Run, Jillikins, Run!: Cheap Thrill #9

Run, Jillikins, Run!

I have never been able to run. When I was a child, I suppose I could, but as an adult, never. Even as a teenager I viewed cross country lessons at school as a good opportunity to take the art teacher’s dog for a walk.

So it may come as something of a surprise to you that I have chosen running as this week’s Cheap Thrill. 

Two years ago I was searching for a way of getting fit, having lost some weight but knowing that I still wasn't particularly healthy. I discovered the Couch to 5K programme and thought I’d give it a go.  I used the treadmill at work and slowly began to discover that I could run. I even took part in a couple of Park Runs, although I have to say I didn't particularly enjoy them - as soon as I’m with other people, I put myself under pressure to keep up, forgetting that most of them are under 40, and I’m, well, not!

As with many ventures, life got in the way, and pressure of time meant that I could only realistically run once a week. This led to my fitness levels dropping, and I stopped enjoying it and then - I just stopped.

So pink!

I was determined that, once I retired, I would start to run again, and dusted off my trainers, my lycra (!) and my podcasts. I have determinedly run three times a week, starting from the beginning of the 9 week Couch to 5K programme. And this morning I completed it! Woohoo! OK, strictly speaking, for me it’s more like Couch to 4.2K, but I can now run, non- stop, for 30 minutes.

The great thing is that now I can continue to run three times a week, without feeling that I should be doing something else. Maybe retirement isn’t so bad after all!

I have a strange relationship with running, in that I enjoy it most when I stop, but it gives me a chance to challenge myself, clear my head, think about random things to blog about, say ‘Good morning’ to lots of dog walkers, and occasionally overtake a mobility scooter!

Go for it - you might like it!Couch to 5K

So if you think you can’t run, but feel you’d like to try, give Couch to 5K a go - you may surprise yourself. I know I have.

So there we have it this week’s Cheap Thrill. 

Cheap? Certainly, if you have a pair of trainers, the podcasts are free to download and really supportive.

It's lovely when you stop!

Thrilling? Yes, when you stop! And exercising regularly means that I get to eat cake and drink gin - oh, the joy!

Navel gazing and not light-hearted. Sorry!

Today I have officially been retired one month, so I thought I’d consider how I feel about it.

Balloon's deflated now...

Where to start? Well, the feeling of being on holiday has waned, and reality is beginning to sink in. I kind of feel distanced from reality, in that nothing seems to relate to me any more. My friends and former colleagues talk on the Book of Face about being peed off on a Sunday, or post cryptic references to work day stresses (they’re all too professional to name names, or be too specific!) and while I empathise, I feel unable to comment as these things don't apply to me now. Am I glad that I’m not facing these anxieties? Of course, but I find I am facing anxieties of a different kind. 

I hadn’t realised how much I relied on the approbation and approval of others to make me feel good about myself. Now I’m reduced to checking my Blogger Dashboard to see if anyone is reading my latest posts! 

I like the pointy bit!

I’m unbelievably busy (how did I have time to work?) but with activities that seem essentially self-indulgent. Nothing I do has a measurably positive impact on others, which is tough to take, because I spent my entire working life trying to make a difference to the pupils that I taught, and had the data to show that I was succeeding! (My husband would no doubt argue that me getting out of the house has a very positive impact on him!)

I get genuinely excited when one of my former team asks me for ideas and advice - it polishes up my ego just a little - and I can quickly lose myself in thinking about how I would solve a problem, what activities I would choose, and what resources I would need. I’m happy to help, but a bit of me is regretful that I’m not delivering sessions myself. It’s those bits of teaching that I sorely miss - not the pressure of meeting targets, preparing for Ofsted, or dealing with the day to day problems of life in a school.

Everybody tells me that it takes time to adjust, and this is undoubtedly true. Retirement is a major life change, after all, and a month is no time at all. I just wish I could enjoy the indulgences that everyone wished for me, and value myself for myself. 

Indulgences!

Maybe then I would be able to embrace new opportunities, however self-indulgent, without feeling that I should be volunteering in a rat infested hell hole wearing sack-cloth and ashes!

I'm sure my navel's here somewhere..

Who knows, maybe one day I’ll write a post entitled ‘Sod It!’ Fingers crossed, and watch this space!

Bedtime Stories: Cheap Thrill #8

Love being a Nanny!

Yesterday was my grandson’s second birthday. Technically he’s my step-grandson, but he’s always known me as “Nanny”, so it doesn't matter one bit!

My step son and his family live about an hour’s drive away, which means that a casual ‘drop-in’ is not really practical, so we look forward to seeing them when we can.

Yesterday was especially exciting, as we got to see our granddaughter arrive home from school too. She only started ‘big school’ this term, and it was lovely to hear her talking so positively about her teacher even though she’d only done ‘things’ yesterday, apparently!

After the mandatory present opening, fish and chip supper, candle blowing and cake eating, it was time for bed.

Luckily for me, other nanny (Nonna) was chosen for bath time, (only lucky because it involved lots of poo, I think!) but I was asked if I would read the bedtime story. What an honour! 

A Christmas story? In September?

The book was solemnly chosen - Angelina’s Christmas (!) - and both the soon-to-be five year old and the newbie two year old sat next to me on the bed and listened while I read, looking at the pictures, and not noticing the slight editing of the ‘wordy’ bits. It was so lovely, and even though its only September, reading the Christmas tale together meant that we were sharing in a little bit of joint anticipation. 

I wonder how it ended?

Reading stories to children is one of the simplest ways of sharing experience and bonding. I recall that when I was a newly single parent, and my children were about 11 and 14, I started to read ‘My Friend Walter’ to them. They were too old to listen to their silly Mum reading to them really, but they subconsciously recognised my need to revisit a safer and happier time, and humoured me by laying on the bed listening to me. I think the TV series based on the book got ahead of my reading, and sadly, I don't think we ever finished it, but I do remember how close it made us all feel, and how it reinforced our belief that, somehow, everything would be alright.

So if you have children available to you (please don't steal any) then share a story with them - it really is one of life’s most joyous experiences! 

For One Month Only...Cheap Thrill #7

Oh how I love September days like this one

So this week’s cheap thrill is…September.  For years my love of this month has been overshadowed by back to school malaise, and the fact that the weather is usually nicer than it has been for the whole of the summer holidays, and I’m stuck inside!

But not this year. This year I can glory in beautiful September days, the subtle change in light, the air of Christmas excitement just around the corner (I can ignore the inherent stress that this brings for now) and just a clear sense of the changing seasons.

Mmmm. Jam

It is difficult to quantify why I love this month so. It’s something to do with crunching through leaves (almost as good as lime tree seeds, it appears), ripening blackberries, which my hubby turns into amazing jam, and the slight chill in the air that means we no longer feel driven to put salads with all our meals. Salads, in our house, are affectionately known as ‘green sh*t’, and while we do enjoy them, there is something so much more comforting about mashed potatoes, bright green cabbage and gravy! 

The other joy of course is that, because it is now getting cooler, we are able to cover up our less than svelte forms with baggy brushed cotton shirts and snuggly jumpers…what’s not to love!

I'm so lucky to live opposite here

For me October means the dreaded clock change, which brings a whole world of pain, but for now I am relishing September - it’s only here for a few more days, and it really is joyous!

A Different Kind of Hero

Paralympic Mascot Tom (if I'm honest I preferred Mandeville...)

I’m sure I’m not alone in having watched, open-mouthed, as Paralympians from around the World pushed themselves in sporting endeavours that defy belief.

How do you find the courage to sprint as fast as you can, trusting someone else to lead you safely because you have little or no vision?

How do you control a horse in a dressage routine, when you have such little control over your own body?

How do you swim without arms? Or legs?

And how on earth do you control a wheelchair with one hand and accurately wield a tennis racquet in the other?

It is a real testament to the human spirit, and a lesson to all of us who grumble about a minor ache or pain.

The Paralympians are justifiably lauded, successful or otherwise, and rightly proclaimed as heroes. They have all overcome significant difficulties or life changing events to strive to do their best in the field of sport, and should be admired. 

As the successful Team GB Paralympians have returned to Britain, it has sparked a debate on whether their success has raised enough awareness to have a positive impact on the daily lives of ordinary people living with disability. We need to remember that, for every Johnny Peacock or Dame Sarah Storey, there are thousands of others who live with disability, not on a World stage, but within the mundanity of daily life. Their struggle is not against the clock, but against a society that does not seem to make anything easy, and that doesn’t understand how to treat people that are different from the norm. 

So I am applauding a different kind of hero - the person who defies the odds to succeed in their career, despite visual impairment or living with cerebral palsy; the person who struggles to  recover from a life changing stroke in order to hold their grandchildren again; the student with autism who struggles to cope in a mainstream school, with some staff who understand their particular needs and some who simply can’t appreciate the dilemma of being told to hurry to class, and yet being told not to run! 

All of those people are striving to achieve against the odds, in a much less public arena. Not always recognised as such, they really are heroes too.

Another Proper Freebie: Cheap Thrill #6

The Eden Project: amazing

I don't suppose I am alone in not being fond of Tesco. Over the years they seem to have become greedier and more unscrupulous, and just don't possess that 'feel good factor'. Nevertheless, I shop there most weeks, mainly because Lidl don't sell Horlicks...

Because I shop there, I collect club card points, and this brings me to today's cheap thrill. 

Before we came to Cornwall, I exchanged some of my vouchers for tickets to the Eden Project, making our day out very cheap (free, in fact) and boy was it thrilling. How anybody could look at an empty clay pit and have the vision to create what we experienced today amazes me. I loved everything about it: the biomes, the gardens outside, the walks. Incredible.

Inside the Rainforest Biome

Not only did we save the entrance fee (£22.50 for oldies) we also queue jumped because we had prepaid vouchers! Cue much glaring from lots of other people - most of whom qualified to live in the land of the blue rinse! 

A really fantastic day, that only cost what we spent in the cafe. So, swap your Tesco vouchers, don't just spend them. If we have to shop there, we may as well make them pay!

Help - I'm on Holiday!

Sometimes it has to be done!

I'm in Cornwall. On holiday. In term time. How strange. At this point I should remind you all that I am risk averse. Now a holiday in Cornwall may not seem particularly extreme in terms of risk, but I stress so much about things, that going away from home is quite nightmarish for me. Will the accommodation be okay? Will the journey be incident free and safe? Will it rain every day?
Logically I know that these are not things that should cause any sane person serious amounts of angst, but being away from home is not comfortable for me.
My husband says,'But you booked it!' And this is invariably the case. People expect you to like holidays. And I like the idea of holidays, and really want to embrace them. So I book cottages and gites, and look forward to seeing new places. And then it's time to go...
My family and friends love holidays - they all go off to exotic destinations without a second thought. And I really wish I could do the same, but the thought of an airport, let alone an aeroplane...ugh! I have just about learned to cope with a ferry terminal and a boat!
In the run up to my retirement, everyone asked what my plans were and talked about all the term time holidays I would be able to have. I joined in and discussed the endless possibilities, too embarrassed to be able to admit that I'd rather stay at home!
In my defence, it's in my genes - my lovely Mum was just the same. My Dad had travelled the world during the war, and wanted to share new places with her, but Mum was less than enamoured of this. She would always say that, given the choice, she would happily stay at home.

Once I am actually on holiday, and the accommodation is fine, we got there safely and it isn't raining everyday, I usually enjoy myself. After all, I do book some lovely places to visit!

Lovely place in Cornwall

But I do wish that I could be more adventurous. It feels ridiculous that I am limiting my experiences to such a degree. Maybe, as I get even older and there's absolutely no point in avoiding risk, I'll fly around the world in search of new adventures. Or maybe I'll satisfy myself with a Cornish Pasty and a cream tea!