High School Musical Party

Tomorrow night we're throwing a High School Musical party for the 11 year old (girl). Hopefully the new friends she has made in school will come and then they will know where we live and then maybe they'll call round and be lifelong friends. Easy.

We're busy making GO WILDCATS pennants and microphones and trying to theme things. The movie is apparently about basketball so we've bought little hoops to decorate the room and are making t-shirts and little party bags containing lip gloss and the like! I'm heading to the Square to try and get some red and white table cloths (Wildcats colours) and red and white streamers or ribbons but with all the shops taken over with Halloween stuff it's getting hard to find these items.

Any other ideas would be most welcome! (I haven't even watched the movie yet, that would probably help me with the theming.......)

World Mountain Running Champs 2007

Just back from my second trip to Switzerland in 2 weeks! I'm glad to be home and get on with normality for a while as it's been hectic lately. The race itself went ok for me, would love to have done better but at the same time I had something to prove. I had debated pulling out of Jungfrau marathon in order to be fresh for the World Mountain Running Champs the week after. But I had trained for a few months for Jungfrau and was looking forward to it and really didn't want to not run. It's probably odd to some that I thought much more seriously about pulling out of the World Champs and allowing someone else run. But that was how I felt. I was looking forward to Jungfrau and dreading the other!

So I decided to do both.
So I had something to prove.
Because I was second in the Irish trials I wanted to be second Irish home.
And I was, so that initially made me happy and relieved.

But coming 69th in a race of 86 women wasn't going to make me happy for long, but maybe next year I would train properly for the trials and do better on the hills (and not run a mountain marathon the week before, if I did qualify!)

Anyway back at home all is good. Grace is gone to an adventure centre in Fermanagh. I miss her already. Grace is much more like an adult now and I can talk to her about the kids and what she thinks of certain things to do with school or whatever. When she comes home from school it's like another adult in the house, not a kid, and that's kinda reassuring.

The above photo is of me with Jonathan Wyatt, 3 times world mountain running champ, and winner of the Jungfrau marathon the week before. I must put it next to my Paula photo!

Off AGAIN!

Off to Switzerland AGAIN! for the World Mountain Running Championships! Woohoo! Back next week!

Junior Cert Results

Grace is getting her Junior Cert results today. Rather than giving them their results at 9am like every other school, her school have decided in their wisdom to make them sit through classes as usual all day today and give them their results at 3pm. I think it's a bit cruel. And unnecessary. The excuses given by schools for doing this is usually that they don't want the kids to be ceelbrating all day. Well for a start these kids are 15/ 16 and it's up to responsible parents to ensure they are not celebrating at all!

Jungfrau Marathon - the result!

Firstly I am raging I have no photos because the scenery at the Jungfrau marathon was absolutley breathtakingly beautiful. I took some on my phone the day we left, just views from my room but they don't do it any justice.

Anyway the race went well. I was very nervous before hand but that's normal for me; I get quiet and withdrawn the day before, can hardly hold a conversation and am forcing myself to eat. My stomach is usually churning badly the day before but I managed to force myslef to eat a little pasta at lunch and dinner. My phone hadn't been working in Interlaken but Tony phoned me on a friend's phone to let me know that he had to bring the 5 year old to hospital in the middle of the night because he couldn't breathe. Scary stuff, the other kids got a bit freaked out too so fair play to Tony for handling everything. Anyway all is good now and I tried not to think about it too much while I was there.

Race morning is always so nerve wracking, forcing breakfast down you at 6am when all you want to do is wretch! I get so nervous, I don't know why I do it!

Anyway we got to the start and dropped our bags off a few minutes before the off. I just walked virtually right behind the start line which is good because I hate being trapped in the crowds. The atmosphere was really good and like all races people just want to get underway. It wasn't too long before we were off! The race does a lap of the town first, taking up the first 4 or 5k. I think at this stage some people were feeling the heat. The race gradually continues on on roads with the odd hill at 10 or 15k, all the time you're waiting on the "big" climb which you know is ahead. I remember not feeling great at this early stage, still had a jittery feeling and legs were sore. I know that that happens from the sun though, your muscles dehydrate much faster and get crampy, no matter how much water you drink. There was a big town at about half way (21k)that I remember feeling I was tired but that didn't last, because I had some of my fastest kilometres after that.

It's always at this point in a marathon that I start to feel good and this one was no different. I really wanted to get on with it and eat up those kilometres so at this stage I knuckled down to ploughing through these flat sections, dying to get ahead and start the job of the big first climb. It wasn't long coming!

As we headed into the climb I noticed that I was running while those around me walked so that gave me a boost to keep going. It wasn't long before the hill was unrunnable as it got too steep and the turns were sharp as we ascended. It went on for a couple of kilkometres maybe until it eventually turned into gradual hills that were runnable.

I really started to sort of enjoy myself than, the views were incredible and the hills were runnable for the most part if I put my head down and just knuckled down. They start to mark the course in quarter of kilometres at this stage which I though was great because each kilometre was broken down into four maangeable distances and before I knew it I fell like I was heading for home. I can rememeber a feeling at about 35k that it was time to start racing, to take down a few more people ahead of me, to get past all the walking competitors that were now blocking my way. At the 35 to 39 k mark I remember that it was only myself and 2 other women, from those around us, who were actually still running. This is always a good mental boost and as the trail turned into a single rocky track I was skipping around all the walkers to get past! Great feeling! As it gets closer to 40k the track gets very steep and walking is inevitable but I knew I wasn't far from home. The steepness continues till 41 when suddenly you're on a downhill kilometre to the finish. I was flying at this stage and feeling great! I crossed the line in 4.19 with a big smile on my face and was so happy to just have enjoyed the whole experience. I really felt that for me I was only warming up and starting to enjoy myself and suddenly it was all over! Awww!

The finish area had hot showers, hairdryers, massage and was a bit crazy with people so I didn't hang about, the train down to where I had just ran from took two hours! So I only took twice as long to run uphill than the train took to go down! Ha ha!

I never bumped into Mick but I was thinking about his brother Tony along the way. When you're in the middle of something like this and you get those "good to be alive" feelings you realise how lucky you are not only to run but to experience something as incredible as this event. The views and the toughness make it unique, it really is one to do if you run!

After a marathon I usually try and pick out a "marathon moment" but it takes a couple of weeks for certain memories to stand out as the most unique so I will think about it for a while. Thanks to all the commenters who left support, it was great. I had been saying ovber at For Nine Pounds that I had a sore foot that was worrying me, well you know for those 4 hours and 19 minutes there wasn't a bother on my foot, so the sleepless night was for nothing, as they usually are!!

I felt fine afterwards and have had very little stiffness or soreness. I'm gonna make sure not to run too much this week because (and you won't belive this because I hardly can) I'm back in Switzerland on Thursday to run on Saturday in the World Mountain Running Championships so the green knickers get an outing again! I often get a bit low two days afetr a marathon, it's just coming down from the buzz afterwards I think does it, but I'm not feeling that today so all is good!
Interlaken wasn't a great town for shopping but of course, being Switzerland my biscuit box now looks like this:

Away again?

I'm about to find out which is harder: looking after 3 kids or running 26 miles uphill.

I'm off here.

His first day!

We're waiting outside! (I moblogged this but it kept saying COULD NOT PUBLISH). Then I get home and find that it has.....Anyway the two of them went off fine and all is good. I was so proud of the two of them, as if they were my own. I now have an hour and a half free that I don't know what to do with. I'm not running today so besides cleaning the oven or the rest of the house, I'm at a loss. This "stay-at-home-mommy" thing hasn't quite kicked in yet! Just kidding, I'm lovin' it!

We are here!

Ultra Trail Tour du Mont Blanc 2007

Tony is, at this very moment, doing the Ultra Trial Tour du Mont Blanc. I'm getting SMS alerts sent to my phone as he passes through the various stages. But you can also follow the runners on line. Last year myself and Tony finished together in 43 hours.

Basically it's 160km through the Alps, through countries, around Mont Blanc. It's billed as the toughest foot race in Europe and it really is hard. The mental torture involved in just keeping going is incredible, never mind the state of your legs. Anyway he's doing great so far and I've been updating our Ultrarunners blog too as well as Team Geared Up.

I wish I was there.

Worrying about someone doing it is worse than doing it!! Well not quite but you know what I mean. Our account of the event last year is here.

What We're At...

We've been coming and going from Wexford/ Dublin for the last few weeks. I must be brown, people keep asking where I was on holidays (strangers in parks ad petrol stations) and when I say Wexford they're shocked. We've had good enough weather to warrant lots of beach trips. We're right down on the South Coast as opposed to the East and I think we got it slightly better down there than the rest.
We've had trouble there all Summer with noisy neighbours, who have made the weekends miserable with all night partying and sometimes well into the next day and afternoon, beer bottles and cans all over the street and about twenty cars permanently parked in a street of only 5 houses. Makes it difficult for the kids to play with all this going on. The noisy neighbours are renting and we've complained enough to the two landlords (there's two houses involved, they're all mates), so we're hoping their leases will not be renewed when they come up in the Autumn. If they are, we've made a decision to sell the holiday home. Life's too short for that crap. And it's meant to be somewhere to go and relax etc. Not to be avoided. The trouble with all this is that the trouble makers appear to be making it into an anti-Dublin thing. I've noticed this with parts of Wexford now, and we're in a very small village, that there is this feeling of resentment towards the Dubs. They want your business, they want you drinking in their pubs and spending money in their shops and tourist attractions and even want you in their mobile home parks. But if you have a house it's reason enough for resentment and we've been sensing this for a while now.

Anyway while there we've done all the touristy stuff with the kids and they've loved it. Fota, Splashworld, JFK Arboretum etc. etc. Back in Dublin last Tuesday we went to Dun Laoighaire and the sun was shining and there was music in the park and it was just gorgeous! We might head there today and tomorrow for the start of the Festival of World Cultures. Lots to do!

The foster kids are settling in great! Having fun and enjoying themselves. Let's hope the fun doesn't end next week when they're back at school. I've been enjoying getting kids ready for school, doing Mammmy stuff! Me and the 11 year old girl have been getting along terrifically, spending lots of time baking together and doing nails and preparing meals; she loves to cook and bake and she also loves to run!! Hopefully she'll make new friends in the area at school, she could do with having people to call into. The 5 year old boy is still just mad as a brush and loving life (can see him on a serious mountain bike very soon)!

Happy Holidays

I'm away now to the sunny south east for a couple of weeks. Happy holidays!

Good Service

A post by Bock just reminded me about this: we were all sitting eating lunch in our kitchen on Saturday. In my house every door and window is permanently open for kids to wander in and out etc. etc. Anyway next of all a DOG arrives into our kitchen and Tony nearly jumped out of his skin roaring and shouting and the dog bolted and headed for the front door which he had just come in. But instead of the door space which was wide open he went straight through the glass panel next to it smashing it into a gzillion pieces. Jeez he must have hit it some bang. Although it's probably not toughened glass as it's quite old it would still be tough enough to have taken many previous bangs from footballs, basketballs and the like.
Anyway we rang a glazier this evening at about 5pm. He called to the house at 6pm. He returned with glass at 9 and had the job done and dusted in about half an hour. No bother at all. Poor dog is alright but he has his paws bandaged. And no he didn't make a dog shaped hole in the glass either...

Great Quads Exercise

Get on a see saw with someone a third of your weight (a kid will do) and proceed to try and make their feet hit the ground each time until your quads ache. Never fails....

I'm back in Dublin for a couple of days and it's so miserable and wet here. I took the covers off the deck furniture yesterday and it has rained and rained (except for about 2 hours yesterday evening).

The kids are settling in great. We've done lots, been to the beach lots, been to forest parks, been fishing, been cycling, playing Buzz, all fun stuff! They had a traumatic day yesterday seeing their mum for the first time in months and the 11 year old girl was upset. We were going out last night to celebrate the Wicklow Round success so I was a bit worried leaving them. It worked out really well though cos I got my niece over who managed to give them a great evening making their own pizzas and playing games and they had much more fun than if I had stayed at home. It was great to come home and see a big smile on the girl's face. The 5 year old boy was fast asleep, happy as Larry.

Like I said we went out for a meal to celebrate Tony and Gary's run and thank the helpers and all involved. Photos here.
We're back in Dublin because Grace is heading to Killary adventure centre on Sunday for a week.
It's mad being at home all the time. I still haven't got used to not being employed. I think it still feels like I'm on my holidays. I'm sure that in September when they've gone to school I'll feel differently! It has been challenging already. The kids are brilliant, they are so good and happy and no trouble at all. It's just that the things that upset them are bigger than anything kids should have to worry about. I know the 11 year old worries about her mother all the time. We are constantly reassuring her that she has nobody to worry about any more, that her mum is getting help and all the siblings are being looked after. I think she is getting a little happier about this by the day.
If only the rain would stop and we could get out and od more stuff!!!!! Being indoors baking cakes is no fun for the 5 year old, he just wants to cycle all day long and play on his big tractor! It's mad having a boy!

Blogging Away

I'm off to a land far, far away where blogs and broadband don't exist. I tried to catch up this morning on them all and this is the last blogpost I'm writing.

So far today in case you're interested:

Team Geared Up
Ultrarunners
For Nine Pounds

And I squished all the photos out of the camera and phone (except the ones of the kids) onto my flickr page. Job done. I'm off to Wexford in the rain. Back Wednesday.

Back to Blog

Thanks for all your comments about the trip to France. I was disappointed with my run but glad of the opportunity to be there. It was a great bunch to be with and we enjoyed it. I had been unwell last week and maybe that took it's toll a little but who knows. If you're legs don't move fast enough that's all there is to it, no excuses.


That's me, no. 132 with Fiona, Trish and Alwynne. they're clouds below us, the photo was taken at the finish after the race (God I look grumpy!)

Myself and Tony had a great day together, just the two of us, on Monday. Half the day in bed half the day eating out in a quiet pub reading the paper, what could be better? ;-)

While I was away Tony and good friend Gary were making histoy by being the first people ever to complete the Wicklow Round; a journey of 27 peaks through Wicklow taking them 33 hours and 56 minutes. Our previous attempt had not been successful and I was sad to miss out on this one but so unbelievably delighted for them. I know how hard it was. More blogging about that here.
I haven't heard how the wedding cake went down but hopefully all went well for Audreys big day! It was great the L* (the 11 year old) was able to help me with it and she was there when Audrey came to pick it up so she saw how happy Audrey was with it.
The big moving in day for the fosterinos is tomorrow. I actually think it will go well with very few tears because the move has been slowly staged and well managed. I think the biggest tears will be from the other foster mother!

I'm just catching up with all the blogs now. Loving reading them all, getting round to writing stuff yourself is the time consuming bit isn't it?

Trip to France!

I'm off to France tomorrow for the European Mountain Running Championships and I haven't even packed yet! The wedding cake is made and iced and gone so I can at least relax about that. The kids have been milling around all week! Despite the rain we got to do some stuff including a visit to Dun Laoighaire pier last night which they loved, followed by ice creams from Teddy's.
I have to be at the airport for 5am so it's an early start for me. Better get started on the packing!

Catching Up with Myself

Audreys hen night was Friday. Photos to follow when flickr or my phone company get their act together. At least I got to go to the hen night. (Was blogging before about missing the wedding, small matter of a race in France).

We drove down to Cork on Saturday to see They Never Froze Walt Disney as part of the Cork Midsummer Festival. It was a two person play and the man in it had one of thos faces that could portray emotion with the slightest movement. He was incredible, you could watch him all day. He also had one of those voices that you could hear a mile away even when he whispered. We both loved it.

We headed to Cork City Sports then, I haven't been able to post photos to flickr from my phone yet. Don't know what's up there but I'd say it's flickrs' fault as it's never happened before. Anyway Saturday night we had a Chinese in Wexford and spent the night there. Oh to be kiddy free and spend the weekend in white jeans.

All is moving along really well with the "fosterinos" as Midget Wrangler has christened them. they had their first overnight last Thursday and that was fine. We fully expected a few strops from the 5 year old. You know the kind of strops that two year olds have just to see what they can get away with and we seemed to survive them so the visits since have been easier. They stay for two nights later this week so it's getting closer to full moving in day, July 12th. They seem happy in general. The 11 year old loves doing things that are crafty and project based which I think is brilliant. It's great that not all kids are obsessed with MTV and computer games!

And today involved getting wet and mucky in Marlay Park as we tried to play in the playground for the 25 seconds between each torrential shower. They also met Tony's Mum and Dad who are lovely and the kids thought they were great so all is good so far.

Not gonna blog about running this time....

False start by gillick!

He's out!

We are here!