Reasons to be Cheerful: Sunshine and Other Things #R2BC

Sorry for the delay! Can I blame the heat? I am standing in for one extra week whilst Michelle has a well earned break, then we are both having a week off with our families! Here are my reasons to be cheerful this week:
1) Wine Tasting
I felt like a proper grown up when I was invited to a wine tasting at Majestic. It was great to sample a range of wines and have proper grown up conversations, with mostly much older wine appreciators.  They also laid on yummy snacks: 

2) Time with loved ones

Straight after the wine tasting I went out for pizza with three of the people I love the most:

3) Malham

I have already blogged about our wonderful day at Malham fell race. What I hadn't mentioned was how close we were to the stunning Malham Cove:

FRA Malham Fell Race

On Saturday my son and I drove over to Malham in Yorkshire for the latest FRA Junior Championship race hosted by Keighly and Craven Athletics Club. After a stunning drive through the Dales we parked in the beautiful village before hiking to the start:

Once my son was registered we joined the other families walking the course:

It was a scorching hot day and the under 9s were lucky to only have to run to the specially flagged turn:

Reasons to be Cheerful

Its Thursday so that means its Reasons to be Cheerful with the lovely Michelle hosting this week! A slight change next week as its back with me even though its still May. Then we are both having a week off so that we can make the most of the school holidays with our families! Meanwhile here are my reasons to be cheerful this week:
1) Bluebells
They are looking wonderful at the moment as they hit their peak. One of my favourite flowers to see whilst out and about:

2) A country run

I am enjoying being back in my happy place and getting longer runs in back in the beautiful countryside:

3) Friends get together

The weekend saw one of our high school get togethers with our families. Wonderful to catch up with friends that live so far away from me. The children all got on really well even to the extent of a collective hide from the obligatory group photograph:

Clough Head Fell Race 2018

On bank holiday Sunday my son was hiking up the Old Man in Coniston with school so I set off on my own to Threlkeld to film the Clough Head fell race. It was a beautiful day as I approached the fell which stands at 726 m (2,382 ft):

As it was an English Championships race there were plenty of banners at the start:

It was helpful to find some at gates as well as the paths up to the fell are not way marked (as the land is open access):

Reasons to be cheerful: Sunshine, Friends and Proud Mum #R2BC

Its Thursday so its Reasons to be Cheerful this month hosted by Michelle. I have got plenty of reasons to be cheerful this week so here we go:
1) Proud Mum #1
My son had his first outdoor athletics competition as an under 13. He was one of the youngest competitors but came out with a silver medal in the shot putt:

2) Proud Mum #2

It was my daughter's first parents' evening since changing secondary school this academic year. She missed most of the summer term due to ill health but due to her hard work her grades have recovered and she is nearly back to where she was. A glowing report and wonderful comments from her teachers!

3) Outdoor Fun in the Lakes

Sizergh Castle 321 Trail Route

Last week I met up with some other local ladies to run the Run England 5 km route from Sizergh Castle. Its one I have done before but not for quite some time. The route starts at the end of the car park close to the bird hides:

It then heads off across the fields with a gentle slope to warm you up:

One of the nicest parts of the run is the path through the wood which at the moment smells of wild garlic and the bluebells are coming out:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Running, hills and sunshine #R2BC

We have been so busy creating memories and enjoying the wonderful weather that I am a few days later joining in with Michelle on Reasons to be Cheerful this week! It has been a pretty happy week for us.
1) Hiking up Pen Y Ghent

I have already blogged about our wonderful hike up Pen Y Ghent to film the 3 Peaks' Race. How can views like this on a sunny day not lift the spirits:

2) Kendal Colour Dash

Being part of a community fund raiser brought smiles to lots of our faces:

3) Social Running

A friend of mine realised that there a lots of ladies in the area who sometimes could do with a companion on a run. So she started a Facebook group and 3 of us met for a run at Sizergh Castle. I will be writing a full post about it but these were our smiles at the end of 5 km:

4) Elections

We had a full local council election this time and with a controversial issue over a free "car park" being returned to common use it was going to be a closer one than in previous years. I was relieved that the people I voted for got back in as they have done a lot of work for the town.

#CountryKids at the Kendal Colour Dash 2018

 

On Sunday my son and I donned white t-shirts and joined approximately 1,400 people of all ages to take part in the Kendal Colour Dash. This was my 4th and his 3rd colour dash which raises money for our local hospice. We started by covering ourselves in the powders that we had bought ourselves:

My son then abandoned me to find his friends so I warmed up with the crowd. He ended up near the front of the start whereas I was somewhere nearer the back so he got a flying start and I was held up in the crowd! I recorded my run on the head cam as well as snapping some pics on my phone:

It was certainly an explosion of colour even if there wasn't much dash for those of us in the main crowd:

#CountryKids at the Three Peaks Race on Pen Y Ghent

This weekend my son and I headed off to Horton in Ribblesdale in Yorkshire to film one of the most iconic fell races the Three Peaks Race. It is known as the marathon with mountains:

The Three Peaks Race traverses the famous Yorkshire Dales mountains of Pen-y-ghent, Ingleborough and Whernside is one of the oldest, most famous and best organised fell races in Britain. 

First run in 1954, the Race covers 37.4 kilometres with 1608 metres of ascent and descent over the most rugged and spectacular countryside in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, taking competitors to a height of 723 metres above sea level. 

The men's course record is held by English international Andy Peace of Bingley Harriers, who completed this gruelling challenge in 2 hours 46 min. 03 sec in the 1996 race. 

The women's record of 3 hours 9 min 19 sec is held by English international Victoria Wilkinson in the 2017 race.

After about a 50 minute drive we arrived at the race start:

As soon as we arrived we met another fell running family from Kendal who were also planning on watching the race from the side of Pen Y Ghent. This was great for my son as the 2 other boys were only a year younger than him. We set off along the well trodden Pennine Way. For folks hiking the 3 Peaks Challenge they were being sent a slightly different way to make it a circular walk:

It was a beautiful day to be walking between dry stone walls on undulating terrain. We were glad we weren't running along it like the racers would be: