London Marathon

I'm watching the London Marathon as I type this, it's raining really quite hard in London which is a complete turn around from the beautiful weather we had yesterday.  I spent most of yesterday sat in the garden reading my latest book group book, more about that on my book group blog (subtle plug :-)).

I always find the marathon so inspriring, just watching the elites and how fast they effortlessly glide along fills me with awe.  My running training (which is nothing compared to even the slowest marathon runner) is going really well.  I had a sports massage last Monday which left me battered and bruised (but feeling better) so I decided to take a week off training.  I went out for a test run (literally) yesterday (in the glorious sunshine) and everything felt fine.  Just at the end I felt my hip beginning to ache to I stopped and walked.  I've still got ages before Race for Life in July so I'm quite happy to take it slow and steady.

My baby blanket is coming along leaps and bounds, I've sewn it up and I'm knitting the border in 4 sections.  I sewed the first border last night and it finishes off the edges really nicely.  The 2nd section is 30cm long, so only another 50cm-ish to go, maybe I'll get that done while watching the marathon ....

Relaxation and even more knitting

I've just come back from a gorgeous weekend at Ragdale Hall, a spa near Melton Mowbray.  It's become a tradition in my family, we've been going there once a year for about 7 years and every year I love it even more.  The atmosphere completely relaxes you as soon as you walk in the door, everyone serenely wanders around in white bath robes and slippers, people doze in comfy chairs, even the resident cat is chilled out.  The treatments are the best I've ever had, I've never had a bad experience there, all the girls are cheerful and polite, each treatment is perfectly done and I float out of each one even more relaxed than before.  In case you hadn't noticed, I can't recommend this place enough.

Back to the real world and back to knitting, which has become my life recently.  I've done 22 squares of my 30 square blanket, so close I can almost smell the finished article.  I've learned to cable, which was easier than I thought and I love the effect of it, it makes the squares nice and chunky.  My plan is to finish the last 8 squares in the next 2 weeks, then start blocking them (wetting, pinning and letting them dry so they become all the same size) and then sewing them together which will be very exciting as that's when they properly become a blanket.  Then it's just the border to finish and sew on.  I'm hoping to finish everything in 7 weeks which takes me up to mid-May.  Just in time for my niece who should arrive on 17th May (give or take a bit).

I've been a bit lax with my cycling recently, I've had a week off but am raring to get back to it.  I'm starting my running training in a few weeks, ready for Race for Life in July.  Pete, as ever, is doing so much more exercise than me.  His JOGLE training is going well, he had a week off work and cycled over 100km each day which is unbelievable and fantastic.  Tomorrow is the Reading Half Marathon which I'll be watching from Madjeski Stadium (might take my knitting).  Good luck to everyone who's running it including Pete, Gail, Fiona, Harry and Gill.

Knitting in earnest

Knitting has begun in earnest, I'm 10 squares into a 30 square blanket.  Here are some pictures of my work so far...

I've become slightly obsessed with knitting (as is my way) and I've already got a list of stuff I want to try including circular knitting to make socks...







I also like the look of these wrist warmers...











and bag...






Watch out friends and family, guess what you're getting for Christmas!

In other news, I've signed up to do Race for Life in July.  I'm going to train for it properly unlike last time when I went for approx two runs and then died during the race getting the quite pathetic time of 39mins59secs (and that was with a sprint finish).  I've worked out a 16 week plan which should mean I can run all of it in about 30 minutes.  I'll let you know how that goes when I start it in March (when it's light enough in the evenings for me to run after work).