Reasons to be Cheerful: Glorious Cumbria #R2BC

 
We had an impromptu camping trip on Friday night, had to make most of the weather, so I am once again posting in the evening. There has been plenty to make me smile this week:
1) A good training run
It was such a relief to get out and run my required 9 mile run on Sunday and enjoy virtually all of it! Not only that but a decent time bearing in mind it was rather hilly. Made for a big smile at the end of it:  

It's just as well things are going well as its getting so close to race day that my number turned up this week:

2) Skiddaw

The impromptu camping trip meant that my view last night looked like this:

I really want to get up this mountain before this time next year!

3) Quality Time

Reasons to be Cheerful: Quality Time #R2BC

Thank you to Michelle for hosting this month! Its back to me for October so I had better get organised... Here are my reasons this week:

1) Time with my son

My son and I walked into town on Saturday afternoon to return our library books whilst his sister stayed with a friend. He and I had a big treat of a trip to the Bristly Hog and he had an awesome hot chocolate:

2) A run at Sizergh Castle

To celebrate the end of the summer running season the running club went to Sizergh Castle this week. A beautiful setting with some dramatic clouds in the distance:

3) Busy bees

Our lemon daisy is an autumnal treat for the bees as they prepare for winter. Makes a beautiful sight for me too:

4) Time with my girl

On Sunday we had a swap over and my son went to a friend's house. His sister and I did some shopping and then tried out the Slate coffee bar:

5) An alternate angle

Sometimes just looking at something differently can bring great pleasure. Here is Kendal Town Hall:

Reasons to be Cheerful: the winning edition #R2BC

Thanks for joining in last week, technical hitches meant that the linky tool had to change part way through the week! Here are the reasons I am cheerful this week:
1) Winning things
Its been a while since I won something so I was surprised to get an email from Wilkinson Cameras to say I won one of the 12 prizes from their recent competition. Very chuffed to have won a proper camera as my prize was a DSLR:

Now to learn how to use it! First attempt on Flickr just using Intelligent Auto mode.
2) Quality time with my boy
My daughter was away on a school residential this weekend so I had time with just my boy:

3) Kendal flood recovery
One of the worst aftermaths of the storms in December has been the damage to Cumbria's transport infrastructure. In Kendal the damage to one of the 2 bridges that allowed two-way traffic across the river has caused gridlock and chaos. We are all so relieved that the temporary fix has finally been successful this week (story on Westmorland Gazette). Lots more work to be done in the county but this was a good news story!

Why are you smiling this week? Please link your posts and grab the badge...

 

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Reasons to be cheerful week 24 Race for Life

This week Michelle has vlogged her reasons to be cheerful so you can see and hear her telling us all about it! As for me I'm not that brave so I will stick to words and photographs! For me this week it's all about the Race for Life with only a few days to go... Here are the reasons it is making me cheerful:

1) Raising money for research

The main point of the events are to raise much needed funds to find cures for cancer. Having lost family members to varying types of cancer and seeing others battling their own illness it's an important cause for me. My daughter has previously run in memory of the Nanny who died before she was born. This year her father is battling cancer so she is even keener to do her bit. No doubt she will be coming round hassling asking friends and family for sponsorship or sending them the link to our Just Giving page. So pleased to be doing our little bit to help!

2) Quality girl time

We don't often get a lot of time to just be the two of us girls so running the event is a chance to spend time together. I had hoped we would manage some training runs together but that hasn't happened! Her preparation has consisted of digging out as much pink from her wardrobe as possible.. We have both got the new t-shirts though hers is a wee bit big and mine is a cosy fit:

We don't often wear matching clothes but this is a special occasion! I will have to get someone to take photos of us together on the day.

3) The big team

There is a big team of Aqua Pura bloggers running or walking at events across the country. It's a great feeling to be part of such a large group of women and girls (some fighting cancer themselves) that are prepared to go out and get sweaty for such a wonderful cause. We are all writing about our own experiences and reasons for taking part which are all very different. Hopefully between us all we raise a lot of money to find cures for this dreadful illness.