Behind again!

Oh dear, I seem to have got out of the habit of blogging for some reason. Must do better!

My 3rd event of the year took place in muddy old Ranscombe last weekend. It wasn't quite as muddy as back in 2018 but it wasn't far off. This time, as back then, I set out with the intention of doing an extra lap to get an ultra under my belt but this time, although I couldn't face another lap of the mud-slide, I changed into my road running shoes after marathon distance and headed out along the main road for an extra 5 miles to get to 31 miles.

Here are some photos to give you a feel - at least there wasn't quite as much flooding this year and there was no snow and the sun came out so it was much nicer:

There have been a lot of changes recently, the best being a lovely new mud-free car park and these rather impressive composting toilets (which cost a whopping £10,000 each).

Paul tried unusccesfully to take a selfie but was photo-bombed by us.

As Traviss had said that it wasn't as bad as 2018 I decided to try the first lap without my walking poles. This was after lap 1 so I knew that my poles were needed! Thank goodness I'd put my gaiters on as they make such a difference.

The next batch of photos will give you an insight into the extent of the mud!

From left to right: Debbie, Kirsty and Jo. Only Debbie went on to complete the whole thing as Kirsty and Jo had enough after halfway.

Thsi section got worse and worse after each lap and I ended up walking it after lap 3

After a few hours the sun came out which made everythign feel better. Some of the wooded areas were bone dry but large sections were still treacherous and I was very grateful for my poles.

There are some lovely views and Mike and I will be heading off there for a walk when the weather improves.

The highland Cattle were out grazing around the Darnley Mausoleum

He was all sleepy and chilled

I always take a photo of this tree as I love its shape.

There always has to be at least one photo of beautiful bark!

My time for marathon distance was 7:02 as opposed to 7:09 back in 2018. I love the new medal as it's got a bunny on it, along with a deer, a butterfly and some Highland Cattle:

A lovely medal as always from Traviss. It's the first in a series of 4 throughout the seasons and if you do all of the events you can join them all together to make a circle.

On the crafting front there's not much going on except for a bit of knitting and crochet but I have just joined a weaving bootcamp which I hope will kick-start my journey into the world of weaving.

I'm now into week 4 of the Six Pack Revolution, the Intensive Wave again, and I'm really enjoying it. I wrote about my first adventure here if you're new to my blog. This shortened version is great and I'm already seeing a difference in my strength and stamina and my jeans are looser which is a bonus! For me, this Wave is all about strength and stamina rather than weight loss as I've maintained my last results quite well.

The meal plans are full of my old favourites with some new things thrown in and Scott even launched an SPR cookbook last year which you can see here on Amazon, although I didn't buy it 'cos I've got all the recipes anyway. They're all quick and easy to prepare.

Exercise-wise it's the same format as my first wave in the link above with a discipline of daily exercises Abdominal exercises to be added into the mix on alternate days with different Challenges of varying duration which focus on specific areas of the body and are guaranteed to get you sweating!

Shelley's been helping enormously both inside the house and in the garage (which she's enjoying as there's so much to investigate):

Here she's helping me with Diamond Press-ups!

And here with Decline Press-ups (on the 4th step)

Exploring the garage is great fun whilst mum does silly things with weights and Battle-Ropes!

Next time I write I'm hoping there will some craftwork to show but in the meantime I"ll leave you with a photo of my beautiful Paperwhite daffodils which are filling the whole house with their amazing scent!