If exercise is good for you, surely it shouldn't hurt so much?

This is a brief, interim post, to fill the gap before the Snowdon post, which is a work in progress.

One of the things on my list is to do regular exercise. I've been doing this, and enjoying it for the last 3 weeks or so - 3 times a week, following a 'couch to 5k' program. Enjoying it, that is, until today.

Lucy & I normally 'run' 3 evenings a week - it's a club which keeps growing, as more and more students seem to want to join us. Progress is slow, but definite - we're currently doing 10 reps of 1min10secs jogging to 1min 50secs walking.

For some reason, it's suddenly started to hurt. My whole body was aching after the mass rake-off of Riddlesdown on Saturday, my thighs were killing me after Monday's run, and today my legs just felt like lead the whole way through. I'm not sure why really, or what I should do about it.

Possible causes of sudden malaise:
* Am lazy fat cow.
* Have had nasty cold for last few days
* Haven't slept much this week
* This was the first early morning run for nearly 2 yrs, body wasn't ready for it!
* Hadn't eaten before run, or last night owing to feeling rubbish and row with idiot neighbour
* Is just normal aches of re-establishing exercise pattern, and I should just cowboy the fuck up.

Possible solutions:
*Abandon project run 5k, and buy an xl swimsuit.
*Slow down the running - stamina not speed is what is important atm.
*Do some decent stretching before and definitely after
*Stick with it. It'll get better soon.
*Eat properly
*Get more sleep


Hmm. I guess I'm gonna stick with it.... Friday after school is the next run - I think we'll repeat today's times, rather than increase the run time, and see how we go. Will try to stretch/eat/sleep and hopefully..... all will be well

The picture that is currently on my desktop. Frankie cat at noon on Saturday, as I returned from parkrun.

Ohhh. parkrun. Event report... argh!!!!! *scuttles off to edit report with all due haste*

A List.

Am now nearly 5 weeks old, in terms of life beginning at 40, and not a single post have I made - would like to have written a whole lot of stuff about Snowdon, and everything else I did over the summer, but somehow, I didn't quite get round to it.

My boiler blew up, my wireless router stopped working, we went back to school and still no post - am quite possibly an epic failure on several levels.

I haven't been completely idle, though, I have been working on a list... 50 things I'd like to do before I'm 50.

It's not quite finished - there are only 49 things on it, and I'd welcome any suggestions for the 50th. I'm also aware that it reads a bit like one of Amy's 'to do' lists of chores, rather than an inspired list of exciting goals, but for now, it'll do. I reserve the right to change things!



50 things I would like to do before I'm 50:

1.To climb a mountain
2.To see Puffins in their natural habitat
3.To see dolphins in their natural habitat
4.To do a 365
5.To finish decorating the bedroom
6.To remove the ugly white wood from my front room
7.To re-organise the study
8.To have a pretty garden
9.To obtain a healthy weight and maintain it
10.To exercise regularly
11.To walk to school at least once a week, and walk home at least once a week.
12.To stay on the right side of my overdraft limit
13.Get a passport
14.To save some money every month towards project NZ
15.To have my tarot read properly
16.To see the tulips in Amsterdam
17.To see ice and melt water
18.To be a vegetarian for a month every year
19.To prepare a meal made entirely of things I have grown
20.To throw things away and minimalise
21.To come to terms with some of the sadness
22.To run 5km without stopping
23.To be better at staying in touch
24.Paragliding.
25.To see the northern lights.
26.to watch the sun come up in as many different locations as possible
27.to do a parkrun in a different country
28.to get my '50' tee-shirt before I'm 50
29.to make everyone's christmas present
30.To fall in love again
31.To write a blog entry every day for a week
32.To write 3 entries every week for a month.
33.To write an entry every week for a year.
34.To go through the stuff in the loft and sort it out.
35.To tidy up the pond
36.To plant spring bulbs
37.To have flowers growing that I can cut
38.To get out of bed and do something worth doing on Sunday mornings.
39.To see a meteor shower
40.To go to a druid/pagan ritual
41.To spend one night every year sleeping under the stars
42.print some of my photos on canvas and put them up in my house!
43.To walk along Hadrian's wall
44.To spend a week on an island with no modern amenities
45.To have a vegetable garden
46.Participate in Frock Friday twice a month
47.To keep a record of all the books I read and put it on my blog.
48.To have people round for dinner once a month - not always the same people!
49.to exist for a month without buying any processed food
50.?????

In theory, each month I'll look at this list and see if I've done anything on it - my basic aims for this week are to start on the book diary and say a little bit about the first thing on the list that can be crossed off!

Every week I change my desktop background on my laptop. This is this weeks picture. I like it because it's beautiful even though it's past its best - gives me hope!

Take care,
Nicki