Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
I’d like to come up with an exciting excuse for not having blogged in over a month. For example, “a goat ate my passport and I was stranded in Greece”. Unfortunately, there is no reason for my lack of updates.
I’m not going to keep apologising for stuff I haven’t done, though, or I might end up having a heart attack. Though I haven’t blogged since I got back, there have been trips to horse shows (the only photos Lisa’s daughter Kristen took of me were of my bum. It’s this, or it’s horse poo. Take your pick).
There have been barbecues, and kite-flying trips to the beach, and days out in a sunny Northumberland. Neil and I even swam in the North Sea off the coast of Bamburgh, near the Farne Islands. Bone-achingly cold water, but so clean and clear. White sand, grassy dunes. We’re so lucky up here, if only we got a bit more sunshine!
Most shockingly of all, there has even been knitting (see stripey-knitting photo below). This is one of my own patterns, which I’m working on at the moment with a half-baked hope of setting it loose on Ravelry at some point in the future. Happily for me, this also means fiddling about on the computer, making my pattern look nice. Others would tell me the pattern itself is more important. To them I say, “I like fonts”.
My running is getting back on track, too. I did go running on holiday, but the gym wasn’t air conditioned and 2 miles in the heat was my absolute maximum. I’m sturdily built, made for the cold. I tried to sprint along in the Greek heat like a Lycra-clad gazelle, but it just wasn’t going to happen. And so, when I got home, I struggled to run two miles, never mind the 4 I was running before I went on holiday.
That’s one of the things I don’t get about running. Miss a couple of runs, or don’t go as far, and all of a sudden, you can’t do it anymore. It’s so frustrating. Anyway, I talked to Janine and I talked to Neil (both runners, but I love them despite that) and decided to introduce spells of walking again, like I did when I first started my training. I eliminated the walking on Sunday and ran a full 4 miles again. Hurrah! This morning, I ran 5 miles. I went out at around ten to six (I know, it’s mad. Believe me, I don’t really want to get out of bed that early, either) and there were loads - and I mean loads - of snails and slugs all over the pavements. Nice. Ever so slightly cuter were the newly clipped sheep eyeing me dubiously as I panted past their field, and the big fat rabbits hopping in and out of the trees, presumably the now-grown little fat rabbits of a few months ago.
If only I could run as fast as they can!
