40. Running in the rain

Mile 37 – Hillier than expected.

You have to decide whether you are going to run a marathon, or whether you are going to run a marathon only if the weather is fine for all your training runs and on race day itself.

When you find the right kit to keep you warm (not necessarily dry: you tend to sweat while running), then you can be quite comfortable setting out in the rain, even in the worst conditions.

Some of my best race times have been achieved on days with horizontal freezing rain, when I just wanted the run to be over and done with, or by slipstreaming behind someone bigger than me and running faster than I would usually go to battle against a strong headwind.

The weather hasn’t helped this week. It does feel depressing when it’s cold, wet and windy and we are stuck indoors. It is rather too cold to sit outside even on the odd dry days. Nonetheless we have done quite well this week, despite the conditions. We went for lunch out at Shoreham’s Carat cafe one day (where we amazingly managed to sit next to yet another person who talked loudly, and non-stop, about themselves) but then took a peaceful stroll along that more industrial stretch of the seafront.

Luckily we have some good friends who don’t mind braving the elements in the cold. We had a coffee at the local garden centre with one of them who we haven’t seen face to face for the best part of 25 years. There was a lot of catching up to do and hopefully we can meet again before too long.

At lunchtime today we met up with other friends at another garden centre, where I enjoyed my first Christmas roast dinner of the season. It really lifts the spirits to meet up with people.

From an exercise point of view, the week had a glorious start. I followed the NHS physio programme each day and either walked 12,500 steps or cycled in the garage each day, including a long stroll on Brighton seafront. It was our first visit in months and we were at last able to see the new sculpture on Hove Plinth. It illustrates how we will be feeling when all these months of isolation are over in around six weeks’ time.

However, towards the end of the week it all went wrong. My right ankle was swollen on Thursday morning and I couldn’t put any weight on it. To top it all, both Sue and I had upset stomachs and took a couple of days to recover. It put paid to our plans to visit our friends with the beach hut on Friday, which was a great disappointment. On the positive side I made a great deal of progress with my book, “The Poisonwood Bible”, another by Barbara Kingsolver. My ankle started to feel better on Saturday and now (Monday) there’s not much sign that anything is amiss.

I mentioned the swollen ankle to my NHS physio at UCLH during the weekly online exercise class, and she very diligently followed up with a phone call later in the day. We ruled out a blood clot, which is the biggest worry. Those tend to be in the calf muscle, not at the front of the ankle going up the shin where mine was, and they don’t disappear so quickly. We agreed to put it down to overdoing the exercise and to see how it goes. I’ll try to build up the walking again, but a little more gently.

—oOo—

My consultant haematologist called: my guess was right, the consolidation treatment will be for two months in January and February, taking the same chemotherapy drugs as at the start of the year. I asked if we can start in the second week of January so that I can at least enjoy my birthday without the side effects of Dexamethasone knocking me out. We will see him for a consultation and for more tests some time in December. Then we are all hoping I will achieve remission in March. Fingers crossed!

—oOo—

The top of my head is growing a fine layer of short ‘fur’ now, resembling the surface of a kiwi fruit. Sue quite enjoyed stroking it, but I’m apparently not as silky as our children’s dogs, who we occasionally look after. 

I have a new project: designing, preparing and putting up shelves at Tim and Sarah’s new house.

I spent one morning figuring out how to draw a perspective view on the computer to illustrate the slatted shelves in the airing cupboard being held together by batons placed underneath. I proudly sent this to the group chat but they barely noticed it, let alone asked how I did it.

The fitting will be interesting, as usually I do these sorts of jobs at home. It will require a new level of logistical organisation as I try to take all of the tools I might need to their house. Half the fun of these jobs is trying to remember where the drill bits might be and I usually cover a few miles walking between the house and the shed. As I’m still avoiding people, I’ll head over there when they have gone to work and I’ll wear a mask and open the windows for a while.

We are due for some more dog sitting this week as Chris and Alex take their turn at moving house. I wonder if they will want shelves?

—oOo—

To keep myself entertained on the rainy days I have played around with more close-up photography. After last week’s pictures of the hibiscus in its prime, I took this shot of it just going over. I think this looks just as beautiful as the others, if not more so.

Then I searched the house for small objects to photograph. Each time, after packing away and processing the images, I would think of things I could have done better.

Thanks for reading and take care.