I’m looking out the window and it looks like winter again. What is happening? Well at least it’s a lot lighter in the evening and morning.
I had a bit of a scare this morning when I woke up a minute just after my alarm was supposed to go off. But it hadn’t. Luckily I’m one of those weird people who tends to wake up naturally around their alarm time anyway. I remember at the weekend I was so worried I wasn’t going to wake up for my very early start (5.45am) for my long run that I woke up at 5.15am and then 5.40am thinking I’d messed up and over slept.
Anyway! Ben and me went to our running club’s annual general meeting (AGM) on Tuesday night.
I love my running club. If anything it’s just nice to be around people who are so like-minded. If you’re a runner and you’re not part of a club then I can’t recommend it enough to you. Having people to run and train with is just a small part of it. The support is just brilliant when you’re doing well in races, smashing PBs and feeling great. But, probably more important, is the support when things aren’t great; being injured, having a rubbish race or just feeling de-motivated.
I love having a network of people that you can talk to about running and they GET IT. And the club is full of so many different people from different walks of life and ability. People who are running sub-7 minute miles to people who are running 12+ minute miles. Old, young…everyone is welcome and celebrated.
I’m sure it’s the same with any sporting club really. Though maybe the love of cake is most strong with runners 😉 I wish I had taken a photo of just how many cakes there were after the AGM! All restraint went out of the window I can tell you!
Speaking of food. I’ll just leave you guys with a random meal I made the other day in the slow cooker that I loved.
Slow Cooker Chickpea and Sweet Potato Salsa (Serves 2)
- Onion, diced
- Courgette, chopped into chunks
- Medium sweet potatoes, chopped into chunks
- Tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- Jar of salsa (I used Discovery)
- Generous tbsp. cream cheese
– Very simply, vegetables and chickpeas go into the slow cooker.
– Mix the salsa with cream cheese and then add to the vegetables, mixing it all up.
– Switch the slow cooker to LOW and cook for 6-8 hours.
The sauce makes it lovely and creamy with a bit of sweetness. Though I have to say that Discovery salsa can be quite sweet so I’m going to switch to another brand I think.
I’m going to the running club tonight – fingers crossed all will be well! It’s my last club night before the marathon. Next week is all about solo sessions I think to make sure I don’t do anything stupid.
What’s your favourite brand of salsa? I used to use the supermarket brand and that was brilliant.
Are you part of a running club or any other club? Do you like to get involved?
Do you wake up at the same time every morning quite easily?
I freak out about not waking up in time ALL THE TIME despite like you, usually waking up at that time automatically anyway.
I’m off to our club’s AGM next Thursday evening. Because I’m on my running club committee (I’m responsible for the website and social media along with another runner) we meet each month with other committee members and ALWAYS appoint someone to bring cake!
Planning on trying your slow cooker salsa next week. I’m addicted to the slow cooker now!
I’ve noticed you’ve been using your slow cooker so much! Given me some inspiration for some new recipes. Loving the bacon ones.
I always wake up naturally around my alarm-time too, it can be annoying on weekends when I want to have a lie-in, but I’m wide awake at 6.40am!
I’m loving being part of a running club (well triathlon club), even though I only joined up a month ago. Everyone is friendly and gives advice!
I like fruity salsas, like mango, avocado and onion 🙂
I think our bodies just become used to that time and then fall into a routine. I usually wake up between 5-5.30am but just fall back asleep at the weekend. Hell no am I getting up then!
I love salsa, I’m quite happy with tescos own brand mild salsa, mmm! I think clubs like that are awesome, any way for people to get together in community around a common interest is brilliant 🙂
Yeah definitely. When I was suffering from my injury woes it was so nice to have the support and also the advice.
Groups like this are such a great idea. I think that’s one of the reason I like blogging so much, a network of people with similar interests that you can share your ideas and thoughts with.
Yes I agree about blogging. It’s a great network of like-minded people. And the knowledge share of tips and tricks, recipes and workouts are brilliant.
Yum that dinner looks delicious! Love sweet potato and chickpeas as a combo.
Love sweet potato and chickpeas so it was a match made in heaven!
That slow cooker meal sounds lovely 🙂
I tend to wake up around the alarm anyway, and even at the weekends I will wake at a similar time, unless I am totally exhausted. This week I have had so much work to do in the evenings- working Tues til 8pm, Wed til 10pm and Thursday til gone midnight so on Friday I didn’t wake up right away- I sort of came too while the radio was on (only 5 mins later but it showed me how tired I was).
A running club sounds great but all the ones I look at near me are expensive and also so busy with meets lots of evenings and I am not sure I would want to lose the flexibility in the running that I have at the moment. But I do love going to the Sweatshop runs as then it is lovely to chat to people about running without their eyes glazing over!!
Gosh you teachers work so hard and such long hours! I really don’t envy you.
I always think you’re part of a club because of your Sweatshop runs – I guess they’re just organised runs? I love being part of a club – we have a Facebook group so it’s very social, then we have running and non-running events and support a certain charity every year, and also get some money off races because we’re affiliated. Our running club is very cheap, something like £25 for the year? Which I don’t mind paying as I love being part of the community.
Your running club sounds great, really supportive! Nice to be part of something like that. I usually wake up right before my alarm- good internal body clock clearly ha!
I think it’s just habit isn’t it? Our body’s are very clever and get used to things very quickly.