This is my favourite jarred pesto of the last few years and I eat it every week!
Asda Extra Special Pesto Alla Genovese.
Once upon a time, all jarred green pesto tasted like pesto alla genovese. Then over time, the pesto companies changed their recipes (presumably so they could use less-standard ingredients) and now pesto alla genovese is the posh / deluxe version. The Asda Extra Special stuff is perfect. Perfect taste, perfect texture, perfect richness. Just what pesto should be.
It’s two whole days till I get to eat it again. I want some now!
Taking a running vlog hiatus for a few weeks (my vlog is quite time-intensive and I need all my spare hours for coding my next game right now) so I’ll be posting something different for the next few Mondays!
Text from today’s hiatus announcement vlog:
Going on hiatus for a few weeks. I’m very busy with a creative project at the moment and the vlog will have to take a back seat, unfortunately! I’ve got a slight hip injury at the moment so most of my runs are shorter, but I’m working on strengthening the hip with targeted exercises. I will manage my long races at the end of May / beginning of June, even if I have to walk a lot of the way! Hoping to feel better by then, though. I expect to be back vlogging in the summer, by which time I will be training for the London Marathon! Very exciting. I really hope to run it well. In the meantime, you can keep up with my news – both running and non-running – at spiritofdee.com, where I blog every day. See you in the summer! Dee xx
After I did the ’80s virtual 10k for the Roy Castle Foundation, I continued to follow them with interest to see what they were going to organise next. When it was announced that there would be a virtual Easter challenge this year, I signed up straight away! Nothing like a 10k run to build up an appetite for a day of Easter egg eating…
I wasn’t going to leave this one intact! Only the wooden part (and ribbon) is going on display 🙂
For the run itself, I semi-finalised a 10k route I’ve been working on that doesn’t feel anywhere near as long as a 10k for some reason. I had to do a quick out-and-back at the end because the route was short. I’ve got some ideas for fixing that next time!
Although the event took place on Easter weekend, the medal only arrived this week because there were some postal delays mainly caused by a Royal Mail backlog. It was very welcome when it arrived though! Never too late for an Easter egg…
May 2021 has been rubbish so far weather-wise. It’s been endless hailstorms and rain all week, and there was a tornado not far from us yesterday. I am hoping that the future part of this month will be more like May 1989:
I can’t believe this working week has only been four days! It’s felt like forever. Geth and I have both been really busy and the weekend is very welcome right now.
I’ve had a bad hip all week and so have only been doing short runs. I’ve done a lot of yoga to try and sort it out, and it is getting better, but only gradually. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to do my planned weekend running and walking but we’ll see.
I’m thoroughly ensconced in the coding for my next game, which is really, really enjoyable. It’s a fairly big project though and I’m already looking forward to going back to experimenting with smaller games over the summer.
Still doing a fair amount of day job work too. Lots going on at the moment!
COVID-secure polling station selfie! It had just started to hail…
This week’s earworm playlists:
Saturday
Michael Land – ‘Upstairs At The Hotel’ Fisherman’s Friends – ‘Haul Away Joe’ Bee Gees – ‘First Of May’ Duran Duran – ‘Burning The Ground’
Sunday
Michael Land – ‘On The Hill’ Men Without Hats – ‘Safety Dance’ Michael Land – ‘The Brimstone Beach Club’
Monday
Fisherman’s Friends – ‘Sailor Ain’t A Sailor’ Aloe Blacc – ‘I Need A Dollar’ The Running Channel – ‘Run With Me’ Fisherman’s Friends – ‘Haul Away Joe’
Tuesday
Michael Land – ‘On The Hill’ The Undertones – ‘My Perfect Cousin’ Fisherman’s Friends – ‘Sailor Ain’t A Sailor’ Michael Land and Clint Bajakian – ‘Monte Carlo Hotel Entrance’
Wednesday
Levellers – ‘Julie’ Eric Hammond – ‘Into The Catacombs’
Thursday
Michael Land and Clint Bajakian – ‘Barnett College’ Lisa Lougheed – ‘Run With Us’ Eric Hammond – ‘Berlin (Königgrätzer Marsch)’
Friday
Fisherman’s Friends – ‘Bully In The Alley’ Michael Land and Clint Bajakian – ‘Opening Credits Part #1’
I became an ’80s obsessive during the first big nostalgia wave of 1998-2004 (my teenage years), and I had this song on every playlist I made during that time (it was actually a late ’70s track, but one of those late ’70s tracks that was ahead of its time and is more associated with the ’80s in popular awareness today). I’ve been in a synth mood again this week, and this is a highly suitable song. Nostalgic for many reasons!
This is my favourite booze alternative of the last two and a bit years of sobriety. It’s an absolute go-to…
Freixenet 0.0% Alcohol Free Sparkling Rosé.
…and in recent weeks Asda have stopped selling it, so I can’t get it regularly anymore! Oh well.
It doesn’t taste quite like alcoholic fizzy, but that’s what I like about it (it means it’s not triggering). Instead, it’s got a distinctive taste all of its own – perfect sweetness, very refreshing. I hope I find another local source for it soon.
It’s a bank holiday, so no running vlog today. Instead, here’s a picture of our blossom tree on a day last week that was much nicer than today! (We’ve had to call off our planned long walk due to the rain 🙁 )
Blaydon is a very special local race and I’ve done itthree times now. Geth and I only found out about it when we saw runners with race numbers on in town in 2016, when we were on our way to a gig. We entered the following year and have been lucky enough to get in on every attempt – it’s always a real rammy on entry night because the race is so popular. It was actually our main impetus for becoming affiliated members of Lonely Goat RC in late 2019, because it meant we’d be able to queue on club entry night for the 2020 race – which made things much, much easier! Sadly the 2020 race – and then also the 2021 race – had to be cancelled due to COVID, but our 2020 entries are valid for 2022 so I’m really looking forward to returning to the race next year.
2017 was probably the most special Blaydon for me because it was my first one, but I was still extremely slow back then and found it tough going. Nevertheless, I loved the atmosphere, and we were lucky with the weather that day – a point driven home when we volunteered at parkrun the next morning in the pouring rain, with lots of sodden new Blaydon Race t-shirts going past us!
Struggling somewhere halfway!
I’ve not had a good race at Blaydon yet, but I really hope 2022 will be my year!
