8 Weeks til Race Day

Yesterday was 8 weeks til race day.  I completed my 9.5 mile training run in just over 2 hours.  I'm very pleased with that performance.  Last weekend's long run had left me anxious about a couple of things.  

First of all the heat, but thankfully it was a cool morning in Grand Rapids, cloudy for most of the run.  I was able to leave home at 8am.  Way better than the 6am I had anticipated.  That gave me time for a yogurt, a cup of tea and a little relax before setting off.

My second concern was hunger and thirst.  I don't usually eat before I run or carry a water bottle - too much distraction.  After the previous week's performance I knew I'd need both.  I got myself a tiny runner's water bottle that sits in the palm of my hand - if I just squeezed a few drops at a time, I was able to keep my mouth from drying up and didn't choke myself either - bonus!  I also swallowed a "gel-pack" at the halfway point.  It was like 2 tablespoons of honey with caffeine.  That really sorted me out for the rest of the run :0)

In blanket news, last week we had our trusty British photographer Bob staying with us.  An ideal time to get some quality "images" of the fundraising-blanket-in-progress.......

340-ish hexes waiting to be patched together......

I spent a good hour laying out most of the hexes for the next pic......

The hexes laid out as colour-grouped as I could manage.

So, total hexes right this minute is 350, with 55 days to go.  I should be able to add a good 150 to that total by race day.

If you'd like to sponsor my Great North Run, here are my fundraising pages.  A fiver to either charity is one entry to win the blanket.  Please email me at discoknits AT gmail DOT com (no spaces or caps) after donating, so that I have your contact details.

NSPCC in the UK

Thompson Child & Family Focus in the USA

Thanks so much for supporting me on this journey.
disco xoxo

Vacation Progress

I completed 31 hexagons on my vacation.  Not bad for 13 days away.  Here they are....

And this is what a total of 337 hexis look like.  They're starting to get squished in this 21x15 inch box.  I'll have to start a second layer soon.  The boys and I are driving back to Michigan today (and tomorrow...).  When we get there, I think it's time I laid these out and took a photograph of the full effect.  And also to see how big this is.  That shot should be better as we have an ace photographer staying with us ;0)

On vacation, I did some interesting running.  The Las Vegas strip at 5am was particularly fun.  Hot, but not too hot.  People, but not too drunk people (well, maybe one).  Some hotel workout-room running, when the heat outside was just too much.  I missed a long training run.  It was too hot outside, the air too little inside, and not enough sleep as my running-anxiety was at an all-time high.  So this weekend I face my longest run ever, of 8 miles and I MUST DO IT!

If you'd like to encourage me on my way, leave a message, or better still, make a donation using the buttons to the left of this post.  Just $5/GBP5 might win you this BeeKeeper's Quilt.

Happy Thursday y'all.
Disco xoxo