What have we done

In our attempt to live the dream a la the Good life we've bought a house in a more rural location with quite a lot of land which will mean I can have workshop for my textile work, a patch of land as big as our allotment outside of our back door, a space for chickens and fields from which we can run at the end of the road.

Its all sounding pretty idyllic so far, but as with most things the good life doesn't come easily, the house is in a horrendous state and needs gutting completely to make it habitable - it still has the old bakelite switches, it has a body shaped lump in the concrete floor where the concrete has blown and is very very damp.....

Jackie

Giant Ladybird

Its not every evening that you sit sewing at your window  and think  a hot air balloon is in danger of landing on your street - it was so low that I could see the people in it and hear them talking too .... Hopefully they will make it to the local park (Granby Park) which could also be a surprise for the young people who tend to gather there in the evening...

Picasso

The Potatoes not the painter, or though he could paint on the side of these big beauties. I've been lifting some of the main crop potatoes today along with cauliflower, spinach, the never ending supply of courgettes and beetroot.

Harvest time is great, fresh food all the time and 10 minutes of road time not hundreds of miles of flying time. Looks like we could end up with some great Pumpkins as well there is a huge one at the moment and plenty of others growing on steadily. Roll on Halloween.

Now to go rest my back the physio would kill me if she new what I've been doing as I was told to take it easy. Oops

Colin

Double Zero

My first Zero is that of my Zero Balancing treatment, again it has left me feeling less tight and achy and more relaxed. After the problems of last week's 40 mile run that I pulled out of, my body was in a right state and needed relaxing then hopefully soon I can resume training.

My second Zero is in the form of Zero running till I feel no aches and pains I've been told that I didn't give my body time to recover after the 24 hr (Thunder) run and that it basically collapsed when it became fatigued. I now realise I need to build some time in to my schedules to relax and let my body recover.

A lot of articles I have read in magazines and on the inter web tell you that you learn much more from a bad run than a good one . I definitely have learnt a lot.

Colin

All wrapped up

I've made a load of Christmas presents this year, and have now started making recycled gift wrapping - gift bags out of old comics and newspapers - rafia for the handles.  Hopefully I have enough time to collect interesting articles and comics to match the recipients interests.

Jackie

40 Miles ....too much

Well I headed off this morning to the Ultra peak race ,organised by Rory Coleman and Jen Salter. As always a well organised event starting at Cromford meadows along the canal for a mile ,then heading up the High peak trail (with quite a few steep sections). It then cuts along to the Tissington trail heading back towards Ashbourne. After this it goes through Osmaston and Markeaton Park .

Well to cut to the chase; 30 miles in at check point 3 I pulled out . My first DNF mark. To be honest I think doing this race so close to the Thunder run was a little naive and that my body had not recovered properly and so my thighs turned to lead and I struggled to lift my feet this caused me to keep catching my heel . The problem I developed above the outside of my ankle became an issue so I ended up walking probably 3 miles to the check point and calling it a day.

Legs feel better for having them raised and cold showered and the ankle didn't swell up ,so I think stopping when I did may have prevented a long term injury. Sad not to have finished but another 10 miles could have finished me running for a while so I know I made the right decision.

Colin

Buzzing

For the second time in 2 weeks I have got stung by a wasp while out on a run.  While I like to think that we were both flying towards each other, at 70mph, the reality is that I would have been plodding around at 8.30/9 min miles, and to be honest I'm feeling a little victimised, and sore.....
Cols 40 mile ultra is on Sunday so he's been on a taper for the last couple of weeks, and has been out on slow runs with me  - made even slower by having to stop and perform minor surgery extracting wasp stings.
Hmmm who said that running is good for you
Jackie

Toadying

We've done really well for not having slugs in our back garden this year; the reason pet toads!  This evening we had 2 little ones in the greenhouse (the big one we normally see was not around).  We didn't dare disturb this one from his comfortable perch on the watering can, watering the tomatoes will have to wait until tomorrow.

Fallen

Not quite finished yet, but here's the first of what I hope will be a series of woodland textile pieces.

This is inspired by the oil painter Maya Eventenov whose oil paintings of silver birches are really built up and textured.  I decided that it would be interesting to look at woodlands through the medium of textiles; burning back the bark, scrunching up leaves, painting on the moss etc  

I think my next piece might be a snowy kissed woodland, but to be honest I've been so inspired doing this that the possibilites seem endless....

Jackie

Too hot to run

Col did the local league race last night (only 2 days after the thunder run).  I'd decided that it was far too hot to race and would have a gentle plod along the canal.  Even running along the canal was hot and clammy, fortunately on the way back I managed to have a sneaky rest by fussing a friendly cat  - he was really pleased to get fussed (even rolled onto his back to have his tummy tickled) and I got a nice little rest without even having to pretend to stop and tie my shoe laces - everyone was a winner!

Jackie

Thunder Run ..TR24..

This weekend saw me and some of my fellow Ilkeston running buddies tackle the Tr24. This is a 24hr relay event, held at Catton park. It was a well organised race with some really friendly people attending. To cut to the chase we won't be high up the rankings but for the six of us we managed to complete 26 ,10 kilometer laps in the 24 hrs.

Hope to have a go another year and maybe at some time have a go at doing it solo.

In two weeks time I'm signed up for the Ultra peaks race ,a 40 miler from Cromford to Derby along the High peak, Tissington and Bonnie Prince Charles Trail

Colin