The pox, parkrun, Swimathon and cancer

I had such great plans for the last couple of weeks, with intentions of getting my training for Reading Half Marathon and Swimathon back on track. Chicken pox (combined with teething, because one lot of pain isn’t enough for my tiny masochist!) decided that was not to be. Poor M has been off nursery for over a week and she hasn’t been sleeping at all well.

I agreed with Stu that I would take M for parkrun on 27th January as I had left him to Run Direct alone the previous week. I’d been under the weather with sinusitis and figured that running with M would make me go slowly. I also chose to start at the back. The congestion of a thousand or so runners would ensure that I didn’t start too quickly.

After the run, we went to the Bellemoor for a hot drink as the usual post-parkrun hangout is currently closed.

I had hoped to swim on Monday, but I was exhausted after being awake with M for most of the night. In the end, I thought that it would be better to rest. I was conflicted about whether this was the right thing to do, but I knew that I had a lot to catch up on as I had spent most of the weekend holding M and I needed to reply to some emails.

On Wednesday, I went out running with Sarah. We did just over 5km. I had hoped that we would run further as I feel that I’m really falling behind with my half marathon training, but I have to admit that I wasn’t feeling the love for running and it was threatening to pour down.

Yesterday, I was Run Director at parkrun. It’s really nice getting to interact with so many runners. However, with the size of Southampton parkrun (over 1000 runners), there are invariably lots of trivial incidents to be dealt with. It can be quite hectic dealing with so many questions from runners: have you seen my keys; I think I’ve dropped my barcode; where should I leave my jacket etc etc etc.

I’m gradually closing in on my 250th parkrun – just 8 to go. Next week, I’ll be Run Directing again. All being well, I should complete my 250th run just before Easter (early April). I’m really hoping that I’ll be able to persuade lots of friends to come along and to join me for a hot drink afterwards.

We’ve been planning to take M swimming every weekend since we got back from Australia. She’s still spotty because of chicken pox, so we thought we’d better not take her this weekend. As a consequence, I spent a lot of the weekend at home doing housework and cuddling a grumpy tiny human. I also went outside and did some vigorous raking for an hour or so, which I guess counts as exercise.

World Cancer Day

Did you know that it’s World Cancer Day today? Swimathon is raising money for two charities: Cancer Research and Marie Curie (who provide care and support through terminal illness). These are great charities, so why not sign up to Swimathon and help raise money?