This update comes a little late,
but I have got lots to tell you (some of it crosses over into this month but whatever)...
Career
I have an announcement to make.
After careful and prolonged consideration, I am leaving publishing to pursue
teaching. This is not a decision I have made lightly, and I can tell you it was
a genuine shock when I realised… I really miss teaching. I like my job,
but it doesn’t give me that sense of joy that comes from being in the classroom
– I thought, when I was teaching, that working in publishing would give me that
spark, but it seems I had it all along. I’m sad because I spent so long trying
to get into the industry, and of course I’ve considered if it is this role
specifically, but even the idea of editing doesn’t fill me with excitement
anymore. I know many people will have a strong view on my decision, and it’s the
same as when I went to Uni in 2008 and dropped out – at the time it was
terrifying, but it was the best thing I could have done. So, the studying
begins again…
Hair
Still no dye! It’s been 10 months
now. My hair is so much healthier from lack of colouring and chopping
off a large chunk of it – I’m not saying I’ll never dye it again, but I’ll
certainly be more fussy about the dyes I use. I haven’t missed ‘fading anxiety’
(I made that up but serial hair-dyers will understand).
French
Maxx and I came back from the
World Equestrian Games last week (blog post to come), which meant spending
every evening with his family, so I had plenty of chances to practice my
Franglais. Although my French isn’t perfect, I’m certainly more confident when
speaking.
SJ competitions
I finally had an SJ lesson!
Ernest was a little unfit at the time so we only did 25 minutes - instead of 45
- but it was fun! I felt all wobbly and unsure of my riding after such a long
time off, but Ernest still sailed through the air like Pegasus. Since my
lesson, I’ve been upping Ernest’s exercise to get him back on form, not that he
minds cantering around fields. I’ve entered 3 dressage competitions, 20th
September, 11th October and 29th November, but haven’t seen any
unaffiliated SJ competitions advertised recently. At the Games, I may also have
bought Ernest some fabulously sparkly blue ribbons for his plaits, in
anticipation of the dressage competitions…
Running
We’re 31 days away from the half
marathon now, and I’m starting to feel excited and nervous. I went for a run on
the course by myself last night, to conquer my fear of the big hills – it worked.
The loop I did took 74 minutes, which I thought was extremely slow as my route
was only 4/5 miles; I drove round it afterwards and was pleasantly surprised to
find it was actually 7.2 miles. I managed half of both hills, but with another 3
weeks to go I’m sure I’ll be able to improve on this. Last night was a real
battle with the voice in my head, which tells me how painful it is, how much my
ankle hurts, how I won’t be able to do it, how tired I am... I did walk a few
times, the longest for about 2 minutes, but I made myself get going again. I’ve
developed an even stronger voice, which sounds like an army commander, who
positively screams at me that I can do
it, I will do it, I’m doing it for
Rio, for Claus, for Jimmy, for Princess, for Lassie, for all the hounds at
Hersham, and I am not going to quit! Going
out alone, with only myself to rely on, was a rewarding experience and I can
now say I’m looking forward to October 5th. I ain’t scared of no
hill.
Body Fat
The BFF Challenge required me to
lose 2%, and if I failed I have to do kettlebell swings to failure. Well, I’d
been eating 100 times better and running a lot, but I’ve put on ¼%! What
surprised me more was my reaction – I’m completely OK with it. Unlike the last
BF update, where I’d put on 3% because of eating like a hog and felt really
disappointed in myself, The Smiling Assassin and I attributed this gain to the
high-carb diet I’ve been on since upping my half marathon training and the lack
of weightlifting. Even though this wasn’t the result I wanted, I’m going to
continue my healthy diet and see if my body fat goes down again once I’m off the
carbs. If it continues to rise, I’ll look into it...
New Country
Maxx and I are going away with
friends next year, and then with family, but if we can afford to we’re aiming
for a long weekend in Ireland.
