Playing at mermaids

While I'm not a speedy swimmer (or speedy anything, for that matter) I've always been quite confident in the water - mostly due to having a mother who was a swimming teacher, and who introduced me to the water when I was far too young to be nervous of it. 

When I spotted some stunning photographs of the lovely Lindy Pieri (a beautiful model of my acquaintance) taken in the unique Tankspace venue, I commented that I'd love to give it a go. The cost of a directly-booked session was somewhat beyond my budget - a solo two hour shoot costs £350. However, a few weeks after commenting on Lindy's post, she dropped me a line to say that her photographer, the magical Halo, was booking the tank for the whole day and selling 45 minute slots for £70. Despite being a three-hour drive away in Northants, I decided it was a chance not to be missed.

I then put up a Facebook shoutout to see if any other friends fancied sharing the journey / petrol / experience, and happily Dawn decided to join in. We shared the most wonderful day, booked adjacent slots, took it in turns to dive / change costumes to make best use of the time, and had an absolute ball.

The trickiest bit is the buoyancy. I am a natural 'floater' (something to do with large front-mounted waterwings?!) and keeping myself low enough in the tank is quite a feat. The process is to breathe in through the nose, but then exhale through the mouth as you descend - if you keep lungs full of air you just stay bobbing on the surface. Not very photogenic. Trying not to strangle oneself in scarves, drop props, or breathe in a lungful of water on emerging are all interesting challenges. However, by the end of the session, both Dawn and myself loved it and only wanted to have another go. There's no question of if we return to TankSpace - only when!

I took two costumes - a red evening dress and my (last worn in 1995) wedding dress. As a last-minute thought, I also took my favourite rainbow dungarees, and sneaked in a quick five-minute dive at the end of the session, also using the hoop (last encountered in my 'budgie-hooping' attempts a few years ago).

The Tankspace staff and Halo the photographer were delightful, friendly and reassuring; the tank itself was beautifully warm, as were the loos and changing room; the whole experience was empowering, amazing and magical.

I couldn't have been better pleased with the results. We had to wait for a couple of weeks until Halo had had a chance to sort, choose and edit from a day-long session, but they arrived on 30 December (the shoot was on 16 December), and as my husband put it, I didn't stop smiling for the rest of the evening.

It's a tough choice, but I think this is my favourite shot:

- the whole set can be seen here.

What a fantastic end to the year.

LEJOG: did it!

Triumphant to have managed the whole 1,083.8 miles with one week to go (final miles achieved on Christmas Eve). This is the last of the 'virtual postcards' that appeared along the way in my inbox!

Doing some serious walking around / through / across the UK for real would be a truly wonderful thing to do - except that my other [very enjoyable] commitments (theatre / church / decluttering clients / friends / family / husband) would probably go somewhat askew if I did... Any chance of cloning myself?!

LEJOG: 90% there

 In January 2021, I knew that I badly need a new target. I'd slipped back on many of my health and fitness goals, and I know from past experience that a specific aim is helpful to my motivation.

It was Kim who pointed me in the direction of LEJOG: the Land's End to John O'Groats challenge, via the Conqueror Challenge. This is one of a selection of virtual distances all over the world: you clock the real distances you've walked, but they are logged on a map showing where you would be along that route had you been walking in that location for real. I chose LEJOG as being an achievable target based on previous years: this particular route covers 1,083 miles, which across a year equates to just over 90 miles per month. Having managed 80 miles per month consistently for eighteen months back in 2017/2018, I reckoned I could aim a little higher.

The year started pretty well, and for the first four months of the year I actually exceeded 100 miles per month. The summer months went into decline; as we all struggled with the uncertainties of the lifting of lockdown but the continuing dangers of COVID-19, I suffered like so many others with uncertainty and a lack of motivation, and my weight rose again as my mileage decreased. However, I gave myself a metaphorical shake in August, my monthly mileage exceeded 100 miles again, and now - mid November - I have just over 100 miles to walk in order to 'reach' John O'Groats in the next six weeks.

During 2021 I've enjoyed some wonderful hikes - some (the shorter ones!) with my husband, some with friends, but mostly I have enjoyed solitary excursions, between five and fourteen miles. When we've managed some lovely holidays in the UK, my patient husband has been happy for me to take a day out alone to explore new territory. In April I walked over 14 miles along the Cranborne Loop in Wiltshire, and in September nearly 13 miles between Blanchland and Hexham in the beautiful Northumberland countryside. 

On average, I'm investing one hour per day in my walking activities. Time for me and for my health. And as I approach my 59th birthday, it becomes more than ever vital to my wellbeing that I continue to do so.

Running... and not running

Reading back over this blog, I see that at New Year 2020 I was five weeks into my umpteenth attempt at Couch25K. I thought it was worth recording that I did, in fact, complete the course in late February 2021. And there I stopped.

So what happened? There were no ParkRuns at the time (pandemic lockdown) to keep me motivated to continue; and in fact, I started to find that I truly wasn't enjoying the activity as much as before. The recurrence of my old plague, plantar fasciitis, didn't help; my additional injuries incurred with a severe sprain in the right foot (2013) have never really gone away, and with age I'm finding that the lower-impact activity of walking and hiking (even for long distances) causes me much less discomfort, as well as being easier on the back.

I do miss the time efficiency of running, the occasional exhilaration when the fitness is good enough; but my hiking activities are, I believe, best for me going forward. I'm proud of the few times that I achieved 5K continuous running (OK, plodding), but now - I'm walking onwards.

More of the 2021 walking achievements elsewhere, especially under the tag #LEJOG.

Couch to 5K - and other goals

Way back in May 2007 I 'ran' (that's rather overstating the case; it took me about 39 minutes) my first 5K - the local Race for Life. 

I continued to enjoy modest runs for the next couple of years until a nasty bout of plantar fasciitis put paid to that activity. 

During this 'life list' phase I decided to have a go at Couch to 5K, and blogged here about this in March 2018. Much to my amazement, I managed it, 'graduating' in May of that year. For the next few weeks I ran for three miles two or three times a week, and achieved my first ParkRun on 2 June (at a not-very-blistering speed of 36'17" - pace 11'16" per mile). 

What happened? Well, we moved into a heatwave. I returned to walking instead of running. And got out of practice. And then we moved house - from Winterton-on-sea to Norwich - in August. 

Once we were settled in our new home, I started C25K again in November - and gave up. And February 2019 - and gave up. And October 2019 - and gave up. Although I was still walking a reasonable amount, I'd lost my impetus and the feeling of being 'a fit person'. I gained between seven and fourteen pounds (this went up and down - although I'm relieved to say that my highest weight in this period has been 11 stone 7 - well under the 13 stone 1 that was my very heaviest in 2014).

In late 2019, I started C5K yet again, and in February 2020 I 'graduated' for the second time. And on 22 February I took part in my second ParkRun.

And what happened then? Well, we all know the answer to that. A month after my ParkRun, we went into the first covid-19 lockdown. Walks continued, but not as often or as far as before; life became a struggle, motivation plummeted, fear set in, and although it would have been rational to use activity to keep my mood lighter, I just gave up. My old walking targets of 80 miles per month were seldom met (when they were, it was due to taking long hikes - between 10 and 20 miles - with my good friend James). Lockdown #2 kicked in. We moved from that into Tier 4 - which was tantamount to lockdown anyway. 

Monday 16 November. Time to start again. Food is still rather out of control ("it's nearly Christmas and we're halfway through another b****y lockdown") but I start C25K again. And somehow, I've kept going. 

Today - Sunday 3 January - I've reached the end of week 5, and have just succeeded in conquering that startling 20 minutes of non-stop running that they spring on you at the end of that week. Slow, ploddy, hard work, but done - 1.5 miles, and at a pace of just under 13 minutes per mile.

It's 2021. During this year I'm determined to 

• achieve a running/walking distance of 80 miles per month (coupled with the #walk1000miles group on Facebook)
• to graduate in early February on Couch to 5K
• to walk a marathon again
• to get my weight back down to my optimum ten-stone-seven and below (I'll be doing weights-and-measures tomorrow, but it will be around 10-12 pounds to lose)
• to rebuild this lifelist and carpe diem.

In three days' time I'll be 58 years old. I've missed my lifelist challenges, and I miss the feeling of fitness and freedom that I achieved four years ago. 

The only person that can achieve this... is me.

Walking a marathon: training for a moonlight walk

My June 2017 marathon walk (actually 28 miles, in the end) - with nine of the splendid Mother Nature's Diet group, along part of The Ridgeway - remains one of my proudest achievements. I worked for it with my friend Kim, using the Norfolk Coastal Path for training, gradually increasing distances from 11.5 miles (Winterton to Happisburgh) to 22.8 miles (Wells to Hunstanton).

One of the team on the Ridgeway walk, and on one of our coastal training walks, was my great friend James, who was also responsible for me climbing my first mountains. A casual conversation about marathon distances revealed that James had previously walked the whole of Marriott's Way - a disused railway route in Norfolk which happens to be a marathon distance - but at night, at midsummer, taking in both the sunset and the sunrise and using a head torch.

We wanted to achieve this originally around midsummer day, but the onset of the covid-19 circumstances had messed up our original plans for training. By June 2020 we had got our plans sorted, we were allowed to exercise together, and reckoned that we could fit in enough long walks to do the overnight marathon before the summer was out.

In May I started to do some long solo walks, and in June, James joined me to enjoy a long (15.5 mile) loop around Felthorpe Forest, and we felt we were on our way. Unfortunately, a back injury on my part put a halt to longer walks and I stuck to short routes for the next few weeks. By the time I was back 'in harness', in August, we were running out of summer. However, we managed two excellent long walks in August - 16+ and 18+ miles - and felt we could probably manage the marathon before James (a teacher) returned to school duties.

On 26 August we aimed to train by walking half of Marriott's Way - out and back from the Aylsham end, lunching and turning back at Whitwell, bringing us to an intended walking total that day of about 22 miles. 

In fact, it turned out to be a total of 24 miles; and while it was a fabulous day, both of us were hobbling rather by the time we finished. My foot was in some agony for several days afterwards, and by the time it had recovered sufficiently (and I'd got back off a short holiday) we'd missed our pre-term-time slot - and the nights were drawing in. 

Annoyingly, we'd walked just two miles short of the marathon distance on that last occasion! However, we know we can do it; and when the summer returns, we'll give it another go. We're determined that 2021 will see our moonlight marathon at last - watch this space!

Kayaking: broads on the Broads

I loved my kayaking experience when we were fortunate enough to holiday in Croatia in 2019. However, a fabulous July evening in Norfolk was just as enjoyable!

Kim suggested it and (mercifully) shared my vessel (I think I'd get seriously left behind if I did it alone). We went with the lovely folks of Norfolk Outdoor Adventures on Hickling Broad, who we'd highly recommend for friendly and encouraging professionalism. It was a 'sundowner' outing, and we were fortunate enough to have excellent weather.

After moving across open water and through jungle-like reed beds...

...we paused for a rest and a chat (and a beer!) before returning to base. 

It was an exhilarating and fabulous experience, and one I'd love to repeat.

Full album can be found on Google Photos here.