I was a bit nervous about today's activities because it required me to break the 4km mark on my run. I've had a look back through all my Strava and Map My Run data going back to about 2013 and as far as I can tell, the furthest I've run since William was born, is 3km. I've never been a runner, and even when we lived in Devonport and I was doing a bit of running, sometimes hitting 5kms, I still didn't enjoy it, and I was never good at it, and my times were always slow. BUT in these crazy times, it feels like running is one of the only high intensity activities that I can actually do within the confinement restrictions. I'm finding the running hard, but I'm also feeling old and rickety. My right knee was aching when I was coming up Rue des Cordeliers on Wednesday and my back has been a bit sore too. I reckoned that I just needed to look to the long term by guts-ing it in these early weeks, run through the pain and develop the strength in my body. We headed out.
I'm glad that William and I had been out walking on Tuesday as it helped me plan our 4km route. The first 500m or so, my right knee was aching and I figured that if it continued like that for another 1km, I'd need to stop, but amazingly, by the time we were coming down the hill from the chateau to the Boulevard, the pain stopped. Wonderful. But I knew my back was still niggly. We did our loops, weaving our way round the (increasingly busy) streets of Pau in the spring sunshine but as we were coming through Place Clemenceau for the final time, my back seized up completely. I managed to finish the last 300meters back to our house but I was done. Scarlet. Broken. Done.
I got into the courtyard and spent ages stretching and doing simple core exercises to try and ease things off but I'm not sure how effective it all was. Sometimes, I just feel old! We got our showers etc and sorted our lunch. Iain decided that he would have a tuna and sardines salad and he inspired me to go for a salad too. I made a mixed blue cheese and Bayonne ham salad with homemade croutons and a balsamic glaze. It looks good, and it tasted even better!
I had my usual run at popmaster after lunch but had an awful showing. I reckon Ken Bruce makes the questions even harder on a Friday! I got some chores done and then out of nowhere, Iain started to feel really really ill. It was mainly nausea but he also had stomach cramps, and ended up having to go to bed because he just wasn't right. With the weather also starting to turn outside, I decided that a good activity for William and me should be snugging on the couch and watching a movie. We settled on Beauty and the Beast and it was just the best way to spend an afternoon.
As Iain hadn't been right all afternoon, he didn't want any dinner so William and I had a an easy frozen beef stroganoff. It's so good being able to dip into these frozen meals when we need them. Finally, we rounded off the evening with our weekly Zoom conference with the Clelands. We sort of bowed out a little earlier than usual as neither of us were drinking and Iain still wasn't the full hundy. It was also good to get William to bed a little earlier than usual on a Friday.
I went to bed with some nurofen and a decent amount of Voltaren on my back. ;-)
Lorna
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