Running in the woods

I have started running.  Yep.  Really.  With running shoes and everything.  I know right.  Isn't that for other people?  Y'a know.  Those people who aren't me.

Turns out it was for me too.  I just needed to find the right way for me.  I bought the shoes a year or so ago at a proper running shop where a serious lean lady had me walk barefoot & bare legged on a treadmill for gait analysis.  A video camera & I have no idea what other technology was aimed in my direction.  I just concentrated in a panicky fashion on staying on the treadmill.  The verdict of this high tech interlude was that I over pronate (or something like that) and needed a certain kind of shoe to correct this pernicious sounding tendency.

The universe was on my side.  The perfect pair was waiting for me with a sale tag on it.

Now although I wasn't committing to running at that point I wanted shoes that made me feel bouncy on the school run (very little actual running involved unless late).  And it worked.  I did find myself more inclined to exercise a bit more when wearing them.

However, despite going out a few times round the village like the other mothers I saw running, some with buggys, some with headphones, it always felt like Work.  Like I was doing something Worthy and  that smug feeling was the motivation & reward.

Then I remembered being 10 years old.  Running cross-country round the footpaths & fields beyond the school.  I even took part in the school competition over 3 or 5 miles & being the first girl back despite being one of the younger ones.

I remembered my awesome PE teacher.  How he taught us to breathe whilst running & changing it to depending on stride & speed.  Mr Johns, a compact ex-military sergeant with a shiny pate & enthusiasm for breaking down tasks into component parts.  He taught us about 6 stages to a forward roll.  I adored him.

Remembering our running lessons, I recalled how much I loved running in nature.  The smell of the mushroom farm, the cut grass of the hay fields, the red poppies at the edges.  Of holding our breaths as we ran (pretty fast at that point!) past the slurry/manure heap on a farm.

With these thoughts in mind, I started running.  First in Cypress with my energetic sister.  Then at home.  But not pounding on the pavements.  Down the tracks in the forestry commission land.  The footpaths with the dog walkers.  Bridleways with the horses.  I didn't get far.  But I did it.

What surprised me most about making this commitment to myself is this.  I LOVE it.  I do.  I bloody love it.  And the secret ingredient.  The headspace and clarity whilst being inspired by the wonderful smell of the morning woods and the sights.

What is your favourite way of exercising outside?

What am I bid?

Last night, Beloved & I went to our first land auction.  There was a piece of land nearby that would have been a wonderful playground.  So we went to Auction.  And Bid.  And Lost.

 image credit

But Oh my goodness how exciting it was!  The small room they held it in was packed to the rafters.  People standing all around the edges as well as at the back.  We went early so had front row seats.  And it did kinda feel like Theatre.

We were in a bidding war ( I hate that term.  how about tennis bidding?) with one other person after it moved away from the ridiculously low come-and-see-me guide price.  We kept inching up & he was straight there with a counter bid.  We moved from comfort zone, to a bit strapped, into soup-bread-and-water-for-next-three-years zone.  At which point we left him to it.  My heart was pounding like a horserace!

As ours was the first lot, we then sat back & relaxed through the next 5 lots.  It was an education!  There was a whole range of human dramas being played out in that tiny room.  People trying to secure the land outside their houses from developers.  Parents wanting land for daughter's pony.  Silver haired investors.  Farmers.  And an awful lot of spectators it seemed that didn't bid.

And all very serious.  I have a real handicap here.  My poker face consists of something like: 'OMG, OMG that's Amazing, look at this, how awesome, I love it. gimme gimme gimme'.  Or: 'oh no I can't believe it who dealt this hand?'  I don't know I would go so far to to call myself a drama queen, but I tend to bubble over somewhat.

So, I can now tick the Auction experience off my list for this year.  I loved it.  Who knows, maybe another potential play land will present itself soon & we get it.  And then you will really see my counter-poker face! OMG Yes!

Untold stories

I am a writer who doesn't write.  How about that?  I am a creative who isn't creating.  How about that?

I read other people's words but don't get my own down on paper or tap them on to the screen.  Not using my pen like a putter fly pin to attach them where they can be seen.  (In this analogy the said butterfly died of natural causes after a long and happy lifestyle with lots of pretty flowers).

I visit other people's studios and admire their work.  But all I have made recently is a laptop bag for this new computer I am lovin'.

I just need to do what Julia Cameron says and show up at the page.   To turn up and create.  And be willing to create badly.  Without censure of 'is it good enough'.

It occurs to me that there a rather too many stories that remain untold.  I met an older gentleman in our community cafe the other day.  Victor is 88 years old, as he told me.  A firecracker of a chap.  And just for a brief moment he told me some of his story, and his advice.  He just happened to mention that he had actually known Lady Baden Powell & been very active in the scout movement, which I found fascinating (she gave him a medal for the help he gave her).  But what moved me most were his words from before.
"I have had a great life.  I've been very lucky.  Well, I had a particularly wonderful life for the 53 years my wife was alive.  We had a lovely life together."

This made me struggle to swallow my coffee cake.  I felt so moved by this positive upbeat man who clearly adored and missed his wife.

The next bit made me choke with laughter though, about his wartime life as a tanks expert.

"Yes, I was injured a bit in the war, but not too bad" (NOTE: I'll spare you details - I would have called it pretty bad!). " I was blown out of a tank.  I was really cross.  I had just fixed it up perfectly."

You gotta love that hutspar attitude!

Oh, and his advice by the way.  To me who he considered young.

"Enjoy life while you are Young."  Simple and to the point.  Just get on with it.  Thankyou Victor.

Goddesses Galore!

Have you met Goddess Leonie yet?  She is an awesome woman!  She's not 30 yet and her life is an amazing inspiration.  A powerhouse.  I re-met her last March.  I had been aware of her several years ago but lost the links on a burned-out computer (along with several months of photos - yep, learnt the hard way to back them up!)
So it was great to find her again on the wish big e-camp.  Her class on the course was creative business generation.  I was kinda mehh about the topic.  I wasn't particularly looking for a business at that time (I had a young toddler as well as 2 kids in First school) as time & energy were a scarce commodity.

Then I watched her videos.  And I fell in love.  Her infectious enthusiasm, laugh and general upbeat attitude just scooped me up.  And I thought Actually Maybe Perhaps I could look into doing a business or something.  (That thought is still bubbling away & hopefully something will present itself soon. )

So I saved up some pennies and joined her Goddess Circle.  I wanted to be in this woman's orbit & other wonderful women.  And oh my goodness,  what a place!  My interest had been piqued by the Business Goddess course she offered, but when I joined it was the Radiant Goddess course that sang to me first.

With a years membership to the most supportive forum I know of, there are also a whole range of courses that Leonie has lovingly created.  I love her meditations especially.  In fact I loved the circle so much I became a Circle Guide for her, to help hold the space as it got larger, and an ambassador.  I hope I am a better circle guide than I am ambassador, as I haven't really written about it too much!

But I thought that now was an important time to tell you.  Because the cost of the circle membership is going up.  I still think it is a good deal for what you get even at the new price of $199 for the whole year, considering all the goodies that you get.

BUT, if you join the circle BEFORE 3rd July, you get it at the early bird discount of just $99 for the whole year.  Seriously, that's about sixty quid for a year of sisterhood!  I joined for the courses but I stayed for the supportive community.

So, I just wanted to let you know, that if you were thinking about joining, DO IT NOW!  Don't you go missing out on this amazing discount!

Join up here (affiliate link disclosure!)

Heya!  I am finally back.  And I have a NEW laptop.  Yippeee.  My very first foray into Apple technology.  So very exciting.  While I am learning how to use it, I thought I'd just send you all lots of love.  I know I have been very absent recently, mainly because I got caught up in my Uplevel your Life course which was Awesome, with a capital A.  But also because our camera got broken in Cypress due to sand getting where it shouldn't.  Not sure what we will be doing about this.  Yet more purchasing?

Any suggestions for the top blogger camera?  Easy to always have in a bag, good pics & monkey/kiddy proof?