So life lately. Asides from doing idiotic things in my spare time, life has been pretty good, albeit somewhat stressful.
Work
In terms of work, I’m still loving things. Now that schools have started again the traffic is heavier but it’s still nothing in comparison to my journeys to Basingstoke used to be. We’re still talking 30 minutes. This makes me extremely happy. Having more of an evening means I don’t feel like all I do is walk Alfie, eat and then go to bed. I can actually live a little. However this will be changing again as I’ve now moved back home to my parent’s house (more on this in a bit). Though they live closer to where I work, they actually live in a very annoying spot in terms of getting on to the motorway. So the likelihood is that I’ll get stuck in more traffic in the future. However, it still won’t be as bad as Basingstoke was I’m sure.
And the work itself? I’m loving it. So interesting and something I’m so keen to learn more and more about. Working in such a cool and friendly environment helps a lot as well. Not that my last place wasn’t friendly (I have some great friends I made there and keep in touch with) but I feel like I’m where I’m supposed to be now.
Moving
In terms of moving, I kind of left everything until the last moment. I mean, ehhh, don’t we all work a bit better with some adrenaline and looming, flashing deadline in front of us? I’m renting my flat out furnished so this did make things somewhat easier in terms of physically moving. But I still had a lot of “stuff” to move regardless. And cleaning. I’ve maintained a very high level of cleanliness in my flat (the letting agency commended it when they visited. I was proud) but there were still areas to clean of course. Cupboards, drawers, deep cleaning the kitchen and bathroom.
I had Friday and Monday off to master this moving process (while still having quite a busy weekend as well – I never make things easy for myself of course). Friday was literally pack my life away into my Fiat 500, and thankfully my dad’s larger car. I packed about half of my stuff (SO. MANY. CLOTHES. WHY) and then realised actually I had quite a lot of stuff.This giant Next bag and the big blue IKEA bags were my saviour. As everything was to fit into cars, rather than a van, it was all about squashability. Plus I didn’t actually have that many boxes. I’m also going through the very freeing process of becoming more minimalist. There’s nothing like packing to make you consider whether you want to actually move something or not. I’ve gotten rid of (well, donated to charity) a lot of old trainers, shoes, clothes, books, DVDs and random items.I’ve sold more expensive handbags on eBay and given away other stuff to friends (ahh smoothie maker, it’s been quite a while since I used you). So Friday, Saturday afternoon and Sunday were spent packing the last bits. As I had a busy day (mainly eating, it must be said) Saturday and then a half marathon on Sunday, it was quite exhausting getting everything done.My flat was scrubbed clean; the fridge, the balcony glass panes, the windows (inside and out!), the oven, cupboards, bathroom, skirting boards…everything!It’s funny because I keep forgetting that it’s still going to be my flat. I can still move back there at some point in the future. I’m not selling it. So the level of sadness is minimal. I will of course miss it and I will miss my lovely cushty lifestyle there but I know this is the right thing to do. But jeeeesus was it tiring getting it all done. My parents helped where they could but they too were busy at the weekend and couldn’t have the time off of work. But I am an INDEPENDENT WOMAN, yes indeed. There is nothing like walking up and down two flights of stairs carrying heavy bags and boxes on your own to drill that into you.Running
By far the most interesting thing to discuss right? 😉 My running since the New Forest Marathon has been pretty good. Weirdly I’ve gone from the lone wolf runner who does most of her running solo, to someone who now regularly does her runs with other people. On Tuesday nights I’ve been running with a guy at work which has been nice. So far we’ve only run two four milers as we’ve both been recovering from high mileage at the weekend. But it’s been good regardless. It’s nice as well to chat to someone outside of work hours about work. I know that doesn’t sound great but for someone who would literally forget about work as soon as I left the building, to have interest and passion about what I do now means I’m genuinely interested in talking about it further.
Thursdays still see me running with my friend Mike. He’s always fun to run with and we often have good conversations regarding dating, life and the universe. It’s a bit like therapy 😉 Our recent run of 10k went by nicely. Though we both wondered how the hell we’d run regularly 7-9miles before. A marathon definitely takes it out of you. However, our splits were nicely around 8.30s rather than 9minutes so that was something.And Saturday is parkrun of couse. Speaking of adulting fails… I somehow managed to register myself TWICE. So when I’ve been scanning my barcodes recently I’ve been scanning a different Anna (it’s still me, but not my usual account, just one I created YEARS ago when I was just starting running outside). I only realised this when I went to see how many parkruns I’ve done and found I’d only done about five, which is wrong! Stupid me. I’ve sent an email to the lovely parkrun chaps but they said it was too time-consuming to change it. It’s fair enough, of course. This is my own error, but I’m still SO annoyed (at myself). This means I’ll be out of count for milestones… OK my next milestone is 250 which is over 100 parkruns away but STILL. And now I don’t have Brighton & Hove on my tourism list. ARGH.
But anyway, parkrun at Netley this week was nice. It was lovely weather and I did a nice negative split as I started feeling stronger as the run continued.
Photo Credit: Glenn Tyreman
I so much prefer to build up to speed than go out guns blazing. Though with 5ks if you want a really solid fast time you do need to be on the speed as soon as you start… but my body doesn’t really work like that for parkrun. I guess I could do more miles to warm-up but with helping set-up there’s never time. Plus I’m not too bothered by getting a super fast time these days!
Photo Credit: Glenn Tyreman
I look very much “in the zone” in that photo above – this was on the finishing straight. So my time was 22:19 which is not too shabby!I think we’ll be moving onto the dreaded winter course soon (which feels so much harder). I had to dash off quickly after finishing as I needed to get a bit more packing done before meeting my friend for lunch. I did get a cheeky photo though with our new sign. Very fancy shmancy indeed! My friend, Joe, decided to photobomb it which was quite amusing.I’ll do a recap of the Solent Half Marathon that I ran on Sunday in another post…
Basically, the Cliff Notes of the post is, my life is going well. I’m a very happy apple right now (yes I did just refer to myself as an apple). Things have slotted into place and life is feeling good.
Do you enjoy cleaning? This is a random question, but I actually love cleaning. I get so much satisfaction from it.
Do you like the people you work with? And the environment you work in?
How’s your running/exercising going?
Glad things are going well. Packing and moving can be so stressful. I absolutely hate cleaning. I think living in London doesn’t help, and in an old house too as I clean one day and it’s so bloody dusty by the next- it drives me insane.
Lauren (@poweredbypb) recently posted…Richmond Runfest Marathon 2017
God yeah dust drives me MAD. And dog hairs. All the dog hairs!
I’m really pleased things are going well and you’re enjoying the new job. Reading your job related posts is definitely giving me a lot to think about.
I enjoy cleaning and can’t cope with living in a mess. I had a mini meltdown yesterday when my friend walked mud all up the stairs just after I’d finished vacuuming.
I used to love the people I worked with. I was part of a small team of 7 people and 5 out of the team were runners/triathletes. All the running related chat must have bored the non-runners to tears. I only resigned because I felt I was never going to progress. I’ve regretted my decision ever since!
My running is going quite well at the moment. My niggles have more or less cleared up. I just need my headache to disappear.
Emma recently posted…Great Birmingham Run training week 13
It’s so so hard to decide what’s best for your future… If you’re happy but there’s no future it’s a tough one. Ultimately you have to decide if you want to stay somewhere for an indefinite period of time and whether you’ll continue to be as happy. It’s hard being an adult 🙁
I have to admit to losing the tidying battle hard. It makes me miserable and I find myself constantly asking how on earth we have so much stuff. I have a week off coming up so intend to tackle so minimalist/downsizing activity then.
It must be really nice to know you’ve found the right place for work, it’s so important. And I hear you on the commute front!
Well done on your speedy parkrun – that is fab 🙂
Steph recently posted…Ultimate Coffee Date: June 2017 – the big catch up
Minimising stuff is very therapeutic but also a lot of hard work. I hate waste so there was a lot of charity trips and trying to sell stuff or give it away. It’s worth it in the end tho.
Glad things are going well. Moving is so stressful- when we moved into our first place we were moving out of parents houses so there was no rush, but moving out and in in a day was just awful. We’d had the boiler fixed just before and the night before we went to move the last job was to clear the loft (which was more like a crawl space= you stood at the top of a ladder and reached in) and it turned out that the boiler repair people had moved stuff like our Christmas tree and decorations out of reach, so Andy ended up having to move drawers and a wardrobe and climb up them to get into it (as we didn’t have a ladder and it was too late by the to try and borrow one).
Nice work on the parkrun time- and yay for the new sign- I’ve seen the popping up around a bit too. So annoying about the tourist list though- you’ll have to go back!
I don’t mind cleaning, but I do mind the time that it takes at the weekends when I already have work to do, so we have cleaners that come once a fortnight and it just alleviates so much stress- they are so speedy and get everything sparkling and way cleaner than I can in about a quarter of the time.
Maria @ Maria runs recently posted…Thetford parkrun with the Honey Monster (I think)
Yep I’m definitely going back to get it on my list again. Sooo annoying!!
I love when everything is clean and I don’t mind cleaning as long as I have the time to do it.
Traffic is the worst part about my life! 30 minutes is really manageable. It’s frustrating that even though you will be closer living with your parents- you will have more traffic just to get to the freeway. Having a job you love is totally worth it though.
Elizabeth C. recently posted…Boston Marathon Acceptance + Training Update
My commute is a dream now! I can’t believe how much less time I’m in my car for. It’s made such a positive impact to my life!
So glad that your job is going so well. You spend the majority of your waking life at work so it definitely needs to be something you enjoy!
I don’t ever think I could become fully minimalist, but I am definitely much quicker to chuck or donate than I used to be. All the extra stuff I used to hoard used to add on so much time with cleaning and sorting and moving from place to place. We’re definitely much better for it, and I know it’s made Dan happier!
I do enjoy cleaning, but I have to be in the mood for cleaning. If I’m not in the mood it seems to take forever, but if I am in the mood I can lose a whole day sprucing up the house!
Oh no, how rubbish about your parkrun fail. 🙁 I would be so upset over that. My time was once recorded as an ‘unknown runner’ and I almost went into meltdown that the run wouldn’t count! Luckily the lovely guys at Sheringham remembered me and that my barcode had actually scanned so updated it on the system.
Mary recently posted…The Round Norfolk Relay 2017
Oh I hear ya about the meltdown thing. I practically begged the parkrun email person to switch it over but she was like nope. Even just the Brighton one. So annoying.