On Sunday I will take part in my latest 10k race. Regular readers will know that I’m under no illusions as to actually winning. Or even placing in the first thousand, as it goes. Finishing is always a little bit of a surprise.
However, it’s fair to say that I’ve been getting my hopes up again.
Recently, while viewing my latest run statistics on Strava, I scrolled down my feed to find an ‘On this day 4 years ago’ notification, letting me know that this time (April) fours years ago I’d ran a 51 minute 10k. Now for a lot of people that’s not particularly quick, even for some in my age group. I was staggered though.
I’m not one for remembering personal bests and stuff like that, but I was taken aback at this 51 minute revelation for a number of reasons.
Firstly, I couldn’t remember being this quick. Secondly, this would have been under 6 months before I would collapse with heart issues (in the security queue in Manchester airport!) and I would have been suffering with the palpitations that would ultimately lead to having a pacemaker fitted 7 months later. And finally, because since having said pacemaker (and being ‘fixed’) I’ve struggled to break 55 minutes, let alone 51!
It left me feeling perplexed, to be honest. A little bit amazed that I’d been running so quickly (for me) at that time, but also feeling quite annoyed at what having a pacemaker has done for me. That’s a feeling that I can get quite often and I’ve decided that there’s no point dwelling on it. After all, it most likely saved my life, so running a bit slower shouldn’t be too much of an issue. Which is where getting my hopes up comes in…
This coming Sunday I’m running the Pontefract 10k. I’ve had 7 whole weeks of training and have been able to get out for most of that on more than one occasion per week. For each of those weeks I’ve managed at least a 10k training run as well as another shorter one and sometimes even a bit of something else like yoga or a walk. In short, training has gone pretty well, which is far from usual for me. For the last couple of years it seems like I’ve been either ill or injured coming up to a race and have rarely stood on the start line feeling like I’m going to do myself justice. And so I’ve been getting my hopes up.
Sunday’s weather doesn’t look too bad. A suggestion of rain, but barely any wind. I know the course quite well and although it’s hilly so are my training routes. And training has gone well over these last 7 weeks. I’ve not got a cold, nor am I feeling signs of any sickness at all. I’ve even got a new inhaler! I’m not hopeful of getting anywhere near that 51 minutes, but if I could get in under 55 then I’d be thrilled. Fingers crossed that after what can feel like endless uphill sections during the last 3 miles, I’ve still got enough in the legs to put in a big finish over that final mile or so. I’ll let you know how it went. Wish me luck!
Most Saturdays, I spend a couple of the morning hours volunteering as a marshall at one of our local Park Run events. Apart from the early start, it’s easy enough and usually quite good fun as well as being set in the wonderful surroundings of Oakwell Hall Country Park. Even in the rain, it’s a beautiful place to be.
So, as usual I was looking forward to our walk up to our marshalling point a couple of weeks ago. We tend to take the long way round – got to get those steps in! – which takes us over a couple of streams and eventually up through the woods and up to the highest point of the park with its brilliant view of the surrounding area. But this week there was something new to feast our eyes on. Art. Art, everywhere!
We’d noticed some new additions a few weeks ago as what appeared to be the ‘legs’ for new signage was in place. But now, things had been completed with the addition of massive replicas of some old classic works of art. So, before we’d walked more than a few yards we’d been treated to a bit of Van Gogh!
A bit of research revealed that this was part of the ‘Art on your Doorstep’ exhibition which is running at Oakwell from April until September this year. Apparently there are 14 reproductions of National Gallery paintings now positioned around the park. Each one features some accompanying text which is a collaborative effort between Batley Girls School, Ravenshall School and a local walking group called the Friday Wanderers.
I’m a little bit of an art fan and we’ve been known to visit the odd gallery across the years, including going to the Alte Pinakothek in Munich a few years back where we saw Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’. So, imagine my surprise when we turned a corner at Oakwell and there it was again!
When we reached our marshalling point we found that right opposite where we stand was another painting; this time it was Turner’s ‘Rain, Steam and Speed’ which I’d never seen before and was an obvious attraction for many of the runners as they passed. It must have made a nice change from our faces and inane clapping, I suppose!
Once the running was done we took a slight detour on our way back to the start in order to search out any more art and were lucky enough to stumble across Monet’s ‘The Water-lily Pond’…you know, the one with the bridge!
We only managed to see 5 of the available artworks during our time at Oakwell that week but we’ve managed to search out a couple more in the last couple of weeks. And we’ve been tipped off as to the location of a few more! It’s a brilliant initiative and well worth a look if your near the park any time between now and September. It certainly brightened up our rainy morning.
With Winter almost over the horizon and turning to give its last wave until it sees us again at the back end of the year (or sporadically from August if you live in the north), Spring had undoubtedly brightened things up. So, last month had a few more than just the regular five things to smile about!
My birthday. One of the first things I had to smile about was my birthday. I normally don’t really care about it that much and find that the family make much more of a fuss than me, which in its own way is of course very nice. However, this year felt different. Firstly, we didn’t make any plans to go out because there was torrential rain for the whole day. In turn, that made things all the more relaxing. One of my presents was tickets to see The Shawshank Redemption at a theatre in Leeds, which I was really pleased with. But then I realised that I’d never watched the film. None of us had. And so, we spent my birthday afternoon together, snacking and watching what is largely felt to be one of the greatest films ever released. It was a wonderful way to spend my birthday.
Local paper steals my headline! I could have got quite annoyed about this, but in the end it just made me smile. It came about because a local journalist put a story out on Twitter (sadly now X) about Newcastle’s Champions League tie in Baku. The story referenced a song that our fans have been singing for years, to the tune of Que Sera, Sera – ‘Tell me mam, me mam, I won’t be home for tea, we’re going to Wembley’. So, a celebration of a certain achievement where the ‘tea’ and ‘Wembley’ rhyme. But for his headline the journalist had just ended it with Azerbaijan, which doesn’t rhyme with ‘tea’…or with much at all! So, I left a comment saying wouldn’t be better as ‘scran’ (a dialect word for food) instead of ‘tea’. The journalist got back to me saying that I was right. Later however, the newspaper that said journalist writes for sent out a link to an article about our fans being in Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital, using my version of the song as their headline! Have a look for yourself!
Abandoned island for sale. This was a story I read about an island that has been put up for sale. It’s in the Dwyryd Estuary in North Wales, very close to where we go on holiday every year. Apparently there are 17 acres containing a farmhouse that is in need of major renovation. Had I have been 20 years younger – and a lot richer – I’d have been tempted to have a look and maybe even put in a bid!
Spring. Plain and simple. The nights are getting lighter. As are the mornings, come to think of it. Having had the last few months where I’ve been leaving for work in the dark and then heading home in the dark, it’s very much smileworthy to not have to do it anymore! Spring also means that I can see new life everywhere and – old romantic that I am – I really like seeing buds come back on to plants, flowers appearing and the like. They’re just a sign of better things to come.
The Alternative Guide to Qarabag. As I mentioned previously in this column, Newcastle United played a Champions League tie in Azerbaijan recently. And, as I write for a Newcastle fan site, I was inspired to write a piece on this. However, rather than write a straightforward preview of the match I wanted to do something different. Many years ago I wrote for another Newcastle website and what we wrote was largely silly, imaginative (made up) pieces that looked at the club in a very different way. So for my Qarabag piece I decided to write an alternative guide which mixed a small amount of factual stuff with loads of made up bits about Qarabag. It was just a piece that I hoped would raise some smiles and maybe even a few chuckles. More than that though, it gave me the chance to write something completely different as well as rolling back the years a bit and remembering writing in my twenties without a care in the world. The piece is on the link below if anyone fancies a read.
The Qarabag result. Qarabag 1 Newcastle United 6. The game was played over two legs and we won by an aggregate score of 9-3 in the end. However, that first game was superb and we were absolutely ruthless. Suffice to say, after all of the build up, it left me with a big smile on my face!
Marsden Moor. At half term me and my son ventured out past Huddersfield to take a hike across the beautiful Marsden Moor. It was a cold wet day, which was bad enough, but when we got up onto the moor it wasn’t long before we encountered snow. We were well equipped for what we were doing though and so the snow didn’t really provide an obstacle. What did hinder us was some badly worded instructions and a wrong turn that not only took us about a mile out of our way, but also led to us tackling some very narrow and steep paths. And of course it was at this point that the rain decided to properly lash down as well. Despite the conditions, despite painful feet and ankles from my boots and despite how tired we both were, the day was brilliant. Spending that time with my son was time incredibly well spent and there were smiles throughout the day.
Jigsaw puzzle lovers raise £15k for charity. This is a great story. During the first Covid lockdown Lynn Pearl and her husband Gideon started a puzzle library where people could lend jigsaws. This has now grown from the 80 they started with to over 3000 mainly donated jigsaws that are lent out at £1 a time. On average 40-50 jigsaws per day are loaned out at their village hall and this has led to them donating over £15k to local food charities across the years.
Chris Ramsey. Chris Ramsey is a fantastically funny comedian and we were lucky enough to go and watch one of his gigs last month in Halifax. Obviously you’d judge a comedy show on how much you laughed, but when you come out and your face aches with laughing, you know it’s been a brilliant night. Handily, I’ve added my review of the gig below, if anyone wants to find out about the gig! Comedy Review: Chris Ramsey at Halifax Victoria Theatre.
So, lots of positives found in February, which was a good job because the weather was horrendous! I hope some of it made you smile too. On to March and to see how much I’m smiling once that’s out of the way!
It was Helen Keller who once said that “Life is either daring adventure or nothing at all”. And after receiving an email at work just before Christmas I was pretty sure that I was going to end up on some kind of daring adventure while knowing nothing at all about what was going on. So, she was right in a way…
This was the email.
Hi Graham,
We are going to have a fuddle for Kayleigh in the department meeting next Thursday.
If I send the list of what people have already agreed to bring, please could you let me know what you will be able to bring so I can make sure that we have a variety?
Many thanks,
Sophie
P.S. You’re my hero.
The hero thing was no big deal. I find that happens regularly, especially when I make it up. But my reply to the rest of it was more a less just a massive ‘WHAT THE HEY?’
A fuddle. A fuddle? I must admit that I took a deep breath and clutched my pearls at such an unknown entity. And not only were we having a fuddle, but I had to bring stuff in order to make sure we had variety in our fuddle. This wasn’t the kind of thing I wanted to be part of. I mean, I’ve only been at this school for just over a year and I’m really quite a shy boy.
It turns out though that a fuddle is a Yorkshire term that refers to ‘a communal bring and share buffet’, apparently. These are especially common in workplaces at times like Christmas, so at my Yorkshire workplace we were ticking every box imaginable with our fuddle.
The funny thing was that I’d never before heard the word ‘fuddle’. I’ve lived in Yorkshire for almost 30 years and no one has ever mentioned fuddling, let alone invited me along to one. The lack of a previous invite bit doesn’t surprise me at all as I try to cultivate a face and attitude that says, ‘don’t include me’ throughout every waking moment. But it felt weird that everyone was so free and easy with their fuddling and yet I’d never heard it mentioned once until now.
The fuddle still felt adventurous to me though, despite just being a bit of a gathering. I still over thought how much fizzy drink to get and what flavours and I still had, as usual, an acute sense of dread at mixing with other people in such a setting. I wasn’t very well though, so kind of kept my distance and just sat quietly eating the odd chocolate based snack despite my lack of appetite.
My fuddle induction was complete a couple of weeks later when our shower stopped working and we had to call in an electrician. When he arrived he was with his wife and explained that he didn’t do many jobs anymore, but just liked helping people out. He’d stopped working so hard due to health issues and his wife had given up her job to help out, which I thought was an amazing thing to do. Later though, he made a joke about taking his apprentice – his wife – out for a Christmas fuddle as a reward for all of her hard work. It was a good line, but I fear he must’ve been a bit quizzical about how much I laughed! I mean, how was he to know that this was only my second fuddle ever?
Anyway, happy fuddling to you all!
NB: Thanks to Sophie and Ruth for their fuddle expertise!
Another month, another search for the little moments of happiness that are always waiting to be found. With daylight in a bit shorter supply this is the time of year that has the chance to affect my mood the most. I go to work in the dark and come home in the dark, which isn’t very good, really. So, what made me smile last month?
Puffins return! This was a story I read about a colony of puffins returning to the delightfully named Isle of Muck in County Antrim for the first time in years. Apparently, following a programme of rat eradication that started in 2017, combined with the fact that the council now keeps the vegetation low, thus providing less cover for predators, a small amount of puffins has been seen nesting on the island. Puffins are an at risk breed of seabird, as well as being really cute, so their return and attempts at breeding is a real plus. This made made smile, but nearly as much as when the article also informed me that baby puffins are known as ‘pufflings’!
Football and a bin brings joy to lunch break! Another story I spotted, this one. This is the tale of workers at a factory who have livened up their lunch times by devising a football based game that they spend playing on their break. It was something that they came up with about ten years ago, but a video of it went viral and now the world knows all about it. One of the organisers of the game, Connor Fathers explained that they had just thought, “we’re spending every lunch break just staring at our phones, not talking to each other, not doing anything. There’s got to be more to lunch than this.” And so, bin game was born, the premise being that if the group can keep the ball up four times they can have a shot at the bin to score. You maybe have to watch the video to understand the joy behind it, but this really made me smile because it’s exactly the kind of thing I’d love to be doing in literally any spare moments, let alone lunch times!
“Do we have to keep renewing this?” Every year, as part of our efforts to promote reading, the school where I work gives every Year 7 student a free book. They get to choose which book they’d like from a selection and then we order them and have to endure “When’s my book coming?” for several weeks after! My class got theirs in the middle of November and despite the questions and the fact that they all knew that they were getting a book, the reactions were priceless. What made me smile the most was the disbelief that they’d just get to take it home and keep it, with more than one of them going up to our librarian and asking, “Do we have to keep renewing this?”. Let’s just hope that they carry on reading as a result!
Garden mural. This was a story I read about a 94-year-old woman in Somerset who had the front of her house painted over as a garden scene, featuring flowers, a lawn and even insects. The woman, Muriel Baker, says that she can’t garden anymore and so the mural on her house makes it seem like she’s living in a garden instead and gives her the enjoyment that she would get from tending one. All round, just a nice story, really.
Running! The final thing that made me smile last month came on the very final day of November. However, it was a ‘smile’ that had been in the making for a full month or so beforehand. On November 30th, I ran the Leeds Abbey Dash, a 10k race in central Leeds, taking us up past Kirkstall Abbey and then back down to Leeds for the finish. Running wise, it was fairly successful. Given prior illness and injury I was more than happy to run it in just over 54 minutes. Even then though, it was only thanks to the staggered start times that I even made it to the start line as the traffic going into Leeds meant that it took me well over and hour to get there. Thus, I missed my actual start time and had to start two times later, if you get what I mean. Still, I couldn’t help but smile given that I’d only managed to complete two 10ks in training – one at 56 minutes and the next at 55 minutes. Sadly, a day later I put my back up reaching down to pick up some washing! Then I picked up some kind of chest infection which is still refusing to budge more than a couple of weeks later. Sometimes, if you don’t just smile at these things, you’d end up crying!
So, there we have it. Proof positive that there’s always something to turn that frown upside down!
It’s that time again! Time to remind that despite the gruff exterior, there are occasions that make me crack a smile! I write this piece every month in order to remind myself and anyone else who needs it, that there’s always a reason to smile. September was a decent month too, so there are more than just the usual five too. You might call it a bumper edition!
Period 6 Frees! As a teacher, I sometimes find myself living for my free periods. The job is never not demanding and having my room to myself just to sit and work is always a blessing. This year, I’ve been rather fortunate, depending on your point of view. We have 6 lesson days at my school and on three of those days I’ve been lucky enough to be given the last lesson of the day free! I love it! Firstly, it gives me a goal to get to. I’m in my 50s and this job tires me out, so if I’m finished teaching before the end of the day that is just wonderful. I can relax and just get stuff done and this also means that I spend a little less time after work planning and marking. I also get to avoid some of the worst behaviour of the day too! And the best part? I have last lesson on a Friday free…all to myself…just me, the radio, an empty classroom and as much work as I can get through to start with planning for the next week.
Fantastic Forests. I’m a sucker for a lovely view. And I love a walk in the forest, having sampled a fair few across the world over the years. So an article on the BBC website about the most fantastic forests across the globe was right up my street last month. There were some that I’ll never actually see; the Jiuzhaigou National Park in China and the Amazon are either too far away, too dangerous or both for someone who might only explore them in retirement. However, the Hallerbos Forest in Belgium with its bluebell woods is close and very appealing.
The end of the Transfer Window! As a massive Newcastle United fan it felt like the whole focus of this year’s summer transfer window was on us and the sale of Alexander Isak, who memorably sulked and went on strike in order to force a move to Liverpool. A great role model for today’s youth, right there! Every day of summer was dominated by the story and it became quite exhausting really. In the end, he was sold for a British record transfer fee and, to be honest, it was just a relief in the end. Good riddance!
Couch to Team GB! This was the story of mum of two, Emma Broadhurst who recently captained the Team GB Triathlon team at the European Triathlon Championships in Turkey. Now that might not seem like that big a deal until you find out that Emma only started exercising again a few years ago after putting on weight having had two children. However, after not being able to stick to her exercise schedule she then entered a triathlon and joined a local triathlon club. With the camaraderie and support that she received Emma found that she was doing really well and then, two years later, found herself being called up to Team GB having finished second at an event in Cardiff last year. Emma is only 35, yet still a bit of a veteran in athletics terms and so this was a story that was bound to make an oldie like me smile!
Wor Flags. For the uninitiated, Wor Flags is a fan funded group that organises flag displays (tifos) at Newcastle United home matches. They’ve been going for a few years now and have held some incredible displays that help with the atmosphere in the ground on matchdays. Basically flags of all shapes and sizes are dotted around the stadium with frequent appearances by themed surfer flags that can sometimes cover entire stands or levels of stands. In my humble opinion, Wor Flags create the best displays in the UK. The one that made me smile last month – and once again feel incredibly proud to support my club – was displayed before the home game against Barcelona in the Champions League. Rather than banging on about it, I’ll just post the photos below. A thing of beauty.
Colourful towns and cities. I read an article about towns and cities that don’t shy away from a bit of colour and it made me smile. To get to our favourite beach when we’re on holiday we have to walk through the harbour of said town and most of the houses are painted different, vibrant colours. It’s just a lovely, lovely place. Then, about a week after reading the article I read that they were bringing back the children’s TV classic, Balamory. If you don’t know of it, Balamory was a fictional Scottish town full of happy-go-lucky characters who lived in a place where the houses were painted different colours. There was a lot of singing of catchy songs too. Again, just the mention of Balamory and the thought of all of that colour and remembering singing the songs with my kids when they were much younger made me smile!
And there we have it; a bumper (2 smiles more than usual!) edition of ‘Always look on the bright side…) and hopefully at least one thing to make you smile. Until next time; keep smiling!
So, here we are again. Back searching for the various positives in life and sharing them with the intent of possibly brightening someone else’s day. A piece I write every month, usually with the aid of a few notes written on a scrap of paper kept on my desk and added to every time I find something that makes me smile. Here’s July’s good bits!
The world’s strangest houses. I read the BBC website most break times at work, just to take me away from thinking about work, marking, the next class and stuff like that. Their Uplifting Stories section always has something to raise a grin. Last month featured the world’s strangest houses and as someone who always wanted to live somewhere cool, but ended up in a dull brown box – not literally, don’t worry – this caught my attention. The houses include a tiny wooden structure built by teenagers on a rock in the middle of the river Drina in Serbia, the mushroom house in Cincinnati which does exactly what it says on the tin and the Llama house in Argentina, which is quite an unusual building anyway, while also having a massive llama sculpture right outside which is as tall as the house itself. My favourite though had to be the Bug House in Albuquerque, which looks kind of buggish, has a library and a gallery as well as being ‘guarded’ by metal stegasaurus sculptures.
The end of the academic year! Quite simple, really. If you can’t get on board with smiling at being finished work for 6 weeks, then we probably can’t be friends. Anyway, it was a really tough, but thoroughly enjoyable year which I’ll write more about soon, but being free to not have to get up for work for ages and ages more than helped and definitely made me smile!
I painted our bathroom ceiling. Sadly, the summer holiday doesn’t seem to be allowing a great deal of holidaying as we work like trojans trying to go through the whole house sorting things out, completing long overdue jobs and throwing out stuff that causes clutter. But it’s ultimately ok, because I can get up when I like and I don’t have to go to work. One of the jobs I’ve done is painting our bathroom ceiling which, preparation included, took a whole afternoon. But every time I go in there now, I smile!
Lemur babies in Telford. Another story from the BBC. Ring tailed lemurs are a critically endangered species so although these two babies were born in captivity, it’s still great news. The babies were born to different mums, Rakoto and Abi, but have the same dad, Alfie…which to be totally honest raised another smile entirely! Here’s one of the babies below. Tell me that didn’t make you smile!
Our holiday in Wales. It’s not particularly glamorous and we go there every year, but I absolutely love it. To be sat on one of my favourite beaches makes me feel completely relaxed. I can read a book, chat to one of the family, play games, go for a walk or go for a bit of a paddle in the sea and I don’t think of any kind of worries or stressful stuff at all. We go to a village on the Llyn peninsula in North Wales and for me it’s one of the most beautiful, unspoilt and unfussy places going. And this year I managed to go for an early morning run down one of the longer beaches, ending by clambering over some rocks at low tide and over onto one of our regular almost hidden coves completely on my own. What a way to start the day!
And there you have it. Five more reasons to smile and five more reminders to me that it’s great to be alive! I hope you enjoyed my little bit of positivity.
It’s that time again! Time to see if I can help anybody out with a bit of something more upbeat. Every month I make a note of the kind of things that raise a smile in my day and then at the start of the next one, I relay them to you, dear reader. So here are June’s little moments. Oh, and there are seven for the price of five this month!
The sun. Granted, there have been a few days and nights where it has been far too hot, but it’s just lovely to get to this time of year and feel the full warmth of the sun. Especially when you live in northern Britain, where we can go for weeks fully convinced that it’s not actually up there any more. So, despite the fact that it’s led to some pretty sweaty classrooms and a good few uncomfortable sleeps, it’s been lovely to feel the sun again. Here’s hoping that it can stick around for at least a couple of months.
Night time walks. I’ve been struggling to sleep now that the temperature has risen. It’s also affected my running habits; I find running with a pacemaker in this heat can feel absolutely dreadful. And so, I’ve taken to going for walks at night. Usually we’ve been going out after 9pm, either myself and my wife, myself and my son or just all three of us. It isn’t working in terms of helping me sleep, but it’s good as I can’t go out and run so much, so it keeps up a level of fitness. The best of it though, is that it makes for some lovely chats, especially with my son who I don’t always get to chat to, such is his status as bedroom bound typical teenage boy! I really love spending time with my family, so these walks have enabled a bit of that too and that’s definitely something to smile about.
My son finished his GCSEs! This made me smile because it doesn’t seem more than a few minutes since I was helping my wife edge across Leeds to the maternity ward while she was in labour with said son! Fifteen years on – he’s 16 this month – and he’s just finished his formal education. Reason enough to sigh and exhale forcefully at the perceived speed of it all, but also reason enough to smile.
The Leeds 10k. It’s not been a great year running-wise, so far. Just illness after illness and barely enough energy to get through the day, let alone go out running. Thankfully, I focused myself on a month of training, determined to get into a fit enough state to get round the Leeds 10k. And I did it! It was quite a tough one on a relatively warm day, but I got round in a respectable enough time, so I’ll take that. So although I was shattered as I crossed the finish line, it wasn’t long before I was smiling. I’ve written a blog about the day that’s on the link below if you fancy reading about it.
Discovering Folk Bitch Trio. I listen to a lot of music. Perhaps not as much as before having a family, but still a lot of music. At work, one of my daily rituals involves listening to BBC 6 Music whenever I get a chance. It’s on as soon as my laptop is up and running in the morning and then back on as soon as I have any non contact time. 6 Music plays a huge range of stuff and this means that I’ll inevitably discover stuff that I’ve never heard before. Usually I make a note of the artist and or song on a Post It and then take that home for Alexa to work her magic. The brilliantly named – and brilliant – Folk Bitch Trio are my latest find. They remind me a bit of First Aid Kit and Haim, both of whom I really like.With Folk Bitch Trio, I enjoyed their music and loved their name. All in all, they made me smile partly because of their name and their music, but also because discovering new music or even old stuff that I’ve never heard is always a reason to smile for me.
New runners. Short and sweet, this one. I’d been after some new running trainers for a while now, but didn’t fancy paying ridiculous money. So, I’d been looking for offers and discounts to help me out while reading a lot of reviews to find what might be the best pair for me. I’ve had a pair of Saucony Ride 17s for a while now and love them. However, I’d got a deal on them and they only cost about £70. Anything comparable now was looking like costing me well over £100. And then, out of nowhere, Sportshoes.com sent me an email with 30% off certain brands and after a bit of deliberation I got some new Saucony Ride 18s for £90! They’re bright orange and beautiful and I’m looking forward to wearing them in and covering lots of miles in them!
June’s gone! Don’t get me wrong; I have nothing against June. But the reason I’m able to smile about it waving goodbye for another year is that we have two family birthdays in June. Again, it’s not that I don’t like the people or their birthdays. What I don’t like is the pressure I put on myself for buying presents for my wife and the pressure that also comes from my daughter’s birthday, which is always a big deal and comes just two days after my wife’s. Life towards the end of June is just chaotic and so, frankly, I’m smiling again now that it’s July!
So there we have it. Proof that even in the smallest things we can find something to smile about…even when your legs feel like they’re going to fall off and you feel sick while dragging yourself up one last hill!
So, here we are again. Delving into the everyday positives that can be found…even if you tend to wander round with your head in the clouds like me! It doesn’t take much to find something that will be sure to make you smile.
So what did the trick in May?
Toddlers named World Puddle Jumping champions! I mean even without the detail there’s enough to raise a smile even with the headline alone. However, last month I read about Eli and his twin sisters Maia and Neeve from Northampton whose mum had submitted a video of them jumping in puddles to the organisers of the World Puddle Jumping Championships. The championships are run by Wicksteed Park, a tourist attraction in Northamptonshire, who decided that these muddy puddle loving siblings were the winners. There’s no trophy; winners receive a cuddly toy and tickets for a family day out at the park. Let’s hope it’s raining that day!
Star Wars Teabag art! This was such a great story! Artist Caroline West has been busy making miniature paintings of Star Wars scenes on tea bags. As someone who loves a bit of art and is also a Star Wars fan this one was always going to make me smile. Caroline first dries the teabags out, empties them and then irons them flat before painting her masterpieces. And they really are fantastic. Apparently she has created 30 tiny paintings and given them all Star Wars themed names like Brewbacca and R2Tea2.
Another artist! Drawing London using a fine liner. I’ll say it again – I’ve always loved art. I was reasonably good at it as a kid (and can still turn my hand to it a little bit nowadays) but I really admire people who can paint, draw or even take great photographs. This time it’s an artist called Jack Nolan who has drawn the whole of central London using only fine liners. And he’s spent nearly 1000 hours doing it! This raised a smile mainly because of how good it looks, but also for the amount of skill and dedication involved in getting it just right. Have a look for yourselves!
My daughter arriving home. Not as simple as it sounds, this one. She hasn’t just got the bus back from work or something. I’ve mentioned in a previous ‘Five Things’ how proud I was that she’d sought out adventure in her gap year by travelling to South East Asia and exploring Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore. Well, in the middle of May she returned! There were lots of tears (not mine!) and laughter when we picked her up from the airport, but mainly this was just an enormous reason to smile. Not only is she safe and well, but she’s been through a whole raft of enormous experiences that, as she enters a bit more of the adult world, I hope will stand her in good stead for what she’s got to come in life.
I became a superhero…finally! I started a new job at the beginning of this academic year. It’s an all boys school in an entirely new academies trust after I left my old place having become frustrated with the trust that I was working for. I didn’t feel valued, which struck me as a strange way to treat someone with nearly a quarter of a century of English teaching experience. I was assured by friends who worked at my new place that our trust was vastly different and it didn’t take long for me to realise how true this was. Within a couple of months I was more happy than a middle aged man should have been to be named Star of The Week at our school, with the Head teacher waxing lyrical about me in our meeting. He’d sat in on one of my lessons with a particularly difficult group, so it was great to hear so many positives. And it’s continued with plenty of people having good things to say about my teaching over the last few months. A couple of weeks ago though, things got even better when I was named as a ‘Staff Superhero’ on a document that was sent across the whole trust! Again, lots of nice things were said about me and even at my age it’s lovely to get a bit of credit for hard work. Such pats on the back are not why I do the job, but still, it’s nice to feel valued at any time, really. I’m still waiting on my cape and lycra costume though…
So, there you go; proof once again that even though you might have to upturn a few stones and look a little harder than you might like at times, there are always positives to enjoy and things to turn that frown upside down!
It’s been a bit of a difficult start to the year in terms of health and fitness. It started with me catching some kind of bug just after New Year, which pretty much knocked me for six. It felt flu-like (I promise it wasn’t just the mythical ‘man flu’) and really didn’t help in preparing for the term ahead at work, as well as the new year in general. And it’s been largely downhill ever since…
A few Sundays ago, I was meant to be running the Pontefract 10k, easily one of my favourite races of the year. Training hadn’t been going well though and the most I’d ran in over a month had been 4.5 miles, which was a long way short of what I needed to complete for a 10k (6.2 miles). Still, despite the lack of miles in the legs I’d resolved to run and just give it everything I had in order to get over that finish line in a half decent time. And then the Saturday before happened.
On the Saturday before the race, I woke up feeling fine. I’d had a decent sleep and was up and showered early and ready to go. The usual Saturday plan is to head to a local country park in order to volunteer for ParkRun or just get some washing in and then head to the supermarket to do the weekly shop. With my son busy revising, it meant that we wouldn’t be volunteering, so once the washing was in I headed to the supermarket where, up to a point, everything was going swimmingly.
Suddenly though, as I headed to the checkout, I felt violently sick and my stomach was turning more than my washing machine. I dumped my trolley and ran to the toilets, just in case – can you imagine the eternal shame of throwing up in your local supermarket? Nothing happened though and so when I felt a little better I rescued my shopping and went and paid for it.
It happened again though, almost the minute that I walked in through my front door. To cut a long, repetitive story short, I ended up in bed, sleeping like a baby for the next couple of hours. On waking up, I realised pretty quickly that I wouldn’t be making the trip to Pontefract the next day.
This was the second race in two months that I’ve had to pull out of. The first one, in April, was just because I felt extremely tired. I didn’t even really want to race, having done the same one last year and hated every second of it! It was only bloody mindedness that made me enter again!
And so, that Pontefract Sunday was spent trying to pick myself up from feeling low and working out how to put things right. I had four weeks until my next race – the Leeds 10k, which is always fantastic. I decided just to take a slightly different approach and resolved to think less about times and distances and just make sure that I get out and run. No excuses, no pondering and deliberating and talking myself out of things…just get out with a minimum distance in mind and run. Hopefully fitness would come and as the race approached I would be able to start preparing properly and getting some longer distances in.
As I write on 2nd June, it’s been going well. I dragged myself out and did a post work 5k on the Monday evening after having missed out on Pontefract and I’ve been keeping going since then with 4 runs in total as well as several long walks and some yoga. My latest run was a Friday morning 10k which was nowhere near as tough as I’d expected and although I was slightly irritated with my time (just over 56 minutes) I’ve told myself that it doesn’t matter and that if I can run under 55 minutes for the Leeds 10k, then that will represent a bit of a triumph.
Hopefully, by the middle of June I’m approaching some sort of fitness. In an ideal world I won’t be struck down by another bout of mystery illness and so be able to just slowly build my strength back up. It’s been good just to give myself a kick up the backside and adopt a ‘no excuses’ attitude.
Roll on Sunday 15th June and the Leeds 10k! Fingers tightly crossed until the actual day though!
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