The Habulous Blog

What a difference the weather makes.  People are smiling and generally looking far more radiant than a couple of weeks ago and all because the sun has put his hat on; he’s even managed the occasional visit from behind the clouds.  I am most definitely a sun worshipper, I feel far more positive and functional when the sun is about, that said on the 23^rd of April, and I’ll turn a blind eye to my sun worshipping and happily see more of those clouds!

It is Easter half term for us at the moment so for Paul and I (like many of us working parents) it means lots of juggling to cope with the demands of bored children and work.  For some reason we have also been taken by the spring cleaning bug and are trying to tackle our homes exterior.  We have now been in Devon for 13 years and our poor home feels a little neglected.  That’s the problem with running your own business all your focus and cash goes on ensuring its success, especially in the early years.  With our renewed focus our house should be looking a lot crisper by the end of the summer!

Oh remember on my last blog post, I mentioned  a ping....  and that I felt  my calf go on my last run,  ummm well it wasn’t good news.  Monday of last week I hobbled into see a
Sports Physio and after much prodding he confirmed that I had torn a muscle in my calf, called the soleus (you learn something new every day).  This amazing man has given me a strict set of instructions to follow, to ensure I will be able to make my way around the London Marathon in less than 2 weeks time. 

Currently I am not allowed to run as I have to allow this tear to fully heal.  Twice a day I have to plunge my leg into alternative buckets of cold and hot water and this week I am focussed on lots of stretches to help rebuild the strength in my calf.  After months of following a running plan I feel so lazy, although I must admit it is wonderful not to feel so tired all of the time.  I do feel as if I’m losing lots of fitness but I’ve been assured by lots of experienced runners that I’ll still make it around (maybe even slower than I thought I would be!)

In the evenings I’ve been able to continue to focus on designing cards (I finished the one above last night), so I’m pleased to say we are slowly growing our range, which we hope to be able to take to print in a few months time.  Exciting times ahead.  For now though please send lots of positive thoughts to my Soleus, it needs to be strong!

Over the last few months I have been overwhelmed by the commitment needed to train for a marathon, it really does become all consuming. The dedication needed to just get around the course let alone focus on a good time is massive.  For some their time is important, however I have reached the conclusion that to just make it around is a bloody brilliant achievement. Hats off to everyone who has ever done one, I salute you.

My training has had its ups and downs, I’ve lost toe nails, been hailed on, lost all feeling in my limbs, played ridiculously petty mind games, etc, etc, etc.  I think the toughest element for me has been the solitude, its very hard to keep positive without someone else beside you.  If I was training again, I would definitely try to run with others (although I must say I have no intention of doing this ever again).

Today was to be my final long run and I’m pleased to say other than an early stop for a photo for this blog, I ran well.  Well that is for 11 miles and then my calf went ping, literally ping.  I tried to struggle on but the pain was to much and more importantly I can’t afford to do to much damage.   Much to my dismay I had to admit defeat and call friends who kindly came to my rescue.  I can’t believe that after all those months of training, that I have now injured myself.  I am still doing this, I will not be defeated by a mere muscle.

So my next few days will involve lots of ice packs and hopefully a session with a sports physio.  Fingers crossed it heals well, as I really do want to run not walk this marathon.

If you have sponsored me don’t worry, I will still be doing it but maybe even slower than anticipated... On the note of life giving you lemons; I may as well share another one of my card designs which we hope to launch in the upcoming months (It seems apt to me).  I’ve raised other £1000.00 to date and still have a way to go for Back Care, so if you are able to support me hobbling or running in 3 weeks just click on this link to donate to my page.   I’m signing off now with my leg in the air!

Right now, I’m feeling refreshed after two nights away with my hubby Paul and no children (that’s right no kids......  we bribed my Mum into having them for the whole weekend).  Over the course of the weekend I was struck by what it meant to be kid free, here’s just a few of the highlights:

• No constant background bickering
• No standing on the sidelines of a football pitch, trying to keep upright while the wind comes straight for you at 50 mph
• No need to spend 8 hours in a hall watching table tennis and worrying about how big my bottom is becoming and what I could be doing if I wasn’t there.
• TV remote freedom (goodbye Harry Hill, I do not have to watch you this weekend, in fact better still no TV)
• Travelling in the car without a single “Are we there yet”
• Eating with no one moaning about the vegetables on the plate.
• Not being compared to all those allusive (they are never named, in fact may not exist) parents who let their children do exactly what they want, when they want.

I could go on and on, but I think you get the point; don’t get me wrong I love them to bits but a break from their demands once in a while is a real pleasure.  Needless to say we had a really relaxing time; it’s not often that we have no real agenda.  We walked, we ate and we slept, absolute bliss.

The weekend was near perfect, I can highly recommend “The Lugger Hotel” at Portloe.  It is rare that everything goes just the way you want and for the most part it did.  Sure enough though it was the start of getting back to reality on the last night, when the waitress knocked a freshly filled glass of red wine all over me.  Amongst the commotion we became the focus of every single person in the restaurant, as they watched to see how events would un-fold, looking down at the state of my dress we decided a quick exit was the only course of action we could take.  Back to the safety of our room we retired early to dream about our missed puds.

The weekend away came at the perfect time, as we have been really busy the last few months, literally working around the clock trying to get our latest project up and running.  Paul and I have now been running our stores for 13 years and over the last few years we have worked with lots of talented designer makers to bring more handmade elements to our stores.  We have also launched our own handmade ranges; Paul makes some amazing wooden letters and I make a small range of hand thrown pottery and of course our very successful fragranced soya wax melts.

Both of us have a real passion for art and design and are currently working towards launching our own range of cards (at last we are putting our Art School days to full use!)  Here’s one of our designs, it really is great to get our teeth into a project like this.

I am finding the London Marathon training really tough now, I didn’t really realise how much of a time commitment it would be.  This time of the year the weather can be pretty rough and my last 3 long runs have all involved hail (it hurts a lot).  As soon as I finish this post I’m going to have to change into my trainers and do a mere 20 mile run.  I spent last night planning the run and for those who know the area this is what I have planned.  Running from my house to the Burrator reservoir, to complete 3 circuits, then on to Meavy and using the back lanes run to Yelverton, from there I will join the cycle path and run into Tavistock.  I say run I’ll probably be dragging my feet at the end.  If you see me yell something encouraging, I need all the support I can get.  Bloody typical the heavy rain has just started.   A lovely surprise when I crawl back in through the front door later, would be to be a little bit closer to my fund raising target, so if you can please give generously!  Here’s the link to my fundraising page.  Bye for now.

After what feels like weeks of rain, I opened the curtains to sun, immediately my mood lightened and the thought of today’s training run changed from dread to excitement.  I love being outdoors especially when its dry and you can feel the sun heating your skin.  I’m feeling very lucky that I also have a walk planned with friends later today. 

We have had lots of fun in the shops in the last few weeks as we have received loads of new stock from my trade show orders earlier in the year.  It’s a great feeling when we get new ranges in, 13 years into running shops I still feel like a young child opening a present when new things arrive.  I’m super pleased with my finds this year, we are now stocking a new range of jewellery, that is absolutely beautiful, we also have a range of ceramics by an artist called Jimbobart whom I have made personal purchases from in the past.  His work is so clever featuring caricatures of animals with great slogans.  We have a total of 4 of his plates on our wall and they are supposed to represent each one of my family members.  I’ll let you guess whose is whose!?!

Training for the marathon is so much harder than I expected.  The commitment is at times totally overpowering both physically and mentally.   I’ve got a busy life anyway and I really have been finding it hard to squeeze my training in.  This week I managed 16 miles and believe it or not I ran the whole way, I didn’t walk once, not once (although I did have a very brief pause for a wild wee!)

I find myself focussing on fractions on my long runs. So the conversation in my strange mind goes a little like this; Great 1/16 of the way only 1/15 to go, 2/8 of the way this is easy....  you can do it.....  You’ve only got to run this another 5.5 times.... OMG 5.5 more times, what am I doing, why, it will be worth it in the long run, stupid girl thinking this would be easy.  Oh look there’s a walker, say hello and smile.  Your nearly  ¼ of the way now,  come one keep focused, gosh your ½ way you’ve got this, keep on going.  Think of your form (bugger that just run) and the second half in reverse, I won’t bore you with more fractions.  Then I reach the last mile and if I have any energy left I think I might just smile.  

Before I confirmed my charity place with Back Care, I needed to know more about the charity, so I phoned to ask my list of questions, I’m one of those people who have to be passionate about something to give it my all.  I was super pleased to get a call back from Brian Hammond the charities Chairman.  It’s always a good sign when someone takes time out to explain things.  From speaking with Brian I learnt that the charities core focus is on education and fact sheets to help prevent back pain/problems.  Over the years they have ploughed lots of funding into research and have had a positive impact on treatments.  They have a help line and have when funding has allowed, paid for individuals who could not access treatment to get help.  What really amazed me is how reliant they are on the funds raised by their small team of London Marathon runners, without us Brian does not think they would be able to continue their work.  So by supporting me you are helping this great small charity continue their amazing work. Sponsor link just click here

At this very moment in time I ache like bloody mad, my legs and my butt in particular.  I definitely feel as if I have overestimated my ability to run a marathon, I won’t give up but I am getting worried.  I’ve not long come back from my long run for this week,  a mere 14 miles, I say mere lightly, it’s a massive achievement for me and one I would be really happy with, if it wasn’t for the pressure of training for London.  I need to run an additional 12.2 miles on the day, which right now I really can’t imagine doing. 

Today’s run was the furthest I have EVER ran and I must add if it wasn’t for my commitment to the marathon it would be the most I’ll ever do.  I’m not good at repetition so today I ran a new route,  the cycle route from Yelverton to Plymouth, this meant that until the half way mark I was running a gentle downhill slope, so when I turned around all I could think was “Bugger” I should have thought that one through a bit more before setting off.

When I finished the run I had to nip to the local shops for a few essentials, I got out the car and started to sway on my feet, as if I’d just left the pub after way to many units of alcohol, I did a quick recky to make sure no one had noticed and then hobbled around the shops before heading home, where I planned to jump into a steamy hot bath.  As soon as I walked through the door the doorbell went and I had the sinking realization that I had a meeting with a rep to place some orders for the stores.  Oh well life goes on, a little stiffer than normal.

Last week was half term for my kids and my eldest was off skiing.  I was so pleased for him (even though I will admit to being very jealous).  It was certainly strange for the rest of us, who had to carry on as normal, knowing one of our clan was having the time of their life.  The week was spent juggling work with occupying FFion our youngest.  I’ve got to say I’m glad they are back at school today and the juggling can stop, anyone else feeling the same way?

So this week its back to normal ish, we have an exciting new project on the go, which I’ll share with you all soon.  In the meantime I’m really looking forwards to getting some time on my pottery wheel, as I have been working on some new decoration styles that have worked really well on the testers and I want to get more done as soon as I can.  So I’ll leave you with a photo of my new jugs and a link to my fundraising page!