Skip to main content

Quick March

One of the down sides of living on the coast of west Wales – and there are plenty of up sides – is that we spend a lot of time on the road just travelling from 'A' to 'B'. This month looks especially busy but with lots to look forwards to. Still, one week at a time. 

First on the agenda, we’re collecting Ma so she’s here for her birthday on Friday and, all being well, to see me finish the Llanelli Half Marathon on Sunday. My dear friend, Ann, got me into running when she introduced me to Epsom Allsorts, an all-women’s group with formidable skills in talking and laughing whilst running. The club highlight was the dreaded Hogsmill Run and one year I enlisted my parents for a bit of additional support for the final stretch. All I could hear as I headed for the finish line was Ma bellowing, ‘COME ON CHRISTINE!!’ so I’m hoping that her presence will give my feet a little extra lift on Sunday.

Taking those first steps with a club introduced me to racing, gave me the taste for running by myself and the confidence to enter half marathons. Short of anything unforeseen happening to stop me completing the race, this Sunday will be my seventh half marathon. Seventh! I’ve been running for so long now that I’m in the oldest age group and feel like Granny Grumps lining up with a load of thirty-somethings. Still, it’s hugely enjoyable (apart from the first mile which is always hell) and means I can eat pretty much what I like so I hope to keep running for as long as I possibly can.



In other news, I’d like to thank lovely Flowerpot for nominating me for this blog award and whose own blog about living, walking and sailing in Cornwall is always an enjoyable read.

So, three things that have recently inspired me:
  • The rooks have returned to the rookery to rebuild their nests. A welcome sign of Spring… but where do they go the rest of the time? I read Crow Country by Mark Cocker to find out more about these fascinating (to me) birds.
  • Running (again); those long, solitary miles repair, restore and inspire.
  • My family; it’s their love that makes everything else worthwhile.

If anyone would like to take up the baton, please consider yourself nominated. All you have to do is link to my blog and display the award logo then nominate other bloggers in turn with links and a comment to let them know what to do.


Comments

Jane Lovering said…
Since I am still feeling as though a fast stagger is the most I will ever achieve in the future, my eyes are watering at the thought of a half-marathon! Have a great run.
2 March 2015 at 08:09
Chris Stovell said…
Thanks a lot, Jane - I just enjoy it... but especially when I've finished. Maybe it's 'having run' that I like best?!
2 March 2015 at 08:22
Confessions of a YA and NA Book Addict said…
I ran for a number of years but it was too much for my knees. I injured my right knee in a car crash when I was 23 and it never healed properly. Now when I run for long periods of time it begins to throb and ache.

I do miss running! I jump rope instead. It gives you the same cardiac workout as running.

Congratulations on running 6, almost 7, half marathons! Way to go Chris! You may be a granny, and older than the other women in the group, but you're no less talented. In fact, you an be the cool granny!
2 March 2015 at 09:44
Frances said…
Chris, please wish your Mom a very Happy Birthday from me. It's grand that she will be on hand to cheer you on during the half-marathon.

As I've previously confessed, I would never have been a runner, and really marvel at folks like you who do keep on keeping on. Continuing best wishes to you!

xo
3 March 2015 at 07:42
Flowerpot said…
Chris you are amazing - 7th half marathon? Blimey! I enjoy a run on the beach but couldn't do what you do - best of luck and thinking of you. Oh and happy birthday to your mum too! XX
4 March 2015 at 09:56
Chris Stovell said…
I do a bit of skipping, Chanpreet ... usually 2 mins before I feel my legs are about to explode!

Frances, thank you - just about to write the rest of the story!

Thank you, Sue - have passed both yours and Frances's birthday wishes to Ma.
9 March 2015 at 04:47
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Happy Endings, New Beginnings

Blended families come with conflicting loyalties and at Christmas time nearly everyone has somewhere else they feel they ought to be. Throw partners into the equation and it gets even more complicated. Since Tom and I aren’t especially hung up about Christmas we’re happy to let our children go with the strongest flow, but I have to say it was a great delight to have the girls and their partners staying with us this year. When such moments are few and far between they become very precious. My stepsons weren’t far from our thoughts either, not least because we had the very happy news on Christmas Day that my elder stepson and his girlfriend had become engaged. Congratulations Dan and Gill, here’s wishing you every happiness together. Tom and I end a year that has seen the fruition of many years work, both of us crossing important thresholds within weeks of each other. I’m really looking forwards to seeing Turning the Tide published next year and it’s been so satisfying, after al...
22 comments
Read more

Fly Free, Dottie Do

‘How many days to my birthday?’ Ma asks. I do a quick calculation. ‘Eighteen,’ I reply. ‘Eighteen days until your ninetieth birthday.’ Ma pulls a face and shakes her head. Every sentence is hard work for her now, when each breath is a struggle. ‘You’ll have to write a book about this, you know,’ she says, with one of her quick, mischievous smiles. ‘“Carry On Dying”. Make ‘em laugh, make ‘em cry.’ The smile fades. ‘Who knew,’ she adds wearily, ‘that dying would be such a palaver?’  It’s only eleven days since Ma was diagnosed with a high-grade, aggressive lymphoma, four days since she was overwhelmed with pain and breathing difficulties and was admitted as an emergency to hospital. Until a few weeks ago, she lived completely independently; shopping, cooking, cleaning and tending her much-loved garden. The deterioration in her health is shockingly rapid. The eight days preceding her death are a living hell, a constant battle with the ward staff to get Ma the pain relief she’s been p...
11 comments
Read more

Since You've Been Gone

Well, Ma Mère, There have been so many times when I’ve gathered up all the little shiny moments I’ve collected during the day, ready to present to you in our evening phone call and then I remember all over again that you’re not there. But, Mum, so much has happened since you’ve gone - maybe you know, maybe you don’t - that I’ve decided to write to you instead.  A few days after you died, we sold our house! After all those months! We even joked about you rattling cages somewhere. At first, nothing happened and then suddenly everything happened at a breathless pace and the next thing I knew I found myself driving (yes, me, driving!) along the M4 to Bridgend and the Time Capsule House, the one you said you and Dad would have bought. I remarked, when we first viewed it that if it was meant for us, it would come to us. Over a year later, when it had been under offer twice, we moved in. Oh, Mum, you and Dad would have loved this house; it’s peak Seventies and the decor - the pampas ensu...
5 comments
Read more