#FitnessFriday Speeding Up

I am keeping up the momentum for the moment and after running 7 km on last Friday night I hit my 20 km target once again. For the longer run I employed a run/walk strategy of 60/30 seconds and it kept my pace pretty even - except for the serious up or down hill bits:

It was lovely to see another 4 lbs gone when I stood on the scales on Saturday. I am sure this will slow down now I have gone through the 10 lb barrier. Here is my weekly comparison pic (taken by an adult this week):

The smile is partly because I had knocked a whopping 2 and half minutes off my previous parkrun time and I was feeling great:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Proud mum and me time #R2BC

Once again the lovely Michelle is hosting this week before handing the baton back to me for February. I had better get myself more organised to keep it up! Here are my reasons to be cheerful this week:

1) Proud mum:

Both my children took part in a fell race at Giggleswick this Sunday. Here is my son on his way to knocking 21 seconds off his previous time:

And my daughter on her fell running debut who refused to quit even though she found it very tough. Wish I could leap the stream like this:

2) Board Games

After their exertions the children requested a game of Cluedo after tea on Sunday night. Its lovely to sit down as a family and test our brains a bit whilst having fun together:

3) Me time

#FitnessFriday Keeping it up

The reality of juggling being a busy teacher and a mum whilst trying to get fit and be healthy hit home on this third week. We all needed a lie on Saturday so I missed parkrun and had to have my comparison photo taken indoors. A total of around 6 lbs gone is already making a big difference:

As I had missed my 5 k run I decided to multi task and run into town as the bank was closing in half an hour's time. Its useful to be fit enough to get there more quickly:

I really didn't feel like I'd done enough towards my necessary mileage so headed out again and managed a 5 km route too with my fastest time since November :

On Sunday we went for a 4 mile hike and after I'd dried off and warmed up I went back out and did my first non stop 5 k for a long while:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Fresh Air and the Mad Hatter #R2BC

Thanks again to Michelle for being this week's hostess with the mostest! We welcomed old friends and new to the linky last week and we would love to share the cheerfulness far and wide. Here are the main reasons I am smiling this week (not all fitness related this time...):

1) Mad Hatter

As a teacher when you find something that hooks your children you have to use to motivate them in other areas. They all loved the Mad Hatter's Tea Party on Cbeebies so I decided to base this half term's English around the story. This morning I therefore donned this hat to get into character as we planned a Mad Hatter's Menu:

2) Exploring the Lakes

We had a super time on a hike on Sunday with the Wonderful Wild Women. Even in the wind and rain being up in a beautiful part of the country in good company put a huge smile on my face:

3) Pokemon Go

We are still doing our best to fill our Pokedex and my son was very happy to hatch a Snorlax this week. I love how a computerised game gets us out and about and clocking up long walks:

4) Proud Mum

My son got a new PB in the chest push at athletics training on Monday and he is really hoping to pass this new 6 m effort soon! My daughter also clocked up her longest ever non stop run of 2 km and wants to run a Fell Race this weekend for the first time. 

Please do join in and share your happy posts this week.

#CountryKids and Wonderful Wild Women Hiking to Easedale Tarn

A friend had suggested that I join the Wonderful Wild Women group on Facebook as I love the outdoors. Today we managed to get out with them for a hike from Grasmere to Easedale Tarn:

About a dozen of us and 3 dogs met up in the rain to do the walk. There were times when it was hard to tell where the path and river were separate:

When we came out of the woods we could see the waterfall which we would have to walk next to to get to the tarn:

#FitnessFriday A good start to 2017

The end of my first full week of getting fit in 2017 and how did I do? Well here is the one week on post parkrun picture next to last week's:

I had to tighten up the waist band on the running belt as I had lost 3 1/2 pounds! So that is a great start to giving up booze and exercising more. My daughter is now running with me and on this Saturday completed her unicorn medal event. I also received my first bling of the year:

Having her wanting to come out with my when I do my 2k block on a weeknight is a great motivator. She was so proud of herself when she ran the whole way without any walk breaks at all (and had energy left to sprint off and leave me at the end!):

Reasons to be Cheerful: Proud Mum #R2BC

It was lovely reading all the happy posts last week. Thank you to Michelle for hosting again this week. My reasons are virtually all proud mum ones this week!

1) Super cook

My daughter is doing catering again this term and rustled up a swiss roll for her first lesson. Shame my kids left it all for me:

2) Parkrun girl

My daughter volunteered to come running at parkrun again with me this week. She did so much better and was a lot faster knocking 20 seconds off her time. Hopefully once her play is over she will be doing more runs with me:

3) Chest Push PB

At his latest competition my son beat his previous PB by 50 cm for the joint longest throw:

My other reason to be cheerful will be appearing in my Fitness Friday post tomorrow ;-)

#FitnessFriday Starting off in 2017

I knew that over the second half of 2016 my eating went to pot, my running was almost non existent and I was drinking a little bit too much wine. My parkrun times were all over the place and by New Year's Eve I was in really bad shape (PS my sports bra had come undone at 2k in so I look even worse!!):

Standing on the scales on New Year's Day showed that I had gained a stone in a year and was the heaviest I had been for a very, very long time... So what am I going to do about it?

1) Run more

When I was running regularly I was more toned and my weight went down not up - not exactly rocket science! So I signed myself up for a 1000 km challenge for which I will get a medal if I can complete it... A tough ask when you need to go 20 km a week but I am willing to give it a go. To encourage me I am putting in money into a tin:

• £1 for a minimum of a mile
• £2 for over 5k-9k
• £3 for over 10k-14k etc...

I am mixing up:

• runs around the block for which I have found a 2 km route
• park runs at 5 km - I am 16 away from my 50 so need to go more often
• longer runs such as one along the river Kent
• occasional club runs when I can escape!

By Wednesday I had clocked up 20 km in 4 days! Follow me on Strava.

2) Eat better

With a busy life and fussy children I have been eating junk on the run since September... I am planning on more home cooked food especially with a lot more vegetables! The wine is off the menu until February when I will let myself have the odd glass.

I am going to be joining back with my old diet & fitness instructor next week to get more help with both the diet and a different form of exercise! She is offering the incentive of the biggest loser each month getting a cash prize... 

So watch this space and hopefully there will be a lot less of me as the year progresses!

Reasons to be Cheerful: Happy New Year #R2BC

Our hostess with the mostest for January is the lovely Michelle and I will be back in charge in February! Hopefully more folks will come on board again now Christmas is over.. Here are my first reasons to be cheerful of 2017:

1) Welcoming the New Year in

We have a tradition of staying up and watching the fireworks from London and this year's display was definitely one to put a smile on all our faces:

2) A New Year walk

Another family tradition guaranteed to put smiles on faces is a New Year's Day walk up the Helm. Fresh air, great company and stunning views what more could you ask for?

#CountryKids at South Lakes Safari Zoo

My poor son was dragged to Barrow with me far too early on a holiday as I had to go into school to prepare for the children coming back tomorrow. He did enjoy investigating my classroom but I decided to treat him to a free trip to the South Lakes Safari Zoo on the way home! We hadn't been for over a year since September 2015 so it was good to go back - an extra bonus for it being free...

The first new thing we found was the baby giraffe who was born on Christmas Day:

Then I persuaded my son to go through the walk through safari (the emus are quite intimidating!). Luckily they stayed away from us this time and it was only the Rheas who got up close:

The adorable prairie dogs were right up to the edge of the path making the most of the feed that people had put out:

#CountryKids A walk on the Helm

In order to kick off our search for MORE we asked my parents to join us on a walk this afternoon. My daughter snapped us all as we set off:

It was a glorious afternoon although it was very muddy as we ascended at our nearest end of the Helm:

After the rain on New Year's Eve it was wonderful to be out in the sunshine even if it was cold. You also get wonderful view across Kendal to the Howgills from the top: