Nearly there

As Christmas is looming large on the horizon I thought I'd better do a quick catch-up.

Yesterday was my last marathon of 2018. I was delighted to learn that the weather was supposed to be better than in recent days when we've had torrential rain and strong winds and indeed it was a lovely day with lots of sunshine and only a slight breeze.

It was another of Traviss and Rachels events over at Deal and I do rather like this route as the sea views are glorious and there's lots to see - dog-walkers, plenty of sea birds, cyclists and some interesting Victorian architecture. I only took a few photos of the scenery as I really wasn't feeling the running love yesterday.

Registration time

By 8:30am when we set off, the sun was out and it was very pleasant. I wasn't going to push for a time as Mike and I have only just recovered from bad colds - I had to miss the marathon I'd intended to run 2 weeks ago as for the first time since 2011 I found the cold developed fully and went straight to my chest so, as an asthmatic, running was a no-no. For poor Mike it went to his sinuses and we were both shocked at how much it took out of us.

It was an out and back route of 5.25 miles per lap which meant 5 laps for a marathon or more for an ultra. My first lap felt fine although I just ran at a pace that felt comfortable and I completed it in 55 minutes. I headed out for my 2nd lap and at the halfway point I had a major mind meltdown and decided I didn't want to continue. Yes, really! I am usually completely focused and rarely have negative thoughts so it was a bit of a shock I can tell you.

I always smile when I see this pier as I love the starkness of its architecture.

As luck would have it my favourite young man was also running and he was a lap ahead of me at the time and came alongside me for a catch-up which took my mind off quitting for a while. As we headed into base camp he refused to let me stop and cajoled me into heading out again for another lap which we jogged at a gentle pace whilst putting the world to rights. Of course, by the end of lap 3 I was over halfway and so it would have been silly to quit so off we went again but I'd decided to do a run/walk strategy and James very kindly stayed with me as he wasn't aiming for a fast time.

Chatting with him really helped take my mind off whatever it was that was getting me down and I can't thank him enough for sticking with me to the end. There was lots of hugging with fellow runners and I was delighted to see these two lovely ladies before I finished as Loulou (left) has battled all manner of horrid health problems this year and Kirsty (right) is such a kind friend and helped keep her going when things got tough.

Half of David, LouLou and Kirsty

I don't know what my time was as my Garmin battery died but it was definitely over 6 hours. Hopefully whatever gremlins got into my head will disappear before the new year as I have a marathon on 1st January to welcome in 2019.

On the knitting front I've finished all my gift knitting and am back to working on my jumper.

You had to block it aggressively to a certain circumference. I transferred the stitches onto a long blocking wire but only just managed to get them all on (hence the cork to stop any falling off).

Then the stitches were picked up, a section knit back and forth to make the back higher then the sleeve stitches were put onto holders (I just used scrap yarn). The lacy pattern was done on a single strand but then another strand was added for the first section. I used 2 strands of the yarn in the yoke held together.

I've now started the next section which has a different yarn added into the mix so I exchanged 1 strand of the yoke yarn for a strand of Kidsilk Haze in a mottled brown.

I've got several balls of this shade and thought it would be a good opportunity to use some of it.

In the section after this I'll be adding in this dark chocolate Kidsilk Haze which I think will give me the same effect as the  pattern piece.

There was much excitement the other day when my Parcel arrived for Kate's latest club, Knitting Season, which starts in January.

In other news we've got a new batch of sheepy guests. They are mostly Texels, a breed originally from the Netherlands.

Their coats are incredibly dense which makes them difficult to extract when they decide to explore the bramble patches! I've been pestering the contractor who cuts our hedges to come and cut them back but each time he's been due to come something has gone wrong and now the ground is far too wet to bring a massive tractor onto the fields.

I love the way they stand with their 2 front legs all neat and tidy!

Since our previous nextdoor neighbours have moved we are seeing more inquisitive squirrels in the garden - he used to shoot them.

It didn't take them long to discover the seed-feeder on the window.......

........and the nuts at the feed-station by the hedge

They're great time-wasters as you find yourself just standing watching their antics!

As we hurtle headlong into Christmas may I wish you all a very happy and peaceful time and for those of you who struggle at this time of year I send you extra hugs.

Planning time

The Running Part

Here it is at last, my 2019 Challenge for Alzheimer's Research UK with full details of my intent. I haven't publicised it before now as I had to make sure that I was fully committed to the enormity of it.  I've always said I would run the London marathon, when I could, until my dream of a dementia charity being their featured charity was realised and now it has so this will be my last London marathon (yep, OK, I might be eating those words sometime in the future but that's the plan at the moment!).

Part 1 - I am going to try to get a personal best (pb) time of 4:30 or faster at the London marathon.

I've tried to do this twice before at the London marathon and each time I've tried to go faster something bad has happened:

• attempt number 1 - I was tripped up by someone dressed in a Little Miss Grumpy costume and ended up sprawled on the ground with bloodied hands and knees. I was whisked off to the medics tent and cleaned up before I was sent back out on my way to finish in 4:58.

• attempt number 2 - I was doing sooooooooo well until my chest started to feel tight and I had a massive asthma attack at mile 18 and had to stop for what felt like an eternity whilst people came and kindly tried to help. Stupid asthma! 4:55 for that debacle and I was absolutely gutted as my training  had been really good and I'd felt strong.

The last time I ran London was in 2015.  It was my 3rd marathon in 4 days and I had no thoughts of going faster. So what happened? Yep, I got a pb, finishing in 4:42. Until then my fastest time had been 4:52 set back in 2006. So the moral of this story is to train hard, run multiple marathons and just run how you feel on the day with no pressure!

Can I shave those pesky 12 minutes off my time?  Well, I'll have a jolly good go at it.


Part 2 - I am going to complete another 100 mile event.

"Yeah, yeah, you've done that before" I hear you cry. Yes I have but this is one heck of a different sort of event than the last one which was a nice, safe, lapped event with no navigation and a nice warm barn and an aid station nearby. This event is not like that as we will be self-navigating along the footpath known as Harold's Way, climbing over stiles, scrambling across fields so will have to carry the supplies I need.

I spotted this new event when I was pottering around looking at future events and as soon as I saw it I knew it just had to be done - it's the 1066 100 mile ultramarathon and it starts in London then follows the route Harold marched his army to take part in the Battle of Hastings. The finish line will be the entrance to Battle Abbey which you'll see in the link above if you scroll down.

Why did I choose this? Because it is truly an awesome and daunting 'challenge' and will test me on so many different levels, not least because the time limit is 30 hours.

One really good thing is that the route will pass through our village so Mike will be able to come out and cheer me on as I navigate the last 10 miles or so of the route (which has umpteen stiles to negotiate and believe me they will not be welcome after a 90 mile trek!).

"But you've already completed 161 marathons (I sneaked in another the other day as a training run, see below!) and you did a 100 miler earlier this year didn't you" I hear you cry. Correct on both counts but, and it's a great big 'but', both my target events are going to be so much tougher for me and I don't just mean because I'll be another year older (62 next year)!

Let the training begin.........actually I've already started with marathon 161 the other day down at Samphire Hoe. It's a route I know well so I have plenty of benchmark times there and I'd only ever gone below 5:30 before (5:29). The weather was absolutely perfect (not like when we were there 2 weeks ago in my previous post) with a gentle breeze along the seawall and glorious sunshine making everywhere look beautiful. I deliberately left my camera at home so I wouldn't be tempted to take photos but Claire sent me these photos showing how different the conditions were:

11th November

23rd November

It was an 8 lap route and I set out with the intention of running 10 minute miling for the first 4 laps, to take me up to 13.1 miles, which I managed quite comfortably in 2:10 then I just slowed down, took a few walk breaks on the uphill sections and was delighted to finish in 5:15 which was a course pb by 14 minutes.

At my next marathon I will try to maintain 10 minute miling for another few miles, unless it's trail where I will have to go a bit slower.

The Knitting Part

I started the Hryggir jumper a few weeks ago and had made good progress, having nearly finished the lacy part of the yoke. Note my use of the past tense there. I'd spotted an error in the chart so that didn't cause me any issues and I was feeling good about it.

Tilly and I were sitting together happily with her on my lap whilst I knitted away. The phone rang, we both jumped and Tilly got her back leg caught in my knitting as I got up to answer it tripping over her in the process and the rest is a bit of a furry/yarn/needle/stumbling blur. Suffice to say there were rather a lot of stitches no longer on the needle and a few gaping holes where there shouldn't have been any.

What do they say about pride and falls? LOL!

I surveyed the scene as I chatted on the phone and when the call ended I decided it was wine o'clock (well it was the evening so it's allowed in an emergency) and gathered it all up to be dealt with the next day.

What a mess it was too but I just started carefully ripping back several rounds to see when I could make sense of it. When I got back to the rounds below which I thought everything was OK I looked closer and found several of the yarn-overs had run down too in one section and it was too complicated to get all the stitches back on the needles without a great deal of concentration and time.

Oh bother (that's the polite version!).

So I bit the bullet and ripped right back to the end of the ribbing which made it quite easy to pick up the stitches again. I stuck it back into its project bag and started work on some Christmas gifts instead (I can't show them 'cos the recipients will see).

Yesterday I felt ready to face it again so picked it out and started the pattern section again:

I'm hoping not to have to redo it this time!

A Walk Round Rye Harbour

On a rather dreary day last week we spent a lovely morning wandering around beautiful Rye Harbour followed by lunch and another wander in the town centre.

Flotsam or Jetsam?

There was a lot of this particular seaweed on the shore

It looked a bit like an Andy Goldsworthy installation

The sand patterns fascinated me too. Look how the little pebbles created the pattern  and were left like an adornment at the top of the sand 'tree'. The blueish tint reminded me of the works by Japanese artist Hokusai.

Horse riders on the other side of the Harbour along Camber Sands

On look-out duty!

Wandering around Rye I still spotted things I haven't noticed before such as this wonky chimney.

I always like to walk by this gorgeous tree and this is my favourite time of year to see the bark all exposed.

It's such a beautiful colour and gloriously tactile

I know I've shown it before but the peeling seemed extra special this year.

Lots of small mushrooms growing along the root line in the grass and on a grave.

I think they are Glistening Inkcaps (you can just make out the deliquescence on a group to the far left)

The clock on top of the tower in the Church of St Mary was looking magnificent

You can climb to the top of the tower and get magnificent views

The photo of mushrooms reminded me of a little treasure I found in our garden a few weeks ago. I was digging near the front hedge when I spotted a lump of what looked like charred conifer branch.

On closer inspection I realised it was indeed a chunk of conifer branch which was supporting this little beauty - Candlesnuff fungus (Xylaria hypoxylon) which I've never seen before ('xylon' is the Greek word for wood). Apparently when it's ripe you can blow on it and it releases the spores which look like the cloud of smoke when you snuff out a candle, hence its name.