Excited!

A quick little update to note how excited I am with how the garden is shaping up and with the help and support planned for Saturday, how clear it will hopefully look by the end of the weekend!!  Not to mention that its my birthday on Friday and of course I'm excited to spend the day being the birthday girl.. yay!

And to note that Amy may well be the fastest, smoothest thing I have ever dreamt about, but she has a sting in her tail - her saddle!  The kidlets went to Rachels last Saturday night so Paul and I went for a 34 mile bike ride..  started great, loved the pub, but we (I!!) definitely limped home!!  Ow ow ow my poor sit bones!!  I have been out on her since and it is improving, but my word, it dampend my cycling spirits!

Have a great 4 day jubilee weekend if I don't write again beforehand x x

Amy

Amy arrived last night, along with Lochie's new tag along and after a few adjustments thanks to Paul, I was able to take her out for her first ride.  Sigh.  I thought I loved cycling beforehand.
Emma and I cycled over to Lucy and Daves, where they had a try of all the bikes and then Emma and I finished our ride where I ended at the gym for pilates and Emma went home.  By the time I had done my pilates class it was dark, but I had my lights and it was so warm it was not a bother to cycle home.  11 miles total.  A nice easy first distance.

Going from 'Beastie' the mountain bike to 'Maz' our cyclecross (hybrid type) bike at the end of last year to train for the April race, was a mega huge leap.  Changing to drop handle bars, the difference in braking and gear changing, let alone the actual ride style were a lot to get used to - riding had been a chore and a means to an end, then one day, in the earliest reaches of spring I realised that actually I was enjoying the riding - it was fun!

Well, going from my beloved 'Maz' to 'Amy' was not such a leap, her set up and general rule of thumb is the same as 'Maz'.  I would describe it as more of a delicate dance where we both new the rules and needed to find our rhythm.

Amy is smooth!  So smooth, everything abouth her is sleek and she wants to race away.  I have to keep the brakes much more feathered.  She is so light that the only effort up a hill is my (considerable!) weight, none of the effort is hers..  I could gush for an age, she really is lovely and I could giggle in delight at the thought of the summer stretching ahead of me and all the rides I have yet to cycle.

I do believe Amy and I are going to go further than I have yet thought I could, and that is VERY exciting!

Sew triathlon terrific

We had our first bunting order through from the Tangled Muse shop this week, so I got to do some legitimate sewing - my favourite kind.  The order was for Christmas trees, a bit of a head bender in May, but I soon got into the festive swing and am pleased with the results.

Despite lots of exciting ribbon and button shopping, none of what I ordered was quite right to hang the trees from and as I seem to always say 'the ribbon can make or break the bunting', I finally settled on making my own bias binding from some cotton quarters.

Speaking of Tangled Muse, we are now a .co.uk website - go and take a look at the great collection of art, photos, felt and textiles on offer!!

http://www.tangledmuse.co.uk/ to browse everyones work

http://folksy.com/shops/TangledMuse to make a purchase or place an order

Allan, Paul's Dad, came to stay at the end of last week and he kindly painted the girls bedroom a gorgeous shade of pink. Bebe is so thrilled with it, and I have to say I am in love with the colour too - I'm delighted to finally get their bunting up - and the bedding my parents bought the girls finishes it all, so everyone is VERY happy!

Paul smashed his first triathlon last Sunday, he was such an inspiration!! It was an exciting morning and I was delighted with the amount of people that turned out to support him :-) His bike time was astonishing, and he averaged just over 19 mph! My heart could burst with love and pride for him x x

 

And after the inspiration of seeing it all, Lucy and I went and did our own version, as a training run, in our tri suits last night at gym! 400m swim, 6k bike ride, 5k run... Delighted.

Run fat girl, RUN!

Hello blogees! We have had a busy few days, in the middle of which Brenna turned 4 years old. More so than with Lochie, I can't believe 4 years has gone by. I remember sitting with my Dad, a teeny tiny Bebe asleep on my lap and listening to Barack Obama give his inauguration speech. I remember watching the Olympics and thinking, the next time this happens, Bebe will be 4... Well here we are! We had a good day.

She asked for a CD player with CDs, and Niamh enjoyed Bebes new vanity table for a bit of hair brushing..  Note their matching jumpers!

After a spot of pot painting, where all the children made themselves new cereal bowls, Barbie arrived in the form of a birthday cake (Thank you Magda!) and Bebe was delighted.

Not only was the outside a sight to behold, the inside was just as pretty and it tasted great too!!

I am feeling really fit and strong right now, and my triathlon training is going well.  After running for half an hour last Weds, Lucy took me to the gym on Friday night and we ran 5k.  I walked for 60 seconds at minute 27 because my hip ached, but that was the only slow down and I managed the whole thing in 40:38 - I was delighted, even if I thought I might die at 4k and couldn't have done it without copious amounts of support from Lucy!  After our run, we then did 30 lengths in the pool.
On Saturday I did 17 glorious miles on my beloved bike, with Emma.  17 miles is slightly over the 25k I will need to do in June.  Then after Bebe went to bed on her birthday (Sunday), Lucy and I went out and cycled 13k, followed by a 2.5k run and it was ok!!
Monday was a rest day, so yesterday (Tuesday) I went for a 9 mile easy cycle followed by pilates and tonight ran 5k on my own (no slow minute, so at a continuous speed for 40 mins) followed by a 30 length swim with Lucy...  AND BREATHE!!  Sounds a bit mad when you type it out and re-read it like that :-)

I am so thrilled and delighted to have found a sportive to ride with my Dad, just 4 miles up the road from them, on the 10th June! We will do the 30 mile route, which will end up circa 38 miles by the time we cycle to and from it and Paul will do the 60 mile route.  Whoop whoop!!  I have realised that I have two events in June, and then nothing until October and need to rectify this.  I simply won't keep up my running if I don't have a challenge.

In other news, I have been designing some Christmas bunting to sell in our folksy shop and when we were camping last week, Holly reminded me how to crochet, so I've been having a dabble at starting a little throw or similar for our sofa..

The Tangled Muse

I have been lucky enough to get involved with a craft collective, with some very talented people who don't mind my bold and slightly child like simple sewing antics.  The main site showcases all the bits and bobs, and then the folksy shop is where you can get your happy little hands on art, photos and bunty bunting amongst other curios.  Its very exciting and I'm thrilled to be a part of it all!!
http://tangledmuse.weebly.com/index.html
http://folksy.com/shops/TangledMuse
PLEASE GO AND HAVE A LOOK!!

The sewing maching hasn't been in action as much over the last 10 days because of camping (mentioned below) and the packing and unpacking shifting a family of 5 takes.  However I did make a yoga bag, complete with pockets and fully lined.  I am really pleased with it.

I was signed off by the physio on Tuesday, which I was delighted about because despite an ongoing weirdness in my toe, I feel great.  My back feels good people!  Finally!! And yesterday I ran straight through for 30 mins.  If you look at my last post, I mention gritting my teeth at 7 minutes and then 14 minutes..  well there was no teeth gritting at 30 mins - just lots of sweat!  I covered 3.8k in the 30 mins and now need to work on my time, I think I will be happy if I can manage 5k in 40mins.  Since I couldn't even run FULL STOP in January, I am astounded by my progress.  The scales were kind as well this morning and I have lost 2st since I started this shenanigans :-)

In other news, we spent the Beltane weekend camping at the Sus Centre and it was COLD.  We had a great time nonetheless and I will leave you with a selection of photos.