Half year report – could do better, much better! Since the champagne corks popped on NYE and I did a wrap up of 2018 this blog has been in a dormant state.

What have I missed? Seems WordPress has a new block editor feature, need to explore that more so have reverted back to Classic for now.

So what I have been upto ? A quick round up here then I will catch up on race reports.

New year at home rather than Scotland as our hosts retrurned south and ended up lodging with us for a few months. Bought a new car. Passed 6 month probation at work. Been on a gin cruise. A weekend in the Lake District. Weeks holiday at home. Got four new chickens and Mike extended the chicken run.

Activity / fitness: The torn tendons in my wrist took much longer to heal than I hoped but I managed to get out on a new years day for a run to start the year on the right foot. We had snowdays which was great fun walking the dogs. February was unusally dry and we got out on a few bike rides and the annual 2p trip to Cheltenham lido for opening day swim.

Last minute I decided I would run Weston-Super-Mare half marathon, this had been cancelled last year due to snow. As an inaugral event it didnt disapoint – mixed terrain, a few hills, run along the beach and finish at the end of the promonade. Fish & chips, medal and t-shirt for all finishers how good is that !

A few weeks later I was totally side swipped with Shingles ! It literally came on over night, call 101 told to go to doctors, put in isolation room, came out with a weeks perscription of anti- virals, 5 a day size of grapes.  As I got the drugs within 12 hours I got away lightly only being off work for 10 days but was wiped out for 6 weeks. I didn’t walk the dog for 3 weeks, just sleep, work, eat, sleep.

Shingles derailed my race season – but I managed to salvage most events one way or another, defer Gatwick half to next year, swop solo entries to relays for Lakesman or changed to events later in the year.

Did my first swim/run event which I was drated in with a weeks notice – a fun adventure race for sure!

Race reports to follow:

• Weston-Super-Mare half marathon
• Cotswold 113 – I was a relay swimmer
• Lakesman half relay
• SWYD sim/run middle distance

I have had a couple of sucesses shooting and won a team prize and from National Ladies Shooting Day a holidy cottage in Cornwall.

A weeks holiday at begining of July we decided to have a stay-cation in UK. Mike and I have day trips and went to Concord museum and also SS Great Britain, both had amazing audio & visual elements that took you back on board both iconic transport types which were innovators of their time. There was even authentic smells – luckily of the bakery onboard the ship not the cow sheds or latrines! I took to the lakes on paddleboards as well as swimming as we were so lucky with the weather so BBQ virtually every day.

Next up the annual Pirates weekend away in Nottingham for Outlaw, relay swimmer then local meetup and camping at Cotswold Classic so will add those to my race report.

Asthma report: the current combination of drugs & inhalers is a winner ! Little to no requirement of Ventolin. I’ve sailed through snow, cold, heat and exercise with no major symptoms and peak flow steady.