Live and let live

I can’t say that without Axel Rose belting through my head. Ear worm for today then…  Yesterday I came home from work and the first thing my daughter said to me was ” Well, who did you judge today?” Jesus h . Now there’s a question. First of all, I asked her ” Where’s this coming from?”  ” That list” she said, as she pointed to a list I’d stuck to the fridge.

For the past few weeks I’ve been trying to be more ” mindful” I know, I can see some of you rolling around on the floor laughing. But, do you know what? It’s working… to quote another admittedly annoying saying( Dec, you just love this one) It works if you work it😀So anyhoo, the list was given to me by a friend and by friend I mean Freud based nice lady I go to talk to. One of the ways of being more mindful is to notice when you’re judging someone and then saying to yourself ” just like me” So, for instance, Jesus, that person is so self involved, they are talking so loudly on the phone on the bus ( have I NEVER done that?) I had a good think about it and yes, we are constantly judging others or even just comparing ourselves. I’m glad my daughter asked me this, it’s not enough to have the list on show…gotta put it into action( sound familiar?)

On the running front it’s a bit stop and start but that’s ok. This time last year I was in full triathlon training mode. No races planned for this year but as soon as the water heats up a bit we’ll get to Lough Owel for some open water swimming 🙂🙂 Really looking forward to that! I’ll leave you with a pic I took a while back of a run I took with Holly lovely hound, I can’t take her out running now as she’s deaf and nearly blind and the last few times she’s just gotten lost and been a bit of a liability to runners/cyclists. Have a safe fun weekend lovely people.

Pride in the name of…well, pride.

I’ve just been for a run, a pretty remarkable run really. Well remarkable in that I didn’t vomit. I almost did, the only thing stopping me was pride. There were 2 Sunday drivers up my arse. I can’t believe my fitness is back to where it was about 3 years ago, well that’s how it feels.So why should it be any different? I’m 47, haven’t run for nearly 4 months bar the very odd dreadmill session and some long walks. I really need to have a word with myself. Pride ain’t my friend.

Job done, move on. Run again tomorrow. Get a program (another one) stick to it and be grateful. And remember pride comes before a Huey.

The art of mindlessness.

On our way back from a rugby game last Saturday, we spotted a pair of gold stilettos dangling from a telephone wire in what is known as a rather affluent pair of Dublin. I wondered was it some kind of ironic take on the hanging of trainers from telephone wires in less well off parts of the town. This,for those of you that don’t know is a sign that criminal gangs work in the area and is thought to mark a ” patch”  It made me think of my own trainers and how unused they have been for the past 3 months.

Cinderella must be fuming

The result of not running seems to be that my back feels pretty good…but that’s physical. On the nogaroo side my head has been in a bit of a spin. So I went over to the online learning site futurelearn.com which has a fantastic range of free online courses. I signed up for a 6 week mindfulness course which was pretty great, even for a cynic like me. I’ll tell you what though…it ain’t easy(no,no,no…) My mind wanders…ALOT. But I’ll keep at it, if nothing it’s sending me to sleep.

Thanks UM for this book, he’s even more cynical than me…but he also runs faster.

So,what’s it to be? A bit of both I hope. I’ll go out tomorrow for a gentle run and try to be gentle on myself if it doesn’t go so well. I believe self compassion is where it’s at.