Since my foray into the world of ultra marathon running (surely I mentioned this to you? Full disclosure can be found in my back catalogue) and a spectacular running fall brought about by tiredness and inappropriate foot wear for mud, I have spent the following weeks recovering and predicting that I may have the potential…

Ultra Proud

For someone who bangs on about running all the time, it is odd that I still do not view myself as a runner. I never say that I have ‘competed’ in lots of running events, I say I have participated in some days out which involve running with friends. I may have been ‘turning up’…

Big Girl Pants

Once I start sleeping through the night again, I intend to muster a punch of the air and begin wearing big girls pants once more. It has been too long. After a year of abortive property purchases, I am now officially doing adult ‘stuff’ again; I have a mortgage, no savings and I am feeling…

A ribbeting read

Coming to the end of a two-week retreat from the excitement of teaching, I realise that I have spent much of the last 14 days in my own little fantasy world, a planet with an estimated population of one – just me. This is no bad thing for I have enjoyed the respite, but the…

Stepping back

The clocks go forward this weekend and although I probably should ‘lean in’, as I limp into the Easter holidays I am in reflective mode; I have decided to take a step back to count my blessings and to get a different perspective. I had accredited the need to take my foot off the throttle…

No running away

Thankfully March sees me feeling more upbeat – good news for our loyal reader, for they will stop visiting this blog if I continue in my recent vein of pity chic lit. In truth, nothing has really changed in terms of the door I am pushing against (mainly house purchase but I will resist a…

Advice I can’t give

Recently I read the advice that a 28 year old journalist believed she would give her 18 year old self – if she could only get the young lass to sit down and listen. One of her recommendations was to, ‘take advice almost exclusively from women in their fifties’. For a moment I felt flattered,…

Delightful

If I come across as someone who is wishing her life away, please know that behind this Miss Trunchbull exterior, I still chase unicorns and rainbows – and the odd dragonfly. Admittedly, sometimes I get distracted by work, a pesky house purchase and an over-thinking approach to my personal life. On these days the effort…

Reset

Every year I brace myself for the tsunami of ‘New Year, New You’ memes, blogs and reels which chase my algorithms on social media from the moment Big Ben embraces the arrival of January 1st. I am quite partial to a little reset – I am not even adverse to a little nudge in a…

Back up

Since last Sunday, I have been admitting to myself that I have only one more year in which to use my ‘fifty-something’ tag-line on this blog. On my birthday, I wake up to snow – I read this as a metaphorical warning – and decide to make the most of things for another 12 months…