts, my calves hurt, my back hurts. And I'm tired. My eyes are stinging (although that could be hay fever...?).

We're going for it though.

This Girl...

* Is so much fun to be with
* I like her as well as love her
* Has a constant floordrobe which drives me crazy
* Cares about people and is a great friend to her friends
* Can text unbelievably fast!
*Can disappear to her room for days on end which drives me crazy
* Is an excellent student and is bright and intelligent and articulate
* Loves to read which makes me very happy
* Delays her homework as long as she can which drives me crazy
* Loves handbags, just like her Grandma
* Is truly beautiful, inside and out, but doesn't realise how beautiful

This girl turns 14 today.
How did that happen so fast?

Handwritten Fonts

I try, I really do. But somehow it just never looks quite right.

What am I talking about? I'm talking about using my own handwriting on my digital scrapbook layouts.

When traditional scrapbooking I've always been an advocate of using your own handwriting on your layouts - ask anyone who took my classes, they'll tell you... I was a hard taskmaster when it came to journalling. So for me when I switched, and yes I've definitely switched, to digital scrapbooking I wanted, really, really wanted, to use my own handwriting on my layouts. But it just doesn't look right. I don't know why, perhaps it's just me.

So I'm working on it but in the mean time I've stumbled across a great site that offers loads of really great hand written fonts. And what's even better is they are free! Yes, free.

Check out Kevin and Amanda. My particular favourites currently are Firefly Castle, Pea Brooke and Grant's Ghosts.

Warning: clicking on the above links may cause you to lose a couple of hours...

An Amazing Video

It's hard to believe that with all the advertising that has gone on since wearing seat belts became law that there are still people who don't wear one... it beggars belief.

It's Official - I'm A Runner!

Why? Not because I'm up and running, running 5k, running a mile or even running for any real length of time (although I do know that I will get to this point).

No, I know this because on the days I'm not out training I get this weird feeling come over me. I start to feel 'antsy'. I can't settle to anything. I wander around the house feeling like I should be doing something. And I finally realised what that something was - that I was missing my running training session! Weird, eh? So I guess this officially classifies me as a runner. I am someone who runs.

So how am I going to get to the point where I am running 5k? Well, I have restarted the Couch To 5k programme. I did start this last summer but then went away for 5 days and just didn't get back in to it. No excuse I know (more on this below) but that's what happened. Maybe I was looking for an excuse? However I am someone who needs a target. I work best that way. Something to work for, to aim for, really helps to keep me focussed and last year this was an element that was missing. So after around 3 or 4 weeks of work and managing to just build up to doing week 2 of the programme I dropped out and never got back in to it.

This time though I have a goal. I am going to run the Race For Life in July this year. And I do mean run, not walk, not run/walk but run the whole 5k.

And I'm doing better this time too, despite probably being a stone heavier in weight! Last time it took me around 3 weeks to just fully complete the first week of the training programme (five-minute warmup walk, then alternate 60 seconds of running and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes, finish with five-minute cool down walk). The idea is you do the same session, alternating walking/running, 3 times in a week, making sure to have a rest day in between, and each week the sessions increase the amount of running you do until after 9 weeks you are able to run 5k.

So, yes, last time I finally worked my way to starting week 2, did maybe 1 or 2 sessions and then stopped. Today though I completed week 3! Yay me! It hasn't taken me as long to get to this point either as I only started around a month ago.

To be honest I don't always feel raring to go and this morning knowing that today was the first session of week 3 I didn't feel overly enthusiastic. I actually felt a bit negative, not sure that I was fit enough to do it (five-minute warmup walk, then run 90 seconds, walk for 90 seconds, run 3 minutes, walk for 3 minutes, run 90 seconds, walk for 90 seconds, run 3 minutes. walk for 3 minutes and then cool down walk for 5 minutes).

But do it I did! And you know what? It wasn't even that bad. I wasn't completely gasping for breath, in fact not gasping at all. Yes, I felt it but also I felt good after it. It's also helping that a couple of weeks ago I picked up a running buddy. It took a little bit of convincing as she really didn't think she could run but this programme is so good I truly believe anyone can do it. And it's good to have someone to run with, to be accountable to, to encourage you when you don't feel like doing it, to enjoy the triumph together when you do!

No excuses. That's what I need to tell myself on the days when I wake up and come up with a million excuses as to why I shouldn't run that day, that perhaps tomorrow will be better... this Nike video sums up those days pretty well:

Stage 1 Complete

And to say I'm tired would be an understatement.

I'm on a mission. A mission to simplify. A mission to de-clutter. A mission to make my home a haven not a hell - or should that be a heaven not a hell...? And today we completed stage 1.

Stage 1:

• Empty out the children's play room. Completely empty it.


• Empty out my office, including the 2 ram-packed cupboards.

Next comes stage 2. This is a relatively simple stage.

Stage 2:

• Go to Ikea and buy new corner desk (with T-legs), chair and panel curtain.

See told you that stage was simple. Enjoyable even.

Stage 3 is the bit where I balk a little because what I failed to mention is that currently the contents of stage 1 have been dumped in the conservatory so this stage looks like this:

Stage 3:

• Sort out the pile of 'stuff I can't believe one family can accumulate in a short space of time'.

This does look like a fairly simple stage but believe me it won't be. It will take days. Perhaps weeks but let's not hope months. In fact I could quite easily get lost in amongst the piles of stuff in that room. I should probably inform someone before I start to tackle it so that if they don't hear from me in a day or so they know to alert a search and rescue party.

If I'm brave I may even post a photo of this room... maybe... if I'm feeling very brave...