…and then a short walk. It felt like a much lighter day exercise-wise than I’ve been doing recently! As such, I feel like I’ve got a bit of energy to get rid of, but that is best saved for the virtual race on Sunday.
I spent most of today working – I’ve had a lot of day job work this week, which is great and is keeping me from obsessing about the race too much. I also did a quick clean of my car, which I’d been putting off for months. I managed to get some of the glitter off the backseat from last year’s Christmas wrapping paper, but not all – I think it will always be glittery to some extent!
One last day of work tomorrow, and then I’ll be able to enjoy the weekend – last weekend was really busy with work and I haven’t managed to take a day off during the week, so I’m really looking forward to it!
This bumper sticker arrived this week, so other drivers will now be able to… tell what running club I’m in 😀
…which was a nice way to start the day and clear my head, as I was really busy with day job work today. I was able to get out for a walk to the supermarket with Geth at lunchtime too.
Other than that, I’ve just been getting work finished for clients today. There’ll be a bit more work over the weekend, but hopefully tomorrow will be slightly lighter.
I’ll be back with another update on Monday. Running vlogs as usual for the next couple of days!
My new evening treat – hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows. A bit lighter than the ice cream I’ve been having over the summer!
Today’s earworm playlist:
Roxette – ‘Sleeping In My Car’ Carl Orff – ‘Gassenhauer’ Kiki Dee – ‘Star’ Rizzle Kicks – ‘Down With The Trumpets’
…followed by a nice walk in the sunshine. I’m really happy with my daily routine at the moment. I’m usually done with running/walking/yoga by noon, and then I can crack on with day job work/admin in the afternoon and be done by eight or nine at night so that I can relax for a couple of hours before bed. I’m not at all a morning person, but strangely, I have turned out to be a morning exerciser – I feel very unsettled on days when I have to do it in the evenings – so keeping to a more traditional nine-to-five schedule for work and then running afterwards just wouldn’t work for me at all.
Tomorrow will be busy as I’ve got a couple of clients with tight deadlines at the moment. It looks like I’ll be working over the weekend as well, which is often the case at this time of year, but I’m really grateful that the work is coming in, as it looked for a while like September might be quieter than usual.
I’ve been digging out more art for the walls. I bought this one from Vincent Fantasy Art at UKGE a few years ago, but haven’t found a space for it yet. This is the week!
Today’s earworm playlist:
Carl Orff – ‘Gassenhauer’ Vangelis – ‘Chariots Of Fire’
…and other than some gentle yoga, that was it for today’s exercise, as I managed to get everything I needed for my online game during my run. This week is going to be relatively low-mileage running-wise (though there may be a few long-ish walks depending on where my online game tokens land), as I’m trying to taper as much as possible before the Virtual GNR in a couple of weeks’ time.
It’s a bank holiday here and also my usual day off, so I’m just finishing off some admin before I get into some videogames for the evening.
My running apps and logs all give me slightly different total mileages from when I started running in June 2015, but I like this nice round number on the Smashrun display and so I’m taking today’s mile as my official 2,000th mile!
…as I’d already done a five-mile walk first thing this morning. I’m trying to alternate longish run days and short run plus walk days while I’m covering all this extra ground to grab my tokens for my online game.
I was having a good day up until about lunchtime – after I’d finished my run, I did a nice yoga session as well – but then I had a postal issue that has been the absolute last straw in the string of postal issues plaguing me since lockdown began.
We are now down to an average of about two postal deliveries a week, if that. Most items are taking a good fortnight to arrive, even if posted first class. I have had numerous items go missing in the post, and several more items arrive with envelopes already sliced or ripped open. The latest of these arrived today. It was a package that I had ordered that was meant to contain two items; it arrived completely ripped up two sides, and one of the items was missing.
If this was a one-off occurrence, I would be annoyed but able to put it to one side after contacting the sender (which I have done, though it will probably take a couple of days for a response so ANXIETY UNTIL THEN YAY). However, I am already extremely stressed about the post following months of this nonsense, in particular the last two weeks, during which I have been waiting for a delivery of hearing aid batteries from the nearby hospital. In normal circumstances, I can just walk into the hospital and pick the batteries up; in pandemic circumstances, I have to request for them to be posted out. I made this request two weeks ago. No batteries yet. I emailed the hospital yesterday to check that they had been posted out; the hospital emailed back this morning to confirm that they had been, two weeks ago, and said that they would send me some more. I am not hopeful that these new ones will arrive either, and after two weeks of struggling with my hearing due to lack of hearing aids (which comes hot on the heels of struggling with my hearing due to blocked ears a few weeks ago), I am completely on edge about everything and close to tears.
The kindest explanation that Geth and I (mostly Geth) can come up with is that the whole post office system is understaffed due to the pandemic and so things are sitting around in warehouses and going missing for non-malicious reasons (although there was a particular item delivered a couple of months ago that had blatantly been deliberately sliced open). But I know from Mum and Dad that their postal service in Edinburgh has been absolutely fine, so it can’t be a nationwide thing. I just don’t know what to do, and I’m now extremely anxious about a delivery due in a couple of months’ time that will contain irreplaceable items.
I know that in the grand scheme of things, this is a total first world problem – but it’s causing me a lot of stress at the moment, especially regarding the hearing aid batteries and now today’s package with the missing item. I just don’t trust the post anymore, which is a bad thing in these times when we’re all more reliant on it than usual.
Trying to finish on a positive note… I’m hoping to be able to lose myself in some videogames this evening.
RNLI envelope from a couple of months ago, which arrived with a neat knife slice along the bottom (presumably because it says something about a lottery on the envelope and so someone thought there was money to be had from inside – it was actually just a sheaf of tickets).
Today’s earworm playlist:
Red Box – ‘Lean On Me (Ah-Li-Ayo)’ Fleetwood Mac – ‘Dreams’
…and then I immediately went straight back out to get my walk done for my online game so that I wouldn’t have to go out again after my shower. I’m really appreciating being inside in the warmth this afternoon!
As I mentioned yesterday, I’m taking my day off today, so I’m just getting a bit of daily admin done and then will be videogaming for the rest of the day.
Pasta al forno, ready to go in the oven tonight. Perfect comfort food for a cold wet day – I foresee making a lot of this over the autumn.
Today’s earworm playlist:
Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes – ‘(I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life’ Sacre – ‘The London Marathon’
…because I wanted to go collect my token for my online game while I was out on my run rather than doing an additional walk. I definitely need to do a recovery mile tomorrow, though, as my legs are starting to get sore after all the running and walking I’ve been doing over the last week.
I also had a bit of day job work that needed to be done today, so I’ve decided that tomorrow will be my day off this week.
Geth and I had a nice Zoom chat/boardgame session with Geth’s family in Lancashire this afternoon. We still can’t meet up with family for pandemic-related reasons (our families all live some way away from us and it’s a bit too complicated at the moment), so the Zoom alternative is a way of tiding things over.
Day off tomorrow, as I say – I’m hoping to feel a bit more alert (I’m slightly wiped out today after my active week last week) and to be able to get some videogames in.
I love these waterfalls in Jesmond Dene. It’s such a beautiful hidden place but so easy to get to from central Newcastle.
…as I’ve got another long run coming up on Sunday and I need to save some energy. I’ll probably just do a mile tomorrow as well. I am still doing my daily walking though – four miles to squash the last of my bugs in my online game today. Hopefully it’ll just be a straightforward one or two miles for my new bug tomorrow!
I got my day job work finished for the week as well, and am now just finishing off some admin this evening. Hoping to get a bit of videogaming in this weekend amongst all the running!
I’ll post my running vlogs as usual over the weekend but otherwise will be back on Monday.
First brambles of the year spotted on my walk today! Autumn is so nearly here 🙂
Today’s earworm playlist:
The Cure – ‘Lullaby’ M – ‘Pop Musik’ Queen – ‘One Vision’ 2 Unlimited – ‘No Limit’
…and while it was very warm and I was a bit nervous about running at lunchtime, I really enjoyed my run today. It felt a lot faster than it actually was (it was a good recovery pace), and I really like my two-mile route.
I hadn’t been able to get out until lunchtime as I was finishing off some day job work in the morning – I like to get work finished and back to the client promptly on deadline days because it means I can properly enjoy my day afterwards. After my run, I did some admin for a couple of hours and then went out for a long walk to squash some more bugs in my online GPS game.
Now finishing off for the day. I’ll be running and walking again tomorrow, but not for as long – need to save a bit of energy for the weekend!
It’s been a while since my hillwalking days, but I do try to cast my mind back when I’m running up the steep inclines in Jesmond Dene.
…which is not something I usually find time for during the week! I need to get the miles in before the Virtual Great North Run, though, which takes place in about two and a half weeks’ time.
I’m thinking a lot about putting stuff on my walls again. This is something I think about a lot (need to put that picture up! need to paint that wall! need to wallpaper this room!) but rarely get round to. Next week is meant to be a bit quieter (as it stands!), so maybe I’ll get round to doing something then. Presuming my attention hasn’t wandered over to something else!
Today was similar to yesterday. In addition to my run, I managed a walk, a yoga session, and some day job work. Tomorrow will be similar again, though my run will be a lot shorter and I will be doing my day job work first thing so that I can get it back to the client promptly.
I’ll also maybe order some of that stuff for the walls…
One of the few things that I’ve actually put on the walls in the two and a half years since we moved into this house. Like most house stuff, it’s a can that just keeps getting kicked down the road.
Today’s earworm playlist:
The LAs – ‘There She Goes’ The Lancashire Hotpots – ‘Ebay ‘Eck’
