Don't think I helped my alertness levels by getting merrily pissed on a visit to see my family this Friday evening. I forgot how cheap a night out I am when my running mileage creeps up. I had half a bottle of wine and one can of cider and I was plastered. I don't recall what happened in Friday's Gogglebox, but I can tell you that based on my viewing experience through wine goggles, it was conclusively the best episode EVER! Also, if my relationship with A evolves into anything like that of the posh couple from Sandwich, I will know that I have won at life.
Have a peek at this week's shuffly shenanigans:
Mon - Rest
Tues - 4 miles + CrossFit
Weds - CrossFit (meant to be a rest day, but this one involved hitting the crap out of a big tyre with a sledgehammer. No ruddy way I was going to miss that one. Je ne regrette rein).
Thurs - 3 miles
Fri - 1 mile (yeah, I don't know either. Maybe I copied the training plan down wrong)
Sat - Rest
Sun - Run Like a Ninja + 10 miles.
Today's 10 was bloody lovely! If spring was a furry animal, I'd be squeezing it. I love that there's a hint of warmth in the air, but that it's not too hot to do anything in it. Everything's better when the sun's out. All the greenery goes HD, and people are transformed from miserable wastrels to chirpy beer garden dwellers. Look how pretty today is!
Not the best of photographs, but you get the picture. Pun intended.
...At least you can't see the shopping trolley on the bank. Why are there always trollies in rivers?
I took my time today. Focused on relaxing and just enjoying myself. When it got a bit tough, I walked for a while, adjusted my form and carried on my merry way. It was nice. Only thing that drove me mad was that my good mood kick-started the jukebox in my brain, making Everything is Awesome by Tegan and Sara (that one off of the Lego Movie) play on a loop in my head. Enjoyable at first, but by mile 8, I wanted to stick twigs in my ears and wiggle them about in hopes of finding the "off" button. Here's a short taster of what I endured:
Everything is Awesome - Tegan & Sara feat Lonely Island
Fortunately, my good mood gave me warm, fuzzy feelings to concentrate on too. The first five miles were spent ambling along Swansea's seafront with a dippy smile on my face as I ruminated about how much I love my city. I proper loves it, I do. I had plenty of time as I weaved through other joggers and smiling families to compile a list of why living here makes me silly-face happy. Here is a shortened version of said list:
1. Is it a city? Is it the countryside? Oooh...
Swansea is one of those rare cities that strikes a nice balance between urban and rural. If I want to plonk one foot after the other on concrete, I can mosey on over to SA1 and marvel at the shininess of its buildings. If I want to feel like I'm in the wilderness, all I have to do is pick a nearby mountain to scramble up. And have you SEEN the seafront? We've got beaches, bitches!
2. DOGS!!
I'm not allowed a dog in my rented house/glorified shoebox. I'm not allowed a cat either, but we'll keep that one between us, faceless Internet. Shh. Fortunately, everyone else around here seems to have at least one dog, so there's always a loveable looking mutt within petting distance. I'd like to think I'm getting alright at this adult-ing business, but in the presence of a dog, my brain short circuits and turns me back into 4 year old "OHMYGODISTHATADOGGYCANITOUCHIT?!" Becky. I'm getting better at controlling it, though. I can usually tone it down to an intensely goo-eyed grin at a passing canine. Until I remember the canine is highly likely to have a human owner attached to it, who is judging me for looking at their dog like I want to steal it. That's because I do want to steal it. People can be very perceptive sometimes.
3. Nothing is far away
Swansea's nightlife is the best example of this. 99.9% of its bars are one one street, making it easy to ping-pong your way down a single stretch of road, where there is inevitably a weary taxi driver with his door open, ready to catch you and return you to your house - the place where your bed lives.
4. It's byootiful!
Dylan Thomas put it best, calling Swansea an "ugly, lovely city". As it modernises, Swansea's quickly becoming much, much less of an uggo. It's the ugly duckling of cities. Which, now that I'm typing it, I'm realising is kind of a perfect analogy. Doesn't the ugly duckling turn into a swan? Swan? Swansea?
Holy crap, I just blew my own mind.
5. Students!
I don't care what people say about students. Students make a city awesome. If my liver and bank balance could still handle 4 consecutive nights' drinking a week, whilst holding down a part time job (granted, much of my time working in Debenhams' restaurant involved me "going to the fridge to get something" to ease my pounding headaches and nausea) and attending lectures (but only the ones that start after midday), I would do it all over again. Students make a city busier, more creative and more vibrant. Plus, I'm pretty sure that without them, there wouldn't be half as many coffee shops,and that would be a goddamn travesty.
Hope you're enjoying the sunshine too today. I have to go now, as I have been promised a lasagne/mexican food hybrid. Mmm. Everything truly is awesome.
...Aww, fuck, it's back in my head! Gettitout, gettitout!!!!
