Bod for tea: June 2014

Saturday, 7 June 2014

The butterfly

Monarch Butterfly by Rosemary Ratcliff courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

On Thursday while Little Man was at nursery I ran. I ran because I needed to get out of my head for a while and just focus on the right, left, right of the road.

As I rounded a bend in the path a butterfly fluttered past and I was captured for a moment with it's seemingly random journey. It seemed the perfect metaphor for how I'm feeling right now.

Flighty, fingers in lots of pies and so, so busy...

Working as the press officer and Twitter manager for the Tour de France for our village (you can follow me at if you're that way inclined) alongside my blog work, planning for Britmumslive and Curly Girl's 5th birthday, organising the meet ups, training for the Felsted 10k to raise money for The Lullaby Trust and now working with the lovely Jo to finally make the jump to self-hosting this little corner of the blogosphere I call my own *squeeal* (all thanks to from the inspirational Vicki).

The Cambridge Bloggers Coffee Club Meet Up this week was so much fun

What an amazing day THIS is going to be - proud to be part of it!

There's a lot going on in my world.

But then I realised that butterflies have emerged from their chrysalis into an exciting new world and that it's hard work for a while but the reward is a rainbow of colours and ultimately freedom.

And I'm excited again.

Tuesday, 3 June 2014

Would you pay me to run?

Source

I've always had a bit of a love/hate relationship with running - I want to love it but I've never found it easy. I started running before the kids were born, spurred on by my sister-in-law who is a natural born runner and runs marathons with ease.

I almost started to like it.

Then after a hiatus while we were in China (smog isn't the best training fuel) I started running again when we came back to the UK but chose to stop again when I found out we were pregnant with our miracle baby, Little Man. I tried spinning on our stationery bike as a way to get my fitness back after he was born (and to shed the 3st I'd put on) but the road called me.

'Come and run me,' it said. 'You know you want to...' *creepy voice*

So I started running again. After two pregnancies (and too much high-impact aerobics in my younger years - oh yes I was one of those spandex-clad nutters) my knees are dodgy I didn't want to get injured. So I started from scratch with a simple run/walk schedule that built up slowly. 2 mins walking, 30 secs jogging seemed sensible and completely doable to start off with. And it was. I've built this up over time so that I'm now running for 4 mins and then walking for 1 which gives my knees a regular break.

On 13th July I'm entering my first race since Little Man was born - the Felsted 10k in Essex.

And I'm proud to be run/walking it.

Proud because I'm doing it in memory of a little girl, Matilda Mae, who went to sleep and joined the stars in February 2013 and I'm raising money for The Lullaby Trust which is a wonderful charity that helps to support families affected by sudden infant death. They also fund research that has led to a significant reduction in the number of babies drying suddenly and unexpectedly each year.

So this is a plea...

If you can, please pop over to my Virgin Money Giving page and sponsor my run. Every penny counts. Through Virgin Money Giving, you can sponsor me and donations will be quickly processed and passed to The Lullaby Trust. Virgin Money Giving is a not for profit organisation and will claim gift aid on a charity's behalf if you're eligible for this.

Thank you.

Joining up with the inspirational Vicki's Brilliant blog posts linky

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