arthur_p_dent

Changing things up again. Funny thing - the coffee's just better on Mondays (different crew). Plus, I spent most of the morning migrating to my new work email address, and I felt I needed a relaxing break from that nonsense.

The bulk of last week wasn't much better than how it started, mood-wise. Avoiding triggers was only partially successful, and although I had some nights of better sleep, I think it was more likely from sheer exhaustion making me shut down. If I keep cycling like this it's going to be a long month.

On the plus side, my leg seems to be healing well. I took a solid week off, then tested it out at the gym on the treadmill on Friday. Since that went ok, I went for longer runs the next two days and had no issues. I'll give it another week and then think about trying the hills course again.

Friday was also a good curling day. Our team was playing very well and we came away with a strong win. Reflecting afterward on the season so far, I realized that the better playing conditions at this new location are translating into me being a better player. I hadn't expected that at all, but it's a very nice side effect.

I capped off Friday by spending some time hanging out with my good friend. We stayed up far too late talking, especially since I was getting up early to run the next day, but it was a worthwhile sacrifice. 

The weekend was mostly normal, and it was a busier food prep day on Sunday so that kept me going more than I really wanted. But I also found time for some leisure, and I actually picked up a book to read. I've had this series for so many years, and I dont think I've ever gotten more than two pages into the first book. I'm a few chapters in now and I'm slowly getting into the story. One interesting thing, it was written in 1993, and is about humans colonizing Mars - in 2026. I get a kick out of stories from past generations that were set in the future, but are actually present time as I read them. 

Well, I should head back to work, as much as I don't want to. I still need to play catch-up from this morning's debacle. Have a good week. See you again soon. =]

I think I'm going to make Tuesday my posting day, at least during the coming cold months. There's a coffee shop near my work, and I'm becoming a bit of a regular on Tuesdays, and there's something that just seems right about sipping a cappuccino and writing about my week.

Work has been much the same, which is to say, still quite boring. I'm somewhat of an isolated example though - many people I know are so overloaded due to department reductions that I can hear the exhaustion in their voices when I talk to them on the phone. Neither situation is good, and I feel there will be more and more people reaching a tipping point soon.

I've been mostly successful in getting better sleep lately. Getting up to go to the gym each day has been a good motivator for going to bed on time. I've had to remind myself to turn off the hockey game and get off the couch a few times, but I'm getting better about remembering. The gym has been good too, and I'm starting to notice that I'm gaining strength in previously weaker areas.

Running is also going well. I registered for the third of the four half marathons I'm planning for next year. I added an extra day at the gym just for running, to make up for losing one of the run clubs. And, in a moment of what I can only describe as complete masochism, I got myself signed up to do a hills challenge during the next two months. It's 10km of climbing up and down hills (23 individual climbs), and the objective is to do it as many times as I can between Dec 1 and Jan 31. I did a practice run with a group on Saturday, and even though it was a tough challenge, it was actually a lot of fun too.

I was just about to sign off but I didn't mention curling. I got my first win of the season last week. It was a close match, and true to form, I kept giving the other team points by missing some shots. But we pulled it out in the end, when I finally made one of those tough shots I needed to make.

And that's it. Time to head back to work and get through the afternoon. I hope everyone is having a good week so far, and for those in the US, have an enjoyable Thanksgiving weekend. Until next Tuesday. =]

Late, yes. But not entirely surprising - broken habits are always hard for me to get going again. So for this week I'll take late as a partial win.

Last week was pretty good overall. Work was extremely boring though, which can be really annoying. The weather has turned (wind, rain, and cold), so walks at lunch haven't been as frequent. We even got some wet snow on the weekend, so if we're getting into that kind of weather now I'll have to find some warmer things to wear.

I mostly succeeded in getting to the gym on the days I planned to. Friday I skipped due toothache-related poor sleep. Fortunately it didn't continue through the weekend, but I am scheduled for a root canal today. Much of the week I was fairly stiff, but that's mostly passed. I haven't been running as much though, so I need to figure out how to add more of that into my routine.

Curling started up on Friday. This year I'm in a new league in a different location (long story). There are a few people I know from previous years but mostly new faces. So far I haven't felt as out of place as I normally do in new situations - hopefully that continues. Also, the ice conditions are much better than what I'm used to, so maybe my game will show some signs of improvement (not yet, but maybe soon). 

After some deliberation, I signed up for my second spring half-marathon. The first one is local (only about 30 minutes away), so no overnight travel. For the second one I'll need to travel, so I'm making it a long weekend trip for the two of us. Details are still in the works but I think we'll have a great time.

And that catches things up for this week. I hope you have a good week to come, and I'll see you again soon. =]

Yesterday was the big day - my half-marathon. The culmination of my 2025 running season. The weather was lousy but the run was pretty good. I struggled at times through much of the second half, but I still managed to set a new personal best by more than 8 minutes. On top of that, I got to spend the day with many of my running friends, which made the whole event even more enjoyable.

This afternoon, while out for my daily walk at lunch (loosening up stiff legs), I took some time to think back over this year and everything that led up to this point. As far as training goes, I started the year out decently. Probably not as consistent as I would have liked, but I also didn't set any kind of proper training plan either, so that's not surprising. When spring rolled around I began looking into actually training for this run, but the follow-through just wasn't there, and I continued to run only when and as much as I felt like.

Leading into summer, I decided it was about time to ramp things up a bit. But it wasn't long before that extra training, and some ill-fitting footwear, led to injury. Bad decisions - not immediately stopping training or seeking medical treatment - led to being sidelined for two full months. That was a huge loss, not just in training time, but also in the fitness level I had spent the first half of the year building. I was supposed to do a half-marathon in September, but I had just gotten back into limited training and didn't want to risk re-injuring myself by rushing into that long of a race. I was set to back out entirely, but a friend convinced me to switch into the 5K event. I intended to take it easy, but somehow ended up with a personal best. And better yet, no new injuries.

Over the past month I tried to get back into the swing of things. More runs. Longer runs. Faster runs. Time spent in the gym. But the conditioning didn't return as well as I hoped, and I came into this weekend feeling like I wasn't quite ready. But ready or not, the day was here and it was time to run.

And now that it's done, it's time to start thinking about next year. I have a lot of things to consider over the coming weeks. Specifically, what is it I want to accomplish? Am I content to maintain the same level of training, run a few half-marathons, and look to make modest improvements over the season? Do I want to get into a more regimented training plan for half-marathons, and strive to break the 2 hour mark? Do I want to start building longer distances beyond 21.1K, and aim to run a full marathon next fall? Right now I simply don't know.

One thing I am sure of, if I want to make any amount of progress with distance running (which I do), I need to spend this winter building a better level of health and fitness. Diet, sleep, exercise, and personal wellness are all areas that I'll need to make improvements in. Fortunately I have resources to help if I need it. My new family health care center has nutritionists and therapists that I can access. My gym has personal trainers. And I'm part of a really wonderful running community, full of people I can learn from.

This season may be winding down, but I'm already looking forward to great things in 2026. =]

Well, it's officially the end of my week off - back to the grind tomorrow. All in all it was a good week. It would have been nice to get away for a few days, but this time around it wasn't in the cards.

The week had a good mix of relaxing and getting some things done around the house. I went to a couple of run clubs earlier in the week, and then spent a few nights at home. I did some cleanup in the garage, set up my new laptop, and did some purging in the home office. I enjoyed lunch with my good friend, which was great since it had been a few weeks. I also took part in another 5K run event yesterday, along with several friends. It was a good event, and we all went for dinner at a nearby winery afterward.

I was successful at not looking at my work phone the entire week. I'm actually really surprised that I managed that, and also a bit nervous about just what kind of hell I'll be walking into tomorrow morning. I spent today doing my normal Sunday things (food prep for the week, cleaning the kitchen, etc.) and then watched a movie after dinner, which was a nice way to finish off the day.

And now I'm off to bed - 5am isn't that far off. I wish you all a good night, and I'll see you again soon. =]

Not really a full catch-up, but I'm on lunch, and sitting on a patio with a cold milkshake, and I thought I'd take a minute to check in.

The last couple of weeks have been pretty good overall. The foot is still a problem, but I'm seeing a podiatrist tomorrow and hopefully that will give me a better idea of what's going on and how to start treating it. I still go for walks, and I've run on it a couple times - at the very least it hasn't flared up like it did the first time.

There have been a number of occasions for getting together with friends and family, all of which were quite enjoyable. I managed to get myself a Sunday free of regular chores, so of course I took the opportunity to tackle a bigger chore that hasn't been done in a long time. But I didn't spend the whole day on it, and I was able to take some relax time for myself too.

I finally moved offices. I'm still getting used to the new morning routine, and today was actually the first day I got here on time. I don't like the extra commute either, but it is what it is.

Well, short and sweet - time to hike back to work and finish the day. Take care, and I'll see you next time. =]

Just a short recap this time around.

My foot has gotten more swollen again. I'll be heading back to the clinic on Tuesday to look into the x-ray results and hopefully get some idea what I'm dealing with. I know I'm not doing myself any favours by continuing to exercise, but at least I'm trying to limit how much that foot gets used.

I went to run club on Tuesday - no running, just socializing. I went out for lunch with my good friend on Wednesday, for dinner with some friends on Friday, and for drinks with friends on Saturday afternoon. It was a busy week socially, and a good one, but that battery definitely needs a couple days to recharge.

Due to tightened deadlines for month end, I had to spend much of Saturday in the office. I wasn't thrilled, but I did manage to get all of my work completed. That allowed me to keep my holiday tomorrow, and I'll take next Friday off in lieu, so only a three-day week to look forward to, which is nice.

This weekend I also managed to take care of a couple of small household projects that have been on a to-do list for a while. I have a couple more I want to do tomorrow as well, but still leave some time for relaxing.

That covers the week, but I've also been dwelling on some thoughts lately that have been weighing kind of heavy. I heard a song recently, and, as can often happen, one of the lyrics struck me and brought up some tough memories. Individually, I manage my feelings about those things fairly well when they come up. But when they all piled on at once I went into overload, and it has taken a while to stop spiraling. There will be some days in the near future when I expect a lot of it to hit again, but for now I'm doing ok.

That's going to be all for me this week. So long, until next time. =]

Last week wasn't "missed" per se, more like skipped. I was tired and really didn't feel like sitting at the computer for anything. But here I am, back again.

Lots of good social stuff lately. Dinner with the former coworkers went well, and it was good to see everyone again. Run club nights were a lot fun, even with the hot and humid weather we've been having. And lunch with my good friend is always a favourite. There were also a couple other things that were out of the ordinary. A friend was on vacation with his family last week, and I took Wednesday off for a day trip to visit. We hung out at their cottage for a bit, had a great lunch at a craft brewery in the area, played a round of golf, and had a couple beers on the beach before I drove back home. It was a long day, but a great one. And on Friday I skipped run club and went out with a couple of friends to a screening of a movie called Dinner in America. I was expecting a very low-end B-movie, but it was actually pretty good. We met up with some other friends after that and went out for a drink - it was a good night out.

In work news, the company is consolidating the two local offices into one building. Naturally, there isn't room for everyone. Guess who doesn't get a spot? My new desk will be at the plant, sharing a tiny office with three other people, and with an extra ten minute commute each way. As you might guess, I'm none too pleased about the move. There's also a number of people out there that I don't particularly like, and/or don't particularly like me, and I'm not looking forward to being around them again. But the worst part is that, even though I don't actually work for that plant directly, there are those who will try to take advantage of my proximity to monopolize my time over the other plants I'm responsible for. So this is very much a lose-lose-lose situation for me. It's still a month away, but...

Unfortunately, I'm on an indefinite hiatus from running. Two weeks back I started getting a small pain in my foot. I've had similar pains in the past, and they normally work themselves out after a couple days, so I didn't think too much of it. Since I wasn't overly concerned, I kept running on it. Well a week later the pain was still there, so after Tuesday's run club I decided to take a break. And that's when the swelling started. I've been hobbling around for several days now, trying to stay off it as much as possible, but ultimately being on it way more than I should have and making things worse rather than better. I don't think anything is broken, but I still feel like this will keep me out of my running shoes for at least a few weeks while I give my foot time to heal.

Well, that's about all for this time. With any luck I'll get back on track and be on time next week. See you then. =]

Not a whole lot of things happened this week. My tooth was the main reason for that. A dead root lead to an abscess, and several days of intense pain. I got on meds on Monday, but by the end of the day my face had swollen to the point where I could barely open my mouth enough to take the pills. I finally was able to sleep Tuesday morning, and thankfully after that the swelling and pain started to ease back. I missed work part of Monday and all of Tuesday, worked from home Wednesday, got a root canal on Thursday,  and finally got back into the office on Friday. It was a very long week to say the least.

Naturally, I had to cancel some of my plans for the week as well. Run club was a no-go, as well as my dinner with former coworkers (although that one got rescheduled for next week). I was able to keep my Friday plans with my good friend though. Her and her BF and I and my wife met at a local festival for dinner. My friends and my wife were meeting for the first time, and I won't lie, I was a bit nervous about it. But I think things went pretty well, and it would be great to get together again.

The other thing that got derailed by my tooth was having a family dinner last weekend. My wife's uncle is in town - he was evacuated out of an area in Saskatchewan that was destroyed by forest fire, and he came to visit his sister and decompress. Fortunately he is still here for a few more days so we were able to have dinner tonight. It was a really good visit.

Oh, and lastly, all of the inventories that were supposed to happen this weekend were cancelled,  so I got my Saturday back!

And that's all for this time around. Back to a "normal" week tomorrow - fingers crossed it stays normal. =]

Well, it's that time of the week again.

The work week started out with two days of month end chaos, followed by two days of boredom, and wrapped up with a Friday off. I decided that I'm going to go back to the four day work week through most of the summer, partly because work is slow, but also because it gives me a much better balance with the different things I do every week.

I had good runs with my run clubs, including a shoe demo on Tuesday where we got to test out various models of a certain brand. This brand didn't fit me all that well, but I do need a new pair of shoes so I'll be going into the local shop for their next sale and try some others. I also did my weekly long run this morning, and I was able to achieve one of my goals for the year - 10K in under 60 minutes.

I got my brakes done this week, and that cost me through the nose. A year back I figured I'd save a few bucks by getting one of my wife's coworkers to replace the pads. Big mistake - he replaced a part incorrectly, and it ended up doing so much damage that I had to replace the entire back brakes. Lesson learned on that one.

Having Friday off I decided not to get groceries after work Thursday, but to wait until Friday morning. That was probably the least aggravating shopping trip I've had in I don't know how long. I think one of the reasons I usually hate it so much is because I always feel rushed, like I'm scrambling to get it done because I have so many other things to do afterward. But I had nothing pressing on my schedule (I planned out the weekend again, which is working out very well) and the store wasn't busy, and I was actually in a fairly good mood when I got home. Since I'll be taking Fridays off for the next while, I'll probably keep this up and see how it goes.

The rest of the weekend went pretty well. I had lunch with my good friend on Friday, got a few chores done around the house, met up with some friends Saturday afternoon for a couple patio beers, and had a night in with pizza and a movie tonight. Coming up, I've got a 5K race next Saturday, and dinner with my former coworkers early in the week after that, and hopefully another decent weekend before getting into my heavy year end workload.

All in all a good week. And now it's time to turn in so I can try and kick off the next one on the right foot. So long until the next time. =]