Category Archives: Misc

The Fun that is week three.

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Saturday:

So. After the fun that was last week, I decided to keep going, and on Saturday morning early headed out to do my run. I wasn’t too worried about the time, I just kept going until I  had a couple of miles down. Then it was back home.

“Mummy!” my little angel greeted me. “You’re all pink!”

No I did not take a picture, go look at a daisy.

Ah bless. Yes, pale skin and red hair and flushed face means Mum look all pretty. I had my shower and cleaned up, ate breakfast, tidied up. Then it was out of the house for a bit. The other half needed to get some parcels from the post office, so I headed down in the car. Walking away from the parked car I noticed something.

I.

Was.

Limping.

Ow. Ow ow ow. 

My left hip felt like someone had wretched it out and hurriedly put it back in again. I limped into the post office, got the parcels, then back to the car. It felt like I needed to put myself in some weird position to get the ache out of my limbs, but I had no idea how.

Then, that afternoon, it was time to take the car to the NCT place in Deansgrange. The kid was happy (at first) to watch them have a look at it, but became convinced that they were stealing it. Coping with that and growing dehydration wasn’t good. Back home, I headed down to the local shop to get dinner, then ate and then bath for kiddo, followed by bed for me, honestly glad there was no scheduled exercise for a few days.

Sunday: get away from me, rest day.

Monday: Was lucky enough to see the in-laws, and to hang out with my very cool sister-in-law and brother-in-law. It was supposed to be a ‘simple tapas thingie’, but my mother-in-law managed to present the most sophisticated buffet out of no-where. We sat in the garden and relaxed, not really caring that the rain was coming down. I drove us all home, glad of the few days off work.

Tuesday: Right! Home from work, time to get twenty minutes in. I managed to cut two minutes off the time, so hurrah for me. It is getting easier, but one thing about getting older is that you notice your improvement speed is slower, as is your recovery time. Still. I feel much better these days, so much so that I’ll be able to pose laughing over a bowl of salad any minute now.

Image result for woman salad

Oh asparagus, you just get me…

 

Wednesday: Rest day, ha ha!

 

Thursday:

Honestly not sure if I can find the time today. Lots of lovely meetings.

 

Friday:

I went swimming.

And it was a lot better than before; the rhythm was much more present, and I got it done with not a bit of bother. Still taking far too long to get ready afterwards, however.

I was supposed to go away this weekend, but had to change them, which means mentally I have no plans to go running today, Sunday. But needs must. Will see how we get on.

 

The plan for next week is:

Monday – Rest day

Tuesday – run after work

Wednesday – Rest day

Thursday – Swim at lunch

Friday – Rest day

Sunday – Run

So now you know too and should feel duty bound, dear reader, to remind me if I fail. Anyways, keep her lit!

Right. Max the envelope, and so forth

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New Readers start here.

So, the saga continues. I know I said that this was going to start on Tuesday, but Sunday rolled around and I decided that there really was no point in waiting. So on went the shoes, and the tracksuit, and off I went.

See, that happened at about 5pm. And if you go to Met.ie, and look up the daily data for Dublin Airport at that time, you’ll see that 1mm of rain fell at that time.

All at once.

On my head.

About half way through the first mile I realised this was not going to level off. I kept going, because I had to; there was no way I was giving up on the first mile of the first run. But ye gods! Everything was soaking wet; the hair, the leggings, all of it. I was honestly worried the phone was going to go with all that water.  I saw a kid out there in shorts and a jacket and wondered where the hell were his parents…

I will say that the number of joggers-nods increased. This is a phenomenon whereby joggers/runners show their mutual respect by giving a solemn nod to each other as they pass. No words, just a nod, implying that we are all in a special club, and everyone else is just running because they’re late somewhere. I got several nods on Sunday, even from the wiry ‘I haven’t stopped running since Gay Byrne was on the Late Late show’ types, and I felt very special. I made it home and had the most amazing shower ever. That evening I looked out and saw the same kid, still wondering around the estate. What the hell was going on?

 

Monday – Rest day. Ambrosia from the Gods day.

 

Tuesday– Swimming day. Packed up my dust-covered (not kidding) swim suit and headed over to the pool at work. I swam for twenty minutes, with no headaches, dizziness or trouble. I was as slow as a mule, which, if you picture one in a pool is pretty much what we have here.

Weeeeeee!

Swim, in short, was fine. Getting myself ready to be productive at my desk took me forever (shower, dress, hair, makeup, and go). I need one of these, me thinks.

 

Wednesday; felt that pleasant ache in my muscles. All good.

 

Thursday; Right, when to go for a run? Couldn’t do it during lunch hour, so instead pulled on the runners before I went to pick up the child. And oh my God the difference. Running after a day’s work, even desk work, is much much harder on the body and soul. Firstly, lots of lovely people about, to comment and smile that smile, the smile that is both smug and amused at the same time. Bless ‘em in their ear.

Secondly, it is harder. I was more tired, and much slower than I had any right to be. I should have improved since last Sunday, but instead was much worse. I got into bed like a zombie, and honestly fell asleep as fast as I sank into the mattress.

 

Friday: (Today) Rest day. Three sessions down, and the schedule getting closer to figured out. The great thing about fitness is that it only needs brute endurance. If you keep going, you cannot but get better.

Good luck sisters.

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My ‘I have no time to write’ Post.

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I have zero time to write. I have, nothing, not a thing. There is about three minutes to do this blog and then I have to work on four other projects before going home and then the second job begins. Not a second can be wasted but I’m managing to do just that because of spelling mistakes and typos and ah here…

So how are you, reading all these fascinating words on the screen at a lightening pace? How is life, how is your times, are you getting enough vitamin C, enough sleep, eating enough? You calling your Mother, getting exercise, working hard? Get some fun while you’re at it, it’s later than you think…

And now here comes the last few seconds of my time to write, nothing left to do but wrap this up, so I wish you well all of you, hope that you’re good and that life is good. Stay warm and cosy out there in that weather, you’d never know what might jump up and get ya.

Puppies make everything better….

 

Mah Day Off…

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Remember yesterday?  Here is what I did on my day off;

  • Up at 6am;
  • Check work emails
  • Go for an hour long walk
  • Home – laundry on
  • Dishwasher emptied
  • Empty nappy bin
  • Wash bottles
  • Read textbook for half an hour
  • Give the garden half an hour
  • Prep milk for little man
  • Write for half an hour
  • Clean the top of the oven
  • Tidy upstairs
  • Tidy downstairs
  • Watch Intersellar (and wonder why someone didn’t tell Chris Nolan to edit it down)
  • Drive to creche, pick up little man

And that is why I dropped into bed exhausted at 9.44 pm last night.

 

The Meaning of Christmas – Deed Twelve

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And so we come to the final blog on my 12 Good Deeds…. I hope some of these are helpful to you, and that you enjoy reading them. Here is the final good deed for you all.

Deed Twelve – Give money to a good cause

Yeah, you heard me. Give some money to people who are able to do more with it than you can; This place would be an excellent place to start, for example, but that is just one suggestion. Try to pick some charity that would mean a lot to you, if you can, so that you know you are doing the best you can with your money.  A fiver, a cent, something that will further a cause you believe in.

And that’s it. My deeds are spoken, my hands are empty of anything further to gift to you. All I say, is to give my incantation that your heart be at peace this Christmas, your loved ones joyous, and that you know contentment.

Lots of love.

Claire

This is, of course, exactly what I look like.

Edit; and to recap, here are the 12 Deeds in total;

Deed One – Write A Thank You Note

Deed Two – Buy a Book in a Bookshop

Deed Three – Take a Walk

Deed Four – Give up your Seat

Deed Five – Pick up Litter

Deed Six – Give blood

Deed Seven – Email a TD

Deed Eight – Attend a live event

Deed Nine – Give someone food.

Deed Ten – Give a Tip

Deed Eleven – Play a classical piece. 

Deed Twelve – Give money to a good cause

The Meaning of Christmas – Deed Eleven

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There is so little time, don’t you find? So little time to pause, reflect, be thankful. Or even just to take stock, to note the change of the seasons and the movement of the planet through the dark space of winter. So this next one is aimed to give you that five minutes or more to give you that space:

Deed Eleven – Play a piece of classical music or put up a picture that has cultural value.

Note, you decide what has cultural value here. But give yourself that empty space to think. What was the best time of the year? What was the worst? What can you learn from that, about yourself and other people?

Oh so THAT’S why….

Grant yourself the gift of time, if you can.