Loch Ness – Clarabelle

A Little Bit of Me Time…

October 18, 2013 Claire11 Comments

Happy and Excited

Yesterday my best friend Donna and I went to the Carrick Spa at Cameron House Hotel in Loch Lomond, this was a 40th birthday gift given to me by my great friends Gina and John. We had one of the BEST days ever and even though it didn’t all go plain sailing, we were so happy and excited about going, nothing was going to dampen our spirits. Here is a little taster of our journey from yesterday.

59 Seconds

We both decided that we would get the train in so we could have a few celebratory glasses of bubbly as part of our day. Unfortunately we missed our train by 59 seconds (to be precise) which was going to leave us 30 minutes late for our spa treatment, a rasul mud massage. I telephoned the Spa to let them know we were going to be late and was very nicely advised that because they were fully booked that day, we would probably not get our treatment but we could still spend the rest of the time using all the other spa facilities. Instead of us being angry, annoyed or disappointed, we just laughed off the situation because we were still very grateful for this day.

What a Real Gentleman

Thank you to the gentleman working at Queen Street Station in Glasgow City Centre, who came over to us to offer his help and he spent at least 20 minutes trying to help us look at alternative trains so we could get there on time. What a real gentleman he was and we had such a laugh talking to him and telling him about our wonderful day ahead at the Spa. After looking at the other options, we accepted the fact that we were going to have to be 30 minutes late and therefore miss our rasul massage treatment but hey, we were still really looking forward to using all the facilities at the 5 Star Spa. I said earlier, we were in such a good mood, nothing was going to spoil our excitement. 🙂

Elated

We arrived at the very stunning Carrick Spa in Loch Lomond and sincerely apologised for our lateness. To our wonderful surprise, someone had just phoned and cancelled their 1pm appointment for that day for the rasul massage treatment and yippee we were given that appointment, woo hoo, we were elated to say the least. 🙂

We spent almost 5 hours in the Spa that day including receiving our rasul mud therapy treatment, it was truly wonderful and below are some of the photographs (some funny mud ones too) from our day:

Donna and Clarabelle at the Carrick Spa, Loch Lomond 17.10.13

Clarabelle, Sauna Time at Carrick Sap — Clarabelle, Sauna Time at Carrick Spa

Clarabelle, Rooftop Jacuzzi Pool, Carrick Spa, Loch Lomond — Clarabelle, Rooftop Jacuzzi Pool, Carrick Spa

“Me Time”

We had such a great day and it was so good for Donna and I to have special quality “me time” together. We had a brilliant experience at the Carrick Spa, it is such a stunning place, hidden amongst the beauty of natural surroundings.

YOU Deserve It!!

A little bit of “Me Time” really does you the world of good, go on, treat yourself today to some special “Me Time”, it doesn’t need to be a day out at the Spa (although I would fully recommend it), it could just be taking 30 minutes of alone time to read a book, go for a walk, play your favorite music, whatever it is, enjoy it to the fullest because YOU really to deserve it and it will make you feel so good.

Thank You

Thank you again to my great friends John and Gina for this special 40th birthday gift, it is an experience we will never forget, thank you.

Thank you Donna for the most amazing company yesterday, it was such a fabulous day.

Thanks also to YOU for reading this blog post, I am so glad to have you here, I like sharing the stories of my life with you and I do hope you have some special “Me Time” today.

Much love to you as always, Clarabelle.

Traveling to the Highlands and Some Kilt Stuff (banksabroad.wordpress.com)
Loch Lomond (whiskeynwhiskers.wordpress.com)
Scotland: In a lovely lake, happy trails (seattletimes.com)
Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park (iimcscotland2013.com)
West Highland Way – the Planning! (ilikecleverwordsandprettythings.wordpress.com)

Great Spirits of the Loch Ness Marathon 2013

October 1, 2013October 1, 2013 Claire9 Comments

It is with great pleasure that I share this blog post with you today because it is about the successful completion of my third marathon since I did my first one in November 2007. Yes, we did it, my friend Jamie Haugh and I successfully completed the Loch Ness Marathon on Sunday, 29 September 2013 in Inverness, Scotland.

At the start of the Loch Ness Marathon — At the start of the Loch Ness marathon

If I’m honest it was my toughest marathon course to date because it was very hilly, much control is required at the downhills and much strength and stamina is required on the up hills and there was quite a lot of them!!

Coffee for Clarabelle, before the marathon — Coffee for Clarabelle, 1 hour before the start of the Marathon

It was a marvelous day though and I was very mindful of embracing the day as much as possible, as I was thinking this was may be my last marathon. 🙂

Great Spirits

Jamie and I were in great spirits before the marathon started, we had such a laugh and got chatting to some other runners….I would like to give these people a mention:

Thank you to Mo whom I met on the train heading to Inverness, Mo was doing her first marathon and I am delighted to say she successfully completed it in an amazing time.
Thank you to the other marathoners who were staying at No.29 B&B Accommodation in Inverness, we had a right laugh at breakfast on marathon morning….Frank was doing his first marathon and I am so pleased to say he did it. He has already committed himself to doing it again next year, he’s on a mission to break the 4 hour barrier.
Thank you to John Tougher, a friend from High School, whom we met for dinner the night before the marathon, John is “proper” runner and the Loch Ness was his 10th marathon, well done John on completing your 10th marathon in an amazing time.
Thank you to Martin who was doing his first marathon, I used to work beside Martin’s lovely wife Ruth and we had been updating our marathon training progress on Facebook. It was lovely to bump into Martin at the race start, amongst the sea of 4000 runners, there he was standing just in front of me. It was great to be able to personally wish each other well. Martin successfully completed his first marathon, well done Martin, you did it!!
Thank you to Gerry whom we chatted to for a while before the marathon started, Gerry had some wonderful stories to tell us, he made us laugh, I don’t know how Gerry did but he has completed many many marathons so I have no doubt he successfully completed it…no doubt whatsoever, so I will say in confidence, well done Gerry. 🙂
Thank you to all the other marathoners we had a wee chat to along the route, some really inspirational people running for some great charities and it was really wonderful to see and be part of.
Thank you to all the supporters along the route and the hundreds of people lined across the streets of Inverness leading up to the finish line, I always had a smile for everyone of you because you helped me get through the last few miles much easier. “Go girl in the orange top”, thank you to the lovely person who cheered me on at the last mile I significantly remember you shouting that at me. 🙂
And last but certainly not least, thank you to Jamie Haugh for his company throughout the whole trip, we had such a laugh, played the “Positivity” game at 13th mile and the “I Am Strong” affirmation game at the 15th mile and you kept my spirits high, you did it, your second marathon this year, what an amazing achievement and you should be so proud of yourself. Well done Jamie 🙂 🙂 🙂

The question is on, “Will I do another marathon?”, well, I haven’t broke the 5 hour barrier yet, I am 1 minute out……it is kinda annoying me hahahah, let’s just wait and see, I am contemplating it…..contemplating!!! 🙂

Garston woman set to race in Loch Ness Marathon (watfordobserver.co.uk)
Loch Ness Marathon Coming Soon….. (clarabelle.org)
Marathon Truth Time (equalpartsofawhole.wordpress.com)
…from Loch Ness to Melbourne. (seriesofadventures.wordpress.com)
Definition of a Marathon (sowhatirun.com)
What Happened to This Marathon Winner Will Have You Seeing Red (theblaze.com)
How I did at the Yonkers Marathon (wildjuggling.wordpress.com)
Kipsang smashes marathon record (edition.cnn.com)
Life’s marathon (janinenarvaez.wordpress.com)
Scotland: the world’s adventure capital? (telegraph.co.uk)

How to win any battle?

June 7, 2013 Claire3 Comments

“Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired in the morning, noon and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired.”
George S. Patton, U.S. Army General, 1912 Olympian

Loch Ness Marathon

I signed up for my third marathon a few weeks ago and I started my training this week. I am doing the Loch Ness Marathon, Inverness, Scotland, UK on Sunday, 29 September 2013. I previously completed the New York Marathon in 2007 and the London Marathon in 2010, both I found very challenging but also remarkably rewarding and fulfilling in terms of committing to a specific goal and achieving it. When I completed my first marathon it really did give me the belief that “anything IS possible” if you put your mind to it and do what you need to do everyday to get there. I am excited about doing the Loch Ness Marathon this year because I feel I am experienced enough now to totally relax and enjoy the whole experience, I know it will still be physically and mentally challenging but I am prepared for that. After I complete this third marathon I am going to give each of my marathon medals to my nephew Sean (9 years), niece Megan (6 years) and niece Carmen (1.5 years) – I want them to receive these medals in the hope that it will inspire them to believe in themselves and go out and achieve anything they want in their lives, so I really do need to get that third marathon medal!!

Reflecting

I have been reflecting a lot recently (well actually, I reflect all the time, so nothing new there really 🙂 ) I have been thinking about what really works for me in terms of achieving my own goals and below is a list of what works for me:

Firstly, I need to want to do something, I have to see the real benefit and purpose in doing it or I will not fully commit. My goal has to be meaningful to me and be in alignment with my core values. It also has to be my goal and definitely NOT someone else’s goal unless I am in fully alignment with their idea/goal.
Once I have decided that I want to do something, I then make a full commitment to doing it, without a real commitment there will be no real follow-through to the end, so I know I need to fully commit. Commitment to me is doing whatever it takes to get there, not in a unselfish or mean way, in a “I can do this” way.
Next I need to do some research into what I need to do to ‘make it happen’, I research into who has done it before, what the experts say, what do I need to know that will help me on my way.
Then I need to make a plan of action to ensure I commit to what needs to be done, this plan of action is a structural stepping stone for me, I have realised that if I have an easy and simple daily structure to follow I will do that – simple, visual diagrams and charts work best for me. I put the new learning into practice and tick off my daily achievements along the way – for me this definitely works!!
I also ensure I measure my progress along the way, What were things like at the start?, Where am I now in terms of progress? and How close am I getting to my desired goal?
I also like to celebrate my mini successes along the way, this is the fun part and I am also very mindful of “enjoying the journey” and having gratitude for what I am progressing towards and achieving in my life.
Another important aspect of me achieving my goals is, in some way to inspire others to work towards and achieve their goals, “if I can do it, then YOU can do it“, that really is an important one for me.
Throughout the whole process I know I have to stay super focused to get to the end goal, I constantly visualise succeeding and celebrating my achievement. I am a highly visionary person, so I find this one quite easy, I imagine and picture in tiny details me achieving my goal, what I am wearing, who I am speaking to, how it feels, I visualise every specific detail of the end result. I 100% know this is one of the most important steps in helping me get there – it keeps the dream/goal alive inside of me, and gives me that “never give up” attitude.
I am a confident and determined individual and I know that from my past experiences anything I have put my mind to achieving I always have, I know I am a “High Say” “High Do” person and I set high standards for myself.

The above are just some things that I do towards achieving my goals, for you it may be slightly different or a lot different and I would love to hear, What works for you?

Whatever you do today, may it take you closer to your dreams and goals in life, YOU have the ability to achieve whatever YOU want to achieve, BELIEVE that, SEE that, YOU are the creator of your own reality…..GO NOW MAKE IT HAPPEN FOR YOU!!

Much love to you today, as always and thank you for reading this post, Clarabelle.