First run in over 5 years

Yep, you read that right. It's been 5 years since I donned the trainers and went out for an intentional run. I've put trainers on to wander down to the shops and do a bit of gardening but actually have a pair of running shoes, put them on and run up the road? Long time. 

I'm doing the Couch to 5K plan here on the NHS website.

Actually, I'm making myself sound like some kind of gazelle. I didn't just run up the road. I staggered a lot. Coughed a bit. Got a tiny blister on the back of my right heel, which I accidentally ripped off this morning with a towel after a shower (note to self: add plasters to the shopping list). The last 10 seconds of each running segment was tough but I did it.

I'm not using the podcasts associated with the plan - I live in an area with narrow roads and no pavements so I need to hear road traffic approaching. Instead I took a stopwatch out with me. 

So why this sudden fest for sport? Well, I've realised I need to overhaul my thinking about my health. If I don't take steps to improve my physical health I will be at a disadvantage when it comes to recovering fully from COVID if I catch it. I want to increase my lung capacity first and foremost so I'm able to breathe much deeper and build up my breathing muscles. Add in a good dollop of fresh oxygen for its restorative powers and hopefully a bit of weight loss and muscle tone, and I'll be happy.

I realise it might not be the ideal time of year to start this but better to get up and get on than sit and wait for the ideal time, which usually never comes. I'm aiming to be running 3 miles (5k) by March. 

At the same time I've made a discovery with my diet. Most evenings over the last few months I've felt  uncomfortably full, even painfully so, after dinner. More by accident than anything I found that grains and white potatoes are causing it. I had to use up a lot of veg recently that I accidentally over ordered in my shopping so started switching sweet potatoes and parsnips for normal potatoes and rice, and spiralised/strips of courgettes and butternut squash for pasta. I suddenly realised I no longer felt bloated and uncomfortable.  

I still eat some bread now and then - let's face it, some days are so grim you just need that bacon and fried egg sandwich - but otherwise I've dropped the processed grains and white potatoes and feel a lot better for it.

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Steel Kitten

Happy Sunday all!

I'm sitting here with my third cup of tea writing the coming week's to do list. I usually have two lists, one for the week and one for the weekend, and the weekly one is split into work and personal tasks. 

There was a time I'd get upset if I couldn't complete everything on every list, now I'm a bit more mature and relaxed and split the list into priorities. It won't hurt if washing the inside door mat is bumped to another day but it could hurt us if I don't check the credit card for errors or scammers' activity. 

If the adverts are to be believed Christmas is almost upon us, which translated from retail speak means it is absolute eons away. Is anyone else fed up that autumn seems to have been completely disregarded, like an inconvenience to be rushed through to get to the glitter and spangles? It's like the message of mindfulness that was started on social media during the first lockdown has been completely forgotten. 

Don't get me wrong I am shopping for Christmas presents, I like to be prepared after all, but I'm not putting up decorations or filling the house up with festive paraphernalia. I'm trying to appreciate the colours and smells of autumn, enjoying toasting my toes in front of the log burner and the clear crisp nights with visible stars. I've switched over the summer textiles to our autumn/winter coloured ones. I'm cutting up logs and stashing kindling. The boiler is serviced, the oil is topped up, the radiators tested and sticky thermostats fixed. My summer clothes are packed away and the autumn ones are out. 

At the same time I'm slowly building my prepping stores, as I have some concerns about what January and Brexit will bring. Any hold ups at the ports will impact on fresh goods coming in from abroad so I have been adding a few bits of frozen, tinned and dried fruit and veg to my shopping for some time now, and making some freezer store meals. I've also been drying some tomatoes and mushrooms, as I've found them nice additions to simple meals. We have a few leeks in the garden and some root veg, which will help plump a few meals out, and of course our freezers are full of meat and veg from our previous livestock and harvests.

With mum gone and COVID and lockdowns making it difficult to see family, Christmas won't be a massively festive affair for me. It will be quiet and reflective, a time to appreciate what I still have.

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Steel Kitten