Bristol Half Marathon

This weekend I completed my second-ever half marathon, completely by accident.

Well, I say by accident but I don’t think even I could absent-mindedly stumble into a race of 14,000 people completely by surprise. No, I mean it was very last-minute and totally unplanned. You see, a friend has persuaded me to join her in the Great South Run later this month, a 10 mile flat (I’m assured) course around Portsmouth’s historic docks.

I am by no means a serious runner and often need a steady push out of the door to encourage me to embark on the longer runs but I’ve been trying out some new mechanisms to help my mind switch off from the task at hand and get me enjoying the runs.

It must have worked, as the mileage has been steadily increasing – perhaps a little too much as my runners’ knee will testify – and as the Bristol Half Marathon approached I felt 2012, the year of the London Olympics and all it’s inspiration and glory, could be my year for completing a run I’ve wanted to do for well over 5 years but not had the time/inclination/motivation (delete as appropriate) until now.

Thanks to one of our clients, the charity One25 offered me the chance to run for them. The application pack lurked incongruously for a week or so, as I debated whether or not I could take on the challenge. I agreed with myself that if I could run 10 miles a week before the run, the application would be signed, sealed and delivered.

Thankfully(?) my feet didn’t fail me and carried me through a hilly, drizzly, steady jog. The sense of achievement at the end was overwhelming so before the endorphins wore off and I came to my senses I scribbled a hasty signature on the dotted line and hobbled walked to the post box to wave it goodbye.

 

Needless to say, race day was amazing. Granted, I’ve only done one half marathon before but the atmosphere was incredible (people of Bristol, you never disappoint), the race well organised – I swear the energy gels single-handedly carried me though the last 3 miles – and the course spectacular. As a born and bred Bristolian I couldn’t help but swell with pride running under the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

  I finished in the grand time of 2:10, knocking 5 minutes off of my Bath Half time and feeling utterly thrilled at my achievement with only 6 weeks or so of serious running. The less we say about my knees and hips at this point, probably the better but let’s just say I’m awfully glad I’m married to a sports therapist and am spending more time than is healthy with my foam roller.

 

For me, the real challenge of the longer distances is psychological. My body is willing but my mind resists every step of the way. Using distraction techniques, I managed to overcome this massive barrier and am once again enjoying the runs. If you too find yourself battling with your mind the whole way through, stay posted and I’ll be sharing my tips with you over the coming weeks. In the meantime, I have no time to relax.

Gotta keep this momentum up now for so I can fly (ha!) around that course and bag myself another medal to add to my growing collection.

Three go adventuring

Today was one of those days when we just had to get out of the house. I don't know if it's a boy thing or just my boys but man, these kids have some energy. And today that energy was almost giving me a breakdown so off to the Outdoors we went.

Westonbirt Arboretum is a 40 minute drive from where we live but well worth the journey. It normally costs £8 per adult * (under-fives are free) but we go quite alot so have joined Friends of Westonbirt which means you can go as much as you like over a 12-month period.

It's perfect for us because it gives us a safe, traffic-free open space where they can run, jump and gallop (yes, they gallop) off their energy. There are 2 areas, the silk wood where you can take your dog and the old arboretum (which we went to today) where they don't allow dogs but kids are welcome to run free.

In the old arboretum there is a family trail with things to do for the kids along the way, like a den-building station with wood and 'tiles' to build a house and a network of wood and tree roots to navigate. They also have a tree themed play area with a log tunnel, tree house and wood carvings to play with and educate.

Throughout the year they also hold events such as Treefest, coming up this month and Enchanted Christmas where they light up the trees in a winter wonderland.

They used to have a cafe too which sold amazing cakes but sadly as I found out today, the people who used to run it don't anymore. They did have a pretty cool airstream though, selling ice creams and hot drinks.

If you live nearby, it's definitely worth a visit. Take a picnic, make a day of it and await the deep sleep your children will enjoy as a result (pleeeease?!)

This isn't a sponsored post, we just love it!

Up, up and away!

Ever have a really good idea for something to do, thinking it'll be a real treat for the kids then it turns out to be a disaster with them not actually caring about the thing? Yeah, that happened yesterday.

We thought the Bristol Balloon Fiesta would be fun for the boys now they're a bit bigger. They love to watch balloons overhead so we thought they'd get really excited about seeing a whole bunch of them, close up, taking off right in front of their excited little faces.

Wrong.

It started so well. We bought advance parking online for £6 (it's £10 if you don't pre-book) and went straight through to a designated car park, all easy, straightforward and stress-free so far. None of the gargantuan queues I remember from my childhood.

A short, downhill walk to the house at Ashton Court took us on a route through the fairground rides to get to the balloon field. This is where it started to go wrong.

Finn decided he wanted to go on a ride which we decided to say no to as last time this happened he cried when it started, tried to get out and they had to stop the ride so I could yank him off.

So we had tears agogo until we got to the balloon field and the sight of the magnificent hot air-filled beasts stopped the tantrum in it's tracks. Until a guy came past with a handful of silver kids helium balloons and ruined our evening.

Finn decided he wanted one. Cue hysterics for the next hour or so. By this time the balloons were inflating and the mass ascent was underway. It's an amazing sight and if you ever get the chance to visit the fiesta, I'd recommend timing it around an ascent.

Unfortunately Finn didn't feel the same. The tears stopped momentarily if an interesting-shaped balloon went up (hello, WoodyWoodpecker!) but all the cuddles, talks and 'wow, look at that balloon' -ing wasn't working so we had to abandon and head back up to the car.

So an evening which we thought would be brilliant for the kids turned out, rather disappointingly, not the fun family adventure we'd hoped but hey ho, you live and learn, eh?

And Max had a great time. He played, he danced, he gazed at the balloons lifting up, up and away. He ignored his brother and had alot of fun. 1 Out of 2 ain't bad, hey?

Angst

Kid loves to dance

Tour De South Glos.

What to do when the kids have gone to their Grandparents for lunch?

a) Go out for lunch? 
    No money

b) Go back to bed?
    There's a danger we may never wake up

c) Stay home and catch up with jobs around the house?
    Not a chance

d) Go for a bike ride together?
    YES!

So off we went, a 22 mile jaunt (route) around the best lanes South Gloucestershire has to offer. We spent the time daydreaming about living in one of the many quiet villages we passed though, almost being taken out by a sparrowhawk and narrowly missing a collision with a beaten up Rover.

And the rain waited until we got back. Result.

A round-up

I regulary read 'round up' posts on other blogs (I particularly like Abigail's) and until now thought my life was too uneventful to fill an entire post with our goings-on Chez Sherlock.

Well, after having a quick flick through my photos (turns out I'm pretty snap-happy since getting my new iPhone) it looks like our actually-quite-busy-after-all life is enough to fill a post. So, according to my phone, here was our week...

Got me some new specs (I can seeee!)

I met with a very lovely friend last week for her birthday and we shared an amazing (and very posh) afternoon tea at Harvey Nichols. It's rare that I get the chance to go out without the kids and be, you know, me again so as her birthday coincided with a work day I decided it'd be rude not to accompany her whilst the kids were in nursery. We had a selection of mini-rolls, fresh (and warm) scones with clotted cream and jam and various treat-sized cakes. If I was rich, I'd do this every week.

Friday was a snow-day. So, the amount of the white stuff was pretty pathetic here but we used it as an excuse to have a duvet day. For the first time EVER, we stayed in our jammies til lunchtime and crawled back into bed after breakfast armed with blankets and DVDs. The kiddos were both feverish so we snoozed and lazed the morning away. So cosy.

Saturday night was a homemade-pizza-and-wine kinda evening. Since attempting a homemade pizza a few years back I can never enjoy a shop-bought one again. It's so easy to make and I literally just chuck whatever I have to hand on top of it. This night it was chorizo, mushrooms, olives and peppers. Amaze.

Sunday, I got my running Mojo back. Since running the Bath Half Marathon last year I've completely lost all enthusiasm for running and have been trying (and failing) to get back into it since the summer. I hit the treadmill, just to test the waters, expecting to do 15-20 minutes but found myself carrying on for 4 miles. 4 MILES! It took 41 minutes and I was chuffed to bits since I'd not run for 3 months or so. I could barely walk for 2 days afterwards but that's besides the point, right?

The lovey Kimberlee invited us to celebrate her gorgeous son Henry's first birthday over the weekend. It was at a soft play centre and was manic to say the least with crazed kids, eyes glazed over shooting around the place but the boys loved it. Little Henry seemed to enjoy himself too with a huge pile of prezzies to work his way through at the end.

There are a few people I regularly talk to on Twitter and Kimberlee is one of them. Abigail and Jo were there too and it's lovely to put faces to Tweeters. I'm still quite new to Twitter but love how it's bringing me together with such great people and starting you give me (and the boys) a busier social life. Oh, and I can't mention the party without giving credit to the cake. Kimberlee runs a baking business and that lady has serious talent. Henry celebrated with an amazing chocolatey triple-decker creation and thanks to the run I enjoyed it guilt-free. The best way.

More Bristol adventures

It's been a funny old week. I've been totally exhausted and we needed a bit of time out so we treated ourselves to an afternoon away. We've recently been trying to visit areas of Bristol new to us to we took ourselves off to Portishead (I know, right? We goes to all the best places).

Actually, it was a lovely afternoon. We had a delicious lunch (and HUGE glass of wine) at Jacks Brasserie followed by a stroll around the marina. It was great just mooching around, admiring the interesting looking houses and enjoying each other's company. Although I have no idea why my Son decided to eat his fish & chips with a tiger on his head.

A Friday Adventure

Ok, so calling it an adventure makes it sound much more grand than it actually was. Although I've lived in Bristol my whole life (bar a 3 year jaunt across the other side of the world) I live out-of-town and rarely venture into the heart of the city. Only for work (and that doesn't count).

Today I had to collect my Mum from a garage in Bristol and we had a few hours to kill before her car would be ready. Although I see her every Friday when she's off work, we rarely actually do anything of any note.

So we decided today to have a little meander through Clifton. She (mis?) spent her youth there and always enjoys visiting her old stomping ground. Plus, she knows the are way better than me so I'm (not entirely) less likely to get lost, as I so often do.

A school friend of mine, Jess, regularly tweets about her cakey adventures with her gorgeous daughter in the village so our first stop was the Mall Deli. We decided to stop for a coffee and couldn't resist one of their delicious cakes. The lady took the boys to the front of the cafe to choose a cupcake each and Mum and I shared a slice of coffee & walnut cake.

The staff were wonderful and the cakes absolutely delicious. Since the Lionheart launch I've had The Homemade Mama's cupcakes on my mind and wondered if these would satisfy my cravings. Although not quite up to Kimberlee's fine creations, they were a close second, absolutely delish. We'll certainly be visiting again soon. Oh, and they do children's hot chocolate too. Made them feel very grown-up.



As we passed Lisa Elliott, the florist herself came out bearing armfuls of hydrangeas. I had some of these in the house last year and can't resist their perfume filling the room (and, er, masking the doggy-baby smell). She immediately struck up a conversation with Finn, asking if he knew what colours the flowers were and telling him the names of the blooms. He was enthralled, and we were sold. 2 Pots were put aside for us to collect on our way back.

A quick browse around the antiques shop (man, I could spend some serious money in those places if, like, I had some), a stop at the butchers and we were on our way back. We collected our flowers and my boys received their first rose each from the florist. Well, who'd have thought a single red rose could please 2 children so much? (did I ever tell you how easily pleased my kids are?).

So, clutching their newly acquired stems in one hand and the other paw clinging to the grown-ups we made our way back (via Waitrose, of course) to the garage and ended our City adventure.



I've just received an email from my Mum listing all the things which made her smile today. The list was massive and it just proves that pleasure can be gained from the simplest things in life. Even if one of those things is my eldest son falling down the toilet :)