First 10k Race!

Today was my first 10k race; both the first one I've ever done and also the first one for my 100k challenge.

We set off from a rainy Halifax at 8:00 bound for the Staveley Stampede.  The early start was so that we could stop en route to collect Grandparents to look after Bella as J booked to run this race for support, so it was a family affair.

Staveley is a beautiful little village in North Yorkshire and we were greeted with a friendly welcome at the village hall, which did a great line in buns and bacon sandwiches - not for me though (well not til the end)!  So this was it my first 10k.......All I needed to do now was get round the course, try not to be last and hope for a time around 1hr 15mins based on my training.

At 11 we were off after being told that the first half mile was fine then it got a bit tricky through the nature reserve up to the end of mile 2 and that the overall course was just over 10k, 6.3 miles.  That was an understatement, as the grass at times was almost waist high and given the floods that we have had in the North I wouldn't have been out of place running in my wellies!  After a muddy first 2 miles, mile 3 went okay, though I was desperate to see the halfway marker and water table.  At the halfway point I was faced with trepidation at running as far again, but the thought of the sponsorship for the Ectopic Pregnancy Trust kept me going.  Imagine if they didn't have funds to keep the helpline that was so vital for us last year going.  With that front of mind, I pressed on.

I'd been hoping for a cool drizzly day, given how the weather has been all weekend but was greeted with a little breeze in between bursts of sunshine which according to the car temp at the end of the race was as high as 19.5 degrees!  All that made for a very hot and bothered 3-5 miles, with mile 4-5 having a slight incline (hubby's comment not mine!) though nothing like the hills of Halifax so bearable.  It's fair to say I was super relieved to see the 5 mile marker and even tried to step up my pace a little for the last push. 

As I neared the wonderful view of Staveley church I wondered what time the clock would grace me with.  I'd glanced at my watch half way and thought it said about 35 mins so given I'd likely be slower second half had convinced myself that I would be lucky to achieve my hoped for 1hr 15mins.  J having finished in a very respectable 50 minutes (well done) said he was most surprised (and in his words bursting with pride :)) to see me careering down the final straight to the line with a clock saying 1 hr and 8 minutes!  I couldn't believe it and am really pleased with that time for the first attempt, well, very pleased and very tired.

All in all a succesfull first attempt, I did make it round, I wasn't last and the time was better than I had hoped (I joked that I'd not be doing 10 minute miles but it worked out at 10:51 a mile so not too far away).  It was a lovely race to do with excellent organisation, marshalling and support and a fab BBQ afterwards.

Next up is the Huddersfield Parkrun again on Saturday to complete my 20k for June so I'll be on target.  Off now to have a well needed rest a treat for tea and look to get booked on the next 10k race for July.

Here's the official results via the link on the newsletter, (I was feeling very pleased with my time but my 71st place was a definite reminder that the 10k's will be mostly sub 1hr proper runners)!

Oh and here's the embarrassing photos as promised!

                

At the finish with my souvenir mug and banana! Told you I was tired!!!!!                          

  Very good BBQ - perhaps not the best post race snack but it worked for us! 

100k Challenge - First Stage

 

As promised I said that I would keep my blog up to speed with progress against my 100k challenge.  If you want to know more about the challenge you can read it here, but in short I've pledged to run 100k in timed runs and races between now and the end of 2012.  I started in March, training to do some kind of sponsored run for the Ectopic Trust and couldn't run a mile without stopping at that point!

Today was the first stage of my challenge with my first local timed 5k, the Huddersfield Parkrun.  Prior to this official timed run, I'd been slowly improving my times over 5k/3m from a 12 minute mile pace down to the best pace that I'd recorded at 10:36 minutes a mile (yes I know but I did say I'd not be breaking any Olympic records)!

I turned up for my first-timer briefing and after a short walk in the rain to the start I was poised, ready for the off at 9am.  Not surprisingly it was a wet and windy morning (it is the British Summer after all) but that suited me fine as it's better than running in the sunshine.  The run is around Greenhead Park in Huddersfield and is undulating but without any of the major hills typical for Calderdale.  The atmosphere is lovely with lots of supporters cheering you on and keeping you going.  The route comprised of one small loop around the start then twice round a wiggly figure of 8 type of route through the park.

I set of at probably too fast a pace (how hard is it not to get swept along by everyone's crazy dash at the start) but soon settled into a comfortably challenging (for me) pace that I'd hoped would at least be on par with my training runs.The first lap wasn't too bad but the repetition of the 2nd lap proved a little more challenging and it's fair to say I was glad to see the finish line!  As the run is timed I'd decided to just focus on the run today and not time myself strictly, so I had an idea that I'd obviously not been sub 30 minutes but hoped within 35 minutes.  After a short wait at home, punctuated by me asking every 30 minutes 'are the results there yet?' they finally arrived.........................

I came in at at time of 30:25 which when I searched online puts me at a pace of 9:47 a mile!  Woo Hoo! I have wanted to break the 10 minute mile mark for ages. so it's great to do it on the first run of my challenge and it's a good start to try to further improve on with the 5ks.

Next week is the 2nd run of my challenge and is my first 10K (I'm not expecting to break 10min miles there)!  It's in a village called Staveley near Knaresborough so that will be a lovely little adventure for us all and I'll update you once I have some results.

I'll leave you with the 'embarrassing photo' as promised in my previous post - this is the after shot just as further proof that I did do it (and that it is possible to have a face as red as a beetroot!)

Keri

100k Challenge for The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust

Today I'm doing a slight diversion from my usual crafty Blog Posts, which will be the first of a series of posts on a challenge I have set myself to run 100k timed runs/races by the end of 2012!

I have started to run (ha ha as if, I mean jog) this year with the plan to do a sponsored run for The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust who gave us amazing support last year. 

When I started, given that I had to 'run a lamp post, walk a lamp post' to even run a mile, I had thought I'd work up to asking for sponsorship for a 10 kilometre race.  I then had an idea, as this week I noticed that I'd nearly reached 100k of training runs.  How about I make it more of a challenge worth sponsoring and aim for 100k of runs rather than just 10k!

So, a little research later and it appears it might be possible, though not all at once obviously!  I'm planning on doing ten 5K runs and five 10K runs between now and the end of the year.  There is a local timed 5k run (Parkrun) which I can do regularly (started today - start as you mean to go on) then I've begun to register for local 10k events (first one next week - Staveley Stampede 24th June).

To keep it all official - I'll have an Ectopic Trust Sponsorship Form and will be wearing their official running top for each run. I've also set up a Virgin Giving page directly linked to the Ectopic Trust so that people have the option of sponsorship online as well.  As the 100k will be made up of 5k timed runs and 10k races they will all be recorded so that I can publish the times (I'll not be breaking Olympic records).  I also intend to write a blog post after each run/race giving details and I'm sure some likely embarassing photographic proof. 

If you'd like to know more about the difference that even £5 makes to the Ectopic Trust then you can visit their site here.  I'll also be creating a special craft item for sale with the majority of proceeds going to the Ectopic Trust but I'll save that for a crafty post!

So 100k by the end of the year!  Crazy challenge maybe, but one which I'm committed to as you'll see from the 100k Challenge - First Stage Post'!

Keri

An Amazing Act of Kindness

This post is a long awaited Thank you to an amazing person and a post to also restore your faith in humankind.

So what may you ask has happened to initiate this post!  A rare act of amazing kindness from someone who doesn't even know me and one for which I can't even express my gratitude enough.  It has also been real proof that if you do a kind deed for others it will be repaid  - only in my case it was a few little good deeds that were repaid in a massive way.   Lets give you a little background.................

I have posted before about post pals the wonderful charity that asks volunteers to send post to children who are really ill and their siblings.  Among some of the post I send I also send little feeding tube pads which have an overlocked edge - a nice way to use my sewing skills to help others.  A while ago I applied for one of the much publicised enterprise nation grants as I have wanted to have an overlocker, to help make these pads more professional, but don't have the funds available.

The scheme is on the face of it a great little help but has been a victim of it's own success because the high level of applicants now means that each month there was only a tiny window of opportunity for people to vote for your idea.  I feared it may take a long time to get the funding but even so had asked friends, family and the Post Pals families if they would try to vote for me.

This is where the amazing act of kindness comes in.  A fellow Post Pals volunteer shared the details of my grant idea to ask her friends and family for support.  In an amazing act of generosity, her Sister offered me a spare overlocker she had to put me on, until such time arrives that I either have all of the funds myself or obtain the grant.  Lets replay that - Someone who has NEVER met me, gave me an overlocker! WOW!  How thoughtful for the fellow volunteer to share my request for support and how amazing for her Sister to respond in such a selfless way.

This is amazing, to think that someone who has never met me would just give me something like this really shows that if you show a little kindness and generosity to others it will be repaid somehow.   I can't thank this lady enough as the overlocker is so much better than struggling to do the button pads on my domestic machine.  Once I've mastered the trickery of corners on an overlocker then you can all be assured that a great big batch of feeding tube pads will be on their way to some very special children!

So, kind generous overlocker donating Lady, A Million Thank You's! I hope that by sharing this with those who read my blog it will restore a little faith in the fact that good things do happen and that there are some truly generous people out there!

Keri

While I wasn't blogging.......

I was crazily sewing........................Oh dear, a month without blogging what can I say! Sorry!!!

I have been so manic as I have been trying to manage making up orders, along with trying my best to sew up a Summer wardrobe for my little one! I also have been teaching a couple of 1 to 1 sewing lessons, wrapping up my day job to take some leave over Summer and my Dad has been quite ill, so I've become very familiar with the local hospital.

I know I had a time like this before last Christmas where I'm so busy creating that I never get time to post about it.  So, until I have time to put in a proper post (I'm thinking of a tutorial for the bubble dress and shorts outfit pictured below) here is a sneak peek of what I've been up to.  This is just the sewing for my little girl, on top of this I've made 2 maxi dresses for myself along with a simple summer top a cool A-line skirt and I'm soon to finish a fab summer dress too.  As soon as I can get 5 minutes without me looking harassed and my hubby is free to photograph I'll pop some photos on too.

 

 

I'll be back soon I promise with some more posts!

Happy Sewing

Keri

And the Winner is...........................

Drum Roll Please....................................................Jane!  I believe now the rafflecopter widget on the post should show this for validation but here's my pic of the screen too just so everyone know's it was fair.

Congratulations to Jane who chose to enter using all of the options and left a lovely comment about her favourite post:

"Loved Happy Holidays and Magic Disney Moments, love the dress and the idea that something can be made for a fraction of the shop bought cost"

The wonderful goodies will be in the post first thing Monday, I hope you enjoy them and I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone for entering. 

Keep your eyes peeled for more blog posts in the coming weeks (I've deliberately not posted since the giveaway so it was easy for you all to find it and enter)!

Thanks again for your support,

Keri

Giveaway - Bella Boutique Blog is 1!

Hi All,  sorry it's taken a couple of weeks to sort this giveaway out, my little one was poorly just after I announced it and so that caused a little delay but we are ready to go now so here's a look at the things you could be winning.

I really wanted this to be a giveaway which acknowledged others that I have met on my crafty journey, a giveaway that kept giving if you like, as I have bought items that will help to contribute their crafty success.

The first item is from the fabulously talented Caroline Lovis - Caroline has a blog over at Redneedle Sewing and helped me out with some sewing machine tutorials on the FME and Zipper machine feet.  I have selected for the giveaway a beautiful hanging heart from Caroline's collection with the word family on it. 

Next up is a beautiful needle case from the home of Pickle-Lily, it's made from the softest felt and has a super cute bird appliqued on it.  I have had wonderful support from Jo throughout my blogging days and I think if I recall Jo bought the very first item from my etsy shop.

 

Next gift in the giveaway is a stunning ring from the world of Chic-yCow - I met these ladies at a craft fair some time ago and am a massive fan.  Their products are such a high quality and massively original.  I had a beautiful bespoke handbag and purse made for Christmas, (in purple with butterflies -my favourite) and it easily stands out above anything else in my bag colletion (even the Mulberry and Louella ones) as totally unique.

 

Next up a little gift from one of my favourite suppliers - Crafty Ribbons - 1m of this beautiful butterfly ribbon, it's so delicate it's almost as fine as butterfly wings.  Crafty Ribbons have an amazing selection of ribbons and lots of buttons too plus a wonderfully inspiring blog.

I also wanted to give something from somewhere that's been really important during my sewing journey -  Word of Mouth Crafts and Supplies, where I have my sewing classes.  It's a great place full of inspiring products and fun classes. I have even been given the opportunity to run my own sewing machine feet class and have been assisting my super talented teacher Helen recently too.  This fabric catches my eye every time I visit, so I thought it would be good to include a FQ with the giveaway.   

I have met some lovely friends through the sewing classes and one has the prestigious title of Editor at Popular Patchwork, so to support her magazine, I'm also going to include the March issue.  The picture below has a preview of some the projects that are going to be included in that issue and the magazine is filled with useful articles and free patterns too.

 

Then finally I wanted to just include a couple of things that I liked - some wondeful mostly purple butterfly stickers and also some little nibbles for eating whilst you craft!  I particularly love the Mikado biscuits with their little biscuit part at the bottom, so you can eat whilst you sew and not risk getting chocolate on the fabric (yes I am officially crazy hey)! 
 

The giveaway is open from 1st to 31st March - so how do you enter I hear you ask?

I'm using Rafflecopter for the first time so you have the opportunity to get up to 6 entries by following the prompts in the rafflecopter box below (if you can't see it click on 'read more'- fingers crossed it all works ok or I could be counting lots of entries on 31st March!