Rosedawn Ramblings

There have lots of moments in the last few weeks when life felt like it was back to normal, making it seem like starting again has become a real possibility. The sun has been shining, There has been time for catching up with friends in real life (no screens involved), Mr T got a haircut, coffee and cake at a cafe, watching the newly-hatched ducklings swimming along the canal, blossoms on the trees, answering parkrun emails about barcodes, buying a new front door, even booking a few days away for a holiday .  Back to normal. Almost. Probably the most normal thing of all has been the return of club runs with the Potters Trotters.  For an hour or so at a time each time we meet, we have returned to our old routines - lots of chatter as everyone arrives, tentative questions as we set off about how far we are running and how many hills are likely to be involved, conversations as we run about what races we might do, what's happening in Line of Duty, or what is for tea wh...

I'm not quite fully recharged but I'm going in the right direction... I've starting running again, albeit very cautiously, and very much enjoyed getting off-road with a lovely run around Berryhill Fields on Thursday evening. I was the 40 minute pacer at Hanley parkrun, thoroughly enjoying running with one of younger parkrunners as she set a new PB. I've been swimming, thanks to an invitation and a guest pass from my Friday Five running buddy Liz. We did six lengths on a Saturday this time, rather than five miles on a Friday... the priority as always was taking the time for a good catch up and a cuppa! And I still need to take it easy for at least a couple more week; I'm determined to learn from past mistakes and stick to my careful approach. No speed work or over-enthusiastic hill reps, everything done at an easy pace. It's a challenge though, especially when I've been used to following a really detailed training plan and counting mileage...