Extreme Knitting Redhead: Sky 8 & another 20 miler

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Sky 8 & another 20 miler

It was a beautiful sky last night but I had to start taking photos even earlier; 7:45pm to be precise.

The contrails took on a pinkish glow and looked like threads of candyfloss criss-crossing the sky in their own version of abstract art.

This 2nd photo made me think of Lord of the Rings or could it be an alien space ship?

Then finally the dark clouds look like faraway landscapes with mountains coming down to meet the silvery, shimmering body of water in an inland loch.

Today I was up before the lark and out running just as the sun peeped out, spreading it's pink glow across the sky. It was rather autumnal first thing which was great for running but it did start to heat up quite quickly.

16 miles passed uneventfully and at a good pace but then I certainly felt the last 4 and slowed down considerably as I headed towards 20 miles. Probably just the result of the bug I had last week.

That was the 2nd 20 miler of my schedule. My long run next Sunday will be around 17/18 miles and then there's just one more 20 miler to do before I start to cut back my mileage for the Marathon.

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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.