Running and Rhinovirus

It's been just over a month since I've joined the Running Club. I did my 4th time trial tonight and I've managed to improve my time for 5km by 3 minutes so far. Really quite chuffed, it's becoming easier every week. I'm very far from being good at it, but improvement makes me happy! I've been working hard on my overall fitness and it's nice when you can at least see a change. No matter how small. A year ago my Achilles tendon was still a massive mess, so that's also a big improvement.

(My time when I did the Parkrun in Englad was better, but that wasn't at 1700m altitude and in the heat. So at least my Joburg time is catching up to my UK time!)

A tiny hiccup in my fitness goal has been a common cold, or Rhino Virus. Two weeks ago I was feeling a bit off-ish, with a sore throat. I had a lung check-up, and my lung function had dropped 3%. That's not a lot but I just felt bleh and had some phlegm in my lungs and sinuses. So my Dr ordered a throat swab, and I was very relieved to see Rhino Virus was the culprit, and not Coronavirus! Or any of the others on that list! You just have to wait it out and treat the symptoms, so didn't have to do anything about it.

I'm very excited to see my aunt Annelie tomorrow. She's the one I visited in the UK for Christmas. She's been here in SA to see my gran, and she'll be in Joburg for 2 nights. Can't wait! Picking her up in the afternoon. Looking forward to a great weekend.

Trying to make the most of the last few days of summer. There's a definite Autumn chill in the air when you wake up in the morning! Not a fan of winter.... We had a pool party at Brendan and Marius' house 3 weeks ago to soak up the last of the summer sun!

Scotland... "slightly" late

As you can see I've been terrible with blogging! Almost 2 months later and I still haven't done all the UK posts! So.... Scotland:

On the 29th of December I took the train back from Darlington to London, and met up with my friend Carli. She's in that category of friends I've had since I was like 6. We flew straight to Inverness and spent the first night in a Holiday Express close to the airport. The next day we drove in the direction of Glencoe, where we stayed in an Airbnb place in Ballachulish. Rather interesting accommodation, but very cozy!

 

On the 31st of December we drove up back to Inverness, stopping at Urquart Castle. We spent the last night of 2019 on a houseboat. We didn't make any concrete plans for New Years Eve, or Hogmanay as they call it, and was almost stuck without food, as all the places were fully booked and even at 16:00 no one was willing to serve us! Eventually we found a friendly pub where we could stuff our faces! Sadly we didn't stay up long enough to see the new year in, and crashed just after 21:00 into a food and Prosecco induced coma.

On the 1st on Jan, we drove up to the North Coast, to John O Groats. We stayed in a super cool guest house in the area. There was some super amazing scenery, especially the Duncasby Stacks. Once again, the food prospects were slim.... with it being the 1st of Jan. Luckily we found a Chinese Take Away place in a close-by town! They weren't very friendly and didn't even want to let us use wifi... we had to walk to find cash, and they crapped on Carli when she put her foot on a chair... but nevertheless, we were fed!

On the 2nd we drove back to Inverness, had some whiskey, and headed for the airport! Four great nights in the Scottish Highlands! I REALLY want to go back in summer. It is the most beautiful country. Apart from SA of course! Although it's pretty different, you can't really compare the two. Highly recommended if you're a nature lover!