Extreme Knitting Redhead: Knitting frustrations and the Steyning Stinger

Monday, March 5, 2007

Knitting frustrations and the Steyning Stinger

Grrrrrr, I ordered my copy of the Rowan book and yarn I was looking at online and only the book has arrived with a note saying that the yarn is out of stock. That is so frustrating as the site said they had 'unlimited supplies'!!!! I telephoned the company and was told that as it is a new yarn they are still awaiting a delivery from Rowan. Hey ho.

Yesterday was the Steyning Stinger marathon. The weather was vile with gale-force wind and rain/hail for 21 of the 26.2 miles. I have never been so wet and cold! Also, the ground was incredibly slippery as it was chalk, flint and mud, so I decided to walk up and down some of the steeper slopes (I can't afford to pick up a major injury so have to be a bit more sensible!) which meant I was even slower than usual. Most of the time I felt like Bambi with my legs going every which way. My left big toe developed a painful blister at mile 4 and by mile 11 it was excruciating. It became a case of pain management and I found that if I kept my feet wet and muddy that it didn't hurt as much!

Many thanks to Anthony, the lovely photographer, who took this photo of me around the 4 mile mark after the first hill (I'm only slightly muddy and it hadn't started raining yet so I look reasonably respectable). He takes good quality photos at many sporting events and his prices are really competitive. You can view his website at antbliss.com

Although it was jolly tough I really enjoyed it in a perverse sort of way and I was smiling like mad when I finished. I got a cute little engraved glass as a memento and they provided a yummy meal afterwards. They even had a special veggie menu so I didn't feel like a nuisance. My final time was 6 hours 34 minutes 6 seconds which is a lot slower than I would usually manage. I suppose I hadn't fully recovered from the Draycote ultra and I was being extra careful because of the slippy conditions underfoot.

Now I've got 6 weeks to get myself together for the London marathon so I shall be taking my knitting out on my next run to get some practice in!

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Mum's Story

In 1997 my mother, then aged 81, had a series of minor strokes. Shortly after that we started to notice behavioural changes notably memory loss and confusion over everyday items. We thought it was just old age finally catching up with her. Then she started wandering and had violent mood swings. Although she already lived with us it became obvious that she couldn't be left alone for long and so I left my job to care for her. The next few years saw a gradual decline into the blackness that is 'vascular dementia'. My normally placid mum became violent and aggressive. She had psychotic incidents where she would see imaginary people (children hiding in her wardrobe, Russians sitting on the stairs, women stealing her clothes) and she would shout at them and sometimes throw things too. She was so convincing that we used to go and check that there wasn't anyone there! When my sister died mum did not know who Judy was or that she was her daughter. There came a point when I suddenly realised she no longer knew that I was her daughter and this was a terrible time for me. In the last 2 years that she lived with us, life for us all became almost unbearable as she needed 24 hour care - she couldn't be left alone at all because she would either wander off or hurt herself, she never slept for more than 30 minutes at a time during the night, she became incontinent and incapable of doing anything for herself. Finally my husband and I realised that we could no longer provide her with the care that she needed and she went to live in a special care home where the team did a splendid job caring for her in the last few months of her life. There she lived a zombified existence unaware of who she was, what she was or where she was. It was heartbreaking. She died in March 2005, the day after her 89th birthday.

Thank you for taking the time to read mum's story and I hope you'll dig deep and sponsor me using the link below to help find a way of beating this destructive disease.