My fitness journey started roughly 24 years ago when I was about 15 years old. As I write these words I find it difficult to believe I’ve been exercising and keeping myself fit for over half my life. I always thought I wasn’t particularly body conscious in my teens, but looking back I can see I was. Although I was a couple of dress sizes bigger than I am now, I couldn’t tell you how much I weighed. I wasn’t…
I’m a little bit behind with some of my posts at the moment. Unfortunately, I have the attention span of a goldfish which means I get easily distracted by shiny objects. Luckily, I have Lightroom to jog my memory about the places I’ve visited! It was a cold January morning. There was frost on the ground and a winter nip in the air. As I sat in the car carefully wrapping myself up in multiple layers, I silently hoped I’d…
The Warm Up As I start to warm up I begin to work through my checklist. Pain in left knee? Check. Pain in left hip flexor? Check. Sciatic twinges in my right side? Check. Numbness in right big toe? Oh. This one doesn’t always show up, yet today it’s decided to make an appearance. Check. Discomfort in arms and hands? Check and check. Each run begins with the same routine, a mental checklist of all the niggles throughout my body.…
A few months ago, when I was reading Vegan Life Magazine, I saw a recipe for 10-minute pitta pizzas. They looked so tasty that even though I hate cooking, I felt compelled to make them. The original ingredients included olives and artichokes, but I left those off because, well….olives and artichokes. Also, it didn’t include the pesto. Even though it was shown in the photo, it wasn’t listed in the ingredients. Including preparation and cooking time, they only take about…
Sometimes, the hardest thing about a run is the act of putting your trainers on and leaving the house. You’re tired, it’s cold and last night’s take-away didn’t agree with you. But more than anything else, you just can’t face running those bloody hills. Hill running That was me earlier in the year. After spending over two decades running, I finally found myself defeated by hills. We moved to a new house in November last year and up until that…
Working from home takes self-discipline. Ask 10 people who work from home how they plan their days and you’ll probably get 10 different answers. Over the years I’ve found myself trying different things to make it work for me – and I think I’m finally there. One of the things I find helpful is eating the same thing for my lunch every day. I don’t have to sit pondering trying to decide what I want to eat – I already…
Personal Development Personal Ramblings Wellbeing
10 Things I’ve Finally Accepted About My Introverted Personality
When I first read Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain, I found myself nodding along in agreement. I breathed a sigh of relief as so many things clicked into place. I saw parts of my life flashing before me and I was ecstatic that someone else actually understood the workings of my brain. For many years, I struggled with parts of my personality (I still do if I’m honest), but at…
As I found myself typing the words into Google, I knew I shouldn’t be doing it. My whole body was screaming no – but I couldn’t help myself – I had to. I’d first read about it last year. I’d seen the images, signed the petition and shared it across social media. But if I was going to write about it, I felt like I needed to know more. Photo credit: Google Images I hesitated before allowing my finger to…
I have a love-hate relationship with meditation. Well, perhaps hate is a strong word. Maybe it’s more of a love/can’t be arsed attitude with it. Even though I know I feel so much better when I’m regular with my practice, sometimes I convince myself I don’t have time. But as the old Zen proverb goes: ‘You should sit in meditation for twenty minutes every day — unless you’re too busy. Then you should sit for an hour’ Although, I often crave…
