Rosedawn Ramblings

At the start of 2019, I set myself the challenge of publishing a blog post every week during the year - 52 weeks, 52 posts. My motivation was to get back to something I loved doing, something I'd missed, something I'd started several years ago but then lost my way. I thought I'd run out of things to write about. On Sunday, I achieved my goal. I wrote about eating profiteroles for breakfast. It wasn't always easy. Some posts were longer than others. Some were only written right at the last moment. I did it! I crossed the finish line with a smile on my face (mainly thanks to those profiteroles ). But what did I learn? About myself, about running and about life in general? 1. Inspiration can come from anyone and anything ... it can be easy to think that you need something 'big' to get you started. At the start of 2019, I certainly had lots of inspiration to run and blog as I completed an ultramarathon along the River Thames. I've also been inspi...

Greetings from 40000ft All too soon, we are on our way home from our adventures in New Zealand. We finished our whistle stop tour back in Auckland, after travelling by train up through the North Island on Friday. It's been on our to do list for a while... and didn't disappoint, especially as we got to see snow-capped volcanoes.   It rained as we passed through Hamilton - pretty much the only clouds we have since the day we arrived - but the sun was shining again by the time we reached our final destination, a lovely apartment in the suburb of Ponsonby. The tricky journey through Friday-night traffic was worth it for the views... Saturday was an early start as we made our way up to Western Springs Park for one more internation parkrunning adventure - 8am starts in the summer in NZ. It was a twisty course with 3 laps of the lake, with a couple of sneaky little uphill thrown in. But it was a good run and I managed to go a few seconds faster than last week in Taura...

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!

When I started my blogging challenge in January, I was looking for a new challenge ; something to motivate and inspire me, something outside my comfort zone, something that brings me joy, makes me smile and is worth all the effort. It sounded like a big ask, but over the last few days, I've been reminded that every run (or walk) can have a wow factor, something special and unexpected; I just need to be looking for it and appreciate it when it happens. I don't need to wait for the big race days or special events; I just ned to run with my eyes open. We are in Guernsey for a few days and the sun has been shining almost ever since we arrived on Thursday. The first 'wow' came when we arrived at our hotel. After climbing 105 steps to the front door and another 44 steps to our room... this was the view that greeted us: Looking out on St Peter Port from the Ziggurat Hotel Wow! On Friday morning, there was something magical and mysterious about watching t...