What's been happening (warning, long post!)

Well, that car crash certainly hit me harder than I imagined. Although I managed to run my 3 marathons I was still suffering with a very stiff neck and restricted movement across my shoulders which left me unable to hold my head in a good position to knit. I could only manage about 5 minutes before it started to ache like mad so I gave up in the end and turned to one of my other loves to fill the void while I recuperated - embroidery.

After many sessions with the Physio, an X-ray to check nothing was fractured I finally started to get some more mobility in my neck but I still had difficulty holding my head when looking down. This of course had meant that I couldn't use the laptop unless I piled it on top of a load of books and sat at my desk. It was very frustrating. At first it didn't interfere with my running but gradually over the weeks I was starting to stiffen up across my shoulders. This meant it was time for the magic hands of Mary Massage Lady who used her pointy, pokey fingers to get right into the knotted muscles and provide some relief. It hurt like heck I can tell you but after a couple of session with Mary and many more stretches I finally started to feel better.

I even started knitting again a few weeks ago but more of that later. So here's what I've been working on recently:

I'd often said I'd like to have a go at Bargello, or Florentine Embroidery as it was something mum did a lot of in the 1970s but I never tried.


In fact, we still use this waste bin that she embroidered when I was a teenager.

I knew I wouldn't be able to use a tapestry frame on my knee so resorted to a floor stand which I could tilt to a good angle so that I didn't need to hold my head downwards.

I scoured the secondhand bookshops and found loads of fantastic books to get my creative juices flowing. Of course this now means I have far too many projects I'd like to tackle! I already had a massive amount of tapestry wool so I chose shades of blue and red/pink that match the curtains in our lounge and started on a sampler cushion. It is very addictive and satisfied my crafting need.

Here's the front just waiting for the backing. I'm going to make a braid to go around the edge and some tassels using the same colours of the cover.

My next project will be another cushion cover but maybe in a 4-way design.

I also started to embroider a cardigan using some lovely silk and cotton threads, adding seed beads and bugle beads for added interest. Each section is different and uses easy stitches. I've just got to finish outlining the edges and inserting edge panels.

I'd forgotten how much I enjoy embroidery. I always used to do knitting in winter and embroidery in summer when the light is good but somehow the knitting had taken over the whole year.

Much as I love knitting, that won't happen again!

I found the most beautiful book in a secondhand shop recently - Swedish Embroidery by Eivor Fisher. It was published before I was born but still resonates with me today. I love the simplicity of this sort of work and am planning a wall hanging using crewel wool & embroidery silks based on one of the patterns. I got a huge amount of crewel wool from Sue at Kangaroo recently as she had reduced all her stock. You may remember that Sue very kindly provided me with yarn for my knitting exploits last year.



















I'm always drawn to the simplicity of so-called Folk Art in all its guises, whether it's knitting, sewing or painting. I love the clean lines and uncluttered shapes where a simple line can suggest many things.
















This all kept me going for a few months until I felt able to knit again. I decided to start small and make some socks from the book 'The Eclectic Sole' which is full of interesting sock designs. However, I would urge caution to anyone attempting these designs as they are not for the faint-hearted. Not because they are especially complicated but because of the errors in the patterns.

After much debate I settled on the cover design, named 'Migration' and cast on the required number of stitches. I'd never tried a toe-up sock before so it was interesting to start this way. I chose 2 balls of Opal sock yarn and decided to use the pale colour for the main body with the variegated yarn for the pattern.

I soon reached the main pattern but after a while I realised something was different from the photo on the book - can you spot it? Yep, the zig-zag pattern after the toe was missing. I checked the chart and the written instructions in case I was being a numpty (which, of course, was not beyond the realms of possibility!!!) but I'd done it correctly. Off to Ravelry to check if anyone else had the same problem. Oh yes indeed they did! In fact, almost everyone had omitted them except a couple of people who'd worked out that you had to include a few rows from another chart before starting the foot pattern. Grrrrrrrr, time to rip it back a bit.



The next time I got a bit further and tried it on for fit. Crikey it was snug but there was no way this would go over my high instep. I checked the pattern to see what lay ahead and realised that I'd have to increase the foot stitches both at the start and towards to the instep. I looked at the pattern and it wasn't too complicated to modify although it would perhaps be off-putting for an inexperienced knitter to have to amend the pattern. Grrrrr, rip number 2.

I added an extra pattern repeat all over the foot and then another pattern insert to get over my instep. Happiness (although still a bit on the snug side). Then it was the heel. Now short row heels often leave those troublesome holes so I went on-line to search for an alternative. I found this method which I used. It took a couple of goes to get it just right but it was worth persevering as it's a neat method. Then all I had to do was lose some of the extra stitches I'd cast on for the instep.

I quite like the end result but I do wish that designers would get their patterns test knitted before publication!

Time for an update!

It's long overdue I know so apologies to the lovely people who still read my blog. I really haven't felt like blogging for the last few months as I think I needed a break from all the fund-raising etc plus I was unable to knit for 5 months following the accident and have only just started again (details in my next post).

Photos and a proper update to follow soon.

Hooked

Here are a couple of action photos from the London marathon snapped by the Alzheimer's Research Trust supporters.

People asked me what I did with the length of chain whilst I was crocheting and here you can see - I coiled it around my left wrist and then when it got too heavy I tied some yarn through the middle and attached it to my belt.

I don't know why I look so happy as my arms were really hurting at that stage (around mile 14)!

My neck is still giving me a few problems but I've had more deep tissue massage and it seems to have eased it a bit so I'm hoping I'll be able to knit again soon.

In the meantime I've been crocheting on my ripple blanket and doing some bargello needlework as I can hold my head higher doing that.

Result - 6:00:24!

Here's a link to the marathon results where I was surprised to see that only 2 more people came in after me. As there were originally 12 people behind me that's a lot of people dropping out which shows how bad the conditions were.

The lady who came in last was doing her 209th marathon. What a star - makes my tally of 20 look a bit lame!

Today the only pain I have is from my fall and I'm very impressed that my legs and neck feel absolutely fine. My hands are still sore and the wounds are a bit weepy (too much info?), the bruises on my arm and leg are turning a lovely shade of mauve and my ribs and tummy hurt whenever I laugh.

I'm giving my body a few days rest from running to recover but I'll do plenty of walking to help speed up my recovery. I think I need a trip to Mary Massage Lady too.

Many thanks to everyone who reads my ramblings. I love it when people leave comments and it's wonderful to meet some fellow runners and knitters in races.

I think I need to try some more knitting now my neck has improved too so I'm looking at my stash to see what to start next.

Over the hills and far away

With a weather forecast for torrential rain and winds this year's Three Forts Marathon was never going to be an easy run. Not that it's an easy option anyway as with over 3540ft of climbs it's a test not only of the legs but of mental stamina too. Add to that the fact that I've already the 2 marathons in as many weeks and you get the picture!

When I left home at 7:30am it was drizzling but the further west I drove, the heavier the rain to the point that I got drenched walking from the car to collect my number at the start. The thing is that once you get wet you know you can't get any wetter and just have to get your head down and get on with it.

It was nice to see a good crowd at the start and there seemed to be more people than last time I ran it in 2008. I started right at the back so I could settle into my own pace and not worry about other people. The slopes were going to be treacherous under foot as the combination of rain, slippery chalk and loose flints meant that I really had to concentrate hard so I didn't lose my footing. There really isn't much to say about the run as the scenery was mostly obscured by cloud and rain so I just had to focus and trudge along steadfastly. My legs felt absolutely fine and I had no aches and pains so I was very pleased.

On the way up to Devil's Dyke I passed 12 people so I knew I wasn't last. This part of the course was an out-and-back stretch so I got to see all the faster runners coming down the hill as I plodded upwards. I shouted hello and well done to them and most of them reciprocated which was nice. Trail and Fell runners are a friendly bunch.

It was somewhere close to the halfway point at 14 miles (this marathon is an extra mile coming in at just over 27 miles rather than the usual 26.2) that I lost my concentration momentarily on a downward stretch and found myself falling fowards. I knew instinctively that I'd have to put my hands down to stop my face hitting the ground but I didn't really think about which other bits of me would hit the deck. Then splat, ouch, I was face down in the grit and flint! I thought that the slippery chalky bits would be my downfall, not the flinty, gritty bits.

So I assessed the situation - my gloves were completely shredded and I could see my hands were bleeding, my number had ripped off my jacket and was being blown against a wire fence nearby (I grabbed it before it could escape), there was mud all over my jacket, shorts and my legs and there was some blood on my left knee. Hmmmmm. I looked around but of course I knew there was no-one nearby as the people behind me were at least a mile behind and the next aid station was about 3 miles away.

I cleaned the grit out of my hands as best I could using the water from my bottle (good job I don't use a sports drink!), tied my sopping wet hanky around my left hand which was bleeding the most and had a jolly good cry. I think that if anyone had come along at that point I probably would have given up and pulled out. Thankfully nobody did come along so after a few minutes of self-pity I managed to get my mind back in gear and started off again.

At the next checkpoint I saw some friendly faces including Pete (aka Mr Finknottle from the RW forum) and the marshalls topped up my water bottle and gave me chocolate biscuits to speed me on my way. Sometimes a choccy biccy can really make things seem better! Then I just had to dig deep and churn out the remaining miles. At one point the rain and wind combined made me so cold that I really couldn't feel my fingers and I did get a bit worried as hypothermia can be big problem up on the South Downs in these sort of conditions. I tried wiggling my fingers to no avail so then started to circle my arms around in windmill fashion and shook them to get the circulation going again. Eventually the feeling came back which was a massive relief.

As I approached Chanctonbury Ring the wind was blowing really strongly and a thread of cloud was being forced over the top of the hill ahead of me. It looked as if someone was having a bonfire! When I ran through the cloud I felt the temperature drop even further. Up ahead was what remained of an aid station but it seemed as if most of it had been blown away.

I must say that the marshalls were absolute stars for standing out there for hour after hour in such gruelling conditions as it must have been very cold and miserable for them. Without their dedication we runners wouldn't be able to run our marathons.

The last few miles are a blur really, except for the final 1.5 miles which were all downhill so I thought I'd be able to up the pace a bit.

Wrong!

It may have been downhill but it was so claggy and slippery that I really had to watch my step. I did manage to cross the finish line bang on 6 hours which was the cut-off time and I had a lovely reception from the marshalls. I collected my medal and immediately headed off to the first aid tent to get my hands cleaned up.

The crew of the St John's Ambulance were lovely and they told me that they'd had 15 cases of hypothermia and many more people coming in with assorted cuts from slipping as I had. I headed for home, with both hands dressed in bandage but feeling very proud that I'd managed it and I have to say I am amazed that my legs felt so fresh and strong. I did have my doubts about running 3 marathons on consecutive weekends but it just shows what you can achieve if you put your mind to it.

The next morning the bruises started to appear - this one on my left arm is really quite sore. I have a lump and a friction bruise above my left knee, my tummy and ribs feel bruised as I landed flat on my front (I thought all that fat I carry on my front would have cushioned the impact but apparently not!) and there is grazing under my left knee.

I still feel great though.

Now, what's next?............................................

Virgin London Marathon

So another day dawned (well it didn't actually as it was still pitch black!), the alarm went off at 4am and it was action stations again! This time the taxi was at 5:30am so I had lots of time to prepare everything and we managed to get to Blackheath before the road closures came into force (the trains from where we live don't get there in time so we always have to do this).

We have a good routine now where we go to the same little cafe which opens at around 6:30am (but doesn't have a toilet), have a coffee and I have a pain au chocolat until around 7am then we get a newspaper and go to a cafe further up the road (where there is a toilet!) where we bag a table and sit and have a leisurely time with another coffee before heading off to the Green Start pen. It works really well because I don't have to worry about anything and can just relax. I was really stressed the night before and had convinced myself that I wasn't going to be able to run the marathon never mind do any crocheting on the way round so it was important that the morning itself went smoothly.


Thankfully I didn't have any more interviews to do so at 8:15am we headed off to the Green Start. The usual balloons were lined up but the one of the motorbike was the most striking and was the largest one I've ever seen!



We wandered over to my start pen where Mike attached the wool to my little apron and I made myself known to the people from Guinness World Records. We had a group photo taken and then one on my own and I headed back to say goodbye to Mike.

There are details of all the runners attempting records here. I met Gill Begnor who was wearing a bottle costume and had to get under 5 hours for her record. I hope she did OK as I have no idea how she managed to run inside that costume! The group photo is here.

The weather forecast was for sun, sun, sun but it was very cloudy at first. Then it started to rain and so I bade farewell to Mike (with the usual teary moment) and he headed off to London whilst I went back to try and shelter from the rain. I managed to find a carrier bag in my kit bag so I ripped a hole in that and stuck it over my shoulders to help keep me a bit warmer then sneaked into one of the tents to shelter until the rain abated. I wished I'd taken one of the many space blankets I've accumulated from my many marathons as that would have kept me nice and warm.

At the start I saw the green caterpillar of 34 runners, complete with Princess Beatrice - they went past me during the marathon too and she smiled and said "wow, that's wonderful" when she saw my crochet - and I also met SarahL from Fetch sporting a gingerbread man costume. Sarah is a very speedy runner and she was still pretty darned quick despite the costume!

Then it was time to line up ready for the start. Several people came over to tell me that they enjoy reading my blog and several more runners passing me en-route said they often popped over to see what I'm up to which was nice. Thank you for stopping by!

I always knew that the crochet stunt would be harder than the knitting for several reasons - it's harder to get into a rhythm when you're using just one hand, sweaty hands mean the wool doesn't feed through easily and also means I can't use the nice comfy bamboo hook, the chain wouldn't be as weighty as a scarf and so would blow around if there was a breeze and last but not least is that it's harder to crochet without looking at what you are doing so I had to look down much more and take more care about where I put my feet! Having said all that I soon got into a rhythm of sorts and set my pace accordingly. I had to get round in under 6 hours for the world record and as the forecast was for sun later I didn't want to go fast anyway (quite apart from the fact that I'd already run a marathon the week before!).

The marathon was wonderful as always. The crowd was brilliant, calling out the names of the runners to speed them along, but what was extra special for me this year was the number of runners who went past and offered encouragement. Many of them said they'd read about my antics or seen me on GMTV or heard the radio interviews and 2 ladies running for the Alzheimer's Research Trust even said they'd been inspired to run the marathon having read mum's story. That made it all worthwhile for me as getting publicity for such a worthy cause is paramount in what I do.

I saw lots of RW forumites and Fetchies plus 2 ladies went past and said hi, adding that Mary Massage Lady (my favourite Sports Masseuse) had told them to look out for me! There were 2 Fetchpoints at 13 and 22 miles, the Runner's World Team at mile 17 around Mudchute and the Alzheimer's Research Trust team at mile 14 in Narrow Street. I usually like to stop and just say a quick hello but I was struggling a bit so just waved and smiled. I expect there will be some photos later as the ART cameras were flashing away and I saw RichK at Fetchpoint!

As the crochet chain grew I was wrapping it around my left arm and when I finished a ball I then tied some spare yarn around it and hung it from my belt, joined in a new ball and started again. When calculating how much yarn I'd need I used my scarves as a basis and added a bit more on. This proved to be wildly inaccurate as I only got through 4 balls of yarn and Gerard had kindly donated 10 balls so I hope he doesn't mind! I'll make good use of the excess yarn though by crocheting some blankets and selling them for the Alzheimer's Research Trust.

By mile 23 the wind was blowing my yarn around too much and I found I was slowing right down so I realised that if I didn't speed up then I wouldn't get round in under 6 hours. So I stashed my yarn and hook in my apron pouch, put my sunglasses on, stuck my head down and strode forth finishing in 5:43:22.

As I crossed the finish line I looked around for the adjudicators for Guinness and we then had to measure my chain. Now any knitters reading this will know just how easily a ball of yarn can get itself into a right old tangle. Well add 26.2 miles of being jiggled around to the equation and you'll have some idea of just how tangled my hanks of crocheted chain were. It took ages to disentagle them before they could be measured but we managed it eventually and I was shocked to find I'd managed 77.4 metres! I never thought it would anything like that length so was very pleased!

After a brief interview they presented me with a temporary certificate and I collected my goody bag and could finally go to meet Mike (who'd been waiting patiently for ages).

He seemed to have had a good day and had been shopping so we had loads of bags to carry.

I am always ravenous after a marathon and he hadn't disappointed me - I tucked into a scrummy cheese salad sandwich straight away before we headed off to get the train home and to put our feet up for the evening.

What a great day for my 19th marathon. Now what about next year........................................................

GMTV

It sounds glamourous to say you've appeared on GMTV doesn't it? Well, it doesn't come without a bit of hardship I can tell you! On Friday morning I got up at 3:30am, the taxi picked me up at 4:30am to get to Tower Bridge for 6am.

There were a few of us doing live interviews from 6:30am until 9:30am. The knights and their lady - they duelled relentlessly and ran around a lot, shouting!

Then there was myself and Rik. From left to right we have John, the lovely taxi driver from Hastings who drove me there and back and waited around for hours whilst we filmed, Fran Ridler one of the Press Officers for the VLM and Rik Guard.

So what we had to do was a series of 'teasers' where we stood next to Dan Lobb the presenter and gave a brief description of what we intended to do. These were just to get interest ahead of the actual 'spot' which lasted a bit longer. Sadly the spots weren't very long and none of us managed to get in much about our respective charities plus I didn't get to explain the link between my crocheting and dementia which was very important to me.

Inbetween shots we were allowed into the hotel restaurant for brekkie or coffee and there was the usual surreal mix of elite runners - (Deena Kastor was having breakfast at the table next to us), assorted Press Officers and a group of runners in fancy dress!


Rik's unique way of marathoning was to sing all the way round. He's a professional singer and he's written a song about his mum who suffered from dementia with the proceeds going to the Azheimer's Society. I don't know how he got on in the marathon but it certainly won't have been easy - sometimes it's all you can do to breath without having to sing too!

However, we were promised more time on the end spot at 9:25 and when my turn came I was so determined to mention the 850,000+ sufferers of dementia in the UK, the lack of funding for the Alzheimer's Research Trust and that each chain I crocheted was to represent the way dementia affects the brain that I didn't draw breath. I got most of it out though!

Then it was a quick dash home to get changed for work. By the time I got home form work at 6:30pm I was well and truly ready for a rest and it didn't seem 5 minutes until I was getting up for work the next day. Of course it couldn't be a nice easy day at work could it and instead of a nice relaxing day I spent all day on my feet, rushing around then it was early to bed for another early start ahead of the London Marathon.

I Knit, therefore I am!

Today I had to make a 5 hour round trip to London and back to visit the Excel Centre to collect my running number for the London Marathon.

There is slick process of registration whereby they give you your running number etc then activate your chip (the thing that gets attached to your running shoe and records your start/finish time accurately). Directly in front of me in the queue for my number was Lee Evans the comedian and the staff took a photo of him!





I recorded a short interview with BBC Radio London which is to be broadcast on marathon day. That should ensure I get plenty of shouts of "Come on knitting lady" (even though it will be crochet!). We did the interview close to the Guide Dogs for the Blind stand where they had lots of gorgeous dogs they were training to be guide dogs. They were having a wonderful time.

Then it was off to see Gerard at I Knit to collect the yarn he had kindly donated. We'd had a bit of an upset as although he'd sent some yarn to me in the post it never arrived and as I was in London anyway it seemed sensible to go and collect it.

I didn't know the area at all but the shop is situated in a vibrant street and I can see why it's such a success. It's crammed full of lovely yarns, the sort you want to pick up and squeeze. Amazingly, I didn't buy anything but I have however made note of a few Habu yarns that they stocked and something is brewing away in the back of my mind for them.

The staff were all lovely and very friendly and I came away laden with yarn and I hope I manage to crochet the whole lot. It's hard to gauge how much I'll use but I don't want to run out like last time I knitted the scarf as that was very annoying.

Even better, Gerard has very kindly said that if my secret plan for the crochet chain doesn't happen for whatever reason (no I can't write about it as it wouldn't be a secret now would it?!) then I can display it at the I Knit Weekender in September which might raise some more money for the Alzheimer's Research Trust.

It was lovely to meet Gerard and his team at last and I want to say a massive thank you for all your support.

Oh no!

The cold I've been keeping at bay for the past few days has finally caught up with me. I'm dosing myself up to the eyeballs and hoping it will have gone by the weekend or I might have to walk rather than run. Boo hoo.

Brighton Rocked

Oh yes indeed, Brighton rocked yesterday!

The inaugural Brighton marathon was absolutely brilliant. The route was lovely, the crowd support was amazing and equalled that of the London marathon, the goody bag was excellent, the medal was enormous and good quality, the weather was a little on the warm side but I still managed to sneak round in under 5 hours coming home in 4:56:57. I was very pleased with this because I was feeling under the weather as I had caught one of the many colds that was going around at work despite telling anyone infected to keep well away from me! A combination of adrenalin, caffeine and Lemsip Max seemed to done the trick (and perhaps the 2 glasses of red wine Mike gave me to calm me down the night before!).


We had to get up at the crack of dawn to get there, park up and then catch a bus to the start. I sometimes marvel that in a crowd of several thousand (7,500 on this occasion) you can actually bump into someone you know. Here I am chatting to Ruth (aka Plodding Hippo) who has appeared at most of the marathons I have run as she is a marathon addict.

The lady on the left was telling us which pens we had to go to and for some reason I was in a faster pen than Ruth. One of us must have put the wrong time on their application form!

Here I am in my start pen before it filled up with nervous/excited/impatient runners. There was a 15 minute delay at the start which I later discovered was because somebody had parked their car on the route despite gigantic yellow signs telling them not to park there!

The weather forecast was for it to be sunny so I planned my race strategy accordingly. I always slow right down in the heat because if I don't then I feel sickly so I ran the first 10 miles at 10 minute miling then slowed to 11 minute miling, passing the 1/2 mark in 2:15. As the sun got higher, my pace slowed down to 12 minute miling which meant I was still feeling relatively comfortable.

As usual, Tracey's husband Bernard was out and about with the kids, snapping away but this time I didn't even spot him and he sent me several photos! When I approached the 23 mile mark, someone announced that Fat Boy Slim was up ahead and for some reason I decided that I had to beat him. I speeded up to 11 minute miling and caught sight of him. He looked as if he was suffering, as did many others by this stage, so when I went past I said "Well done, you're doing really well. Just keep going" to which he replied in a sulky manner, "Well I'm not going to give in now am I?!" Pah, I thought and upped the pace to 9:30 minute miling and left him in my wake listening to shouts of "Go on that Redhead!" I managed to maintain that pace right until the end and it felt really good to be running strongly right at the very end.

I got quite a surprise after the finish when I heard someone shout my name and turned to see Paul with whom I did the tandem ride last year! Sadly Sarah was stuck in Barcelona and hadn't been able to get back as all flights were still suspended because of the volcanic ash in the atmosphere.

It's all go now

Last week was rather busy with media stuff - On Friday morning I did a live interview with Danny Pike on BBC Radio Sussex which I'll try and put on here later ( not having much success so far!). They had being doing a live interview/phone-in with Gordon Brown and I came on after that. Many thanks to my boss who allowed me to do this in his office at work.

Then there was an interview with the Kent and East Sussex Courier plus an added bonus in that the Hastings and Battle Observers both printed the Press Release from the Alzheimer's Research Trust.

On Friday evening Mike and I drove over to Brighton to do a quick live interview with Simon Parkin, the weatherman for ITV Meridian. That was fun!



Apparently vans are in short supply at the moment as everyone is out and about following politicians ahead of the General Election so I think this one deserves a photo.

On these occasions there is always a lot of hanging around waiting - not at all glamourous. Mike and I got there early to avoid the friday night rush on the roads. This meant there was even more hanging around to do and after we'd walked around the park we just went and sat in the car until it was nearly time.







Here's the team.










The microphone was attached to me.





I explained that knitting involved 2 sticks and crochet only had one hook. It's not easy explaining everything in about 1 minute!






I took one of my scarves with me which Simon wore and we chatted briefly about my plan to crochet around the London marathon.







Sadly this lead to a bit of confusion at the Brighton marathon as people kept shouting "Hey Redhead, where's your knitting?!"




We stood in our places to check the light/shadows/sound levels etc.




Then it was the live broadcast. I prefer live broadcasts as you don't have time to worry about what you're going to say.


More about the marathon to follow, suffice to say it was FAB.

Thanks Lush

My order of bath ballistics from Lush arrived this morning.

When I unpacked it I found that the lovely lady who'd packed my order had written me a little note wishing me luck with my marathons and enclosing a special foot rub for my tired feet.

How lovely!

Crikey, I've been a bit quiet!

There has been so much happening over the last few weeks that it's hard to know where to begin.


A couple of sheep and lamb photos will have to suffice for the knitting content as knitting has been a no-go activity.

Seemingly, anything that makes me hold my head even slightly lower than upright hurts after about 20 minutes so I've been very restricted. Housework has been very difficult too as something as simple as pushing the hoover round hurts like mad after a few minutes.

I'm sure it will get better in time and I've been doing all my exercises every day but it's very frustrating and I'll be very glad when it's healed.

On 23rd March, Mike and I visited london to watch A seat by the window, a musical collaboration between Turtle Key Arts and the Royal College of Music.



I'd met Ali at the talk I took part in at the Wellcome Trust and she'd told me about the work they were doing with dementia sufferers and their carers.

The date was especially poignant as it would have been my mum's birthday.





This is Ali with her friend Mark who came along to help.










It was held at the Cadogan Hall which is in the heart of Chelsea and although we'd seen it plenty of times we'd never actually been inside before.





It is hard to put into words just what the performance was like - moving, funny, heart-breakingly sad, joyful all rolled into one. The group was lead by Tim Yealland from the English National Opera and the story for the event was based on ideas gleaned from the participants and then developed over the course of many weeks.

I found the whole event deeply moving.

Some of those suffering from dementia were able to join in by clapping, stamping their feet, waving their arms and repeating the words and they clearly enjoyed themselves. However, there were some who just sat there motionless, staring with unseeing eyes and I found myself fixing my gaze upon them and my eyes filling with tears.

Clearly, those in the earlier stages of dementia gained great benefit from the experience and I wholly applaud Turtle Key Arts for their work in this field and hope they can secure the funding necessary to develop their project further.






As we live a fair way from London we always like to cram a lot in when we're there so after the performance we visited the Saatchi Gallery as it's one of those places we've been meaning to visit but haven't got around to. I wasn't sure if I would enjoy it as some of the things I've seen before have left me cold but there were some exhibits that were thought-provoking and well executed.


I enjoyed this project done by schoolchildren for a competition in the Daily Telegraph newspaper.

There were hundreds of tiny chairs all decorated in a unique way.








This enormous heart caught my eye. Not because of the subject but because of how it was decorated.








In this close-up you can see that it is covered in lots of different sizes and colours of felt pads. The colours accentuated the contours.


3 weeks ago, I ran the A20 Path'n'Downs Race which was my last long run, 21 miles, before my first marathon which is this weekend. I managed to avoid the photographers with the exception of TraceyG's hubby Bernard who managed as usual to make me look like an overweight middle-aged woman rather than the svelte young thing I really am. No photos to follow of that thank you very much!

I ran a good time of 3:47 but my neck really did hurt the next few days. I've had some extra Physiotherapy sessions and another session with Mary Massage Lady and I'm hoping that I'll get through the marathons OK. We'll soon see anyway!

Just before Easter we went to see the Van Gogh exhibition at the Royal Academy and we were totally blown away by it. We originally had tickets to go the day after the car crash but of course we couldn't get there as we had no car! To see those paintings up close was absolutely amazing and the colours were stunning. That same day we went to Tate Britain to see the Henry Moore exhibition. He has always been one of my heroes but I wasn't sure how I'd feel about seeing his works in a gallery setting rather than in the great outdoors. Well I certainly wasn't disappointed and Mike came away inspired and set about painting almost as soon as we arrived home!

Thank you Gerard

A while ago I wrote to several leading yarn suppliers to ask if they'd provide me with some yarn for my latest venture. No response. No surprise really as I've never had a response in the past either!

Doing these stunts can be expensive (the marathon entrance fees, shoes, travel etc etc all mount up) and I have been indebted in the past to my local suppliers for stepping up to the mark and helping me out with yarn (Laughing Hens & Knitonthenet in 2007 and Kangaroo in 2009).

Anyway I contacted Gerard at iKnit to see if he had any useful contacts for me and instead of just sending me a list he very kindly offered to donate the yarn I need from his shop. What a star! Although we've spoken many times on-line I've never actually met Gerard in person so I'm hoping to use this as a good excuse for a trip into London to visit his shop.

How we view the elderly

I cut this photo out of the Sunday Times magazine a couple of weeks ago because I thought it was a lovely, thought-provoking image.

Snapped by Lord Snowdon, it shows a 95 year old lady sharing a dance with her carer.

What struck me immediately is the look of joy on her face. She did not care about the colour of his skin, his age or his religion, whether he is wealthy or well educated. She was just enjoying the moment.

It then made me think about how many of our elderly go for days, or even weeks without any physical contact with another human being. When my mum was in the nursing home for the final months of her life I was shocked to learn that many of the people who lived there did not get any visitors at all. No-one to stroke their hair or squeeze their hand. No-one to acknowledge that they have a purpose or even matter in the scheme of things.

Then I remembered this poem. I spotted it when we visited a beautiful garden in St Margaret's at Cliffe last year. It is so insightful that I was amazed to read that it was written by a 13 year old boy.

I think I'm feeling reflective because today is Mother's Day in the UK.

Another 20 miler

Phew, that was a tough run today.

I decided I'd better do a 20 mile off-roader as my 3rd marathon will be across the South Downs so I headed out towards Salehurst via Bodiam. The weather was kind to me as it was much milder than it has been of late although the ground was pretty sodden and muddy in places.

I'd love to say that it was a wonderful run and that it was easy but it jolly well wasn't either. It hurt like mad and I had to dig really deep to keep going and not just take a short-cut home. At least I did it anyway.

I had to indulge in a couple of glasses of a nice red wine this evening - for therapeutic reasons of course!

I should add that I did enjoy the countryside despite the rubbish running. The catkins are fully out now and look stunning against the dark branches. Snowdrops are coming out with a vengeance. I saw my first weasel of the year darting across a lane - they are really cute and not at all like Kenneth Grahame's characters in The Wind in the Willows. I stroked several horses, dogs and a cat. Saw 2 herons and watched the lapwings soaring an diving down in the valley.

Hmmm, on reflection, perhaps it wasn't that bad after all.

Time goes by so slowly for those who wait (thanks Madonna!)

February has been a real drag of a month and everything seems to have taken an age. My running really suffered after the crash as I had to cut my mileage right back until different bits of me stopped aching and complaining. Anyway, I've been doing lots of stretches and low impact work to get my flexibility back and the only bits of me that are irksome now are my lower back and my neck. I managed a 20 miler yesterday without too much discomfort so I'm feeling a bit happier about the forthcoming marathons (only 6 weeks until the first of my treble in Brighton - gulp!). There are lots of skippy little lambs about now and I couldn't resist snapping this cute little black one.



On the knitting front, progress has been slow. I cast on the Cabled yoke cardi by Amy Polcyn from the Winter 2009/10 issue of Designer Knitting (why oh why was it renamed Designer Knitting in the UK but is still Vogue Knitting in the USA?).


I'm using Gedifra Belisana which is a lovely mohair yarn to work with. I chose the colours specifically to work with this blouse and added my own contrast stripes and they seem to work well. I've just got to turn up the lower edge and then do the button band. The only thing I'm not keen on now it's nearly finished is the waist ribbing which doesn't really add anything to the design. I don't think I'll rip it back though.

It's taken an age to knit as my knitting time has been hampered by not being able to hold my head in the necessary position for any length of time as my neck kept seizing up. The Physiotherapist has been doing lots of prodding and ultrasound which seems to be helping at last so I think my knitting time will increase soon.

February was certainly an eventful month in many ways as we had to reschedule the recording of Mike's Violin Sonata as it was originally booked for early in the New Year but poor Mike still couldn't walk then. When the day dawned (literally as we had a long way to travel!) I was rather apprehensive as I hadn't driven any great distance since the crash. Thankfully the weather was kind to us and the motorway wasn't too bad - well, if ever the M25 can be described as not being too bad!


So here it is, the Menuhin Hall, opened in 2006 within the grounds of the Yehudi Menuhin School in Stoke d'Abernon as a memorial to the late, great Yehudi Menuhin.


It is situated close to his grave on which is the inscription "He who makes music in this life makes music in the next". His wife's ashes were scattered under the tree on the right and there is a small plaque on the ground. It's as if he is still there watching over the proceedings.


It's an amazing hall with fantastic acoustics as you would expect. This screen outside the hall allows you to check what's going on before entering (you can imagine how unpopular you'd be if went barging in when they were recording!) Here, Mike is chatting to Mike Ponder, the sound engineer who was doing the recording for us, as he sets up the microphones etc.

The beautiful Steinway Concert Grand was wheeled out and the piano tuner came in to tune it before the performance. Mike couldn't resist trying it out and it really did sound magnificent. Mike said the tone was so good that it played itself. This wasn't quite true as it certainly didn't sound very good when I played it!

So here we have our 2 players - Huw Watkins himself a renowned composer but also a brilliant pianist and Alexandra Wood an accomplished and very talented violinst.

They are talking to a good friend of ours, Levine Andrade who was one of the 12 founder members of the Yehudi Menuhin School. In the Lobby, there's a lovely photo of him and the others founder members together with Yehudi Menuhin. He arranged the players for Mike and came along to add an extra pair of ears and to offer guidance to Alexandra if needed.

I spent most of the day making drinks, preparing food and knitting. I did actually sneak out for an hour after lunch as I'd spotted a large Garden Centre nearby so I had a good old mooch around there and of course came back with some goodies for the garden.

The players were amazing (and believe me they had to be as Mike's music is certainly not pedestrian!) and the sonata sounds fantastic. It was a great day and it was wonderful to hear Mike's music played by such wonderful players.