Reasons to be Cheerful: Running, creating and Puppy Power #R2BC

 
Its actually been quite a stressful week up here but we've still managed to find things to make us smile! Hoping that folks have also had reasons to be cheerful that they want to share. Please come on over and share the things that have made you smile this week - no matter how small. 

This is my last week as host for a month as I pass back to Michelle for February. As host I will visit, comment and share all the posts that are in the linky. If you are new to the linky then here are the simple guidelines (we are far too nice to do rules!):

• Posts must be about things that have made you happy
• Add the badge code to your post (see end of this post)
• Add your post to the linkup below
• Visit the other posts and comment to share the love
• If you want to then share those posts

So what has made me happy over the last week?

1) Proud Mum

On a very windy and icy day my son tackled his latest fell race on Birkrigg Common which I was filming. Still waiting for the results but he was well ahead of most of his current rivals and looked strong:

2) Being Creative at School

Working out of the main class gives me a chance to be much more creative with topic work. Our settlements geography/history topic has taken a deviation to Ancient Rome so we built the Colosseum out of wine gums and cocktail sticks:

3) Puppy Power

An absolutely adorable Bichon Frise puppy has been added to the family to help my daughter cope with the stresses of life. He is raising plenty of smiles already and is cuteness overload:

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Reasons to be Cheerful: To Snow or not to Snow #R2BC

 
How do Thursdays come around so quick? Its time for the happiest linky around. Please come on over and share the things that have made you smile this week - no matter how small. As host I will visit, comment and share all the posts that are in the linky. If you are new to the linky then here are the simple guidelines (we are far too nice to do rules!):

• Posts must be about things that have made you happy
• Add the badge code to your post (see end of this post)
• Add your post to the linkup below
• Visit the other posts and comment to share the love
• If you want to then share those posts

So what has made me happy over the last week?

1) Faster Running

My time at parkrun this week was my fastest 5k for the year. I also went out and did my fastest mile run since 2017! Something is obviously working - although not run much this week...

2) Proud Mum

My son is continuing to enjoy being in the under 15 category for fell running. A friend caught his awesome sprint finish against another friend's daughter this weekend. It showed him that he can run a lot faster:

3) Snowdrops

#RMRChallenge parkrun 4: Ford Park, Ulverston

After my 3rd Cumbrian parkrun a fortnight ago I only managed to get to my 4th parkrun this morning. Having checked the map I knew that the nearest one I hadn't been to was Ford Park in Ulverston (it also happened to be on my way to visit my daughter in Barrow!):

The parkrun is set in Ford Park which has the Hoad Monument for a backdrop:

The course is currently a winter route so we were going to be facing 4 laps! The RD warned us about the slippery sections where we would be crossing the grass (she was right...). Then 77 of us lined up to undertake the 5km route. It starts with a longish ascent right up to the foot of the hill before tackling the Lady's Walk along the top of the park:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Tiger! #R2BC

 
Its time for the happiest linky around. So come on over and share the things that have made you smile this week - no matter how small. As host I will visit, comment and share all the posts that are in the linky. If you are new to the linky then here are the simple guidelines (we are far too nice to do rules!):

• Posts must be about things that have made you happy
• Add the badge code to your post (see end of this post)
• Add your post to the linkup below
• Visit the other posts and comment to share the love
• If you want to then share those posts

So what has made me happy over the last week?

1) Tiger

As mentioned already my daughter and I got to hand feed a real live tiger when we went to the zoo:

Such an incredible experience!

2) Girl Time

I don't spend as much time with my daughter as I would like so a whole weekend of just the two of us was great. Love her quirky sense of humour:

3) Proud Mum

South Lakes Safari Zoo

As it was a girls' weekend we decided to go an visit the South Lakes Safari Zoo. It was only £2 each to get in with online pre-booking!

When we got there we decided to treat ourselves to tiger feeding as its something neither of us had done before. Before that we had an hour to wander around. Here is a little video of our day out:

Kendal Winter League 2019: Race 1 Scout Scar

It was videoing the Kendal Winter League last year that really started the momentum going on my YouTube Channel. So with this year's competition starting last Sunday I am determined to:

1. Video all the races
2. Improve on my techniques and positioning for the films

I was combining videoing with being safety marshal on the gate at Scout Scar which meant that whilst I was close to the action (so close runners jostled me!), but it was quite tricky to film some of it! 

The first race was for the under 11s and under 13s which meant children from 8-12. This was a highly competitive and fast and furious race:

Once the 95 children had all finished it was time for the under 15s to take to the start line. This included my son as he had turned 12 before the New Year making him one of the youngest runners. They had a longer race of just over 2km and again there were some strong performances. My son was 13th out of 21 which was a great result for him:

The final junior race was the under 17s. Again some of these have only just moved up from the under 15 category but they all put in amazing runs:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Family, YouTube and my Commute #R2BC

 
If I've got the scheduling right its Thursday which means its time for the happiest linky around. So come on over and share the things that have made you smile this week - no matter how small. It as wonderful having old and new friends joining in last week so I hope its going to keep on making us all feel happier. As host I will visit, comment and share all the posts that are in the linky. If you are new to the linky then here are the simple guidelines (we are far too nice to do rules!):

• Posts must be about things that have made you happy
• Add the badge code to your post (see end of this post)
• Add your post to the linkup below
• Visit the other posts and comment to share the love
• If you want to then share those posts

So what has made me happy over the last week (apart from all the running posts I've already posted!)?

1) Family

My daughter started the couch to 5km running challenge last week I went out on her first run:

Running made us both smile. Let's hope being back at school doesn't scupper her fitness campaign! We also joined my parents at a local quiz night and were only 6 points off in the top 3 - guess we need to revise before the next one...

2) YouTube

Filming big competitions like the county cross country  and our local Kendal Winter League puts a real boost to my watch time! At one point I had had 1,400 views in a 48 hour window thanks to the 9 videos I made this weekend for the channel:

3) Proud Mum

Cumbria Cross Country Championships 2019

It was wonderful to be at this year's Cumbria Cross Country Championships at Hunter Hall School, Penrith. Some amazing running from all age categories. Here are my videos:

Under 11s:

Under 13s:

Under 15s:

#RMRChallenge Run Report 5-1-19 Penrith parkrun #loveparkrun

As we all know when you have an annual challenge like the RMR Challenge, if you don't start as you mean to go on and get the miles or events under your belt early doors its easy to get behind and fail... With that in mind I realised that I could manage to do parkrun number 3/10 this weekend at Penrith whilst en route to my son's cross country. This did entail leaving at 8 o'clock in the morning which caused a few issues:

1. I hadn't preprogrammed the sat nav before leaving the house which meant
2. My 12 year old had to programme the sat nav and as he wasn't very awake and I couldn't look we put in the postcode and not the venue which meant
3. We were taken to a housing estate in the middle of Penrith and not to the football club which meant
4. I had to park quite a way from the start and had a quick jog across the field to arrive after the briefing had started - but I did make it!

The course is very different from the ones I have done before. It is 2 laps of all the sports fields and twiddly bits at Penrith FC. The whole route is on pretty well maintained paths or in the car park:

Having run the first little stretch with Ron (the Run Director from Fell Foot - a nice surprise) I realised I had run my first kilometre under 7 minutes which is a bit too fast for me at the minute! So I slipped back into my intervals mode. Not having any hills and not knowing the course made it hard to decide where to do this, but there where some obvious turns that I used:

A walk to Kendal Castle #REDJanuary

The thing about this RED January lark is that it's addictive! Today is a non running day as yesterday I did a gentle 2 km with my daughter as she started her Couch to 5 km journey:

So I had planned on just doing my Davina workouts and my 30 day runners' workout which were enough to count. However seeing less than 2,000 steps on my Garmin didn't feel enough! So I dragged my son off his Xbox and we headed out for a walk. First of all through the cemetery in the gloom:

Then up the path to the castle:

#RMRChallenge Run Report 2: MIllom parkun 1-1-19

So after completing Barrow parkrun I undertook a 40 minute drive in convoy to Millom for my first visit to the parkrun which has the reputation for being the slowest in the UK! It is located on the playing fields of Millom School and didn't look as muddy as reputation would suggest:

We were warned at the briefing to double knot or trainers tightly and to please use the hose at the end!! It didn't take long to discover that the green was hiding plenty of mud!

With multiple laps you soon get to learn where the boggiest bits are follow the regulars:

#RMRChallenge Run Report 1: Barrow parkun 1-1-19

I was determined to kick off my RMR Challenge in good style! So I had a sensible New Year's Eve so that I could get up at 6:45 on New Year's Day to drive over to Barrow for parkrun at 9 am. It was a lovely quiet drive along the peninsular with the sun rising. At the park I met a few familiar faces and then took my place at the back of the crowd for our run. I hadn't been to the parkrun for 2 years so it was lovely to see the views:

I knew this was only my first parkrun of 2 so I was content to take it easy and grab photos and walk up some of the many hills:

It is a multi-lap route so I got to know when the tough parts were coming and also the best views such as the cenotaph:

Reasons to be Cheerful: New Year and Christmas Edition #R2BC

 
Welcome back to the happiest linky around! I hope you have had a wonderful festive break and are ready to face whatever 2019 may bring? Michelle and I will once again be taking turns on alternate months to host the linky so its me for the rest of January. As host I will visit, comment and share all the posts that are in the linky. If you are new to the linky then here are the simple guidelines (we are far too nice to do rules!):

• Posts must be about things that have made you happy
• Add the badge code to your post (see end of this post)
• Add your post to the linkup below
• Visit the other posts and comment to share the love
• If you want to then share those posts

So what has made me happy over the last few weeks (playing catch up as been no linky for a month!)?

1) Family & Friends

I am so lucky to live within walking distance of my parents. We are able to see each other a lot and I loved spending Christmas with them:

We also spent an all too brief time with my high school friends back down in the south before Christmas.

2) Helping Hands

My son and I get a lot of help from local family members. It was great to be able to return the favour by helping to shift firewood for them:

3) New to Me

Run Mummy Run Challenge 2019 #RMRChallenge #FitB4Fifty

In 2018 my running dropped off due a combination of factors:

• Plantar Fasciitis which needed insoles to improve so I could get running again
• The heatwave... I really don't like temperatures above 25 C so running was definitely off the cards!
• Work - it was great getting an almost full time temporary contract but fitting in running has been hard!
• No challenges - I had only signed up for one race (which I missed due to a holiday!) so had no incentive to get out the door...

My son challenged me to run every day in December to get me back on track. It was interesting some days to squeeze a mile in every day and some times I had to do a long run to make up for having to miss a day. In the end I ran over 36 miles in 31 days which was my best month of the year:

So I have decided that I need a challenge to do better in 2019, to this end I committed to the Run Mummy Run Challenge for 2019. This allows us to choose our own targets for the year which we had to share online:

So to see those in a more legible form:

A Hike up Wansfell Pike

A friend asked if I wanted to go for a hike on New Year's Eve, as I've been thinking that we need to do more walks I said yes! I checked a few circular walks on Walk the Lakes and chose one over Wansfell Pike.  With the route printed off and stored on my phone I arranged to meet my friend at NT Townend in Troutbeck (parking in Ambleside is tricky and expensive!). Then we aimed to join the route part way round and do it backwards:

There were plenty of excuses to pause and take photographs from intriguing goat hinges or glimpses of Windermere:

Eventually we realised that somewhere we had missed part of the route but with obvious tracks, signs and stiles to show that we were on an official route to the summit: