Run, Forest

I WENT RUNNING TODAY!!

I know that's not normally something to shout about but it's really bloomin' good news as far as I'm concerned!
Over the summer I spent a week in the Lake District with the OTC for Adventurous Training (cycling, kayaking, hillwalking, climbing). By the end of the week I was seriously wanging (a term coined by home friends for someone who drags one leg behind them). I didn't know what was wrong, but my hip was painful. I carried on regardless and just over-dosed on Ibuprofen. When I returned home it pained me to go shopping... and when something gets in the way of me spending money there must be a problem, so I wanged myself to the doctors.

The doctor ended up giving me a prescription for anti-inflammatories and banned me from running and walking long distances for 5weeks. Five bloody weeks?! I really love running... which is really very strange because when in school I faked my mum's signature so many times to get out of PE the teacher wouldn't have recognised a legitimate signature. University somehow helped the sportsman in me make an appearance. I love being able to get away from everything with a good long run... But for five weeks I had to resign myself to swimming and the odd bit of cycling.

Last week I finally finished my prescription and have been worrying for the past few days about whether or not to test my hip out. I don't want it to mess up again because I leave the country soon (incase you'd missed me mentioning it in every other post) and the doctor threatened steroid injections if the tablets didn't work.

Well - touch-wood/fingers-crossed - it seems to be ok! Mum went swimming while I went on a run through Warwick and it was really bloody good. My hip didn't die on me, and I don't seem to have lost much fitness because of all the swimming I've been doing.


Can I get a woop woop? (Someone please remind me to never search for Woop Woop on YouTube again)

Post? What post?

I bought them, the boots.
I'm going swimming tomorrow.
My hair looks slightly fit.
I had a lovely evening with Caroline.

I'm going to be a mess tomorrow morning due to exhaustion.
My throat feels like death.

Bed time.

Swim Swim Gym.

I planned on meeting Caroline this evening for our weekly gossip and wine binge, but it hasn't quite worked out. Yesterday evening Alasdair mentioned he was off to see a film at Warwick Arts Centre. I nearly dismissed the invite; I'd got stuck into another World Of Work Rut whereby I think I can't possibly enjoy myself on a school night and believe that spending the night in front of the TV is the sensible thing to do. It is the sensible thing to do, but it's not what I want to do! So I acquiesced and had a lovely evening reading subtitles (seriously, it was lovely. But he's already written about the film better than I would.)

Anywho, after thanking Alasdair for getting me out of my work-hermit lifestyle, I appear to have slipped back into it already! Well, kind of... I have called Caroline and cancelled tonight's frivolities, but for legitimate reasons (namely, that I'm knackered after swimming, and Dad took forever to cook dinner, and I didn't want to walk in the dark, but also didn't want to ask Dad for more lifts.)

This afternoon's swim was slightly fantastic though... It just so happened that an old friend of mine was life-guarding. I've not seen him in 2yrs or so, which meant he gave me a huge hug (the kind of hug where your feet leave the ground). But then his presence meant my swim was pretty good, because I had someone to show off to. I only really push myself when I've got either someone look good in front of, or someone I want to beat. I realised that when I run on my own I'm much more likely to give up and walk, and if I'm swimming on my own I don't do half as many lengths!

This realisation also made me understand a bit more why people go to gyms... I always thought I'd get bored at a gym, just staring at the same walls, but this evening I noticed there were lots of hot men. Surely they'd serve as a distraction? And surely they'd spur me on to show off a bit and push myself more. I think I may be getting myself gym membership soon!