Another Year...

With my birthday coming up I have found myself reminiscing tonight about the last year. Looking back at photos with H and having a good giggle. There is something really lovely about knowing that I have captured all of these moments on film and that we will be able to look back on them in years to come. I am looking forward to making a lot more memories this year, and of course, taking a lot more photographs.

Lots of Spots, and Their Effects on Running

We have Chicken Pox, or at least H does, however it feels like a family illness as we are all effected in one way or another. If I am honest I think H is handling it better than the rest of us. Her Dad returned home from work 10 minutes after I had made the shocking discovery, and swamped with flashbacks to his own youth when he had Chicken Pox aged 13 he reeled in horror. I have been cuddling and fussing over her so much that I think she may be thankful when she can return to nursery and have a break from me!

As a direct result I have been skipping my training sessions for the past week so by way of extra motivation I have been trying to come up with a running playlist for my amazing new iPod touch

A very thoughtful present from the girls’ Daddy a few weeks ago, complete with sports arm band. It is a real step up from my old fifth generation classic, I love that it can also access the Internet, and take photographs. I have been getting to grips with the world of Instagram and it has been a great help so far in keeping me motivated and distracting me from the pain when I am running. I intend to buy some new headphones for it as the ones that were included have a habit of falling out my ears – I tell myself it is because I am running so fast, however, passers by may tell you differently.

In my own moment of self indulgence I decided to buy myself a hand held water bottle for a couple of quid, it is so nice to no longer have a baby bottle bouncing around in my pocket and it has saved me from any more embarrassing apple juice moments. All in all the running itself is getting easier, I managed 5K in 28mins 1second on my last run week and I upped my distance today and I managed 6.5K in 37 minutes 34 seconds. While I am still a long way off of my 10K target, I am blown away by how much I have improved since starting this mission just 2 months ago. This weekend I am planning to buy myself some running clothes so I can return my Mums to her and hopefully prevent any MORE people from mistaking me for her.

F has also had a lot of measurable success this month with her crawling coming along nicely, her ability to cruise the furniture with ease, her first tooth through and her new found power to shout “Mummy” and “Daddy” rather loudly, she is very proud of herself, and rightly so.