21 km trail still in the Vexin

Sunday morning, Alain and I ran for 21 kilometers for the first time ever and it was amazing.

We left in the quite early, and boy it was colder than the week before (3°c), Alain laughed because I chose to wear shorts, but after the first couple of kilometers I was glad I did.

Oh and those socks, Alain has some too, really helped me during the effort.

 We ran through some lovely countryside and some pretty villages in the Vexin, first La Chartre a small hamlet, then after a little hard uphill running, we got  to go down the GR2 (I love descends) which takes us through a forest.  Still on the GR2, we cut across Oinville (really pretty village) and then up again, but worth the effort, as we had amazing views of The Seine Valley, then onto Seraincourt, another typical Vexin village, oh so pretty. After Seraincourt we had a couple of kilometers that was tough on my legs (even with my socks!) but overcame that mentally and reached the highest plateau realizing I'd left Alain behind. I waited and admired the view and noticed we'd almost reached Gaillon sur Montcient, because of the golf course below, there were hoards of golfers. Alain told me later that a lot of them come from Paris to play here, and I can understand why.  

The last leg of the run was fantastic, because we knew we'd done it, yes us, who three or four months ago couldn't run more than three or four kilometers without nearly dying.  

We even managed a sprint at the end.  

Our goal was to finish between 2h18 and by the latest 2h30 but we managed it in 2h10.

One day later, I feel it a little still in my legs, but can't wait to go for a run tomorrow, and as for Alain, he cycled to the train station this morning, it's all down hill, but tonight he's going to suffer coming back up I think

Bike riding in the Vexin

We live on the edge of the Vexin National Park, which is great, the countryside is splendid and there's lots of country paths and and hiking trails within walking distance of our house.

 With Alexis away till Friday 6th April, Marie-Kate and I are getting to have some quality time together, just the two of us. She loved it, up here above our little village and cycled more than she she'd ever did before, six kilometers is less than an hour.

 You can see La Defense from up here (not on photo) but as there was quite a lot of air pollution yesterday over l'Ile de France and didn't think it was worth taking a photo with my mobile phone, so instead this is a shot of a freshly ploughed  field taken by Marie-Kate.  I think up here they plant a lot of sweetcorn, but we'll see over the next couple of weeks.

Oh yes, Marie-Kate made a new friend, quite a big one, and yes she was a little scared to stroke him.  
Today, Wednesday, she wants to go back, this time with two apples, one for her and the other for the horse.  We'll go, because the weather going to be amazing again and it's not going to stay like this forever, so let's make the most of it and try and cycle ten kilometers, she'll sleep like a log after that.

Riding a bike at last

Mind that bottom, she still adamantly squeezes into her 6 year old leggings even though they are far to small.

It's been quite a difficult year, with the stress of selling our house in Sanary and moving to the Paris suburbs, then getting the house renovated (still lots to do...).

We managed a short break all together and that was great, now we're back we are trying to make more time for the family. I've been taking Marie-Kate out so she could at last learn to ride her bicycle that she had for her birthday. She had been reticent about riding it, since she didn't want to fall off, but as of this week she can ride her bike and she loves it.

The photo was taken in the Vexin countryside in a little village called Jambville. We were there to pick up Gabrielle from a sleep over at her friends.