Coming To An End

Morning campers!  How goes it?

I'm feeling pretty good, as my week of all things chilled out rolls to a close.  Considering I hadn't really had anything much planned for this week, apart from knowing my friend Caroline was visiting from Brussels for a couple of days, it's turned out to be a rocking week of fun and adventures.  But like all good things, they must come to an end.

Since I left you on Tuesday, with tales of 10k runs, caving and a spot of culture, I've been off having yet more fun. 

Wednesday was taken as a mid-week breather:  a couple of hours in my local coffee-shop with a good book and a muffin, and then a meander round town and the shops, followed by another piece of cake (sneaky things - they jump in your mouth when you're not looking!). 

On Thursday Caroline arrived, after some somewhat traumatic over the phone location and getting-de-losted, and we had a lovely chilled out afternoon at the beach at Western-Super-Mare.  The weather co-operated beautifully and the beach defied it's local nickname of Wester-Super-Mud to look suitably pretty.  We finished off out ice-creams in the shelter of the sand-dunes, gossiping and catching up whilst watching the antics of some intrepid kite-boarders / buggies playing on the sand nearby.  Very nice.  A lovely relaxed evening followed with butternut squash risotto, fresh bread, a bit of wine and the added company of Hannah.

I'd decided that Friday should be a bit of a tour round Bristol for Caroline, since she's never been before.  We caught a wildlife photography exhibition at the museum, that made me long to get to grips with an SLR camera for myself (hmmmmm - maybe something for the Autumn??), and then we explored Clifton village and did coffee.  We finally finished the day off with dinner at Giraffe (how did I not find this place earlier?), and Pirates of the Carribbean 4 at the cinema. 

Yesterday was a quiet day, as I saw Caroline off back on the road, ran a few errands and then met Hannah and her current man for some afternoon cider at The Apple and then dinner chez Hannah.

It's been a wonderful week full of achievements and trying new stuff, new friends and old, and seeing so many things around this rather nice city I live in.

However, real life has to return at some point.  I've had this week off the "diet" so to speak.  I haven't tracked, and I've had what I wanted and damn-well-enjoyed-it.  I've given myself a respite from the grind of the usual, which I think I've needed, and now I'm ready to get back to normalcy.  And not a day too soon.  Stepping on the scales this morning showed 12st 8lbs, which wasn't at all a surprise.  I was actually very tempted to have today as my "last day of freedom" and restart tomorrow, but then pondered why and decided there wasn't any point.  Doesn't mean I can't have nice food though, since I've had two croissants with jam for breakfast and am currently cruising down a homemade pineapple and banana smoothie - just means I need to be a bit more thoughtful with my choices.

Exercise, other than my lots-of-walking-everywhere, has been somewhat lacking this week.  I originally planned to stick to my usual timetable of workouts during the week, but that was pre-lots-of-plans.  But I have done something exciting.  Or, more accurately, I will be doing something exciting:  I've signed up and paid for a 15 week "social running" course over the summer!!! 

From 1st of June, I will be spending an hour every Wednesday night running on the Clifton Downs.  The course, which is run by a local company Aaron Tyler Personal Training, is a series of group training sessions focusing on running fitness and techniques.  The idea is that everyone is split out into groups and assessed over the first 4 weeks, and the groups are fine-tuned for ability, and then you stay with your group for the next 11 weeks, training together and having a bit of fun along the way.  By a very non-suspicious coincidence, the end of the course happens to be timed perfectly for those idiots who are doing the Bristol Half Marathon in September (which is organised by the same people who organise the Run Bristol 10k), but lets not get carried away with ourselves and assume I shall be doing that.  (Although I may have considered such idiocy very briefly).  The course literature very clearly says that all people of all levels are welcome, whatever their goal. 

Anyway, I thought it would be nice all round - improve my running a bit, and maybe meet some new friends / interesting people over the summer whilst doing something that's good for me.

That's all to report from me at the moment - I shall obviously be reporting back in tomorrow to say that I have been eating very healthily and on-track in the next 24 hours :o)