Ah, Wednesday I wondered where you’d been hiding. So happy to see you! Now, if you could just give Thursday and Friday a bit of a push and get them to move along quickly I’d be ever so grateful.
After a bit of a hump day hiatus, it’s good to be back in the swing of things. I’d forgotten how much knowing I had this post coming up made me look for the happy… sometimes the happy is big things, and sometimes, like this week, it’s little things. To me, it’s often the little things that matter most, because as nice as the big, the momentous, the thrilling are (and believe me I love a big do!) it’s easy to find the happy in them… what is not always so easy is finding the happy in the small and the every day… so that was my challenge this week, to find the happy in the small… and so then, here they are.
As you may know, I have a LOT of black clothes. So, in an attempt to get out of the black rut I wore this red cardi, with a grey top... the only black I wore was boots! I added this vintage fabric button my sister sent me last year... What's not to be happy about with that button on?
On my running leggings there are splashes of mud. Running in the rain and the low cloud, in thermal gear this week was utter, utter bliss.
The Green Eyed Girl's new sequined high tops. Seriously, what's not to smile about?
So, what has made you happy this week? I’d love to know.
Happy Hump Day!
N xxx
Tags: freindship, hump day, running
Posted by Naomi on Jul 27, 2010 in
random sweet nothings... 
The other day I was out for a run. Nothing too unusual about that, except that I’ve been a bit slack lately. I have a set pattern when I run and it goes like this. Get on running gear, get on shoes, chooses music, put iPhone in arm band and put head phones in, warm up, wave goodbye to whoever may be in the house, grab dog lead, grab dog and off we go.
On this particular day all good so far. Off we set up our dirt road to the centre of our village, side stepping tourists, rolling my eyes and thinking, ah, yes the dog is cute but I’m running here, please don’t bend down to pat him. We get out of the throng of weekend sightseers and the path ahead lies empty. Bliss.
I use running as, among other things, a way to clear my head. I get into a nice breathing rhythm, my feet follow. The dog runs beside or in front of me. We know which houses have dogs, I know when to pull the lead in when the path gets close to the road edge, I know when to look down to not see the steepest parts of the path, and try to convince myself that it isn’t that steep after all.
It was a mild, sunny, winter day. Perfect running weather. Why then couldn’t I get my shit together? My breathing was off, my stride uneven. Thoughts kept going through my head like, what is going on! And, oh FFS move it woman! Or, my personal favourite, this may well be the shitest run ever. So what was wrong? What was going on?
I forgot the golden rule. That’s what happened. Even though I use running as a means to clear my head, on this particular day I had started out assuming that that’s what would happen. I had a lot on my mind, I wanted to use the run as a means of escape from those thoughts. The mistake I made was just assuming it would happen. So when I was warming up, instead of slowly shutting off the click, click, whirr in my head I let it continue, thinking, once I start running it will quiet down. But it didn’t. Lesson learnt. Warming up is also a time for turning down the volume in my head. That’s part of the reason the head phones go in then, it signals the start of the process.
This doesn’t mean that the thoughts disappear altogether. That just does not happen. It does mean, however, that those thoughts are no longer the dominating force in my mind. Instead the rhythmic pattern of breath in, stride, stride, stride, stride breath out, stride, stride, stride, stride is the dominating force. This is how I like it. This is my zen. This is what I am going to do when I head off again this afternoon.
What about you? How do you quiet the thoughts?
Image
Tags: running
Posted by Naomi on May 12, 2010 in
random sweet nothings... 
Wednesday, how I love you and your promise of the weekend getting closer. Thank you for coming so quickly this week. Here we are at hump day again. The time of week when I stop, just for a moment and reflect on the things that have made me smile in the past week. All too often we dwell on the negative, it’s easy to do that. What I like to do here is think of the things that made me happy. This week it was not hard to keep the smile from my face, here’s why…
I finished the last uni assignment, printed, stapled and posted it… gone, out of my hands, buh-bye. The sigh was heard around the world I’m sure.
It was also the week I began having my Tuesdays and Thursdays back, and with that, my coffee catch up with a lovely friend who I have missed while I’ve been knee deep in uni stuff.
I ran in the Mothers Day Classic. Thank you so, so much to my friends who ran with me… we had a great time didn’t we!
So, now, over to you…. what made you smile this week? Happy Hump Day everyone xxx
Image source : DryIcons
Tags: hump day, running
Posted by Naomi on May 10, 2010 in
Family,
friends,
random sweet nothings... 
How was your weekend? I must say, for me it was all in all a really lovely two days. I managed to get out in the veggie patch and pull out the now spent beans and sunflowers. I have saved the sunflower heads to collect the seeds. Even though they are brown and dry, I still love the way they look, and they are full to bursting with seeds. We only planted organic non-hybrid seeds, so seed collecting is now beginning. I planted another tripod of peas and some cauliflower seedlings before applying another thick layer of pea straw.
Late yesterday I posted my last uni assignment. I am so relieved it is all over. I feel lighter, happier, and already more myself.
But without a doubt the highlight of the weekend for me was participating in the Mothers Day Classic. It was the first time I have done it. I have been training since the start of the year, thanks so much to Emily for getting me back into running. I ran with Emily, my Green Eyed Girl, The Lovely Assistant and her two eldest children, and another teacher from work. It was an amazing thing to be part of. It really made my Mothers Day. Doing something with family and friends, united with so many others for a common cause. The Blue Eyed Boy was unwell and stayed home with Hubby, but he still got up at 5.30am to wish me a happy Mothers Day and give me the gifts he had chosen from the stall at school.
So, this was my perfect mothers day, low key, spent with family and friends, no muss, no fuss… and fish and chips for tea. Happy me, happy kids, happy Hubby, happy day.
What did the weekend hold for you?
Tags: green eyed girl, running
Recently on a Friday afternoon after lunch and a play and a story and a chat and a drink and a rest and putting on shoes, the class, The Lovely Assistant, any parents willing to hang around and help, and myself have headed outside the kinder confines to THE TENNIS COURTS. Yes, that’s how we like to say it, in loud, excited tones.
THE TENNIS COURTS are a magical place for the class. They are HUGE. The have NETS. They have (thankfully) a very high fence on all sides. We have started playing Fruit Salad on the courts.
Fruit Salad is a running game. Just the thing for a Friday afternoon. There are rules. There are apples, there are pears, there are bananas, there are oranges. I have tried other fruits… but other fruits can cause Friday afternoon tears. Mangoes are not always wanted. Strawberries are wanted by everyone, even the bananas. Kiwi fruit, well, apparently no one wants them.
The rules are simple. When the fruit you have been named is called you RRRRRRRRRRRRRUN across the court from one yellow line to another yellow line – wait, that’s a white line Sweetie, here is the yellow line, keep running over here…. yes, that’s right, here is the yellow line… what’s that? You need a wee, OK in you go with The Lovely Assistant… oh, you need a wee as well? Ok go catch up, Oh, you don’t need a wee, your shoelace is undone, will I can fix that… but you will need to now come off that yellow line I was so keen for you to run to so I can tie the lace. Now, where was I… OK, APPLES! No one runs. BANANAS! Everyone runs, even the apples.
This is where the next stage of the game comes in. When I call FRUIT SALAD everyone is supposed to run, because, you know it’s a fruit salad. Sometimes everyone does run, almost.
When it’s fruit salad I am meant to try and catch fruit… then put them in the jam pot. Then I can also call out JAM POT and the jam pot runs screaming (I didn’t specify the screaming, it just seems to come with the jam pot.) So, now we have apples, pears, bananas and oranges running. We also have fruit salad running as well as the jam pot screaming like baby banshees running.
Are you following so far? Simple really, isn’t it. So, here we go… FRUIT SALAD… run… run… I’m going to catch you…. yes Darling, I know you are an orange… but when it’s fruit salad everyone runs, even the oranges… Um, Petal, aren’t you in the jam pot? You are? Well, wait until I say jam pot then you can run OK? Hmmmm, what’s that? You don’t want to be a pear, you want to be the goose? Well, perhaps when we play duck, duck, goose… Oh, Lovely-ness, if you run screaming into my legs and climb up them hug them it makes it very easy for me to catch you, so if you don’t want to be in the jam pot run away from me next time.
By now I am out of breath. I am hoarse from saying fruit salad, and Jam pot, and various other fruits. I am sweating from trying to catch all the little fruit salad pieces. Really, who knew four year olds could run with such gazelle like ability? There are, after a time, only a few pieces of fruit children left waiting to be put in the Jam Pot, where the rest of the class wait with The Lovely Assistant, who, being much fitter than me seems to be barley raising a sweat from all that running with the jam.
It’s at this point I declare game over, so we can start playing Duck, Duck Goose… have you ever tried to get 25 or so children in a circle, sitting down and then get one to chase another AROUND the circle?
Friday, I’m in love with you.
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Tags: children, Friday I'm in love with you, running, school
Posted by Naomi on Feb 8, 2010 in
random sweet nothings... 
I have taken up running again after a long break. I had been thinking about it for a while, when Emily from emlykd the strange asked on Twitter if anyone wanted to do the Mothers Day Classic with her. It was the perfect opportunity to start running, it gave me a goal to work towards, and some much needed motivation.
I stopped running after I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. My then specialist warned me that running would impact a lot on my knee joints and I’d end up having major knee surgery. I tried water aerobics, bike riding, pilates… but I didn’t like any of them very much and I didn’t stick at them.
I have been on medication for years, taking it daily. I’ve only ever had fluid on a knee once. Even when I fell through rotten decking and tore ligaments and had deep bruising my knees survived intact. I put it down to early diagnosis and constant medication. I’m not running for miles and miles, I’m not running on sealed roads, having the luxury of softer dirt roads and well worn gravel paths near our home.
I used to be a good runner and sprinter. There’s something about running as fast as you can for 100 metres – it seamed like the world had stopped, it was just me, looking straight ahead, breath seemingly held, all instinct.
I loved cross country running too, running rain, hail or shine, getting into a steady rhythm, lost in thoughts with the steady movement of feet on ground.
So, after what seems like an age, I am running again, slowly at first, building up strength and endurance. Spending time on my own, in my head, finding my breath and my rhythm once more. I am loving it again, and miss it when I don’t get a chance to run for a few days.
For me running is freedom… it’s as close as I get to flight, really it is my flight. So thank you Emily, you have helped me get back to something I love.
Tags: running
