#FitnessFriday Speeding Up and Running Miles #FitBitchesMOVEment

Having a Virtual Race with a minimum distance in a set time period is a real incentive to get out and run! The challenge this time was to run or walk the distance of the London Marathon in a week.. I had already walked the distance before Friday but I wanted to run the majority but had only clocked up 14 km. So I laced up the trainers again and went out for a gentle 5 km and made myself go slow by playing Pokemon Go as I went:

Then it was Parkrun day and I didn't want a repeat of tripping myself up so I took it steady but still notched up a 34 minute time:

I am definitely looking so much trimmer even if the scales are still stuck!

Reasons to be Cheerful: Proud Mum #R2BC

My last week as host then I hand back to Michelle! Thanks everyone that has joined in this month and I will see you in June.. Here are my reasons to be cheerful this week:

1) A Run with a View

How could I not smile as I ran alongside this wonderful view of Windermere:

2) Winning Things

My prize, autographed copy of Eagles in the Storm arrived this week. I love Ben Kane's Roman novels and I am looking forward to reading it as soon as I get the chance!

3) Hair Cut

#FitnessFriday Who cares about the scales!

The school holidays have a mixed effect on my fitness. I have more time to exercise but I also have more time to eat and drink rubbish! So the scales were not my friend this week but I am another 3 inches down on a month ago:

What I am pleased about is the amount of walking and running I am clocking up a lot of which is with my 10 year old! After a big family lunch on Good Friday  I went for a nip around our 2 km block at home with him:

Reasons to be cheerful: Easter family fun and a cat! #R2BC

I am so glad we still have this week off for Easter as time is simply flying! Thanks for joining in last week and I hope that more of you are back from school holidays to join in this week. Don't forget to visit the other linkers and leave a comment... Here are my reasons to be cheerful this week:

1) Coco

We adopted a cat called Coco last Thursday he is an adorable 9 month old kitten who has stolen all our hearts. He is fitting right in at home and hopefully he will soon feel like this is where he belongs. I have never had a cat before and it so far is a pleasure to have one (especially as its my daughter's job to clean out the litter tray!):

2) Proud Mum

On Saturday we all wet to Parkrun with my wider family. My daughter was the official photographer and took so many fabulous shots. My son ran his best time for 18 months and really is coming back into form again:

3) Family

We really enjoyed having our extended family around last weekend. Things like the park are so much more fun with others to share it with:

4) Family days out at National Trust

I have already blogged about how we have already made use of renewed National Trust membership. We are lucky to have some fantastic properties near us like Allan Bank:

and Sizergh Castle:

#CountryKids at Allan Bank National Trust in Grasmere

Having renewed our National Trust membership yesterday (and getting a voucher for free Easter hunts!) we picked up the grandparents and headed for Grasmere and Allan Bank. You have to  find somewhere to park in the village (get there early) and then walk up the drive to reach the house:

We found the first clue for the Easter hunt before we had even reached the house:

Once we had collected our back we headed straight out to find the next one:

#CountryKids Easter Fun at Sizergh Castle

Today my son and I headed over to Sizergh Castle. We wanted to do the Easter trail around the grounds and even though it was damp we weren't the only ones following the signs:

I think it was the best one we have done there yet and there was plenty to spot and clues to solve including this chap on the pond:

The route took us passed the Stumpery which is looking resplendent with Spring growth:

#FitnessFriday on Good Friday

No picture of me at Fell Foot this week as we were away last weekend but I will be back there in the morning! With it being the school holidays everything is out of sync but I am trying to fit in as much fitness as possible even if its just walking to the train station for my weekend away... Speaking of which after over indulging with friends I headed out on Monday night for a gentle 5 km run around my favourite route:

So it wasn't the fastest run ever but I really didn't push myself. It just felt good to be out running in Kendal again:

On Tuesday we had our 18 holes of Foot Golf which was a nice gentle walk with some kicking of footballs on the way round! 

Reasons to be Cheerful: Family, Friends and Fun #R2BC

Miracles happen and I am ready on time with my host post! Really hoping that more of you will be back this week even if it is the UK school holidays. Here are my reasons to be cheerful on what is the first week of our Easter holidays:

1) End of Term

We all finished school on Friday and after meeting in town we had a surprise and bumped into my mum for a 3 generation walk home in the sun:

Two weeks of no school runs is heavenly and hopefully we will have lots of reasons to smile by the end of a fortnight.

2) Fun in the sun with friends

My son and I travelled down to Berkshire on what turned out to be the hottest weekend of the year so far. We had a fabulous weekend with friends and my son loved all their outdoor play equipment:

3) Football Golf

#CountryKids Seahouses and Dunstanburgh Castle

Catching up on some Country Kids adventures from earlier in the year!
On the second whole day of my stay in Seahouses at February half term Storm Doris hit... So we resorted to alternative entertainments such as the arcade:

and after a run in the wind we had fun trying out my mum's waterproof camera in the swimming pool:

It was incredibly wild outside:

#CountryKids Football Golf at Casterton

We first discovered Football Golf whilst on holiday in St Austell two years ago. Today we finally got around to trying our local course at Casterton. The concept is simple.... kick a football around a golf course and try to get the lowest score. At Casterton the Football Golf is on part of the proper golf course and you start at the same place as the golfers:

Each hole has a different par and distance:

Of course its not as simple as it sounds when you aren't super footballers but boy is it fun and highly competitive when you have grown up siblings and cousins on the course! Even though it was a bit chilly we didn't mind at all as we were having fun:

#FitnessFriday on a Friday for a change!

Well after not running for a couple of weeks I am getting back into it! I also managed to get my first Lycra shot for ages to show what losing 16lb looks like:

As you can see it was very wet at Fell Foot on Saturday and I was lucky to come in under 35 minutes in horrible conditions but it felt great to be back:

I decided as it was stunningly sunny on Sunday to go out on my long country run and found it almost too hot even though it was beautiful:

Reasons to be Cheerful April! #R2BC

Right having been caught out by Thursday coming around quick I am now ready to do a proper host post! It is the last week of term at my school plus my son has had 2 secondary school information evenings so the days have just run away from me.. I also missed last week with Michelle so I am doing my fortnight's worth in one go...

1) Proud Mum #1

On a very sunny Saturday in March my son and I met up with the Wonderful Wild Women in Coniston for a walk up the Old Man. He had said he only wanted to do the lower level 5 mile walk. When we reached the point where the group split he decided he actually wanted to conquer his first serious Wainwright as he wanted to see how deep the snow was. This was the answer:

2) Sibling co-operation

When a friend visited unexpectedly on Saturday that was one reason to smile. When we ended up with an impromptu musical evening with my daughter teaching her brother how to play her keyboard I had a huge grin:

3) Sunny running

We have had some wonderful sunshine and I made the most of it to get out for a 6 mile run on Sunday. It was just stunning out along the old canal and down through Sedgwick: