Less than 2 months between blogs, well I suppose it is a small improvement.

December was pretty good on the running front once I was on my holidays, 9 runs in 11 days, nothing like the great folks who managed marcothon and beyond. It got the legs moving and I especially enjoyed my trip to IKEA, 20 miles mainly on the Frome Valley Walkway which I’d only done a few miles of before and was quite spectacular, especially towards the end.

It also saw me get a new Garmin watch (Instinct) which is pretty rugged and has lots of battery life to play with and more stats than John Motson.

January started with a beasting of a run. Overweight me alongside one GB Vet triathlete and one not yet GB triathlete (missed qualifying by 6 seconds). 10 miles hard graft, but good for the fitness (I did learn’em how to run downhill mind). Another hop up and over Winter hill near Bolton. A 20 miler taking in Westonbirt Arboretum and some of the Macmillan Way and a very pleasant Green Man scout with Jim and a guy called Peter (a friend of a friend). A few smaller runs midweek showed a certain balance to the work / home / run / mum see-saw.

February started with snow day but sadly also delivered a cold / flu (A woman would not have been affected), it’s getting better (as in aches are gone and I am expelling mucus less like the girl in the Exorcist).

On other matters, Mum has settled in to the new care home, we’re now trying to get her to do more, i.e. interact with people. She has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s which is no surprise given the state of her memory, so my sister and I are working hard to make her understand that there is still a good quality life to be lived if she wants it. We’re also preparing to sell her flat, so sad that we bought it less than 9 months ago, so much has changed, but no point in wallowing in that, we need to move on and do our best.

Running plans are Green Man on 2nd March, Ridgeway 86 24th August, Snowdownia and then another Meriden. Holiday plans include a short trip to London in April (a few weeks before the marathon), a trip to Iceland with the kids in late June and then a week on the IOW in August. The running kit will be packed for the latter two.

Happy running, walking, skipping, snowballing folks