2010 Draws to a Close

I finished off 2010 with a 14.5 mile road run this afternoon while Sam napped. The 0.5 miles was added so that the year's mileage would be an even 1100.00 :-) Couldn't go out with any sort of fraction when I was so close to a nice even number! It was a beautiful day. There wasn't much of a breeze and it was warm and bright. I ran the same route Ryan ran the other week, along Foreside Road and back on Route 24. Families were out in force on the sled hill along Foreside Road, enjoying the weather and the now-melting snow. The road wanders along the farmlands above the river, and the first 8 miles of the run were either flat or downhill. The running felt good and easy. As I climbed the first hill on the road up to Rt. 24, I knew I was in for a bit more rolling terrain on the return. Rt. 24 was busy with traffic, and the wind was in my face. I took an Espresso gel around mile 10 in the hopes that it would help power me up the hills and through the wind. I was definitely feeling the miles (my most since Stonecat!) by the time I turned up the final hill along the route through the fairgrounds, but overall, it was a good run and a good way to end the year! Finished up in 2:02:18, so certainly faster than I would have hoped, which was a nice surprise.

With Ryan sick (again), we opted to stay home tonight instead of hanging out with Nate and Shannon, enjoying an early dinner of Indian food with Sam before putting her to bed. We're now relaxing on the couch, and somehow I'm sure I'll be in bed way before the ball drops tonight! :-)

And with that, Happy New Year everyone! May 2011 bring us all much happiness, laughter and many fun adventures!

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2010 numbers:

Total running miles - 1100.00
Total running days - 199
Total walk days - 16

Considering I spent about three months babying my left knee/calf and didn't do much running during that time, I'm pretty happy with the numbers, and certainly consider 2010 was a good running year. Not the most mileage ever, but a solid year with some great races during the Bradbury series, and my first trail marathon at Stonecat in November. Definitely not bad, and hopefully a good base for even more running in 2011!

Frosting

No, I didn't eat any frosting this morning, although I did bring the chocolate-covered Oreos I got in my stocking into work with me today :-) After tomorrow, I am off the Christmas cookies and sweets, and getting back to the veggies and fruit. Although I'm not really worried about gaining weight (in fact, maybe I should gain some), I really have to stop the downward slide towards the sweets! Aie...

But back to the frosting... while I was running, slipping, sinking and slogging through the Commons on my run this morning, I couldn't help but notice that the snow sitting on the evergreen branches looked like frosting. Very pretty! Buoyed by the beauty of the woods on a bright sunny day, I ran along, trying not to notice the very slow pace showing on the Garmin. I had hoped to get in at least 3.75 miles, but I simply ran out of time, and had to stop at 3.25 so that I could get to work on time. But really, that was OK with me, as it was tough going out there, and I was tired. Sam decided it would be fun to scream her lungs out at 5:45 am this morning, and simply would not go back to bed. I don't know what it was. Do they have dreams or nightmares at her age? Whatever it was, I hope she got it out of her system. I'd like to sleep a little more tomorrow morning!


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Here are a few photos from our visit with Kristen, Caitlin and Morgan on Sunday afternoon. Sam had lots of fun playing with her cousins!

Hugs for cousin Morgan

The girls

After the Snow

Yesterday was spent inside, playing with Sam, watching the snow pile up outside and the wind howl through the trees. I'll admit that I didn't even feel badly about taking the day off. I just wasn't enthused to go out and run in those conditions, so we enjoyed playing with all of Sam's cool (and noisy) new Christmas presents, and reading books, and walking around the house. In the past week or so, Sam has definitely progressed to being truly able to walk on her own, which is very exciting for us (and for my back!)! She can stand herself up, steady herself and walk a ways to one of us, or pivot off of whatever piece of furniture she is holding onto and take a few toddling steps, although honestly, she still prefers the comfort of holding onto one of our finger's and running across the room with us in tow, knowing we won't let her fall. But it's nice to know she can do it on her own if she wants to :-)

After a zero day spent entirely indoors yesterday, I knew I had to get out there this morning. This was reinforced by the fact that I took a look at my running log last night, and realized that I am almost to 1,100 miles this year, and would hit if it I ran 23 more miles in 2010. Cool. While 1,100 is not nearly as many as a lot of our runner friend's will run this year, and not quite as many miles as I ran in 2008 (1,112) (*before Sam), it is way more than I ran in 2009 (675.5) when pregnant and during the first few months of Sam's life, and is certainly a respectable number for this working mom and one that makes me feel like I am truly a runner again!

I made a dent in the 23 mile deficit with this morning's 5.25 mile run. After dropping Sam off at daycare, I put on my screw shoes and headed across the street. I wasn't feeling so ambitious that I wanted to take on a trail run through 12 inches of fluffy, untouched and unpacked snow on the powerlines, so I headed down the Connector and into Highland Green for a road run. The shoulder of the Connector was messy and the Highland Green Road wasn't much better, but the screw shoes gripped through the slush and packed snow and I was still able to run at a decent pace, despite the rather strong wind that swirled around and seemed to grab at me no matter which direction the road turned.

I'm planning on a long run of 14 miles on Friday, which leaves me with 3.75 miles to run tomorrow to reach an even 1,100 for the year. Perfect. And although today's road run wasn't a bad one, I think I'll be taking to the woods instead!

Waiting for the Snow

Ryan and I left Sam with Grammie and Grampie this morning and headed out onto the same route I ran on Christmas Eve. This time I wore the Garmin so that we could check out the actual distance of the loop. Turns out it was 4.9 miles, meaning I was still running pretty quickly on Friday. What got into me, I don't know :-) We added on the final 0.1 miles to get an even 5.0 this morning, finishing up in 41:00. It was fun to get in a run with Ryan - gotta take advantage of grandparent time when we can ;-)

When we left at 10am, the first of the snow was flying in Georgetown, but by the time we hit the Newburyport exit off the highway, the sky had cleared. We stopped in Gorham, and spent the afternoon at  Kristen's house. Sam and Morgan chased each other around the kitchen, and Sam tried to give Bobby (the cat) hugs. Morgan rode her bike around the room, and Sam played with Morgan's Barbie plane. We ate cookies and drank coffee, and Dad and Ryan sat on the couch and watched football. It was a fun, if noisy, afternoon :-) We finally left at 3:30, and no snow had fallen.

But now, as we sit on the couch, drinking our wine and relaxing, the snow is definitely coming down outside. Bring it on! Forecasts are calling for 12" to 18" - finally!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas morning

Mommy and me

All dressed up and no place to go :-)

Laughing with Great Grammie

Building towers with Uncle Chris

Fun in the Snow

Yeah snow!

This is fun!

On the move

Hi there!

We drove down to Ryan's parents yesterday afternoon after the snow had stopped. As we drove south, there was less and less snow on the ground, but we were happy to see that there was a bit out behind the house. We wanted to take Sam out to play! :-) This morning, Ryan headed out for his long run, and then after I had put Sam down for her nap, I headed out for my own run. I had mapped out a 5 mile road loop, which wound me through some nice neighborhoods and made for some fast running. I think it was likely 0.1 or so short, as I finished it in 38:30. I was pushing a bit, but I don't know that I was pushing quite that much!!

Then after lunch, we suited Sam up and walked out back so she could play for a bit in the snow. She was fascinated, and spent quite a while just sitting on the ground, pushing the snow around with her mittens. What fun :-)

We're looking forward to Christmas day with Sam and the rest of the family tomorrow. I think she'll likely be just as interested in the wrapping paper, bows and bags as she will be her gifts, but regardless, it will be fun! Merry Christmas everyone!

Tromping Through the Snow

The snow that started yesterday never stopped falling last night, and this morning, we awoke to a winter wonderland. The wet snow stuck in that pretty way to the tree branches, coating the evergreens and bushes, and created a nice white peak on the bird feeder out back. The day is to full of packing, cooking and traveling south, so I had already decided to head out early this morning for a short run before things got kicked into gear.

As I was running out to the powerlines, I realized that in years past I might have donned my beater xc skis and gone out for a little ski instead of donning my shoes and heading out for a run. And while I do love skiing, I was happy with my decision to be out running on a snowy morning, my screw shoes clicking and gripping on the packed snow and through the slush on the roads. I am sure I'll get out on my skis this winter, but with the 50k just a few months away, I need all the running I can get :-)

I veered off the high school road into the 4" of fresh snow along the powerlines. I smiled as I kicked up the snow. First tracks! Well, aside from the deer and squirrel and possibly a fox? What? No one else was out playing in the snow?! :-) When I got to Highland Green Road, I actually stuck to the snow covered sidewalks instead of taking to the slick roads. There was a lot more grip in the fresh snow, and although it was more of a workout, it certainly was more fun! I made my way back through the woods and home. Definitely a nice way to start a snow day!

Winter

After solstice yesterday, winter is officially here. And with it, the subtle lengthening of our daylight hours - hurray!

In celebration of the start of winter, it appears that Mother Nature thought the ground should be white :-) A wet snow was falling as I began my run in the Commons this morning, the flakes whipping around in the wind and crunching beneath my feet. I headed across the fields and into the woods, enjoying the quiet that a morning snowfall brings. I got in a nice5 miles, and felt good, although things were perhaps slowed a bit by the slippery roots and the whipping wind.

Looking forward to a few days off starting tomorrow!

Til We Meet In Hell Run

Valerie created a fun race for this morning - the 'Til We Meet In Hell' race on some of the trails behind USM in Gorham. The race was on a 1.15 mile loop, and the goal was to see how many miles you could run on the loop in 1.5 hours. There was also a handicap system, developed by Jeff, to give everyone a fair chance at winning. It was a great time! Many thanks to Valerie for a great idea and a great run!

I wasn't quite sure I wanted to "race" this morning, but I was hoping to get in 9 or 10 miles. In the end, I ran all of the way with Randy, and we were joined for a few loops by Jim. Randy and I chatted away about this and that, and while running with Jim, we were serenaded by his renditions of some of the Top 10 Christmas songs and some of his fun tales. Despite running the short loop over and over, the miles and the minutes passed by quickly, as they always do in good company. The only thing that surprised me was how alone Randy and I were on this loop most of the time! I mean, it was only a little over 1 mile, yet we were all pretty spread out. The loop was pretty gnarly, with lots of short and steep ups and downs in and out of little gullies, but it was some fun running and a good workout too! Randy and I got in 8.65 miles during our 1:30:00 allotment, but finished up the loop running, with the Garmin reading just over 9 miles when we stopped. Perfect!

The Trail Monsters took over the back corner of Sebago Brewing Company after the run, eating and drinking and talking the morning away. It was a lot of fun! And lots of thanks to Mom and Dad for watching Sam so that both Ryan and I could go play with our friends for the morning!!

When we got home, we celebrated Christmas a few days early - Sam got some really fun gifts, and we did too. Thanks again guys! All in all, it was a great Sunday!!

Look at me, I'm cute :-)

Happy girl

Sam and her stocking

Sam's finger painted wreath for Mommy and Daddy, with a little help from Nanie and Pip :-)

Wrapping and Running

Last night I set out to wrap up the Christmas presents. Ronnie and Gigi wanted to help :-)

Hmmm, I'm not sure this is helping, guys...

And then, with most of the wrapping and all the Christmas shopping done (hurray!), I didn't feel too badly about taking the time to go for a 5 mile run after I dropped Sam off at daycare this morning. I got another leg massage yesterday morning before work, and although the knot in my left calf is still very present, the legs felt good this morning (another hurray!). I ran the Highland Green loop and was happy to have chosen that route - the short stretch on the powerlines along the route was riddled with ice flows to slip on and hoar frost and sneaky partially frozen sand to break through. Although I certainly don't want to run roads all the time, sometimes it is nice to just be able to go and not have to think about all the variables one might encounter on the trails in early winter! That being said, I'm looking forward to Val's "Till I See You in Hell" run on Sunday on the trails in Gorham! Should be fun :-)

Shopping is Way More Tiring Than Running!

My Christmas present from Cordelia was an extra day off this week. Perfect! Up until this morning, I did not have any of my Christmas shopping done, so I certainly needed the time. I had grand plans for the day. The list was long. I scurried around, to this shop and that, picking up this and that. I do not like to shop. And I felt pressure to get most, if not all, of the shopping done. Ugh. In between, the shopping and wrapping and shipping, I did get a much-needed haircut and snuck over to the Commons for a 3 mile run in the late afternoon before picking Sam up at daycare, but other than that, it was go go go. I had really hoped to get in a longer run, but I literally ran out of time and daylight. And man, am I tired! Shop till you drop indeed :-)

Back To Shorts

Yesterday morning started with a visit to the doctor's office for Sam. Unfortunately, the prescribed antibiotics did not kill her double ear infection, so she is on round #2. Poor girl. Luckily, she was still happy happy happy, and we had a great day yesterday, made even better by her taking a 2 1/2 hour nap. Yeah!! During naptime, Ryan nicely kept vigil over the baby monitor while I went out to do a few errands and get a run in. I headed over to the Commons for a nice easy 5 mile run. I was pretty tired and I could really feel it on the run. The pace was slow, which was what I was looking for, but I don't think I could have run faster even if I had wanted to! Still, I was happy to get the miles in.

Despite the fact that it was December 13th, I wore shorts on the run, as the temps got up into the 50s yesterday. Wow. What wacky weather we've been having!

The funny fauna report from the run occurred on the 2nd pond. With all the rain and the warm temps, the ice had sunk just beneath the water/melted just enough in the cove making it appear that the large group of 30+ mallards hanging out there were standing on water :-)

Cathance Nine

Despite the ominous forecast, we awoke to nothing more than overcast skies this morning. Sam and I played for a while and had breakfast together before Ryan took over and I donned my running clothes and headed out the door for a run. I had made all sorts of alternate plans thinking the weather would be really crappy, but as it turned out, I was able to get in my planned 9 miles without feeling more than a few sprinkles partway through the run.

With the slate grey skies and the December browns not yet completely covered by fresh white snow, things were a bit dreary feeling and looking in the woods, but it was a nice run nonetheless. I had the trails all to myself. The woods were quiet, with the crunch of the leaves and snow beneath my feet, my breath in the air and the gurgling of the river the only sounds I heard all morning. I was a bit slow in parts, as I'm a wimp on ice, and with the fine coating of snow in spots, and the partially frozen hoar jumping up to catch my feet, things were a bit tricky. I was rewarded in the last few steps of the run with a glimpse of the sun through the clouds, but it's raining as I type, and poor Ryan is out getting his run in over at Bradbury. Yuck! Glad I took the early shift. (Sorry Ryan!)

In other running news, I booked our flights to North Carolina for March, so Gator Trail 50k, here we come! Guess I had better get cracking with my training :-)

As for Sam, she's still been having a rough go of it during the past few nights, but otherwise, she is happy and energetic as ever. In fact, she might be getting a little devilish :-) When I picked her up at daycare on Friday evening, her teacher said, "We were just discussing what a cute innocent little instigator Samantha is." Or as the other teacher said, "you know, she has this invisible little halo above her head. Such a good girl. But really, that halo is being held up by cute little horns!" Don't worry, they still love her, but I think we have a little troublemaker on our hands!! I guess she went up to one of the younger kids, who was in one of the exersaucers, and pulled her pacifier out of her mouth. And it's not like she's a pacifier kid! Never has been. No, she just decided she had to have it, and then she stood there, grinning and dancing in front of the poor little one, with the paci held in her mouth by the ring side. Oh man! :-)

Brrrr!

The thermometer read 9 degrees this morning. Brrr... All of the sudden, it seems that winter has arrived, and man, it's cold out there :-)

I was in bed by 9pm last night, and Sam had a better night than the last two, so I woke up this morning feeling a bit more rested, which was a welcome change. After I dropped Sam off at daycare, I drove over to the Bowdoin field house and headed out through the woods into the Commons. It was bright and sunny, and the air felt invigorating (read: cold). I ended up pulling the hood of my comfy warm Sugio hoodie up over my hat, and definitely could have worn my warmer/thicker gloves. My hands were freezing for the first two miles!

The frozen leaves and bits of snow crunched beneath my feet as I ran along, and I enjoyed the change of pace that running in the Commons provided. When Ryan and I were running on the trails at Lake Waccamaw before Thanksgiving, we commented that the running there was a bit like running through the Commons (although the NC trails definitely have more loose sand and things aren't quite as packed overall as in the Commons), so it was fun to run along and think a bit about the 50k, wondering what sort of pace I might be able to hold during the race. I finished up the 5.1 miles at 8:30 pace exactly, but holding that pace in March might be a bit aggressive... we shall see. I did notice during the run that I was feeling my shin/calf a bit, as I had a nice leg massage yesterday morning, but I think getting things worked on a bit will be a good thing in the end!

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In Sam news, aside from the whole not-sleeping/teething/night screaming issues we've been having the past few days, she is doing great, and is now 14 months old. Wow! We have been having fun trying to entice her to walk more and more on her own, and although she can do it, she still much prefers to hold onto a finger or hand and walk around :-)  She is saying her words with a bit more clarity now, repeating words like "baby" over and over and over. She can point to the correct pictures of socks, banana, kitty, ball and a few others in her "First 100 Words" book, and has started to use the shape sorter toy correctly, trying (and occasionally) succeeding in putting the shapes through the top, although she does prefer to simply transfer the blocks in and out of the bucket :-) I noticed she was working on picking up two of the blocks with one hand the other day, which I thought was interesting. She also now wants to put the top on and off the fruit pouches when we have them with breakfast, and loves to feed herself with the soup spoon (if we let her :-) ). When we ask her to get a certain toy, assuming it's a favorite, she will look around for it and go to it, and she has taken to patting the bed in the morning to "call" Ronnie up next to her (this is what I do when I want Ronnie to jump up on the bed with us) - it is just adorable! She really is taking it all in, and it's neat to see how she is processing things and learning. And as always, she is smiley and happy and energetic :-)

Grey Morning

Just when I think things are back to normal in our house, something else comes up. Will it always be this way?! Last night, Sam woke up at 9:30 screaming her little head off. Poor little munchkin. Nothing we did - feed her, rock her, put her in our bed with us, leave her in her bed to cry for 10 excruciating minutes, hold her, talk to her, walk her around, give her her teething ring, have Ryan try to put her to sleep - soothed her. Finally, a combination of ibuprofin, Orajel and a little time downstairs reading books calmed her down, and I was able to put her to sleep a little after 11:00. When I was putting the Orajel on her gums, I definitely felt something sharp poking through her upper gums. It's about time! She still only has two teeth. So, the rest of you teeth in Sam's mouth, make it snappy and get this over with! I'd really rather not have another night of Sam up screaming for 1 1/2 hours. Aie. So, yet again, it was not a good night for us. I feel like I am sort of used to the sleep deprivation at this point, but still...

Luckily, to make up for her lost sleep last night, Sam slept in this morning and awoke as her cheery self, which was good at least. I had hoped to sneak over to the Commons for a run after dropping her off at daycare, but it was not meant to be. I just didn't have enough time to make it work. Instead, I came home and headed right out the door to run the five mile Highland Green loop. It was grey and raw out. And needless to say, I was tired. I didn't feel super inspired, running against the winds on the roads, but managed to finish off the loop in a decent time of just under 41:00. Tomorrow will be a day off, and I'm getting a massage in the morning before work, which sounds pretty good right now! Although, my leg is definitely better, I figure a massage or two can't hurt.

Snow!

We got our first real snow of the season yesterday, with about 1" falling. Just enough to truly make it look and feel like winter outside! I didn't have a chance to get out and frolic in the snow though, simply due to scheduling and Sam's short nap, but Ryan toughed out his temp run in a midst of the wind-swept squall and said I wasn't missing anything :-) Ha! However, I did take the opportunity this morning after dropping Sam off at daycare to sneak in 3 miles. Running through the snow on the powerlines and in the woods was fun, the snow was light and fluffy, but on the roads where it had been packed by cars and such, things were a bit slick. Felt good to get out, and I think I can safely say that the knee pain is a non-issue at this point. Hurray!!

Better

Luckily, we all woke up today feeling much better. Hurray!

Sam is still a bit tired out from the whole ordeal but was walking and babbling away today like crazy and was her energetic self until early evening when we had to put her to bed early. And Ryan is a super proud dad, as when we had the TV on earlier during the afternoon football game, she was parroting "football" back at him. More than once. So cute! I guess we've added a new word to her vocabulary :-) She also can now tell you what a kitty says, what a monkey does, and when we look at the elephant picture, she puts her arm up by her head like a trunk. Adorable! I think my mom taught her that one on Friday. I love it!! It really is fun to watch her learn and grow.

Ryan headed out early to get over to Bradbury and GPS two of his snowshoe courses for this winter's snowshoe series. Sam and I spent the morning playing. Ryan came home soon after I had put Sam down for a nap, so I took the opportunity and quickly changed into my running clothes. Since I was seemed to be feeling no ill effects from yesterday's "blahs", I thought I'd stick with my original plan for the day - 7 miles on the Cathance trail - and see what happened.

From the start, I felt good, and knew I'd get the whole loop in. The trails were a bit wet and squishy from this week's rains, while the river looked like milky coffee, running high and racing over the rocks. I scared up a few spruce grouse in the woods, and crossed paths with a number of other people out enjoying the woods on a hunter-free Sunday afternoon. As I twisted and turned along the single track, I was happy to not feel any knee pain. I did feel the little bumps and rises along the route a bit more than I would have liked, but then again, I haven't run much in the past four weeks, so I guess that is to be expected. In the end, the 7 miles took me 1:06:42, so my pace was similar to my runs on these trails during the summer months, which leaves me feeling like there is hope the running fitness will come back quickly!

Blah

After seemingly on the way to get better, Samantha took a turn for the worse early Thursday morning. Around 4:30, she was gagging and coughing, and we had the first of the many many spit-up (OK, puke) sessions that happened for the next 30 hours. We cleaned her up and put her back to bed, but it happened again right before 6am. Lovely. At this point, Ryan just got up to get ready for work, as he had to be over in NH for the next few days, so after he left, it was just a poor, sad, sick Sam and I for the day. She didn't want to eat. Kept spitting up. Was lethargic. After trying to feed her breakfast (more spit-up), I put her back to bed and she slept for over 1 1/2 hours until I had to wake her up to take her to the doctor's.

The doctor basically said it sucked, but that she didn't feel Sam had any sort of new virus/issue, and that this was her body's way of getting rid of all the mucus that had been building up in her tummy from this cold/bronchilitis. Yum. I guess at some point, the body can't take any more and just has to get rid of this stuff. So spitting it up and pooping it out are the only way. So, essentially, there was nothing I could do for her, except try to get her to eat and drink and rest as much as I can. I think I changed clothes about three times, and changed her about six times during the day. It was not pretty. I felt so badly for her. She was just exhausted. We both went to bed early.

There was more puke through the night, but not as much, and unfortunately I had to be at work on Friday. But there was no way I could send her into daycare. Luckily, my parents are in town helping my sister out while her husband is away for work for 6 weeks, so my mom came up to take care of Sam for the day while I went to work. Thanks Mom! Sam was definitely feeling better by the end of the day, and I think she is finally on the mend.

Of course, with all this going on, I didn't get any running in on Thursday or Friday. There was nothing I could do about it. And certainly, taking care of Sam was top priority. But it does bum me out to have another week of little running, especially when the knee was feeling better and I was looking forward to starting to ramp up the training at least a little bit! Ah well. The worst of it is that I went out for a run this morning before work, and I felt pretty bad. I cut the run short at 3.25 miles. I just felt off, and my stomach feels a bit uneasy. Ugh.  I'm definitely heading to bed early, and really, really hope that I feel better tomorrow!  I would like to have a healthy house again!!

Shorts Weather?

At some point in the past, there was a discussion of sorts online about when you draw the line between wearing shorts or tights. I put my "line" at 45 degrees. Well, this morning, it was 46 degrees when I headed out the door at 8:30am. So, shorts it was. On December 1st. How weird.

I haven't done much running on the powerlines in a while, and decided the 5-mile Homeplace loop would be a good option for this morning. This is a good run, with a few steep hills and some nice flat stretches, but today, it may have been a bit much for my still recovering, although feeling good, knee. With the warm temps, most of the ice on the trails had melted, leaving slick mud that first sent me slip-sliding every which way and then stuck to the bottom of my shoes like cement. Not to mention, the hoar frost is melting also, so a lot of the run was like tiptoeing through a land mine. Lots of little ankle twists and slips here too. I came home caked in mud, with the knee a little achy, and feeling like I had definitely gotten in a good workout!

In Sam news, the antibiotics and the inhaler have done wonders and she is looking and sounding much better already. Hurray! Gotta love modern medicine. Of course, the inhaler makes her a bit jittery and hyper, and last night when I got home after Ryan had given her her evening dose, she was holding onto my index finger with one hand and my keys with the other, and was basically walking around in circles in the kitchen, babbling away, dropping the keys and saying "uh oh", picking them back up, circling around, dropping them again, over and over and over, so much so that I got a bit dizzy as her hand holder! :-)