It’s here! So far no signs at all that 2021 will end up being any less stressful than 2020 but onwards we go. I skipped posting last week as I didn’t feel positive enough to share anything. This must have been down to hormones and hangovers as Christmas was actually okay. Notification from the NHS tracing app had come through a couple of days before telling me to self-isolate so I was housebound through to Boxing Day. That meant I missed out on being able to complete the Run Up To Christmas challenge by 20km and was surprised to discover I was not upset by that. Luckily I didn’t end up with any symptoms. A lovely long chat with a friend in New Zealand started off Christmas Eve and there wasn’t much else to do after that other than drink some very nice wine, and eat and watch all the TV. Which I did for four days straight. It was really lovely to switch off do nothing and not worry about ‘should I be working’ or running. I think I needed that rest more than I realised.
Then from Sunday I got straight back out running. I can hardly remember what else has happened in the last week. New Years Eve was slightly tedious, staying awake for the sake of it, which sadly is standard in recent years. The best bit of that day was heading out for a frosty, misty eight mile run on the Ridgeway. Next year I might do that again then just go to bed early. Or go out, if that’s an option. New Year’s Day was another proper rest day and I intend to make those more frequent. Another gorgeous, sunny, Ridgeway run on the Saturday where I pushed a bit harder than usual kicked off the new year’s training. I really want to get faster this year. I’ve been plodding along for ages and did get up to the 50km last year which is a huge achievement but before I attempt the next distance up it would be nice to take at least a few seconds of my average minutes per mile pace. I also need to shift the kgs I’ve gained since the end of the 50km training block and then Lockdown 2.0 and then Christmas and New Year. So weirdly, despite the defeatist tone of the opening lines of this post I’m actually feeling quite fired up. Watch this space.
