That Wouldn't Have Happened Without Lockdown

How are you? 

It's now almost two months since I've been living this strange #stayathome life. Races have been postponed, holidays cancelled, concerts rearranged for later in the year. parkrun is still paused.

Like most people I'm sure, there have been some tough moments especially from a well-being point of view. There have been a few tears of frustration and some moments of grumpiness. Work has been challenging and some days life has just felt tough. I've needed lots of words of encouragement and I'm extremely grateful for friends who have been in touch.

But amidst all that, there have been some special moments too. 

I've been able to get on with living, catch up with friends and family (virtually at least), make plans for the future and work towards my abridged summer challenge - cycling 100k on my exercise bike in June instead of Racing to the Castle. I'm loving my weekly quiz night with my sister and nieces in particular - last week, we didn't quite manage a best score but we did find out that you can buy tutti frutti ice cream from Tesco!

Two weeks ago should have been the Southampton marathon... instead I cycled 26.2 miles on exercise as part of a virtual marathon challenge with the Potters Trotters suggested by Liz (when 50 Potters Trotters and friends each ran 2.62 miles to create 5 virtual marathon teams). I even ended up on Radio 5Live talking to Eleanor Oldroyd about it; that wouldn't have happened without lockdown. 

From Southampton, we should have gone on to the Isle of Wight for a holiday (continuing our island adventures after recent holidays to the Isle of Man and Guernsey). Not this year, but we have postponed to 2021. Instead of walking on the beach, watching the waves crash at the Needles or just eating cream teas in lovely seaside cafes, we had a #holidayathome. We found a way to play crazy golf, take on an escape room challenge, build a tower as tall as Mr T, enjoy a fancy afternoon tea and walk on routes around our home that we have never walked before. I even virtually cycled the whole of the island covering 110k across 4 days; that wouldn't have happened without lockdown (especially as Mr T is not a fan of bike riding).

I've had time to get my craft supplies out of the cupboard too... I've probably made about 200 cards so far including some new photo cards incorporating my bottle kiln obsession. I've not started on Christmas cards yet but it's only a matter of time. If anyone needs any cards, let me know. I'm happy to post you some. The new photo cards are £3 for a pack of 4! Most other designs are £2 per pack/card or 3 for £5. Creating cards has also inspired me to send cards too and I've been spending lots of time writing letters; that wouldn't have happened without lockdown.

This last week, I've been joining in with another Potters Challenge linked to the colours of the rainbow (thanks to Carole who suggested it)... it's really helped me as it actually encouraged me to make a training plan for the week, working out what activities I would do on each day of the week. Training plans have been such a part of running for me right from my very first couch to 5k, it has been comforting and reassuring to follow a plan again (albeit a very different one to the 100k training plan I should have been following for Race to the Castle). I've run three times in the week for the first time since lockdown started, as well as completing my longest ever exercise bike ride (50k), a yoga session, Zumba via Zoom and a strength and conditioning workout based around the letter R; that wouldn't have happened without lockdown.

I've even had a few nostalgic moments as I've found a matching t-shirt or leggings for each colour of the rainbow... taking me back to the Olympic Stadium, my first marathon, volunteering at the Potters 'Arf, a fabulous weekend away in Wales with the Potters Trotters and the team challenge that is Thunder Run. 

Not all the t-shirts were old though... o for orange was represented by new parkrun apricot t-shirt, purchased during the parkrun pause and personalised to reflect that parkrundays are a little bit quieter than normal at the moment - just me and Mr T exploring on our own doorstep after taking part in The Great Big parkrun Quiz - so far, we've invented parkruns at Eastwood Fields, Berryhill Open Cast, Nature Reserve, Central Forest Park and this weekend Bucknall Station; that wouldn't have happened without lockdown (order your own personalised t-shirt here - Mr T wants another one for Bucknall Station parkrun).

Yesterday should have coincided with another adventure; a trip to see OMD play a tiny gig at a pop-up venue in Birkenhead. It seems a long time ago that I anxiously pressed F5 to re-fresh the ticket feed and was elated to get 2 of only 300 tickets to go on sale. The gig has been postponed to later in the year but last need OMD streamed previously unseen concert footage via YouTube, so we planned a concert at home; wearing our OMD t-shirts and even visiting the virtual merchandise stall when it opened at 6pm (just a couple of purchases). And to top it all off, we someone found ourselves chatting to lead singer Andy McCluskey via a never-before-heard-of app - connection problems meant we only had 30 seconds of chat but it made our evening; that wouldn't have happened without lockdown.

I have been struggling but this blog is a way of finding my way back to my inner Pollyanna - I've found lots of things to be glad about; good things that wouldn't have happened without lockdown. Hopefully, that will inspire me to keep going over the next few weeks too. 

Why not make your own list. It might inspire you too.

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