Not knowing how to de-game, eighteen miles and a glass teapot

It’s been a bit of a mad week.

After the frantic weekend rush to finish my game by Monday night, I sort of didn’t know what to do with myself on Tuesday! Between TechUP and making two games in the last couple of months, I’ve not really stopped with the non-day-job work since September. I plan to continue with the game-making because I’m enjoying it so much, but I did give myself an enforced break for the rest of the week, and I’m really looking forward to spending the weekend playing other people’s games rather than making my own.

In an ideal world I would have spent the last few days dozing on the sofa… but it’s been a busy week! On Wednesday night I accompanied Geth to the Newcastle University Teaching Excellence Awards ceremony, as he’d been shortlisted for two awards. He ended up winning the award for Outstanding Contribution to Academic Support – I was not at all surprised, as nobody works harder than Geth when it comes to supporting students, but I was super super proud. The award trophy was a glass teapot (TEA – Teaching Excellence Awards), which now has pride of place on our mantelpiece!

Glass teapot trophy

Yesterday I went for my 18-mile long run. I’d been apprehensive about it because I’d run into difficulties with my hip on the last couple of miles of last week’s 14-miler. However, I was able to develop a run-walk strategy during the run that meant I didn’t burn out and didn’t put too much pressure on my problem areas. I’ll be adapting this for the actual marathon – I’ve got a couple of six-mile runs to do during the taper, and I’ll practise the strategy during those.

Today I had a physio appointment, and other than a bit of stiffness everything seems to be fine. I’ll pop in again after the race for a once-over.

It’s been a great week overall but also a tiring one.