Resurfacing

No, not the road surface, it's me resurfacing from the lurgy that caught everyone unawares.

Oh my goodness it was a really nasty blighter and it swept through our little village like a wildfire taking its prisoners at random. Mike succumbed just after Christmas and I really thought I'd escaped it until 2 days into 2020 it got me, big time. It completely knocked me out, going straight to my weak point, my chest (asthma) where it stayed, festering and getting worse and worse until a week ago when I suddenly felt as if it was on the way out.

Mike was getting really worried because I was coughing so much and he said he'd never seen me so ill and I have to agree that I don't think I've ever felt so ill either. A friend in the village had it for 5 weeks and is only just starting to feel better so I think I was lucky in the scheme of things!

As a result of the naughty lurgy I have missed 2 ultra-marathons in my training schedule but that can't be helped and I eased myself back into my training slowly with events on Friday and Sunday last weekend (as opposed to the 3 days I had planned). I took it nice and easy anyway.

Thankfully my recovery hasn't impacted the start of the Six Pack Intensive wave which began this week and I'm really enjoying. I've just finished the first Challenge which included 2 short runs of 1k, which I did on the treadmill, and I was delighted that I managed the second kilometer slightly faster.

I did a little happy dance afterwards to celebrate!

Then I had to wait to see how I coped at the weekend (with fingers crossed!).

I really haven't felt like doing much crafting but I did set up the little loom and started a bit of weaving on it. Of course Shelley appeared out of nowhere to help me:

Finally she'd had enough and went and rearranged the cushions so she could have a nap.

It's a wee bit fiddlesome actually but good for experimenting

You have to lift the shed up as you go across one way.....

Then press it down to go back across the work

Running wise, I did none for 10 days but when I finally felt better I trotted off for a gentle marathon last Friday. I had no expectations of how I'd feel so just ran it gently and power-walked the hilly bits and was delighted to finish under 5.5 hours. This was the first in a series of 3 events at which Id planned to do ultra-marathon distance, but I chose to just do the Friday and Sunday events as marathons to see if I had fully recovered.

Thankfully I was fine on the Friday and took it nice and easy to finish in 5:25:25. I went back on the Sunday and finished in 5:25:21 so was happy with that. So that's marathons 181 & 182 done and dusted.

Sundays marathon - the first time ever my Garmin has measured the exact marathon distance!

Onwards and upwards now into my rather manic training schedule for the South Downs Way 100 mile event in June - eek!

Happy New Year

May 2020 be the decade that brings more love and kindness throughout the whole world.

New Year, new goals. I love making lists of things to do as Mike will attest!

* Of course I have more fund-raising for ARUK planned, with another 100 mile event in the Summer and lots of marathons and ultra-marathons as training runs.

* I also have big plans for the garden, which needs a major re-design.

* In early January I'll be embarking on another wave of the Six Pack Revolution (SPR) which has had a refresh and the orginal 90 day plan has been cut to 75 days whilst still achieving the same amazing results. I did the 'Intensive' plan during the time I was absent from here and although it was much harder physically I really enjoyed it.

* As usual I'm doing RED January (ie Run Every Day a minimum of 5k) and no alcohol until after SPR has finished.

* Knitting - I'm swatching for a lovely Kimono from Amirisu magazine at the moment.

* Crochet. I'm gathering colour ideas for the Kaleidoscope Cal which starts soon. I'm using Rowan Summer Tweed from stash and these are my proposed colours so far:

Interesting to see how much the colours change in artifical light and daylight.

I also started playing with the colours using the handy planner provided:

* But to start the year well I need to get out for a run now! I was supposed to be doing a marathon last week but Mike was unwell so I stayed close to home.