Long time, no see

You know that feeling when you haven't been in touch with someone for a long time, and you really want to write to them, but you don't quite know what you'd say if you did? That's how I feel about blogging, at the moment. Where should I start? How do I explain my long absence? Is it worth reconnecting?

Things are fine. Life's just been incredibly busy the past few months - with very little time for reflection or writing. Brief trips to Charlottetown (for work) and Ottawa (for fun) ate up some of the time. After our stay-cation in August, work got hectic and I spent a good deal of time visiting the chiro in an effort to heal my hip before we left for Scotland. Thankfully, the treatments worked so I was able to enjoy all the hiking and walking we did there.

I took a lot of photos in Scotland - something like 1300 - which is completely ridiculous. I've just started going through them and plan to delete at least half, then select a much smaller number to feature in three or four posts about the trip. Look for the first of those sometime next week.

Running? Well, running's been difficult for awhile now. As I mentioned in my second to last post, I was having a good deal of discomfort for a long time before I did anything about it. After several painful but effective ART and acupuncture sessions with Dr. Warren, things began to improve but it wasn't until we got home from from vacation in mid-October that I began training in earnest again. And, wow, it felt hard - which surprised me a little. After all, I've been running regularly for years and - as recently as late July - was still doing long runs of 16-20k most weeks. Surely, I hadn't lost all my fitness that quickly!

When I thought about it, I realized the real issue might be my weight. I've put on another three or four pounds in the past few months. At 5'5" and 122 pounds, I'm not chubby by any means but my muscles aren't used to carryng the extra freight so, coupled with a loss of fitness, running is a good deal harder than it used to be.

Fortunately, now that I've been running regularly for a few weeks, it's starting to feel more normal. I tackled a 10k run along the river today - my longest run in since July. I can't say it was easy, and I'm pooped this evening, but I'm definitely feeling better. Thank goodness. Autumn's my favourite time of year and it would suck if I couldn't get out and enjoy it.

So, now what? With winter looming, I'm determined to pick a spring running goal and organize myself to train properly for it. Husband's on board with the idea and has offered to support me any way he can, which is wonderfully generous given all the projects he has on the go.

I haven't settled on a race yet but I think I'd like to make it a full marathon since I haven't done one in a couple of years. Sis-in-law is keen to do Cabot Trail Relay at the end of May but the marathon I have in mind is the same weekend so I don't think that's in the cards. In any case, it's probably best to focus on a single event. I love CTR but it takes a huge amount of time and energy.

The other thing I have on my mind is writing. I'd really like to take part in NaNoWriMo again this year but realistically I don't have the time or energy. Work's been frantic lately and I just started a time-consuming Christmas knitting project so writing every day in November simply isn't practical - which is too bad. Scotland generated heaps of story ideas. I hope I find the opportunity to use them at some point.

So, there, you're all caught up now. Sorry I haven't more exciting things to say after my long absence. Here's hoping my tales from Scotland are more entertaining.

To close, a photo of our feline housemate, Nemmie, in honour of Halloween and National Cat Day. She's been much more affectionate since we got home, which is a very nice change.

Happy running and writing, friends!