Treasure

I was rummaging around in my fabric stash the other day, looking for some linen to make a tablecloth, when I came across this piece of crewel work.

Oh my goodness that took me back. It was a kit that I got from mum and dad as a present for passing my 11 plus exam! For anyone who doesn't know what that is, it was an examination taken in the last year of primary school at the age of 11, or 10 in my case, and determined whether or not your education continued at a Grammar school or what was known as a 'Secondary Modern' school. Given that I am 56 going on 57, that makes it about 45 years old.

I was 10 going on 11 when I stitched it but it never got hung on my wall because I was disappointed with my needlework skills; goodness knows why because it doesn't look too bad for a young girl. However, I have perfectionism in my genes and so I know that I didn't like it because I hadn't covered all the transfer markings properly - see the green lines in this close-up on the outer edge of the flower and the leaf below.

When I showed it to Mike he asked if I could do anything to cover them up and of course I could. So I did. I went back to rummaging; this time in my stash of crewel and tapestry wools. I picked out these skeins thinking they were quite close then searched for some greens………...

……and this is what I found - the remains of the original kit, neatly enclosed in a plastic bag. Oh the joy of being a hoarder! So I had the perfect colours with which to complete it.

A few more long-and-short stitches where needed around the edge of the flowers, extra french knots for the stamens and the judicious use of stab stitches to edge some of the leaves and stems did the trick.

The hanging frame was designed to serve as an embroidery hoop but didn't really do it justice. This photo was taken  before I'd done the extra embroidery.

I wracked my brain trying to think how to frame it and then I remembered a lovely oval frame that I'd used for a pressed flower picture at our last home. More rummaging required.

The backing plate was cracked so it was a good job that Mike was on hand to make me a new one out of hardboard.

The next worry was that the embroidery would fit in the frame. Here it is in its unstretched form. It looks as if I'm going to lose a few bits on the edges but I think it might work because it looks so much better than the original mount.

Fingers crossed it works out OK as I think the design sits well in an oval rather than an oblong frame.

The heart of the matter

I've now undone most of the crochet chain from the London marathon and have started work on the second lap blanket. I need to get a move on now as I will be giving them to their new owners next week. I wanted it to have a heart in the middle, as I did for the one I started on my way to the London marathon, but I wanted something a bit different.

I knew I'd seen a heart with popcorn stitch in the middle somewhere and thought I'd got a pattern in one of my old books but couldn't find it. No worries, I just made a cup of tea, sat down by the window and got stuck in.

It was just getting light when I started and my first visitors were Titch and Quackers who came and tapped on the door! I didn't have my camera nearby at the time.

Then came Mrs Duck:

She was followed was this pretty little pied wagtail who is a regular visitor.

The one who made me laugh most was this pheasant who tried to attract my attention by jumping up onto the sun-lounger and staring at me.

Now where was I? Ah yes, the crochet. Here's what I ended up with after a lot of playing around. I wanted lots of textural interest and this fits the bill. It should block out nicely and will make a good centrepiece. The rest of the blanket will be just trebles and chains so will grow really quickly, especially with this thick yarn (Lion Brand Hometown USA).

Another one bites the dust

Marathon 35 done and dusted. I still chuckle when I think about it; little old me running all that way so many times is surreal! Technically, this event is classed as an ultra-marathon as it is over 27 miles as opposed to the usual 26.2 marathon distance. My GPS watch measured the route as 27.26 miles at the finish.

Proceeds from the event go to local Rotary Clubs for local charities and they supply all the marshals who man the aid stations with water, cake, biccies etc. 

These tough trail events are male dominated as was evidenced by the changing tents - 4 tents for the men but just 1 for us women! It was chilly first thing so I had a lightweight long-sleeved top on underneath my vest. As it got hotter later in the day I did a very good demonstration of how to remove it without taking my vest off.

A melee of runners

Queueing for the portaloos

The race started at 10am and I positioned myself right at the back as always. I soon settled into a comfortable pace when we hit the trail. To get a feel for how tough the route is take a look at the course profile. It's certainly not for the fainthearted! The first steep hill comes after about 1.5- 2 miles and everyone around me started to walk. I didn't though as I prefer to just shorten my stride and run really slowly up that hill - there are plenty of tougher hills to walk up later on!!!

Shortly after that a lady caught me up and asked my advice on how to approach the hills as it was her first attempt at this and she'd seen me running up it. My advice was to slow down, take shorter strides, use your arms to push yourself onwards and don't look more than about 10 feet ahead on tough ascents like that one. For the really steep ones, of which there were many, you don't gain anything by trying to run up them and it's more sensible to conserve your energy by walking them.

Ant was busy snapping at his usual position after the first steep hill. It's always nice to see him and his crew and I was glad that the weather was kinder to them this year as they stick around right until the very end in all sorts of atrocious conditions.

Not looking very glamourous as I shout "hello" to Ant

That's a bit better!

Note the hanky in my hand. My nose was streaming almost all the time as the pollen count was really high. At least it didn't affect my asthma. You'll also see that I've left the crocheted granny squares and heart on my cap as I really like them and they make me smile. I think they've given my tired old marathon cap a new lease of like.

The next photos were all taken right on the top of the hills to try and capture the expansive views. I love wide open spaces as I grew up in rural Lancashire near the Pennines and my heart is still in the hills.

That's the sea in the distance

Oh no, the dreaded oil-seed rape!

I'd never seen pigs  up on the South Downs before. I spotted their huts from the other side of the valley and was delighted to find that we ran past them in the second half. They were really sweet but did smell a bit though!

I think this is the approach to the Steyning Bowl where I saw 2 hang-gliders taking off a bit further on.

I've never seen anyone run up this steep hill at mile 18 - I expect the faster runners did but anyone over 4 hours will have walked up it to conserve energy. At least it was grassy so much easier on the legs.

Striding out on one of the many UPdulations (the long-sleeved top is now tied round my waist)

In the next photo you can see one of the rare flat bits on compressed chalk. You have to really watch your step all the way as most of the tracks are rutted by farm vehicles and have lots of loose flints on top and you can easily trip on them. Also, the chalk gets really slippery as I know to my cost from 2010 (link below). The other thing to watch out for in the wooded sections is tree roots which can be an issue when your legs are tired and you don't lift your feet high enough off the ground (there speaks the voice of experience!).

You can just make out the aid station in front of the trees.  One year their tent was blown away 'cos it was so windy!

Although there is a 6 hour finishing time limit you are allowed to continue provided you get to the 13.8 mile marker at the River Adur within 3.5 hours which I have always managed. This time I got there in 3:05 so had plenty of time to spare. Having said that, I was actually faster in the next section (referred to as a "negative split").

The winning time was 2:57:52, a man, whilst the wining female time was 3:42:44 which gives an indication of how tough the course is.

I felt really strong at the bottom of the final hill and managed a 400m sprint finish with a big smile on my face as usual. 

My ponytail proves I was sprinting!

Crossing the finish line

I was delighted to be presented with my medal by the local Mayor - he's usually given up and gone home by the time I finish!

I crossed the finish line in 5:41:27, 10th place in my age group (50-59) and 307th place out of 342 finishers (I'm usually in the last 10). This is a fantastic improvement on my previous outings at the event (2008, 2010 (when I had a nasty fall) & 2012 - I hadn't realised it was a biennial event for me) as I'd never got below 6 hours before and this was 26 minutes faster than when I ran it in 2012 (admittedly the weather was atrocious that year).

The first thing I did was to phone Mike who was amazed and delighted that I'd finished much sooner than I'd anticipated. After a quick hug and a catch-up with Ant from Sussex Sport Photography I had a few cups of water & a piece of cake then headed for home. 

The medal is always the same and I find this image rather weird as the person in the foreground looks like a Cyberman from Dr Who!

In the evening we celebrated with a glass or two of wine and the next day I was out for a 4 mile run with no adverse effects other than some interesting sunburn stripes!

Certified

Yesterday, Mike and I had a lovely jaunt into London to visit the people at Guinness World Records for a little get together and to be presented with my latest certificate.

The weather was reasonably kind to us but there was a bitter wind and I had to pile my hair up on the walk there 'cos it kept blowing all over the place.

That's the green jacket I found in Hastings recently

We were seated near their kitchen where they have a get-together for all their staff each week. There was lots of food preparation going on, chairs being laid out and there was a screen displaying photos of record attemptees before, during and after the London marathon.

As they scrolled through the photos, I realised that I hadn't included some of the ones that they'd taken of me on my blog and had only put them on Facebook so here's my favourite.

Getting checked out by a GWR adjudicator (captioned by me!).

"My goodness Redhead, that's a mighty fine ar$e!"

There was time to catch up with Damian beforehand. He's looking askance 'cos I've just told him I'm doing another marathon this weekend (technically it's an ultra as it's over 27 miles) and that I'd done a double marathon 2 weeks before London.

Mike was clicking away all the time and I like the strange photos rather than the posed ones.

I look as if I'm doing the hair-flicky thing but I think I was just turning to look at the food!

Heading back to Mike. Behind me are 3 other runners who achieved  GWRs in London

We've been having a few issues with the camera misbehaving recently and a lot of the photos were fuzzy which was annoying. Plus, every so often it starts doing an irritating buzzing thing where the screen image jumps around. I think it might be time for a replacement!

Here we have Craig, editor-in-chief of the Book of Guinness World Records with the record holders for fastest marathon in full body costume (the tiger), as a bride (male - he grew the beard especially!), as a fireman (wearing full kit including the heaviest boots ever and breathing tanks - his helmet was incredibly heavy too) with me on the end.

The tiger with his face mask on. He had to cut a hole to breathe but there were no holes for his eyes!

I chuckled at this one showing the bride adjusting his cleavage!

We each explained our reasons for choosing what we did, each with our own charity to support. When it was my turn I started by explaining how the blanket was started on the morning of the marathon and how I'd intended to attach the chain to it but the chain was too big! 

People really seemed to identify with the metaphor of the crochet chain linking people with dementia together and then the blanket wrapping them in love to tell them they are not alone. I also had to explain that I had undone a lot of the chain already to continue working on the blanket and that I would be able to make another one out of the remains.

Explaining the blanket

A quick crochet demo

Lots of fun bits about avoiding the speed bumps and kerb stones

Then there was a question and answers session with the staff, Craig handed us each our certificates and then we had a group photo taken.

Damian and I had a good old chin-wag about things I could do in the future. He said I should be in marketing 'cos of my tendency to think laterally. I explained that it has always been my forte, having an over-active imagination!

In the previous photo Damian was trying to fit my GWR certificate into this fab bag which came complete with 2014 GWR Book of Records and the Gamer's edition.

Thanks everyone for such a warm welcome.

Then it was time for a walk down memory lane into Soho, which used to be the centre of the music industry and was where Mike had a studio for many years. We'd booked ourselves a table at the Red Fort, an Indian restaurant we frequented on a regular basis many years ago.

It didn't disappoint!

My starter of lentil patties