So. Yes. Hello!
It’s been a weeny bit hectic. I took it into my head to run Basingstoke Half and Greensand Half on consecutive weekends. Both hilly – and I zoomed through Basingstoke half (4 miles downhill bliss at the end, and a lovely loop through a village which had a scarecrow competition. So many people out supporting, and Hatch Warren Running Club is brilliant ‘cos they cheer everyone). Knocked 5 minutes off my previous PB on the Greensand course, and was close to a PB on the hilly half. Both races highly recommended – small, good marshalling, loads of loos at Basingstoke, lovely medals, lovely tech tops, perfect running weather. I didn’t know what to do with myself pre-race at Basingstoke, as usually I spend my time queuing for the loo several times over.
Since then….I’ve talked about miscarriages on Facebook. That took quite some emotional energy out of me. It’s taken me over a year to “come clean” as it were. There was only one. It was very, very early, but, oh, the loss of hope, and I’ve not been quite the same since. So many of my friends have gone through something similar, I think we all felt a bit better for it. I’ve been ill-enough-to-go-home-from-work, had a housewarming, had a couple of very busy weeks at work, unravelled knitting and started something new, made a lurid green baby hat and booties (need to sew those up and send them on), been to the Knitting and Stitching Show at Ally Pally, and tried needle felting on a whim (not going to take that up as a hobby. I cannot aim well enough and those needles are SHARP). I’ve had my flu vaccination, attempted to gain back some of the weight I lost (I overshot my goal from July, and, frankly, it’s easier to run without those 3lbs, but my female system did not appreciate it, so I think they need to come back). Kept up with Brownies. Seen my friends, and seen Funny Girl with Sheridan Smith. That was quite, quite brilliant. We think we want to see Kinky Boots next.
I have also both PB’d at parkrun (sub 25 minutes baby!) and done my 50th parkrun. I even achieved my stretch goal of 1st in my age category a couple of weeks ago: although, to be fair, this is more dependent on whether specific women show up or not, than anything else. I’d have managed it a week earlier if someone who’d only been to one parkrun 18 months prior hadn’t randomly decided to turn up.
Oh, and I learned a new pronoun. Thon.
This post is going up sans-photos. Photos will get thrown in when I get 15 minutes in peace with my phone.
In an effort to instill some discipline round here, I’m going to start up with my Saturday Lists again. Yes. Last year’s miscarriage had the unexpected consequence of my losing all interest in writing lists and trying to keep it all in my head instead. This just is not working, and I will get back into the habit.
xxx
Extreme Knitting 
I’m so sorry about your miscarriage. Early or not, it’s still a very sad thing to happen. I can’t begin to understand the grief you went through but I do think it’s a good thing to share xx
Well done on your PBs, 50th parkrun and fantastic half marathons! You rock 🙂
Sorry to hear about your miscarriage- I think it is so important to talk about it though.
Congratulations on your 50th parkrun and the sub 25 5k- very impressive.
Much sympathy on the miscarriage. I also had a very early one, before J, and you’re dead right about the loss of hope. But well done for coming clean; I didn’t say anything on Facebook because I have family reading there and they still don’t know. And congrats on the PBs.
*hugs* so many people have had similar experiences, I feel it’s been cathartic for many of us.