Happily Ever After

Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, three cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running

Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.

Home Again

by Russell Turner - 21:26 on 04 December 2017

We’re home (since yesterday) and nothing’s changed, including The Pride which seemed to find our reappearance cause for neither celebration nor unhappiness. Cats take everything in their stride, apart from lack of food and the vacuum cleaner.

Something else that’s not changed is my post-flu cough. Maybe my first run, tomorrow, since the disappointing climax of my couch to 5k will clear the tubes. After two weeks of no athletic activity I’ll resume carefully with some 20-minute run/walks, building up to a repeat of the C25K’s final week, then begin the 16-week marathon programme early so I’ve got some built-in flexibility. The London Marathon is only twenty weeks away, after all.

Probably the best advice I got from Matchgirl’s running chums in Florence was to not even consider a finish time – just have fun getting round the course, however long it takes. This sounds like a sensible ambition for a first-timer, even if the wise words came from a bunch of people who all set out to achieve personal bests in Italy and who used ‘fun’ and ‘marathon’ in the same sentence.

At least the flu means I won’t be carrying so much weight around (in the short term, anyway). I’ve returned from Florence half a stone lighter than when I left Scotland. Must be getting away from the deep fried Mars Bars.

Florence, and a few snaps of city scenes.

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