Catching up with Spring

I love this time of year; May is my favourite month of the year.  Everything is new and looking bright for the summer months ahead.  Our daylight is getting longer, temperatures are getting warmer and the garden is springing into life.

With these wonderful things there are all kinds of distractions from blogging but I just wanted to reassure you that I'm not going cold on you!

Here's a little round-up of what's going on:

Running
I have taken things a little easy since the MK Marathon on 6th May.  I have enjoyed a few short runs of 2 or 3 miles to give my 51 year old legs a chance to recuperate a little although it has to be said, my recovery has been better than expected.

Apart from just a little stiffness in the 24 hours after the race, I have been absolutely fine apart from my sleeping pattern went up the creak for 4 or 5 nights afterwards.  I mentioned that to a running acquaintance who said that is fairly common.  As for myself, while this might be true, I have no idea why.

While there is nothing particularly remarkable about running a marathon in just under 4 hours, I'm still enjoying the memory of the event.   It's one of those things I won't need to have regrets about when I'm in my 90s - I'm sure there will be plenty of other things I'll be wishing I'd done while I had the chance.  I'm still pretty chuffed at myself.

Perhaps running a marathon is the hopeful goal of many recreational runners?  There are so many around these days and I think it's great.  Some far more capable than me, others wobbling their way along as they shed some surplus weight - I see myself in them from a few years back.  There is every reason for us all to be encouraged as there is so much to gain.  If in doubt check out my reasons to run.

We spotted an opportunity recently which was about being trained to become a running coach / leader through England Athletics.  Just so happens we are away when the next free training course will be (but live in hope of another later on).  The idea is that the Local Authority pays for ordinary people who have a passion for running, just like me, to be trained in leading a group of novice runners.  I think there's an expectation you generate a certain number of runners yourself but the powers-that-be could also put people in touch with you.  That strikes me as being a brilliant move - working strategically to get people into running shoes and out there pounding the streets and trails.  Click here for further details.

Stress
Very unscientific I know but I can feel my stress levels rising at work.  Is this because of cutting my running miles back and I'm not handling the stress, or, is there more pressure around anyway?  Could be.....

Twitter!
At work I have been given a corporate Twitter account and just starting to figure out how to use it.  So with this in mind, why should I have my own?  No problem apart from (at the time of writing) only having 3 followers.  So please feel welcome to follow me on https://twitter.com/TheCycleHub_net. I promise you'll get other things, apart from "ramblings".

Cycling
With all this running going on, not to mention the dreadful weather we had earlier this year, my bike has been collecting a little dust.  In fact I have barely done 100 miles all year.  That's now changing as my running will be "ticking over" for the summer as I clock up plenty of more miles on two wheels.

Jeremy holding himself back

Even yesterday I went for a 7.00am blast with my friend Jeremy.  It was just for an hour and we clocked up 16 miles including a deliberately steep hill.  He tells me that it's a Category 4 hill in the world of hill climbs.  As we were out early on a Sunday morning the roads were so quiet - blissfully quiet.  It meant we could ride alongside each other and talk easily.

While it felt good being on the bike again, it has to be said my cycling muscles need some development!  Jeremy, on the other hand, has been clocking up lots of miles on his new super-dooper Trek road bike and is way ahead of me.

We were thinking about doing a C2C ride again this year.  Both of my daughters are keen to do this, although they do have different approaches to cycling and this makes it difficult for me to "herd" them along and staying together.  As much as I'd love to do this, it may have to be planned for next year as I have already taken quite a bit of annual leave from work.

Holiday - yay!
Next week we're going to France for a little holiday.  We're looking forward to it and all the holidays we've had over the years have been great when we have gone in the May half term.

We are taking an overnight ferry from Portsmouth to St Malo and naturally we're taking the bikes as we head into Brittany.  Hoping for a slightly slower pace of life, some great opportunities for some runs and and bike rides in what will be an all-too-brief break in the business of a hectic life.  I have a dream that Rachel and I can find some quiet moments to put our feet up and have some more dreamy conversations.