It has been over two months since I last wrote here, well anywhere actually. I had good intentions of getting some writing done during NaNoWriMo but in the end being sick drained me of any desire to do anything, plus took the majority of November away. December then steam rolled its way through. Christmas, New Years came and went so quickly I couldn’t believe it.

They say time flies when you are having fun, but it seems it also flies when you are just going about your life. I keep trying to make time slow down, to fit more in, to accomplish more, but it keeps marching on at its usual pace. Some days it feels like I win a little, others not so much, but maybe we are finding a mutual balance.

To add some extra craziness to my time/life balancing act I am dog sitting, Ricco for S&S. They are off gallivanting for two well deserved weeks in Mexico – I am dealing with a dog who isn’t sure where he is, doesn’t like the racoons that live under the house and likes to get up really early. I love him, but come on, I don’t need to be up until after 7am, anything before that is cruel.

I’ve also started taking a Learn To Run clinic, to try and ease back into the running I started but, due to a serious ankle sprain, had to quit over a year ago. So far I am on heading into week three and other than a slightly strained shin things seem to be going well. Each week brings longer running vs walking time, I’m hoping my body will be able to remember how much it liked running and keep up with the group.

Hopefully this entry won’t be just another update before I fall off the grid again. Perhaps between dog sitting and my running clinic I’ll at the very least have something to write about if not daily then every other day. I keep letting my hobbies fall by the way side due to mental exhaustion after work, I need to remedy that. More writing, more photography, more reading, more running.

Remember that running thing I was doing? Well it has been rather sporadic as of late due to various causes. One of which was a sore knee last week, though we still went out and I shuffled along.

Tonight Indigo Eve and I were good and despite the cold temperature and damp fog out we went.

I made it through our 8 sets of run 3/walk 1, made it all the way back to my main street. Then spasms and cramps in the back of my calves.

Can you say ow?

I got back to my place and tried to stretch them out, strangely though that only seemed to make it worse. I have a sinking feeling that I am going to be waking up in the middle of the night with very painful leg or foot cramps. Not looking forward to that.

I’m glad we went out, felt good to be moving, but I think my subconscious threw off my running form because I haven’t had this problem before. I’m going to blame it on the lecture from last night, my subconscious trying to put into effect the good points she made about posture and centres of gravity.

Still though I would have preferred if my mind had done that at work say and not when I was just trying to have a nice run. All I ask now is that I sleep through the night and can walk tomorrow.

I could not be more glad to see the end of this week, it was too long, and too boring yet at the same time seemed too filled with things that needed to get done and no time to do them in.

To celebrate the end of the week I decided to let Indigo Eve talk me into going for a run. My knee was still bothering me a little so we took it easy, but still accomplished 40 minutes out in the cold. My knee is still a little achy, but as long as I don’t wake up in pain tomorrow I think it is ok for me to gently jog on it.

To celebrate that we went shopping, at Winners. Now anyone who knows me well has probably heard me say the following: “I don’t like Winners, it gives me hives.” Not in the physical sense but in the emotional sense. It is mostly due to the crazy people that always seem to be in there, the ones looking for that AMAZING deal which they can only find if they have an attitude of “Get the hell out of my way” or “screw you” with regards to the other shoppers.

I did manage though to spend almost an hour in there tonight, it helped that the store was empty other than a few shoppers and some staff. We browsed through the active wear, shoes and picture frames. No luck in frames or shoes, but I did find a nice black merino wool shirt by Merrell and another running shirt from Nike.

Not too bad eh? Ok the picture of the Merrell shirt isn’t great – internet wouldn’t give a good picture, but you get the gist.

After our shopping excursion we headed back to where Indigo is house sitting to relax by the fire, eat some French fries, a muffin and coffee, and watch some TV.

All in all not a bad way to end the week. Now though it is way past my bedtime.

Well I didn’t die. Though my ankle has been rolling itself and causing me a little bit of pain since I got home. Not to mention my other ankle and my hip were a little achy but that is left over ache from the snowshoeing escapade.

We started back at 2:2 for 32 minutes. Didn’t cover the distance I would have liked, but it was the first night out. There is only up from here.

Tomorrow will be a month from the last time I went for a run. Not once since the Jingle Bell Run have I been out.

I would say I feel bad about this, but I don’t. What I do feel bad about is how painful tomorrow is going to be when Indigo Eve and I head out for a run. We are both back into our regular routines and have used up all our excuses for not getting out. (Yay for snow melting!)

This means it is time to get back on track and figure out what that track is. I still haven’t decided if I want to run in the 10K that is at the end of April, something about running surrounded by people puts me off. I have no problem with the working up to the 10K of running part, but the 10,000 other people, no thanks. Still goals are good and I know that Indigo wants to beat her 10K time from last year. I might just be there cheering again though.

Tomorrow though we start getting back out there. I’m still a little sore in places from falling in all those tree holes on Saturday but I think moving my muscles will help a bit.

The rather scary thing is that I think Indigo is planning other exercise type things for us to do, that alone might have me running – in the other direction.