Pinch, punch! 1st of the month

Another new month begins, and I'm wondering where the last few have gone. I've been working all hours preparing for my first commercial Art Exhibition. The 5th Windsor Art Fair will be held at the Royal Windsor Racecourse from Friday 13th till Sunday 15th November, with a preview from 6 till 9 pm on the Friday. I will be showing 10 new pieces which I am pretty excited about. I so rarely get excited! They are mostly landscapes but with the addition of a few florals which are so different from the ones I exhibited at COS in July.

The weather today reminds me of all the Sundays during the past 9 years spent standing on the sideline of numerous rugby pitches with my son Joshua. Today I am grateful he no longer plays. However, there was something very addictive about standing in the wind and the rain watching your son and the rest of the team play a passionate game of rugby. There is excitement and fear! For most of the 90 minutes I would keep up with the team shouting encouragement, but for the few moments when game stops and players step back, there is the fear that the poor boy lying on the floor could be your own. And then the guilt, which follows the relief when you notice your son standing amongst his team mates! With that thought I have uploaded a dramatic picture of a rugby pitch at night.

And here is me in pain being treated by Jane and Bowen.

My first posting

A dear friend of mine has talked about her 'Blog' for as long as I have known her. I believe it to be a shocking 5 years now! It's taken all this time for me to get one together. Actually who am I kidding, if it wasn't for Sybille setting up the the first page in the first place I would still be writing in my diary or the iphone. Thanks mate!

To be honest I'm not sure where to begin. It's like when you fall behind in your diary and you're so desperate to catch up, where do you start? Well, I have to start somewhere so the most important thing I can think of is to say a big enormous THANK YOU to all my delicious friends and family for your support leading up to and on the day of the London Flora

Marathon.

On the 26th April I ran the London Flora Marathon in 4 hours and 20 minutes. The training was seriously exhausting, yet the experience was one of the most momentous and tremendous experiences of my life.

During the four months training I picked up many injuries, names I can neither spell nor for that matter remember! To be frank the months seem like a dream, I can hardly believe I trained so hard, let alone ran 26.2 miles.

The day itself was beautiful. Many complained about the weather being too hot, I can't complain about that. I so enjoyed the heat, and mostly the cool showers that were provided en-route. My little secret . . the last shower not a good idea! I believe it was around mile 18? well, the bladder was a little fuller than safe, and the cool shower was such a major shock to the system that I nearly let go of . . . say no more!

I pulled out three times thanks to severe pain down my leg. What was it called Liz? All was fine till mile 9 when a sharp pain shot down from my hip to my knee. I was in agony but I just couldn't stop. Too much training, too many people supporting - I had to continue. Also, there is some kind of power and strength of will that sets in. The pain seemed a pleasure for the sake of the experience. It's impossible to explain, but now I know why so many run marathons as often as they do. It is so addictive!

I raised around £3,400. I have so many to thank. Not just for helping me raise so much for Multiple Sclerosis, a disease my little sister has suffered with for the past 10 years, but also for all the encouragement and fantastic support which made running the 26.2 miles possible!

My justgiving site lists most of the lovely people I am grateful to call friends and family. Check out www.justgiving/carolineziaian.com. The messages were seriously appreciated and inspirational. Thank you.

Here are a few pics - not many during the run itself. I guess I was just too fast for the camera. Yeah! Neil get a better camera! Maybe next time!