I first ran the Ellesmere 10km, which is rated as one of the fastest in Britain, back in 2015. I finished in 01:04:51 utterly deflated and vowed to never run it again. I’d gone up with running buddies who buggered off and left me right at the start of the race and I failed to… read full entry »
Or, at least as often as you can. I’m a big believer in fitness for fun. It is a lot easier to maintain a level of fitness and put ourselves outside of our comfort zone if we are doing something that we enjoy (most of the time). With that in mind, I think it’s really… read full entry »
A ‘How Hard Can It Be’ event, the Piece of Cake Half Marathon is a trail run in the picturesque Carding Mill Valley in Church Stretton, Shropshire. The ascents never seem to feel quite as vicious as the May Fourth half earlier in the year, but it’s a similar style of route with the bonus… read full entry »
Warning: this entry contains pictures of me in my pants. Sorry about that. I started this year sober and motivated, with the lofty goal of attending the gym consistently. Gaz’s generous gift of a year’s gym membership for my birthday in early January was going to be the catalyst for improvement in my strength and… read full entry »
(I originally posted this on reddit, but want it recording here as part of my journey.) I had a drink on Saturday night. I made the active choice to have a drink, rather than caving to cravings or anything like that; it was one of my best friend’s pre-wedding celebrations and as I can’t/won’t drink… read full entry »
I’ve been stressed again lately. The ups and downs of hormones, the DOOM of summer holidays, the move, the kids, the usual shit. When I get stressed I start to ponder what I’m doing with my life and whether I should get a proper job. Unfortunately, I’m basically unemployable; there’s no way I could go… read full entry »
In May of this year a friend asked if I monitored progress of my back, and I realised that I hadn’t been, so I had my husband Gaz take a picture. In July I then had him take a follow-up picture, having specifically increased my back workouts and generally put in more consistent effort in… read full entry »
Half marathons, that is. This year has unintentionally turned into the “year of the half marathon”, with one done (or planned) for almost every month so far. I didn’t start the year intending to run so many races, but I did want to get my running mojo back on track. Here’s a quick rundown (geddit)… read full entry »
In my last post about our recent house move I expressed frustration about a series of relatively minor but annoying problems that we’d had so far. The two main issues were the lack of hot water, and a mystery leak. Shortly after posting I started pulling out wood cladding in the downstairs bathroom (part of… read full entry »
Self employment / freelancing and mental health issues seem to go hand in hand. The stress of finding work, maintaining momentum, dealing with all the admin etc, not to mention restricted access to Actual Humans (besides the postman) and the feelings of isolation this can bring, lack of holiday and sick pay causing freelancers to… read full entry »