Weekly roundup

I've had some students drop out at my Saturday school, so now my Saturdays are free. Not exactly ideal in some ways, but considering how busy it can get during the week, I'm glad to have an extra day off. I've been having a cold on and off for the past two weeks, and lately it seemed to have come on again, but this morning the nagging need to go running prevailed over other needs.

I ran up to Ally Pally in 18:10 - the last minute or so was up a steep incline, in contrasting effort to the languid stroll of the visitors to the Knitting and Stitching Show held there. The route there from where we are is about fifteen minutes along roads, before reaching the entrance to the park where the only people you'll usually meet at that time of day are either fellow joggers or people walking their dogs. Then before you know it, the only way is up. I had the option of stretching out the run by venturing further from the top but decided that the state I was in, I was best to be cautious, so I turned back and ran into town until 30 minutes had elapsed and did some errands. No doubt the pace was slightly under 8 minutes per mile but I'm not bothered. For the next couple of months the running goals will be: (a) to run, and (b) to run for time. I'll leave running for distance and pace until we're well on the other side of the year.

I've been focussing on weights and also intend - while I put running on the backburner a bit - to do more stretching. I'm fortunate that my body still realises I need to stretch and hasn't accepted the lack of flexibility as the norm.

My neighbour had someone illegally park outside his driveway, trapping his car within. He came round in the middle of the night knocking on ours as well as other houses to see if the car was ours, then left a note on the windshield. The car was there for four days. My neighbour's car remained trapped in their own drive for that same amount of time. I don't know why he didn't call the local car pound to get it towed away. In this part of the world, car clamping, car removals and ticketing are easy money for cash-strapped councils - within two hours after I got off the phone to them, the car had disappeared. I don't know how many more days my neighbour would been willing to stick it out for.

One more week before mid-term break. I hope to get some running in the next week, which is relatively easier than the norm. In the meantime I'll continue to seek more tips about "Running on a Time Budget".

Happy running and have a good weekend everyone!