Live the Life you Love

It's not often that you get to life the life you love to full effect... other stuff nearly always gets in the way.

But for two weeks at least, I'm getting the perfect opportunity and it's worth every uncomfortable and sleep-depriving moment of the 27hr journey.

In our first few days, there has been time to watch the sunset and sunrise, skim stones, climb hills, see the stars, walk along the riverbank and read haiku carved in stones, soak up the culture, investigate the history, watch cricket, play crazy golf, go to the movies, drink gin, eat cake, read all the books I brought with me and then go shopping to re-supply, take in the scenery, chat with the locals and love every moment.

And of course, there's been a parkrun too... the route through the Kopurererua Valley Reserve was lovely and we were made to feel very welcome.

It has been a fabulous first week of our holiday... looking forward to what comes next!

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Run

This latest blogpost is all about parkrun , which is an organisation which arranges free, weekly, 5km timed runs around the world. They have been taking place around the UK for several years and in Stoke-on-Trent since September 2011, when Hanley parkrun was held for the first time. Every Saturday morning, between 30 and 50 runners, plus volunteers and supporters gather in Hanley Park by the lake. When the fountains are turned on at 9am, the countdown to the start begins. The course takes us from the bottom of the park to the top and back (twice) and finishes by the bandstand just above the canal - it parkrun terminology, its a net uphill course. I love parkrun. I love the challenge of trying to improve my own time each week. So far this year, I've knocked about 2 minutes off my personal best and I'm really pleased about that. Each week, I feel like I can control my pace a lot better and the hills are not too big an obstacle to climb. The speedwork and hill trainin...

Cool Runnings

I think I may have found a new passion... I know that running in the ice, cold and snow can be risky and you have to be careful for all sorts of reasons, but I've been really enjoying my running over the last week. I love being outside in the snow anyway, wrapped up against the cold, but the added dimension of running has been a new challenge that I'm relishing. Garmin Map of 1km of my snow run in Hanley Park! Last Monday was my first experience of snow-running... I rescued my trail shoes from where I'd discarded them after the final cross country event in Leek last December , wrapped myself up in lots of layers and ventured out. I ran along the canal to Hanley Park and just ran around in circles... making footprint patterns in the snow on the tennis courts, football pitches and cricket nets, plus one loop of the lake. It was fun... I wasn't worried about how far or how fast I was running, I was just running and enjoying it. I only ran a cou...

It's a Wonderful Life

On Sunday, I ran in the Olympic Park and finished the 5 mile route with a lap of the Olympic Stadium.... like it says on the back on my medal: "I followed in the footsteps of legends". And it was an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime experience, a perfect reminder that running for me is so much more about where and who with than how far and how fast. Before the Start with Mavis and Janet The day started early... along with my mum, I arrived in Olympic Park at around 8am, which gave us plenty of time to find a good viewing place in the stadium for my mum before I went off to the start to meet up with my friend Mavis. I used to work with Mavis and if anyone had suggested that I'd running with her, never mind in Olympic Park, I would never have laughed long and hard. But times change and we're both regular runnners now (and also share a parkrun addiction too). Moving up to the Start! We took part in the energetic warm up and then slowly shuffled fo...

Rosedawn Ramblings

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