Check yourself

Today, The Rotary Club of Walsall is holding a Health Awareness Day in conjunction with the NHS and Stroke Association. You can pop in at The Crossing, any time between 10am and 3pm.

Last year local businessman Dave Gill stopped me in the street, and asked me to get checked. Only blood sugar, blood pressure, and BMI.

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New Game, UKGE, catching up and half an idea

Were I even halfway concerned about my audience (rather than this entire blog being largely a vanity exercise) I would open with a meaningful apology for my recent absence. The only issue with such an opening gambit is that I’m really not sorry at all. I’ve been rather busy. However, I have few things to share with you.

In my Irregular Prime

I have, in the modern parlance, levelled up my age again today. It’s not all bad being 37, which Wikipedia tells me is the first irregular prime. What that says about me, I have no idea. I shall spend my birthday money on something sensible. Or another musical instrument.

It’s the last prime before 40 though, so I’ll take it.

2017 in review

It’s only a couple of weeks old, so it’s probably harsh to try reviewing 2017 already, but I know there are a couple of things coming up I wanted to muse on, so here goes.

[tl:dr Reflections on stuff that’s coming up, a couple of name drops and a quick delve through recent events. Normal service continues sometime soonish.]

World Mental Health Day

I don’t care how bouncy you are when you arrive at work on a Monday morning, or how grumpy you are in the face of relentless positivity. To me, that’s not a mental health thing. That’s a personality thing. Neither am I going to rant about NHS provision. That’s not a mental health thing. That’s a finance and training thing.

But resilience is absolutely a mental health thing. I find that my own mental health has been most at risk when I have had no strategies and support to prevent the outside world dictating terms. If you are working with, living with, or think you are a person whose resilience is below par, start working now on ways to keep them/yourself healthy between the ears. And for goodness’ sake, speak to someone. Here’s a handy link to The Samaritans if you need it. If you’re not in the UK, go and pester your local health team until they tell you how to find someone similar. Because it’s a damned complex world out there and only a small amount of grey matter serves to pilot us through it. The real miracle is that so many people seem to do it effortlessly.

 

Getting back in the groove

Today, after some time away from running, I returned to Parkrun at Walsall Arboretum. My attempt was somewhere between slow and not bad for BMI.

Coincidentally, I haven’t been blogging for a little while and it’s nice to be back doing that too.

Welcome to September.

WAUG survey. Important Opportunity to get involved.

Regular readers (if there are any!) will know I have been going to Parkrun at Walsall Arboretum for a few years. In fact, it’s coming up to my third anniversary. I haven’t been a consistent attendee, so am still some way off my century, but the point is that I’ve recently made more of an effort to get out in the freezing cold bracing outdoors and throw myself round three miles of green and pleasant land.

Bostin! Getting on my bike

Having failed to attempt the Coast to Coast earlier this year, I was determined to get on my bike a bit more. Commuting was a definite option, and I’ve secured a place in the lock-up at work to keep it in.

I can’t, though, get over the fact I’m riding a borrowed steed: thanks to the kindness of a good mate, I’ve been mobile on a very decent touring bike.

Best Laid Plans

So I’m not cycling across the country. I’m sitting in my lounge watching Star Trek and have just eaten a chip supper.

On hitting milestones.

The weekend of the Coast to Coast has arrived. This is not a notice that people owe me sponsorship money, although feel free to donate cash if you feel it’s worth helping me over the massive hills we’ll be tackling in the next few days.

This is a very brief reflection on the size of the hills we’ll be tackling and the inherent risks. I’m not particularly fit, although I’m now more confident I can complete the challenge than I was six months ago. I’m not particularly awake. Driving rain and lower temperatures should fix that fairly sharpish.

Mostly though I’m just apprehensive. It’s a huge challenge. My next blog post will most likely be a review of the weekend. It will also be the three hundredth post on this blog. That’s also something of a milestone. Not that any of this site is worth reading just for the quality of the language or flow of prose, but I’ve been blogging for the better part of six years and I’ve got here the only way possible – perseverance to continue writing and posting.

Which is exactly how I’ll have to take these hills – sit on my bike and turn the pedals while the top of the hill gets closer.