Yesterday was a busy (in a good way) day. I ran my first parkrun in the morning. My running has been progressing pretty well I think. I'm now running for 30 minutes at a time, and my speed has been steadily improving too - which means my distance has been increasing. I wanted to get to the Brighton & Hove one at least once before we head off to Florida, so it had to be this weekend! 

I liked it. There were a couple of hundred people running, which is bigger than I was expecting. Clearly there are regulars, who were chatting beforehand, but they made the first timers feel very welcome. I set off at what I thought was my normal pace, and soon realised I should have nipped to the loo first. Next time. I did ok for the first two laps, and I'm quite pleased with the way I ran the uphill bit. But the third lap I had to stop and walk for a minute, and that was when I realised that actually I had set off way faster than my normal pace. Still, after that minute walking I ran the rest of the way, and finished in 31:32. (Yes, I am a slow, slow runner...) 

Lessons learned? Doesn't matter how many people tell you, running with lots of other people makes you set off too fast. Always use the available toilet facilities before the start. And a support crew with a coat and your water is extremely welcome at the end of the run (thanks GG!). I think I'll have to do it a few more times, and see if I can a) improve my time, b) keep my splits more even, and c) manage to keep my own pace!

So that was at 9.00. We were home by about 10.15, quickly grabbed a shower and a coffee and GG's Mum arrived, because we were off up to Kingston to see the 2.00 show of A Midsummer Night's Dream, with Judi Dench amongst others. 

It was really really good. It always takes a little while to tune into the Shakespearian language, but the acting left you in no doubt as to what was happening, and really brought out the humour. The second half had the audience in stitches, and a lot of the bits that I've just found a bit tedious when I've read it were the funniest bits when brought to life by the acting. 

Today has had to be a very lazy day to balance it out, but both sections of the day were great!

These photos kind of show why there's been very little going on in the garden over this winter. There was a really thick frost on the day I took them. Not the kind that looks so pretty in magazines when they take shots of lovely seed heads, more the earth-as-hard-as-iron type. Everything looks flattened with it. 

First though, some background. Before Christmas, she asked me to make her some typing gloves. Pretty simple, flat knitting with a ribbed cuff, opening for the thumb, and open at the ends for the fingers to stick out and type. She asked for one modification - a flap at the top that could be pulled over when using the mouse. Pretty simple, and I knocked them up pretty fast. 

Apparently her socks got soaked on the way in, and having no spare socks available the mittens were pressed into service! I think that's cute. And innovative! 

1. Running at 6am is not so bad. It's quiet, and I don't really need to wake up. Just get out of bed, pull my clothes on and get out there. 
2. Running at 6 then cycling at 8.15 is also not so bad. Take it easy on the ride and it works. I even tend to get into work a little earlier. 
3. Getting up at 6 makes me quite sleepy in the evenings. 
4. Apparently it's ok to fall asleep at 8.30 when there's a football match on, but not quite so ok when there isn't! 
5. I really can't afford to skip meals if I'm going to do this regularly. 
6. A slice of chocolate fudge cake does not count as a meal. Even if it is fabulous.
7. I also need many snacks. 
8. I may be baking more as a result.
9. If I don't eat regularly my mood may deteriorate rather badly. 
10. I may need to apologise to people afterwards. 

Today I thought I'd try the undercliff walk. No cars, and I figured it would be so close to the sea that it wouldn't be frozen. Particularly where the waves come over the top at high tide. Salt water doesn't freeze so easily, right? 

I was rethinking it when I saw the snow on the beach, but figured I was on slush either way so I'd go for the car-free route. The initial bit was quite icy, but it did get a lot better. But there did seem to be a lot of rubble on the path from the cliffs. 

Some quite big bits of chalk and flint in there, and although I'm riding my mountain bike with full knobbly tyres on it I'm not really a hugely experience rider in these conditions. It took a lot of concentration to get through them. The bike coped just fine, it was me that was nervous and a bit skittish! So I was going along, getting more confident, thinking I might actually make it through and suddenly...

Not sure if that sign is legible. It says: "Unstable Cliffs Keep Out". What you can't see is the matching one, across the other route. No way through. 

I had to turn around, pick my way back through those rocks all the way back through to Ovingdean. Then carry my bike up the steps up the cliff (which were thankfully not icy), and came out only just along the cliff from Rottingdean. Then I had to decide whether to go on the dual carriageway with the slush in the gutter, or the cycle/foot path that was still mostly ice and slush, or the grassy bit that was also covered in snow/ice and needs a bit more technical riding knowhow. I went with the cycle/foot path in the end, until it just got too slippery, then went for the dual carriageway. From there on in it was pretty uneventful, which was a blessing! Took me ages, and I had to concentrate pretty hard for that first bit. Made it eventually and everything, but I really wish they'd put some notice up of the path closure a little closer to Rottingdean!

The way home was slightly less exciting. My Gorgeous Girlfriend gave me a lift because sometimes I wimp. (Or maybe discretion is the better part of valour or something...) We did have to dig out a new parking spot when we got home due to someone else parking in our clear spot. And the side road we temporarily put the car in while we did so was a little icy, so GG couldn't stop too well at the end of it when she pulled back out, and there was a car coming at the time, but hardly any excitement really at all...

When is that thaw supposed to be coming?!

Then I started going on some drove ways. They weren't so smooth. Concrete, yes, but not smooth. There were some nice bridal lanes around as well, so I picked up my Kona Caldera. Still not adding anything like racks and put 1" slicks on it, but that worked pretty well. 

Working in Cambridge, I didn't realise that I was spoiled to have bike parking and a shower at work. A place to keep a spare pair of shoes, and a towel. That was a revelation when I moved to Brighton and had to get the train after cycling. So I've modified the Trek, put that rack on to carry lots of stuff, changed the gears down, made it about as comfortable as I could. But there are still three problems with it:

1. The mudguards are so close to the tyres that the slightest bit of dirt rubs in a really irritating way, and bits of flint leave gouge marks. 
2. There is major toe-overlap going on. This is a big problem on a couple of bits of the brilliantly-designed (spot the sarcasm) bike paths of Brighton, meaning that I find it difficult to turn the wheel far enough to get around the corners whilst pedalling. 
3. When I have a full load of shopping (two panniers + stuff on top) and get up out of the saddle to try and get up some slopes, the back end wobbles. 

The thing that all of these problems have in common is that the only thing I could change to fix them is the frame. I've been eyeing up touring bikes, looked at Thorn and Dawes, and in the end I've plumped for a Surly Long Haul Trucker in blue.  I'm going to build the bike up from the frame, and use the Nitto moustache handlebars, Brookes B17 saddle and the rack from the Trek as it is at the moment. 

The bits have started to arrive...

My Gorgeous Girlfriend is less than thrilled with the added clutter, but the frame is on backorder. I'll have to get the headset fitted by the bike shop, but I am pretty confident that I can do all the rest myself. I'm really looking forward to it!

Other plans for it include getting two sets of wheels - one for summer and one for winter. With the snow and ice we've had this year I'm seriously tempted to get me some studded tyres, but I'll see how I feel come November! I've got 26" wheels on this bike, so I can fit some pretty bike tyres in there come the winter. Just need to snow to clear so everything can get delivered - so excited!

Some people wear hats under their helmets, but I really don't like it. Makes my helmet feel wrong, and I actually have a pretty small head (believe it or not) which means the hats tend to get pushed down over my eyes a little too. So I went to the Two Wheeled Knitters group on Ravelry, to see what solution I could find. 

This has resulted in one of my sillier knitting projects. There was this free pattern for some bike helmet earmuffs, which looked like they would work pretty well. The pattern calls for worsted weight yarn, but I had my sock double-point needles and some leftover trekking yarn, so I modified the pattern for those. Quick knit too. 

I made the strap a bit thinner, as I don't normally like things under the helmet. 

They definitely cover my ears, and only look mostly silly. If they keep me warm, I don't think I'll care...

(For those that are interested, the running started well but has gone on hiatus until the snow is clear from enough of the pavements. I have two years. No point fretting yet!)

I guess you could call it a New Year's resolution of sorts. It's almost unrelated really, but it's as convenient a reason as any! Basically, I ran a marathon back in 2005 and I don't think I did it very well. I mean, I did it, but I walked a lot, knackered my planter fascias and took nearly 6 hours. I would put a lot of the pain down to just not training enough. I only started in the January for the race in the April. 

Having mentioned the upper slope, I'll start with that. 

Normally if we get snow in December it's about a centimetre, and it's melted by 8am. Not so much today. 

Those are our steps this morning. We're staying put I think. There are no buses, and I fell off my bike yesterday on ice so I don't really feel like trying again today. I'm going to put the knobbly tyres back on my mountain bike and get that ready for Monday. The ice patch was on the bike path and totally invisible. I wasn't turning, but my wheels went from under me and I hit the ground on my right side and skidded along for a bit. Glad of my helmet: my head hit the deck pretty hard. Today it feels like I have whiplash. And it is exactly that kind of accident I wear a helmet for - no one else involved, but if I hadn't been wearing it I'd have been concussed today (at least) for sure. As it happens, I'm a little stiff, I have a slight graze to one knee, a couple of holes in clothes that can be patched, and that's about it. 

Which is good, because I had some very important work to do today:

Well. Who else is going to feed them?