Young'uns

We've had a spate of 'baby news' from friends and colleagues (sometimes mutually exclusive) lately; it must be all the long, cold, indoorsy winter months. We've had pictures in our mailboxes of beaming parents and grandparents holding, trophy-like, the gorgeously kissable and snuggly little ones.

With all the parenting love doing the rounds, we thought we may as well introduce you to the latest additon to la nostra famiglia. I assure you that despite her tough look, she is very kissable and snuggly.

Here she is:


Isn't she an absolute heartbreaker?

I Did It!

It took over two months of excitement, a shameful aggregate of about two weeks' worth of training, lots of encouragement from friends and family, and 52 long minutes to get across the finish line of the Race for Life 2008 and all I can say is that it was so much fun!

Those who know me will know that I'm no athlete and will not go anywhere near any activity that can even remotely be described as 'running'. I can walk for miles (try not to look too surprised, will you?) quite happily but attempting to run is a different matter altogether. I knew I'd be able to walk the 5k but I thought to myself, maybe, just maybe, I could give jogging it a shot. I tried it and loved it but couldn't do more than 1k at a stretch. I huffed and puffed my way through training, walking and jogging in alternation, hating Dot for pestering me to keep jogging instead of falling off into a slow tired walk. The only time I came close to jogging the entire 5k was on Friday evening when I did about seven laps of about 400m each, stopping for a few minutes after every couple of laps. I was quite happy with this and would be happier to repeat this on Saturday.

Race Day dawned too bright, too early, and I began to seriously doubt my ability to do any jogging at all. There was this fabulous carnival atmosphere all over Oxford with lots of gaily dressed people obviously going to my race - some serious-, some mad-looking. I made my way to University Parks my trusty cheering team of mother and husband (also my 'coach/manager') in tow. I was meant to meet my friends Mandy, who is also a work colleague, and Narola who is also our neighbour who were going to be walking the stretch. Let us just say these ladies are dedicated serious walkers and would give any runners some serious competition! The race began with some cheerleading led by some lads and sponsored by Nivea, and some warming up to 'Greased Lightning' led by some girls from the Rosemary Conley bandwagon.

More nervousness followed and I was dying to get it over and done with.

When the race finally began, I started off jogging and I kept thinking to myself, I'll do five minutes of jogging and then walk and keep doing that - rinse and repeat. As I went on, I though, I'm not 'that' tired yet, let's jog a bit more. This went on till we came to the 2k mark. I then thought, 2k worth of jogging is very cool - I'm not too tired - I wonder how much further I can go before starting to walk. Halfway through the third kilometre my feet hurt from hitting the uneven ground and I felt very hot and thirsty because I couldn't be bothered to carry a water bottle around the track with me. At that time, University Parks proved to be the perfect venue because every so often we'd come to a leafy shady grove and there was this lovely cool breeze. I met Dot a few times standing by the track, taking pictures and cheering me.

It was too much for Mamma to keep following me around and so she sat on the grass enjoying the sunshine and chatting up a storm.

I have to say that after the 3k mark, I just didn't feel tired any more. It was so encouraging to think I had done the 3k without stopping once (except to redo my shoelace) and then on, at the risk of sounding preachy, it was simply a case of mind over matter.

In my head, I wasn't tired or bored, and enjoying myself thoroughly. It was easy to keep the end in sight and when I crossed the finish posts I was the happiest person alive! I gave Dot a rib-crushing hug all while wheezing and trying to tell him how I didn't stop jogging all through!

A giant THANK YOU to all of you who donated so kindly and generously (I raised £90!!) to my cause and made me believe I could do it. I did think of you at the 3k mark and you were one of the reasons I didn't take the easier (for me) way out.

You know what? I think I might just do this all over again!