And she's back

All in one piece, with a sun tan despite the rain they had every day, a bit more grown up, a bit taller, dirty and wanting a long soak, desperate for a cup of tea, tired, full of stories, and going again next year!

And me? I already wrote on Facebook last night: I feel like a mother hen whose chick has been safely returned.

More running

Thanks for all the comments on my running frustrations. It seemed I had hit some sort of wall. Normally when I find that I'm not particularly good at something, I give up. With the running, it's been different. I have been determined to get to 30 mins running and although giving up has crossed my mind and there are days when it just seems too much bother to even think about pulling on those running shoes, I have never seriously thought 'I'm not doing it anymore'. I think part of it is that all the training schedules I've seen, make 30 mins of running sound so easy, and I won't give up on something that so many people find easy to do.

I have been going running on a more regular basis the last couple of weeks and it's paying off. I can tell my body is adapting, getting fitter. I managed to run 22 minutes this morning which is the longest I have done yet, and I felt I could have gone further. And there are points during the run when I'm finally enjoying myself, which makes it worth going. Of course, the endorphins after the run definitely make it worthwhile! Today's run was slightly marked by tripping over a tree root and falling smack on my knees and hands - I was glad there was nobody around to see me. My knee is grazed and my hands hurt a bit, but otherwise I'm fine. I'm surprised it hasn't happened before, and I know now to be a bit more careful on the forest paths.

Last week's run was cheered up by the sight of this:


It's been there two weeks now and so far I've only seen people look at it, but today as I was leaving, somebody sat down and started playing. Slightly surreal!

Slipping through my fingers (or learning to let go)

This morning my big girl left at 6 AM on a school trip: 5 days ponytrekking in Wales.
Back in November, when the form came through about the various school trips, she was instantly drawn to this one, but was a bit tearful when she realised that she would not be able to speak to either me or J. for 5 days. She has never been away from either of us before and normally speaks to one of us in the evening if she's staying with the other one.
She agreed to try and get a place anyway and take it from there. Well, she did get a place and from then on, she only got more and more excited. We found some secondhand jodhpurs and riding boots, we bought her a new rainjacket, she had her bag ready at the beginning of last week. I had to say goodbye to her on Saturday afternoon as she was staying with J. this weekend and he was taking her in this morning. He rang at 6 to say she'd gone off fine, all smiles and waves and giggles with her friends.

It is very strange to suddenly hand responsibility for your child over to five people who I've never even met. It is very strange to see your daughter be all excited about a trip that doesn't involve you at all. She's growing up very quickly and becoming more independent all the time. I guess that's the aim of parenting: bringing your child up to become an independent, happy human being. And I'm very proud of her for going off so confidently.
But personally, I feel I'm always behind one step. It's a cliché but it does seem like only yesterday when she was a baby. I know she's going to have a great time and I wouldn't want it any other way, but boy does the house suddenly seem empty without her.

Running frustrations

Okay, by now I've resigned myself to the fact that I will never be a marathon runner. In fact, I can't think of anything much worse, running for 26 miles! But I would like to be able to run 3 miles and it seems so hard to achieve this. I've been running for about a year now, following a plan that should get you running 3 miles in nine weeks. Dare I admit that? ;-) I have made it to 20 mins uninterrupted running, but that's as far as I've got and I never feel as if it gets any easier. Yes, the plan stipulates you go out three times a week and I don't always manage that, but I'm still out of breath after 90 seconds of running. I'm slow, in fact, so slow that I think someone walking fast could overtake me (well okay, maybe not quite! but it takes me a while to overtake a walker). Everybody keeps saying to me 'o you've got long legs, running should be easy for you'. Last week I got a stitch on both sides! And the worst bit was, when I was running, all I could think was 'I am really not enjoying this'. And yet, I don't want to give up. I will run that 5K at some point, I really will. I just wish I enjoyed the process a bit more!
Any words of wisdom or encouragement gratefully received...