Eyeing the end of the month…

Dee Leave a comment

…though to be honest I’m not sure why. I’ve been trying to get out of the habit of ‘wishing my life away’ by constantly barrelling onwards to the next thing. Winter may be a bit rubbish and miserable weather-wise, but it’s also nice and quiet and enables me to hibernate indoors and get on with things. I should make the most of that before things start happening again in the spring and summer.

I’ve got an extension for my course deadline, which is a bit of a relief as it means I can focus all my study energies on the group project we’re doing at the moment and save the rest of the outstanding work for later. I should still be done with everything by the end of February, meaning that I can focus on my own tech work again from the spring onwards.

Spring will be nice… but I need to find a way of enjoying winter while it’s still around!

Two weeks down…

Dee Leave a comment

Week 2 of 20 completed on the marathon training plan and so far it is going well. Podcasts on my Aftershokz are really helping, it has to be said! I’m building up the miles nice and slowly and my legs seem to be coping at the moment, so fingers crossed for another good week.

I’m also making sure to get in a good yoga session at least weekly, in the hope that it will keep the usual issues at bay. This was recommended by the practitioner at my hospital appointment on Monday and I think it’s good practice for me anyway, so it’s a habit I will really try and stick with this year (and not just when I need to do it to get a Garmin badge or Strava trophy). My hips will thank me, hopefully.

parkrunday: Jesmond Dene #44

Dee Leave a comment

Monthly volunteering slot today! Geth and I were marshalling at our favourite point along the Jesmond Dene parkrun route.

Volunteering at parkrun
One of the many nice bridges in the Dene!

Jesmond Dene is gorgeous even in the winter, but I was thinking this morning how nice it will be to see it in summer again, especially as (*crosses fingers*) it looks like we will have a full summer of parkrunning there this year.

Back to running next week… possibly somewhere new!

Long week

Dee Leave a comment

I am very glad that it’s Friday! Work and studying have combined in a fairly tiring way this week. I’m also very glad that January is quiet in terms of weekends, as I’m looking forward to dozing and hibernating a bit after parkrun volunteering tomorrow.

Because I’m very busy at the moment there are a few things I’ll need to do during the day tomorrow after I’m home, but I’m planning a really quiet day on Sunday!

Fashion (turn to… actually I don’t know which direction)

Dee Leave a comment

This week I sort of remembered that fashion exists, largely as a result of starting to listen to music again. Music and fun clothes are sort of intrinsically linked for me because I like ’80s music videos, and ’80s music videos are full of fun clothes.

Like a lot of people, I have not really thought about clothes in a non-functional way for a couple of years now. I didn’t really go out much in 2019 because I was newly sober and trying to avoid bar situations, I’ve always worked from home anyway, and during the pandemic I have settled down into a comfortable routine of going for a run in the morning and staying in the house the rest of the day. I’ve also put on a bit of weight (also like a lot of people). As such, I only wear running gear and loungewear now and haven’t given much consideration to the way they look. Comfort is king! I even spent most of last summer merrily wandering about outside in pyjama-esque loungewear because it was marginally more comfortable and breathable than leggings.

I expect this will continue, because I expect my life will continue to provide very few reasons to dress up. I like being a hermit and would still far rather be in my own home than anywhere else in pretty much all situations. Nevertheless, I find myself itching to put together impractical outfits again (and remind myself about all the clothes I actually have in my long-unopened wardrobes – I could probably do with a bit of a de-hoarding session anyway).

No photo today as I haven’t been brave enough to dig anything out yet. Maybe soon!

Early but cautiously optimistic

Dee Leave a comment

I have to say I’ve been a little surprised to have got through the first nine days of marathon training without much pain at all. All the runs so far have been four miles or less, but it’s still a fairly big step up in mileage from the mile-a-day most days I was doing over the early part of the winter, and I’d sort of assumed I would be going straight back to the state I was in towards the end of marathon training leading up to London in October – i.e. pretty much every part of me hurting on different days! But I feel fine so far. Let’s hope that continues.

I had a hospital appointment yesterday for the chronic hip/back pain I’ve had for a decade now (they think it might be spondylitis due to a predisposing gene) and it looks like investigations will be fairly quick, but of course it will be something that needs permanent managing rather than something that will ever go away for good. Which is fine – I know what works after so long (mainly keeping my weight down and keeping active). It’s just a case of maintaining things, really.

More manic than blue Monday

Dee Leave a comment

(Yes, my ’80s pop playlist is back on heavy repeat. Can you tell?)

I expected to be struggling a bit today for various reasons (mostly outwith my control). I’m not, but let’s leave it at that. It’s been a busy day, certainly.

And here’s the only ‘Blue Monday’ I want to hear about today (like many people I expect):

parkrunday: Town Moor #524

Dee Leave a comment

Geth and I were back on the Moor for the first time in a while this morning – it was the first time in a couple of months for me, though Geth did go in early December.

Post-parkrun
Much happier with my parkrun time than two weeks ago!

I honestly thought I’d be really slow again because all my three-mile runs this last week have taken well over forty minutes and I’ve been finding my slow pace a bit frustrating. However, I found today I was able to start out strong for the first mile, keep up for the second mile, and bomb the last mile – just as I was doing at Town Moor in the autumn! So I can pull the speed out from somewhere – I just don’t know how to apply it to my solo runs. My weekly parkrun will have to be my main speedwork session for this marathon training block, I feel.

I kept my barcode in my clear phone case today while I was having it scanned, but I ended up as an unknown and had to email in for my result to be added, so I’d probably better keep it out of the case in future.

Still making plans for the next few parkrundays but we will end up somewhere!