Hello May!

Hello May! It's been a bit of a weird few weeks in my little corner of the world--we've been both overwhelmingly busy yet not having enough work that's actually paid.  Combine that with recovering from bronchitis and I'm not sure if I'm coming or going lately! Stress levels have certainly been at an all-time high.

Good news is that the bronchitis is mostly gone, the cough only returns if I've had a hard workout or if the allergens and/or pollution are exceptionally bad.  I'm also making some (slow) headway with the Of Runsound Mind project.  Part of it is experimenting with slogan t-shirts and at the moment I am using Teespring for the US and Fabrily for the UK.

This is my favourite

I've also been taking the gopro out and attempting to get some running video...the key word is 'attempting', my results thus far have been less than stellar.  The footage looks awesome on my screen after editing but the end product on youtube was blurry and fairly un-watchable. More experimentation is required but it's looking like the purchase of it 3 years ago was not a good decision because we've simply not gotten the results expected from something that cost approximately $300 (USD).  What it has been useful for though is the occasional still shot.

Back to t-shirts (and other fitness kit) Buy T-Shirts Online* is a very good resource especially if you are purchasing in bulk. They have the usual technical fabric shirts in a variety of colours but I liked the Stedman Active Sports-T because it's wicking but looks and feels like cotton (it doesn't appear to be available at the moment though). I'm wearing the shirt in the video below so it will give you an idea of the fit and I will review the others as I get a chance to try them out (the flu and subsequent bronchitis kind of put the kibosh on most of my workouts). 

Video experiment

*I was provided with the opportunity to review my choice of workout kit from Buy T-Shirts Online, they sell more than t-shirts although that is what I chose because of wanting to see how my logo would look on various active wear fabrics. There is a large variety of brands and styles available so everyone will be able to find something to suit. They will certainly be who I go to once I get my own dye sublimation transfer setup. 

Available in other colours and styles at Teespring or Fabrily

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.