Thursday 4 September 2014

August Round Up

This update comes a little late, but I have got lots to tell you (some of it crosses over into this month but whatever)...


Career

I have an announcement to make. After careful and prolonged consideration, I am leaving publishing to pursue teaching. This is not a decision I have made lightly, and I can tell you it was a genuine shock when I realised… I really miss teaching. I like my job, but it doesn’t give me that sense of joy that comes from being in the classroom – I thought, when I was teaching, that working in publishing would give me that spark, but it seems I had it all along. I’m sad because I spent so long trying to get into the industry, and of course I’ve considered if it is this role specifically, but even the idea of editing doesn’t fill me with excitement anymore. I know many people will have a strong view on my decision, and it’s the same as when I went to Uni in 2008 and dropped out – at the time it was terrifying, but it was the best thing I could have done. So, the studying begins again… 


Hair

Still no dye! It’s been 10 months now. My hair is so much healthier from lack of colouring and chopping off a large chunk of it – I’m not saying I’ll never dye it again, but I’ll certainly be more fussy about the dyes I use. I haven’t missed ‘fading anxiety’ (I made that up but serial hair-dyers will understand)


French

Maxx and I came back from the World Equestrian Games last week (blog post to come), which meant spending every evening with his family, so I had plenty of chances to practice my Franglais. Although my French isn’t perfect, I’m certainly more confident when speaking.


SJ competitions

I finally had an SJ lesson! Ernest was a little unfit at the time so we only did 25 minutes - instead of 45 - but it was fun! I felt all wobbly and unsure of my riding after such a long time off, but Ernest still sailed through the air like Pegasus. Since my lesson, I’ve been upping Ernest’s exercise to get him back on form, not that he minds cantering around fields. I’ve entered 3 dressage competitions, 20th September, 11th October and 29th November, but haven’t seen any unaffiliated SJ competitions advertised recently. At the Games, I may also have bought Ernest some fabulously sparkly blue ribbons for his plaits, in anticipation of the dressage competitions…


Running

We’re 31 days away from the half marathon now, and I’m starting to feel excited and nervous. I went for a run on the course by myself last night, to conquer my fear of the big hills – it worked. The loop I did took 74 minutes, which I thought was extremely slow as my route was only 4/5 miles; I drove round it afterwards and was pleasantly surprised to find it was actually 7.2 miles. I managed half of both hills, but with another 3 weeks to go I’m sure I’ll be able to improve on this. Last night was a real battle with the voice in my head, which tells me how painful it is, how much my ankle hurts, how I won’t be able to do it, how tired I am... I did walk a few times, the longest for about 2 minutes, but I made myself get going again. I’ve developed an even stronger voice, which sounds like an army commander, who positively screams at me that I can do it, I will do it, I’m doing it for Rio, for Claus, for Jimmy, for Princess, for Lassie, for all the hounds at Hersham, and I am not going to quit! Going out alone, with only myself to rely on, was a rewarding experience and I can now say I’m looking forward to October 5th. I ain’t scared of no hill.


Body Fat

The BFF Challenge required me to lose 2%, and if I failed I have to do kettlebell swings to failure. Well, I’d been eating 100 times better and running a lot, but I’ve put on ¼%! What surprised me more was my reaction – I’m completely OK with it. Unlike the last BF update, where I’d put on 3% because of eating like a hog and felt really disappointed in myself, The Smiling Assassin and I attributed this gain to the high-carb diet I’ve been on since upping my half marathon training and the lack of weightlifting. Even though this wasn’t the result I wanted, I’m going to continue my healthy diet and see if my body fat goes down again once I’m off the carbs. If it continues to rise, I’ll look into it...


New Country

Maxx and I are going away with friends next year, and then with family, but if we can afford to we’re aiming for a long weekend in Ireland.

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