Junk Miles

Junk miles is an odd term, everyone seems to have their own interpretation of it but I always have thought of them as miles that aren't serving a specific purpose in your training.  Of course with that it means most of mine are junk miles but I'm ok with that.  Today was a good example of it, when it started snowing with great big giant fluffy snowflakes I was just itching to get out and go for a run in it despite having a track session* planned for tonight.  Sod's law though, by the time I got changed and ready to go the snow stopped falling! Did that stop me? Silly question! I did decide to stop and take a few pics since I wasn't supposed to be running.

Yes, the fields are that green and the sky was that blue

Hello swans, sorry no bread for you

Making tracks

*Just as well I went for a run, while writing this I got the message the track was closed tonight due to being snow covered, health and safety and all that.  

Blooms a'blooming and swans a'nesting

My first spring in England and it's been a glorious year for it.  Apparently it is slightly milder than usual and the sun the past few days has been blissful even though it fakes you out and makes you think it is much warmer than what it really is.  The back garden patio has been getting some use both as a place to sip our tea and coffee while basking in the aforementioned sunshine and as a workout area--the latter has greatly relieved my partner because he has been having visions of me losing grip on a kettlebell mid-swing and it flying through the French doors or front window, lol.

Another thing I'm enjoying about here are the endless blooms. I'm sure I'm driving people crazy on facebook with my constant pictures of various flora and asking them to identify it for me.  Spring in the US midsouth is gorgeous but there has always seemed to be a two week time limit on the life of jonquil and daffodil season (I might be exaggerating a little) and here they are still going strong a month after I first noticed them blooming.  Since these are my favorite flowers this makes me a very happy woman every time I'm outside.

The mutts and I also discovered that it is swan nesting season on a walk along the nearby canal trail. The one closest to us is disused as a waterway and that means the swans are able to build their nests in the middle of the canals.  Expect lots of pics in the coming weeks of the progress since there are two nesting within a mile of our walk.  The 2 photos I have are from my phone but we will be venturing out with the good camera soon in order to get better quality ones.

I haven't mentioned it here but I became a certified Nordic Walk Leader through the British Nordic Walking/INWA course at the end of March.  To borrow another fb quote from right after I got my certification, "I can't teach you but I can get you lost!" I was told quite firmly though that getting people lost during sessions is kind of frowned upon, lol!!!!  I am very much enjoying the nordic walking and looking forward to learning how to run with them soon, best yet I'm meeting people that I wouldn't ordinarily get a chance to chat with during our Tuesday morning classes.

All in all, life has been quite good lately. I have had several adventures that need to be blogged about and just as soon as I find the memory card reader so I can transfer images from the camera to the computer then hopefully I can get some posts up soonish. 

6 weeks

Today is my six week anniversary of living in England, guess I should have done the one month commemoration post thing but that would mean me actually noting the date and then acting upon that info. Alas, remembering dates are not my thing and I'm a bit of a procrastinator.

Adjustment continues, in some ways it feels like I have been here forever, at other times it feels like an extended vacation which I'm sure is exacerbated by still not having the majority of my belongings.  There were two moments of pms-induced homesickness last week that had me hiding out in the back garden and crying, I am sure there will be more of those to come.

Would have been helpful if I hadn't packed these in the boxes to be shipped

The exploration of the canal paths and area via running is amazing, I surprise my partner (and myself) at times by pointing out places and landmarks that I've discovered.  Monday I found a site where people write about their memories of various villages and it was incredibly cool to be able to say "Oh, I know where that is" in reference to the local area.

Feed us or move on

exploring and Access ALL Areas

What a beautiful start to the day, the sun came out to warm things up slightly and cast a gorgeous glow over everything. Made it much easier to get out and run than yesterday.  The canal trails closest to my house are no longer in use (which means you don't have to worry about tripping over barge stakes) but today I took a fork on the normal path I run to cross over the rail lines and found some more canal paths along a minor waterway. This means I also found a great place to run stairs on the foot bridge over the rails whenever I become so inclined as well as being able to admire the local graffiti ;-).  

Elsie had her first introduction to swans when two swam over to us looking for bread crumbs.  She stood there wagging her stub until one hissed at her, she took a few steps back then edged closer again more tentatively then decided she might ought to stay far away after the second hiss.  I also took my first fall, was admiring the canal lock when I caught an uneven edge of concrete and down I went. No blood spilled though. Then Elsie and I kind of hit the runner's groove where you zone out and we didn't hear the cyclist coming up behind us who was being perhaps a little too polite with his bell, lol. I apologized profusely and even if he might have been cursing me in his head he didn't display it verbally.

If you get a chance go over to a friend's blog, Access ALL Areas and show her some support please. Watch the video! It's very eye-opening and displays a tiny bit of her wicked sense of humor.  I hope she does more of these.