I am just over a week out from Newport marathon.
It should be the ”finisher”, to round off one of my 40 before forty goals. It’s a compromise on “Run a marathon in every major UK city” (because it turns out many major UK cities don’t have marathons) in which I decided I would run a marathon in the 3 mainland countries that make up the UK instead. I’ve already done London and Edinburgh so that just left a marathon somewhere in Wales. And so here we are.
Except things haven’t gone so well this time. My training has been inconsistent and ineffective (sometimes my own fault, sometimes not) and I’m battling poor sleep and fatigue as part of a huge range of perimenopause symptoms (more on that another day). On top of that, a ‘niggle’ in my foot which was giving me tenderness upon waking is now shouting at me when running too.
My gut instinct is that it’s peroneal tendonitis, but not from too much training, rather from the huge reduction in my strength training because of ~life~ which means my previously strong muscles are withering away and my feet/ankles are picking up the slack and getting pissed off about it.
Sadly, Newport doesn’t do deferrals and the entry change cut-off flew past weeks ago. So now I have a week to decide if I can hobble round 26.2 miles on shonky training and a dodgy foot.
Bugger.
Alright, simmer down, I know I’m not really a “CEO” because I don’t have a board of directors or a c-suite or anything like that, but “day in the life of an autistic freelance web developer turned LTD company managing director” as a title was just ridiculous. Work with me here guys. I’m writing this… read full entry »
I was umming and ahhing about writing a 2024 review lookback style post. I didn’t want it to end up a rehash of all the shitty bits, which these things inevitably end up being, but at the same time there’s no denying that some of the things that happened in 2024 had Consequences. Fundamentally, the… read full entry »
I recently entered the Shropshire Shufflers’ Severn Bridges 10k in Shrewsbury (after a little bit of a kerfuffle where it wouldn’t accept my affiliated club name) and ran with Gaz to celebrate his birthday. Never expected Gaz to choose a 10k to as a birthday celebration and yet here we are; I like to think… read full entry »
I have to confess that I’ve never been much interested in watching sports. Odd perhaps, for someone who participates and competes in three separate disciplines, but – aside from catching the odd snippet of a big Euros game or highlights of the Olympics shared on social media – watching other people ‘play’ has just never… read full entry »
Last week I successfully climbed Scafell Pike, England’s highest peak, as part of item 3 on my 40 things before I’m forty challenge. I’ve been fascinated with the idea of climbing mountains since I saw a talk by Ed Viesturs (first American to climb all 14 of the “eight-thousander” mountains, and the 5th person to… read full entry »
I travelled to Turin, Italy for WordCamp Europe 2024 with Gaz last month. This was the first time we’d spent any meaningful amount of time together since our separation – not counting hourly taekwon-do lessons – and so I thought was going to be interesting. Turns out it was fairly uneventful, insomuch that it was… read full entry »
Got “recognised” by two different people on reddit yesterday as “that blogger” and god, if it hasn’t made me miss the olden days of blogging. Write any old crap that comes to mind, publish, receive immediate feedback and support from peers and friends. Do it all again a few days later. I’m not sure at… read full entry »
It is now approximately 2.5 months since Gaz and I mutually agreed our relationship was no longer viable as it was, and just over a month since he moved out. I found the first few days after he left sweet AF. Could have crowned me the Queen of Smugdom as I woke up easy breezy,… read full entry »
Just over a year ago today I blogged that a change is as good as a rest as I confirmed that I’d be taking on a part time role with a local agency in addition to running my own business. My logic felt sound: supplementing my own income while I expanded Ultimately Better so that… read full entry »
