quilting day

This isn't one of mine, but I wish it was,

....we went to the York Quilt museum today, which is excellent, this particular piece is from an exhibiton called the emergence of an embroider as an artist.  Perhaps unsuprisingly Colin was much more interested in the architecture of the building and the craftsmanship of the tables, so I think we were perhaps an interesting pair for anyone else to observe.  Colin was also much more interested in the arcitecture of a felting shop that we came across; it had previously been a public house and had many old fixtures including a very old bar fitting from the "gentlemens room" that was hiding behind piles of beautiful merino wool.

20/10 2010

Well we decided to completely escape the governments Comprehensive spending review and went for a walk in the Peak District; I didn't fancy climbing any hills after Sundays' Marathon effort, so we went for a bimble along the river Dove to Millersdale. And the weather was just perfect for an autumnal walk, bright and sunny, yet frosty and cold, I don't think the temperature ever got above 3 degrees all day.  Colin had a complete moment of muppetry, with the thought that he is so uncomfortable with the cold, he'd never be able to go to Antarctica - durr!  We've been!

Neither of us could remember all of the money trees between Dovedale and Millersdale, I've taken quite a few photos' hoping that they'll inspire some textile work.
Its also the first time that we've been since the infamous stepping stones have been concreted over,  Actually they've been covered with limestone, complete with crinoids, and they're not too bad at all - they're higher than they were which means that people will still be able to use them even when the river rises, and they'll soon moss over and look much as they did before - but won't be as slippy!
Jackie

An achy legs and tired day.

Oops I looked myself out of the house this morning - I must have been more tired than I thought, but I do have a good excuse.

Yesterday was the marathon  - Myself, Colin and friend Sarah got up to see the first 5o clock of the day, and it was really cold, there had been a good frost.  The car never registered above 2 degrees C on the drive from home in Derbyshire to Sleaford, it was so frosty they'd even had the gritters  out that night in Lincolnshire, brrrrr  (and according to the locals of Lincolnshire the gritters are nowhere to be seen when its been snowing!)

Myself and Colin were running the 26mile challenge, while Sarah more sensibly opted for the 13 mile walk, and while we were all freezing waiting for the start, we were really fortunate with the weather, as it quickly turned into a glorious sunny day.

The route is beautiful; it starts at Lincoln Castle, with a run down the aptly named Steep Hill, before heading along a riverside path, and crossing various fields, through picturesque villages, and beautiful woodlands, heading to the finish at Sleaford Hub.  It was hard going underfoot, while Lincoln might be dead flat, the terrain was really bumpy with lots of tree roots, holes, and divots, and rutted fields to negotiate - we even got mildly lost once.  

Sarah beat us back, but we did manage to pick off a few runners and walkers along the way. 
While tough to do, the beautiful and changing scenery made the challenge of 26 miles fly by.  If you're interested in doing a 13 or 26 mile run or walk, we couldn't recommend this highly enough, everyone we chatted to was really friendly, and the Marshall's who organised it were brilliant, and we got a great Tee Shirt too (not bad for a tenner!)www.spiresandsteeples.com/Challenge

A noisy day

I've had official notice of my impending redundancy today, however because I work in the public sector which is sooooooo bureaucratic it is unlikely that I will actually finish for 6 more months  - crazy!  We'd decided that we would try and do something nice at work today to make up for the depressing redundancy notices, such as go for a picnic at lunchtime, however the fact that the work fire alarm got stuck on "on" during a routine test, mean that we all had to (ahem) "work from home".
Might go for a short run later!  This will be the last one before Sundays Marathon - I've never felt less ready for anything in my life...
Jackie

Night Running

Now the nights are getting darker again, I've been making the most of the nights by taking my head torch and running off road - on Friday night when we were both out we saw an owl and some bats. Tonight though I did a run where I got a bit spooked; I'd been running for about 40 minutes in the pitch black across the old colliery screens and was cutting through Shipley Country Park and running past one of the old houses (which for those that know the area is now part of Green Health) and the temperature plummeted. I know that a lot of the buildings around there are supposed to be haunted but I've run past them loads of times before, and never felt unnerved like I did tonight. I quickened up my pace, and as soon as I was away from the house, the temperature rose again, and I felt ok again. The funny thing is that its so protected by trees I would have expected it to have felt warm. On a positive note, I got a bit of speed work in, and its the closest I've come to feeling a presence.

If the night wasn't exciting enough, I saw a fox on the way back home too - he didnt seem suprised by me at all. I love night running!

Colin

Hospital Day

Col fetched his dad out of hospital today, complete with new knee joint (ouch!). For the last 2 years he's been walking around with no cartilage in his knee, that must be painful, anyway he's now got a plastic gizmo that seems to be doing the job. I have told him about the 26mile race next week, but I think he's going to see how he goes this week first.

I'm on a taper week before the big race day, only 20 miles this week, - hoorah I feel like I've been running 50 miles a week for ever. I had a short 10mile run today which was beautiful; sun shining, crunchy leaves underfoot, and lots of friendly walkers out commenting on the unseasonable weather.

I've seen a business premises that I'm toying with looking at; I could potentially run it as a cafe and develop an art gallery there too - It has the added bonus that it would be a great outlet to get rid of all the excess courgettes. We still have loads!
Jackie

Last of the long runs day

Well my marathon is only a week and a half a way, and my taper is underway - I've had a really high mileage to do this week (57 miles; 20 on sun, 11 on tues, 15 today wed, and 11 on fri) - all of my runs are feeling a bit of an effort now as my body is just sooooo tired, but knowing that my longest run pre race is only going to be 11 miles, is making every thing seem a bit more bearable.
I had thought of doing an ultra with Col after the marathon (an ultra is any race longer than a marathon) I was thinking of doing one that is about 30miles long, whereas Col is now looking at the possibility of doing one the Cotswolds Hilly 100; which I guess fairly obviously is 100 miles (and hilly) or the Bob Graham round (42 peaks, 74 miles, and 28500 ft of ascent) - the goal of both of these runs is to complete them within 24hours; complete madness! .... and makes my marathon and thoughts of a 30 mile ultra seem pretty insignificant.

On a different note my loom came today, I plan to start doing some weaves, and hopefully selling them, soon!
Jackie

nearly forgot

Nearly forgot to ask, still on the subject of the cinema, does anybody know whether 3d glasses work if your colourblind? Not asking for me and Col obviously (as Colin would probably be sick watching 3D), but we have a friend who's colourblind, and is unsure whether he would see the 3d effect. (Quite reassuring to think that its not just us that have got the potential to struggle in the cinema!)

a Wet day

My longest run of my schedule (20miles) and i'd still got a cold and the rain just wouldnt stop - I felt like a puppy who's been dragged out of the front door, by its owner, insistent that it goes out whatever the weather.
That said, running through mud and puddles is actually good fun, so once I was out there it wasnt too bad; it also has the added advantage that most people had stayed indoors so it was really quiet, which also meant that I got to see quite a few squirrels and rabbits darting in and out of the rain.
And we made the best of a wet afternoon (and the fact that I had really achey legs and didnt want to do anything too strenuous) by going to the Cinema, which we haven't done for ages - I think its fair to say that we're probably quite entertaining to the rest of the audience when we do go; we haven't had a tv for about 5 years consequently we find that we haven't seen any of the adverts in the trailer, that everybody else has seen for months, and so we laugh out loud at things that everybody else is bored by; not only that, as soon as the trailers start up, I cover my hands with my ears, because the sound seems way too loud to me; and poor old Colin struggles with the speed of the moving images, and finds that they either hurt his eyes or that he gets motion sickness.
Yeah, yeah as far as entertainment and technology goes we're a disgrace!, (its only a few months ago that I learned what a Wii was - Col had told me that all the young people at the youth club wanted "a wii" and apparently my puzzled and bemused face made it clear that I needed futher explanation!!!)
Oh yeah, the film "Made in Dagenham" is really good; all about the women machinists at Ford striking in the 1960s for equal pay; i'm not sure how satisfactory the recommendation of 2 luddites is, but we really enjoyed it - and it didnt hurt Colins' eyes....
Jackie