Memories and Painting - Day 34

I started off my day with a quick game of frisbee with Jason:

@lakessinglemum Frisbee with Jason ##frisbee ##single ##mumsoftiktok ##over40 ##fypage
♬ Let's Do It Again - J Boog

Then I had a couple of hours of maths tutoring which was very rewarding. My Asda grocery delivery also arrived early (thanks to the driver living in my street!) so I could take pet food up to my parents'

I was reminded once again about the amazing race I filmed on Cat Bells 2 years ago:

@lakessinglemum

A taste of my fell running videos https://www.youtube.com/user/bw1310 ##fellrunning ##fellrace ##keswickac ##mumsoftiktok##fyp ##cumbria

♬ Run Run Run - Dumpy's Rusty Nuts

This then inspired me to try and recreate a photo I took that day to update my lounge window:

Great Westmorland Trail Race 2019

This weekend I had the pleasure of filming at the annual Great Westmorland Trail Race, sponsored by Sean Robinson. For the first time there was a Canicross event. There were 20 runners who had either 1 or 2 dogs. These dogs were of all shapes and sizes as well as a range of abilities. It made for an exciting race:

For some runners it seemed like a very serious event:

There was also lots of friendly rivalry:

Can you help my YouTube channel?

I have really enjoyed developing and improving my YouTube channel over the last 2 years. It has enabled me to make new friends and have an excuse to spend hours filming in beautiful locations! However, YouTube brought in some new rules just as my channel started to take off and I am no longer able to make any money for all the hard work it takes to edit the films.

So this is what I need from my loyal viewers:

1. Please subscribe and get other folks to subscribe too - I need 747 more subscribers to hit the threshold!
2. Keep watching and sharing the videos - the number of hours watched is another threshold that I need to achieve...
3. If you enjoy what I do then please consider a small donation to help me cover my petrol costs and equipment. I will give you a shout out on my next film.
4. Sponsor me - if you run a business then I can include your logo/web site in one of my videos and in the description.
5. Buy a high quality still from the videos - for £2 I can offer you a still of your favourite moment in a recent race.

The next race I will be filming is the Great Westmorland Trail on September 7th. Here is a taste of last year's races:

So say hi if you see me as you run past and chuck a few pennies in my camera bag ;-)

Grasmere Sports 2019

Far too early on a hot and sunny Bank Holiday Sunday my son and I rocked up to Grasmere for this year's Grasmere Sports:

For the third year running I was responsible for registering the fell running which is a perfect job for me as I know plenty of the runners!

Due to the high temperatures my son spent quite a bit of time with me in the registration zone but he also went out to compete in the long leap:

Reasons to be Cheerful: 50 percent, proud mum and fabulous fell racing #R2BC

 
I was MIA from reasons to be cheerful last week as life just got too hectic - I did have plenty of things to be happy about just no time to blog about them! Michelle is handing back the baton to me next month after looking after us for June. For now here is a bumper crop of reasons to make up for last week:
1) 50% achieved

As I have already posted in my FitB4Fifty update I have hit the magic 50% age grading. This means I am an average speed for a woman of my age! Next goal is to get back to my PB from 2015. Hopefully my prize inov-8 Parkclaw trainers will help with this:

2) Proud Mum

My son is continuing to do well at fell running. He is working really hard and as well as beating competitors who have always beaten him he is closing on some of those who have always been miles ahead:

3) My girl

I have been able to spend a lot more time with my daughter and her beloved Sherlock this week. Not being together all the time is hard but we make the most of the times we do have:

FRA Juniors 2019 - Sedbergh

On a very wet and overcast morning we arrived at the People's Hall in Sedbergh in advance of Helm Hill's hosting of the FRA Junior championship for 2019. At the time it was so cloudy that the tops of the hills weren't visible and it was a worry as to whether it would be safe for the under 19s to run their full route as it took in 3 summits (luckily the weather cleared in plenty of time!).

After my marshal briefing I walked the under 9 route with my son so I could find the best videoing spot. It was a challenging if not too long a route for them:

My son and his friend walked some more of their under 15 route whilst I set myself up to film just below the under 9 turn. There were 26 runners from 6-8 years in this race:

After they had gone I walked up along the descent route to capture the under 11s. This shows how steep some of the course was:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Time #R2BC

 
The lovely Michelle is hosting for April and from next week the link starts on a Saturday! For once I am apparently ready to post on the Thursday (if I can get my photos from my phone...). With it being the Easter holidays my reasons are all about time:

1) Time to celebrate

At my son's athletics club celebration he was awarded the U13 Sports Hall trophy. This follows on from winning the U11 2 years ago and the U13 fell running trophy for the season! Proves that its more about turning out consistently than being the fastest or best:

2) Time for friends

We travelled down to and across London to visit my school friends and their families. I never tire of seeing the skyline as we cross Waterloo Bridge: 

3) Time for a PB

My son smashed his junior parkrun PB by nearly a minute at Savill Gardens:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Better late than never! #R2BC

 
Its just as well I handed back to Michelle for April as technical hitches and a break means I'm 6 days late! It wasn't me having nothing to smile about and here are just some of my reasons to be cheerful this week:

1) Parkrun tourism

Thanks to my son running a race at Threkeld I managed to make it to my 6th out of 10 Cumbrian parkruns as part of my RMR Challenge. A lovely there and back again route along a disused railway. I chatted to some other lovely tourists and even realised I was in the same race as Carl Bell one of the current top UK fell runners!

2) Proud Mum #1

My son's race was the opening event of this year's FRA Juniors with my son having moved up an age category. Despite being one of the youngest he wasn't last and finished really strongly:

3) Proud Mum #2

There was no rest for my son as on the Sunday he tackled the Elterwater race up Silver Howe with slopes like this:

Kendal Winter League - Helm Race

On Sunday it was one of the last races in this year's Kendal Winter League. As it was less than 2 miles to the race on the Helm we decided to walk up the hill to get there - we somehow always forget how steep it is! Once my son was registered we took time to walk the route as he is new in the category so didn't know it. It started off easy enough along a fairly level footpath:

Then there was a steady climb to the top of the ridge:

At the top the race routes split as the younger runners stayed on the ridge whilst my son and the other runners were sent to the back of the hill:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Mud and Sunshine #R2BC

 
How did it get to Thursday already? I'm joining in a bit late with Michelle as life is whizzing by. Here are some of my reasons to be cheerful this week:

1) Petition Started

At the second attempt I've managed to get a petition started to amend the Mental Health Act. At the moment the current one makes no allowances for people with autism so they can be denied treatment. Please sign the petition to help rectify this wrong.

2) Running


Yes running - I actually ran not just once but twice including a mood lifting 6 km out on the old canal:

I do now hope I will be OK for my 10 km race in 2 weeks, although I've now caught another cold....

3) Muddy Fun

The sun shone for the Sedbergh fell race which meant for those landing in the water jump it was more funny than horrendous! It certainly made the spectators smile:

Plenty more muddy moments on my video:

4) Spring Sunshine

Like most of the country I have been loving the unseasonal mini "heatwave". Walking to and from work has been heavenly:

 

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Reasons to be Cheerful: Half Term holidays #R2BC

 
Its a good job Michelle is hosting this month as I'm forgetting which day of the week it is! We are enjoying our half term break even if its very soggy one. Here are my reasons to be cheerful so far this week:

1) More School Cooking

My son did proper cooking this week and came home with yummy fruit cake:

2) Extended Family

Our trip to Manchester gave us a chance to meet up with my 2nd cousin and his family. I hadn't seen his wife and children for 12 years so it was a chance for the children (who are 3rd cousins) to properly meet.

3) Proud Mum

My son finished 8th in his latest fell race. This is his best finish position yet and he is putting together all that his coaches are teaching him:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Fruit Salad, Museum, Fell Running and Puppy #R2BC

 
Thank you Michelle for hosting this month. I am actually posting on the right day this week but its a close call! With some stressful moments throughout the week its definitely a good idea to look back at the happier moments...

1) School Cooking

My son started his first 6 week block of catering last Friday. He came home with a yummy fruit salad (and still had all his fingers!):

2) Museum Trip

I was on a school trip to the Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry in Kendal. We were told about how hard it was for Victorian children who had to work from a young age. There was a chance to get up close to some artefacts such as this school exercise book from 1856:

3) Fell Running

I sat for several hours on a hillside filming fell running at Barbondale this weekend. Its lovely getting great feedback and spotting the funny moments whilst editing the films:

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:

get the InLinkz code

 

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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:

My Top Nine Videos on YouTube

This was the year my YouTube channel finally got some momentum thanks to my filming of fell running! It is such a shame the rules of making money changed just as it was taking off as I would have a steady little income from it... I need to boost my subscribers to match the views and then I can earn some pennies *blatant beg*

Meanwhile here are my top nine videos by views from the last 12 months:

1) 3 Peaks Fell Race on Pen Y Ghent

My son and I hiked part way up to film the brave souls setting out on this year's 3 Peaks Fell Race the marathon with mountains:

2) Grasmere Sports Senior Guides Race

I was working as a steward at this year's Grasmere Sports so missed my son's fell race. I did get out in time to film the Seniors with commentary by the legendary Pete Bland:

3) Anniversary Waltz and Teenager with Altitude descent from Cat Bells

My son again helped me to film the final descent of these races from side of Cat Bells. A stunning day to cheer on the runners as they headed for home:

Reasons to be cheerful: Proud Mum #R2BC

 
I am so sorry I missed last week's linky. It is a very rare occurrence for me over the last 7 years as it is a post that has helped me so much. Its a good job Michelle is such a generous hostess! At least it was for positive reasons as I am just working more hours and we had a lot of things going on at the weekend. Any way I have so many reasons to be cheerful but here are just a few:
1) Proud Mum #1
My daughter is a big campaigner for mental health issues and tonight went live on national radio (Listen 1:41 in). To hear the reporter describe her as eloquent and brave makes me feel so proud:

2) Kindness

I am working in such a caring school at the moment. One of the staff knew a child I was working with needed a tea light for his craft wardrobe so she went and bought him some:

3) Celeb spotting

Whilst videoing the race on Saturday I got almost in touching distance with a sporting celebrity in the shape of Jonny Brownlee:

English Schools' Fell Running Championships 2018

Yesterday my son represented his school in the English Schools' Fell Running Championship at Giggleswick School. The course was similar to the Kendal Winter League Route so we only had to walk up to the other fell to check out the route to the top:

I then set myself up near the stream crossing to video the races as I know it makes the most interesting moments (yes I was hoping for a face plant or two!). My son made sure his leap wasn't a comedy moment with this massive jump:

Here is the video of his Year 7 race as they tackled the stream:

Great Westmorland Trail Race 2018

As the Great Westmorland Trail Race was part of my son's junior club championship we fired up the Sat Nav and went for a drive into the Yorkshire Dales. After an accidental detour via Kirkby Stephen we reached the village of Crosby Garrett which was the start line for the races organised by Howgill Harriers:

Once my son had registered we attempted to walk the course... After a slightly heated discussion with my son I was proved right that the juniors headed out under the railway viaduct before heading up the fell. It was a there and back again route so I found a spot to film the first race and sent my son back to the start:

To save time and marshals they combined the under 9 and under 13 races by setting the younger runners off first with an advanced start line. The turning points for the races were at different points so some of the under 9s were coming back down before all the under 13s had passed me:

Grasmere Sports 2018

I once again volunteered to help at Grasmere Sports and was put on the fell running registration. It wasn't the best of weather for an outdoor sporting contest:

We set ourselves up with all the numbers for each of the categories:

We then spent most of the day registering anyone brave enough to come out in the cold and rain! My dad brought my son up and he took part in various sports. Unfortunately for him in the wrestling he came up against one of the regular wrestlers in round 1 so didn't last long... He also needed dry socks as they wrestle with no shoes on....

Next he participated in the fell race as it was part of his club championships. It wasn't wonderful conditions to run or spectate in:

Ambleside Sports 2018

 

On Thursday my son and I headed up to Ambleside for the annual Ambleside Sports. We have been twice before in 2014 and 2015 but have been away for the last couple of years as it is always the last Thursday in July. The fell race was part of the club championships but there was plenty of other stuff going on as well.

We watched some cycling and the start of the gruelling 9 mile Rydal Round before he had a Cumberland & Westmorland Wrestling competition. Unfortunately he came across the eventually champion in round 1 so that was game over... Then he lined up with his team mates for the under 12's fell race (photo by Woodentops):

It was a there and back again race up quite a steep hill:

He had an awesome sprint finish: