Welcome back! It’s been a while hey! I hope you’re all happy and well. There have been quite a few changes since my last blog post on here. Yes, I’m still running though, phew…. Nothing quite that dramatic. However, I’m temporarily not in China anymore, so perhaps I should work on changing the name of this blog to something more apt? Long story short: I’m currently back in Australia working on two main exciting projects that I hold very dear to my heart: first and foremost, and the reason I needed to actually be in the country is this: my novel, Bacon Sleep Sex is about to be released as a paperback edition!! Not just digital/e-book! I am hugely excited about this and therefore will be hosting a book launch party here in beautiful Newcastle, NSW, later in the month to celebrate and help promote the book (get the word out!). Check it out here: http://www.amazon.com/Bacon-Sleep-Sex-Lois-Wood-ebook/dp/B00PR4B9E0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1433130215&sr=8-1&keywords=bacon+sleep+sex
The other exciting news (for me anyway) is that I’ve taken up my online nutrition business (circa 2011) once again. Have a gander at: www.lousweight.com.au if you’re interested in having your own personal nutritionist (that’s me!) who can help you to either lose weight or plan your healthiest diet and lifestyle yet using your favourite foods and specifically designed for you. I give my clients a super unique, personalised service and am there to support and encourage them every step of the way on their journeys, implementing real advice and recommendations that really work. I also do one-off nutritional analyses, so if you’ve ever wondered about your own diet and if you’re meeting all the daily recommended values of vitamins and minerals, for example, then shoot me an email. I’d love to hear from you.
The other main thing that is occupying my time (other than trying to finish my second trashy novel, full-time work, and catching up with friends, phew…) is, wait for it…: marathon training! Yep, that’s a shocker isn’t it. I am all set to take part in the Gold Coast Airport Marathon 2015 in just under 5 weeks’ time, so my early morning and weekends have been (happily) taken up by regular runs and long runs in preparation.
Some of you may remember that last year I also ran in this event, however I ran the half marathon, aiming to beat my previous half marathon pb (which I did! By a whole 8 seconds, lol… A pb is a pb, right?). This time around I will be running the full distance and again aiming for a pb. My pb for a full marathon is currently 4:04, so this is the time I’ve set myself to beat. Watch this space!
So, I should tell you about what I considered to be a major fail the other day (but one that I’m totally at peace with now). As part of my marathon training, I thought, ‘wouldn’t it be fun to run in at least one proper/official race before the big race in July?’ As luck would have it, there was (conveniently enough) a half marathon the very next weekend down in Sydney (about 3 hours away by train). Perfect. I registered just in time, and found a cheap(ish) hotel right near the start and finish line (as the starting time was 6:45am and they said to get there at 6:15. Yeesh). So far, so good. I then enlisted my Girl-Besty Annie to come and be my substitute Coach/husband/cheer squad for the race (you may remember her from such times as: the Gold Coast half last year, and copious other blog posts! She is just awesome. I love her to bits). We would get the added bonus of a fun outta town trip together too (Annie: if you’re reading this, I’m so sorry again about the robe fiasco!).
Jump to the weekend in question: I’d picked up my race gear (read = just a bib, not even a flyer or a t-shirt; what the?!) and we’d checked in to the hotel and then went in search of one of our favourite things to do together: food-on-a-plate (= awesomely tasty food served to us in a restaurant, i.e. on a plate and not a handheld burger or sandwich, for example. FYI: a halloumi burger and chips if on a plate in a restaurant definitely counts as food-on-a-plate! A delicious time indeed). All was going swimmingly. That is, until I awoke bright and early the next morning and hobbled, yes, hobbled, to the bathroom to start getting ready. What was going on?!? What was this extremely painful stabbing sensation in my right heel?!
I limped around getting dressed and making coffee for a while before it occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, I shouldn’t actually go ahead and run the race that morning. I weighed up my options:
1) I could run the race and the pain could dissipate and I’d be fine, or just a bit slower than usual.
2) I could run the race and the pain could either get worse or I might fuck my foot up for a long while afterwards, who knew…
3) I could forfeit the race and go back to bed and ‘rest’ my heel/foot until it was better.
Panicking slightly at the prospect of having a bonafide running injury for weeks potentially, if I say, ran on it that morning anyway and then it could get worse and I could be out of action for weeks while recovering; I ‘sensibly’ chose option 3. I went back to bed (in my full running outfit no less: an ode to the race I’d be missing).
So, consequently, I got my first DNS (did not start): much worse than a DNF (did not finish) – I didn’t even start!
Although I think I chose wisely at the time, you can imagine my annoyance (with myself) when later that day, probably by ten o’clock that night, my heel was miraculously better and I was walking fine again, no trace of the limp from early that morning. However, I suppose that’s life: sometimes we’ll get a DNF or DNS, and sometimes an unexpected random heel pain can appear and fuck up your well-crafted plans. A good analogy for life in general, but the take home message is this: you may suffer unexpected annoyances/injuries that seem pretty rubbish at the time (shit happens) but soon you’ll be up, up and away again, and there’s always another race (or opportunity). Roll on the Gold Coast Marathon in July then! My chance to acquire an acronym of an entirely different sort (specifically: PB or PR).
I’ll be thinking of my beautiful, wonderful coach and husband while running this next race, and wishing he was there too (he’ll still be in China by then I think, although there’s always my hope that he’ll be able to make it back here. He’s busy building Earthship-esque houses for some friends in the countryside near the uni, planting seeds and demonstrating permaculture concepts to some of the villagers there, teaching hundreds of students each week and looking after our dog. I am so proud of him and happy for him, despite missing him every day. If you’re reading this Husband: I love you and miss you and can’t wait to see you in July for your birsday. Also, really wishing you could come to my book launch party, but to unimaginatively quote the Stones here: you can’t always get what you want. Hey-ho. Life is beautiful and full of surprises for us.
Thanks for reading, everyone, and I’ll be back soon! Happy running and living. xxx
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