Monday 26 December 2011

A whole 183 days' worth...

I started this blog back in late June of this year so that I could capture my thoughts as I ran, swam and cycled (but mainly ran) around Cardiff. It seemed such a shame to allow the things I thought about to evaporate into the ether. I wanted a record of these thoughts. In starting this blog, I also set myself the objective of blogging these thoughts each and every day for 6 months. That's 183 posts to this blog, one day after the next. Today saw me achieve this.

It's not an easy task writing a post for this blog every day because sometimes my thoughts don't always resolve into oven ready, just add water, easily digestible, tasty, bite sized morsels. Usually, I have to admit, it's not that difficult; there are a number of thoughts that pass through my mind that easily offer themselves up as candidates for blogging - I just need to season well, heat in the microwave for 5 minutes and then turn them out onto a plate known as Blogger.

Sometimes, however, it's not that easy. I have to start from scratch; much scrubbing, peeling, weighing and mixing is needed before I have anything nourishing to show for it. Sometimes, all I have is a scramble of half snatched, semi-formed incoherencies that take quite some cooking before publication. There have been times when I've sat here trying to remember what went through my mind on my run. My failing memory leaves me staring blankly at the screen without a clue as to what I should write about. Some of you may argue that I should never have bothered in the first instance.

And what have I learned from it? Well, it's quite therapeutic having to write your thoughts down every day and it's certainly interesting looking back, as anyone who's kept a diary will testify. Will I carry on writing this blog? Certainly but maybe not every day. Here are some of my favourite posts over the last 6 months:
Such a drag... I like this one because of the video of me letting loose my inner drag queen. Well, what else does a boy do after a few glasses of red on a Friday night?
Land of my fathers. And mothers... I like this post because it takes me back to the instant I saw the text from my mum with her photo. Such a nice memory.
Nature, red in tooth and claw... I can still see the distressed look on the poor girl's face each time the guy swam past her.
Marble domes and delicious torture (Istanbul 3)... Blogging on holiday may seem like a waste of precious time but it pays dividends when you read these posts several months later. This one covers the day I went to a Turkish bath and had a massage - oh the pain and the pleasure.
Singing like a canary... I laughed out loud the first time I saw the tweets quoted in this post. I've just laughed out loud again re-reading them.
The men's underpants special edition... Way too much personal information but I guess I wouldn't be a blogger if I wanted to keep my life a secret.
A veritable smorgasbord... Good memories from the hotel restaurant at breakfast - my favorite meal of the day.
Good company for the godless... A reminder of the great company I keep. We are not alone.
Today's run at 13:12
Distance4.27 kmTime24:35
Pace5:45 min/kmCadence81 spm
Comments: Impressive, given the kilos of Christmas dinner I'm still carrying around.

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