I've deferred.

I deferred my entry for the Brighton marathon this morning. There is no way I can train for what would be my first marathon and do my final teaching practice. I am still debating what to do about the Bath half marathon, which is only 11 weeks away and two weeks before my teaching practice ends. I want to run this race. I've run 10 milers when unfit and unwell. I finished Paris to Versailles thinking that I could do a few more miles if no one threw another hill at me, but I really don't know how knackered I'll be in a new school. I guess I will just see how it goes and defer nearer the time.

There are other races. I will do Paris to Versailles again, there is the Alton 10 in May, and the Royal Parks Half Marathon in November, so it isn't as though this is my one and only chance to run a race, but I hate, hate, hate not doing something I have committed to do.

Went to the gym again this evening as it is still too icy outside to run. I ran for 35 minutes on the horrible treadmill, covering 6.8km. To try to alleviate boredom I varied the pace, running most of the way at 10.5kph and throwing in the odd 500m at anything between 13 and 14.5kph. My head finds it hard to work out speeds and distances in metric, as I am an Imperial girl, but I think that I averaged about 8.17min/mile. More variety was added by my accidentally hitting the 'Emergency Stop' button and wondering what the hell was going on as the treadmill stopped rather quickly! The button is large, obviously very sensitive and located in the middle of a bar directly in front of my running position, so, as I leant forward to alter the speed I think I must have knocked the button with my arm - gave me quite a shock!

After the treadmill I did a quick session on the power plates. They are great for stretching out overworked muscles, and I like to think that the strength work I do on there makes up for the fact I hate lifting weights, doing squats, press ups and sit ups!

In other news, we are cautiously optimistic about our trip to Paris. Friends have just done the reverse journey and lived to tell the tale. I've also taught my older daughter to knit! I haven't done anything 'crafty' in a long while, but a couple of weeks ago I discovered a 'new' wool shop. New is in inverted commas because it has been there for four years, and I must have driven past it hundreds of times, but one Friday evening I saw someone walking into the shop and noticed it for the first time. The Inter Knit Cafe in Farnham is lovely! A huge range of yarns and accessories and the owner was friendly and helpful. I bought a couple of skeins of yarn, some funky new needles and set about knitting a new scarf in a feather and fan pattern. Kitty has been eyeing this scarf covetously as it grows, but she is not having it! Instead I taught her to knit this afternoon. Chunky yarn and 8mm needles mean that the 25-30 rows she has completed look like she has done a lot of work! Teaching her wasn't as traumatic as I thought it would be. She picked it up pretty quickly and only came to me when she dropped a stitch or got confused. Mind you, she has only learnt to knit, not purl, and I did cast on for her! I'll try to remember to post a picture when she's finished.

I wonder if I should get the boys to take up knitting? It has to be better than a DS, but then again I am not sure if it is a good idea to give them weapons to poke each other with...