Safe space blogging: Letter to my dear boy
I am offering my blog to parents of older children as a safe space to blog anonymously. It will both help them to offload and help other parents who may be going through the same situations in silence. I’m pleased to welcome my second anonymous blogger today, who is struggling with her tween son’s behaviour. My dear boy. I’m writing this because I’m hoping it’ll be good to get it out. You’ll never actually read...
Marathon training: The 22 mile run
The longest run on my marathon training plan is 22 miles (well, it says you can do 20 or 22, but I always prefer to go high). It is the only run over 20 miles, and one of only six over 13 miles, and it’s timed for three weeks before Newport marathon. I’m really pleased with my training so far and was feeling pretty chilled about the 22 mile run. My previous longest run was 18 miles, which I’ve run twice. In between...
‘When’s my rugby tour?’
Next summer, just after his GCSEs, my younger son is going on a rugby tour with school. The rugby tour will be a brilliant, life-changing experience. He will play rugby, of course, but will also experience different cultures. He will be staying in both hotels and with local families. He will get to do some charity work and see some incredible wildlife. It’s the kind of experience he will remember for the rest of his life....
Marathon training: Carb loading and the marathon weight gain
When you’re training for a marathon, you must lose loads of weight, right? Er – not necessarily. Marathon training is a funny thing. It’s not just running. It takes over your whole life. Every day, your next run and the run after that is on your mind. You need to work round them and fit them into your life and that isn’t easy. And you have to make allowances with what you eat. When exercising, it is the food...
Marathon training: Weeks nine to 11
Before I talk in detail about weeks nine to 11 of my marathon training, I need to give huge credit to my husband for his support. I have been a runner, to a greater or lesser extent, for my entire adult life and have always run alone. About a year ago, my husband and I started running together on a Sunday morning, because they kids are old enough to be left alone. My husband isn’t training for the marathon, yet he has carried on...
The German exchange (missing my son)
My son is in Germany right now, on the German exchange. And the house feels pretty empty without him. He set off in the middle of the night over a week ago. It took me ages to get back to sleep. He’s been on so many trips before (including a previous German exchange to the exact same family), but my mind kept wandering to various disasters involving the coach and the ferry. It was Mother’s Day, and I was counting down the...
