Where Did the Week Go - W/E 11th May 2024

This week got off to a quiet start, on account of the Bank Holiday. We don't normally go anywhere or do anything out of the norm, due to traffic on the roads, etc. and anyway, OH was cycling on Saturday and Sunday, so I spent most of the weekend pottering about at home.

When he got back on Sunday, we did make a quick dash to a DIY store before it closed, to get some supplies for him to get the shed base ready, for when the shed arrives in a couple of weeks. 

On Monday, OH came with me for my Couch to 5K run. He's currently recovering from a hamstring injury and needed a slow short run. I think it was a lot slower than he expected!

Anyway, when I got back I got changed and then headed out to do the weekly shop locally. I was working later in the afternoon, so there wasn't time to go further afield.

Work was pretty busy, so passed okay. I bought a few bits for OH's birthday later this month, as there was a bigger discount than usual for staff. 

I did my usual class on Tuesday. LB came home for a few days just before I headed off, which was great. It was lovely to see her again. She had some written work to do for Uni, which she could do whilst she was at home and we were planning to do some last bits of shopping before the family wedding, which is coming up in a few weeks time.

When I got back from my class, we could catch up properly, until I had to go into work in the evening. She was busy with her Uni work anyway, so it worked out well. I was only due to work on Monday and Tuesday this week, so luckily I had the rest of the week off. 

On Wednesday, I had a chilled day. I did do an extra long run in the morning, which took 35 minutes. I needed to try to push on to prepare for the 5K, and try to get nearer the target of 5K, as I was running less than 3 km on my runs. I needed to know if I could run for longer. It didn't feel too bad actually. 

I only had 2 or 3 runs left before the event, so I decided I would extend my runs  each run, until I was covering 5K in distance. As you can probably tell, I'm a ridiculously slow runner, but I'll just be happy if I complete the run and preferably run the whole distance, regardless of how long it takes. I will, of course, be at the back of the pack and if I find I need to walk a bit I will, but I don't really care too much about that. The only person I'm running for is myself, to see if I can actually do it.

On Wednesday evening, OH and I watched Race Across the World again. We love this programme and would love to do more travelling some day, when we get the chance. LB managed to finish and submit her Uni work on Wednesday, which meant that we were free to head off shopping the following day.

We set off on our shopping trip around 10.30 am, driving to a large mall 20 miles outside of London. We'd not been to this mall for years, since LB was small, as we tend to go to a more local one that's since been built, but we specifically went here because I'd bought LB some bras online to wear at the wedding, but when she'd tried them on they didn't fit, so I needed to return them and this was the easiest place to do that and do the shopping and other things that we needed to do. 

We didn't spend that much time in the mall. I got my refund and we managed to find some bras that fitted and then we had a little look in Primark too, but didn't really find anything we wanted to buy. We then went to Supercuts and both had our hair cut. I was happy with how mine turned out and so was LB. It felt like a win to get these two things done. Anything else was a bonus.

Next, we headed to the outdoor retail park, so that LB could pay a visit to Hobbycraft to buy some yarn, as she wanted to crochet a shrug to wear over her dress for the wedding. Whilst she was in there, I did a small shop in Home Bargains next door.

We made one more stop, which was on the way home, to my absolute favourite large out of town charity shop and we both had a good mooch around. I found quite a few tops there for work, for the summer months, the gym and other occasions. I bought 8 tops and 6 books for £23, which I thought was great value. I'll do a separate post about the things I bought. There was some filming going on in the store, which created lots of activity, which was interesting.

On Friday morning, I headed out for a run after the dog walk. It was my last run of the week, so I ended up running a bit longer and virtually running 5K, well 4.75K, so at least I know I can just about do it. It was midday when I ran though and very hot. Although I tried to keep in the shade, there often wasn't much. I was a bit red faced (not from sunburn) and my legs were like jelly when I stopped running, but I felt better knowing that I was only a few metres from running the full 5K.

LB headed back to Uni in the afternoon. It had been so good to have her home again so soon. We'll next see her at the wedding. She's taking the train up to meet us in Yorkshire, as she's at Uni the week before and can't get away early. We're heading up early to pick up a camper van en route, in which we'll all be staying for the duration of the wedding. It should be fun.

On Saturday, OH was out cycling again so I took the dog out. When I got back I decided to do a bit of housework and cleaning, which felt productive. I watered and fed my houseplants and potted some of them on, which I'd been meaning to do for a while. I then spent a couple of hours pruning in the garden. There were a couple of corkscrew hazels that needed a bit of attention, as they were getting a bit overgrown. It felt good to get these under control again, although the garden didn't look much different afterwards.

OH then got out a new BBQ that we hadn't used yet and put it together and made our supper on it. Beef steaks with air fried potatoes, which was nice, before we settled down to watch Eurovision.

This week passed so quickly, I guess it does when it's filled with nice things like spending time as a family. Next week, will be all about the 5K run which takes place on Saturday. I'll be glad when it's done if I'm honest, as it has taken up a lot of my mental and physical energy lately, but I do want to enjoy the experience too. I'm looking forward to possibly running without a goal in sight, as and when I feel like it once it's done.