Radost

Uh. Well, I accidentally went for a run yesterday, so +15 points for fitness, -10 for resting 😅 How did an accidental run happen, anyway? I’m feeling Much Better, like 90% of my normal (maybe 85% because Mr. Radost isn’t sleeping well and his tossing, turning, coughing, sneezing, and getting up to sleep on the couch for a bit does affect my sleep). Sibling B (who hasn’t tested positive despite living with us, so has been isolating in the upstairs and just coming down to collect dinner every evening) was going out for a walk and I said I’d join them if they were okay with it. There’s a Pokémon Go “Route” nearby and we thought we’d walk it. But we discovered, 1.5 km into the 3.5km not-quite-loop that Sibling B, who has some physical disabilities, hadn’t gotten close enough to the start point to activate the route. So I volunteered to jog back with their phone, while they walked a little ways back to wait for me at a bench. It was of course exhilarating at first. I usually have a 10/15/30 bike commute (Job A/Job B/home) plus Job A involves a fair bit of walking so I’m feeling very under-exercised and I just freaking love to run. But I activated my exercise-induced asthma and have been coughing again since, so it was maybe not my smartest idea. Anyway, the weekend will be restful, and my energy levels are still good. It’s just annoying to start coughing again after I’d basically stopped.

Welp. I guess this week the only thing that will be for points is stretching as it’s finally my turn to experience Covid. So far not too bad but I don’t know if I can hack jump rope and I don’t think I should take my germy exhalations on the trail.

Oooh, you are in for a treat! There’s so much story now, and there’s some really cool stuff in the “Ventures” section. I really enjoyed “Godmaker” (fantasy), “SpellBound” (urban fantasy/humour), “Endless Sea” (sci-fi) and “Nellie Bly” (creative nonfiction). I’m excited that with fall on the way I can get back to “The Graveyard Route” (ghost stories) and check out “Season of the Hunter,” which is set in the main ZR universe but in North America. I sent in a comment about the audio clip problem and got a response back hours later that they’re working on providing some options, so hopefully I won’t have to re-listen to everything when I get home after a run for too long. 😅

Doin It 🐸🐸 close but not quite, 10/15 🌊 ✔️ 15/15 🐆🐆🐆✔️ 5/5 Saw my cousins on my run today, was prepared for awkwardness when they were like “go ahead,” on the trail, thinking it’s very likely that they’re going to pass me before long (we were all running through the neighbourhood before heading to Well Used Nearby Chiptrail) but somehow it didn’t happen. Zombies, Run has a new “feature” that you can no longer tell it to never interrupt songs, it just fades your music to around 50% and has the audio clip play over that (if the song finishes during the clip a new one won’t start until after the clip). I think this would be great as a setting, it’s a good option for races (where the clip has to play at 3.5km or whatever in order to keep to the final distance) and it would be fine on quiet trails. Running in the city in daytime traffic, though, about a third of the clips I basically couldn’t follow: voice + music + traffic (not to mention other trail users talking, dogs barking, etc). I hope they change it - I will sleuth around and see if I can change the fade levels, but…just give me the option to not interrupt songs!

It’s running season again! Zero week is an intense one for me, with school startup and a concert with the choir I just joined - a three-night run of pretty challenging repertoire on two weeks’ rehearsal. Adding another weekly rehearsal has me feeling a little overscheduled, but I’m also loving it So Much. Choral music is great intellectual and creative stimulation for me, plus the social angle is nice. Saturday game has wrapped up so we’re doing board games once or twice a month instead of ttrpg every two weeks. Goals (only the creek is my photo) Jump rope 15 minutes per week (15 points/week) Run every week (15 points/week) Stretch at least every second day (5 points/week) I might add some life goals but I’m having trouble formulating anything. All I can think of are educational strategies and weird harmonies, haha.

O hai, it's the mid-challenge "I got behind and then couldn't make myself post" check-in! I started writing a bit about the race (last weekend) and got bogged down and...here we are. Our weekend away was great! We got over to the mainland in time to visit my favourite garden in the gorgeous spring sunshine, get hipster ice cream, and walk around the inlet to get to our friend's place. Then it was time to go to the symphony! Seeing what kind of nerds would show up for a night of Final Fantasy music was exactly as much fun as I thought it would be (although I could have done without the overly loud dude beside me) - just all kinds of style and several cosplayers sprinkled throughout the crowd. And of course the music itself was amazing! None of my favourite running tunes, though, haha. I knew it was too much to ask that they play Dalmasca Estersand, and yet I held out hope... Race day was rainy, which I love for running but was a bummer for the 45+ minutes we were hanging around between package pickup and race start. I was surprised that there were a lot more people signed up for the long course than the short - all the island races I've been at were the other way around. My friend is fast, he finished in the top 25...I managed to stay out of the last 50 and felt pretty good about that, haha. Actually, my run yesterday (at the easy 10k trail) I managed a pretty consistent speed around 6:45/km, which is around what I was running back in 2019. I've been feeling a bit hopeless because my speed tanked when I quit running for a bit in 2020 and has just not been improving, even though I've now been running weekly+ consistently again for over a year. Still slow on the tougher trails, but that's okay. We went out for lunch (we thought) when we got back to town...turns out the place we showed up at around noon only does brunch until 2, then happy hour(s), then dinner, no lunch. What is this big-city nonsense??? After 11, you offer the lunch and brunch menus, it is known! I'm sure a lot of people like it, but brunch is tough when you dislike eggs...there were only two menu items for me, waffles or a cheeseburger, which turned out to be a very tasty cheeseburger, but. Might have chosen otherwise if there had been more options. Challenge overall, I'm doing pretty well at Rationing Supplies, which feels a bit artificial, like, how much difference does it make to my overall caloric intake? But breaking the habit of snacking on candy after work every day is good for other reasons than overall calorie count. I'm struggling a lot with Combat Training, though. Apparently three is Too Many Exercises right now, and I'm not sure what to adjust to change that. I'm also not making time for painting, but I am playing in the garden a fair bit so I think I'm approximately meeting my goals for Sharpen Vision, even if I'd kind of rather split the time between the two hobbies. It's spring, I have a lot to do outside!

Aww, yeah. We are very lucky here on the coast. Spring is well and truly underway already! I gather it's really exciting when the season finally hits places that have Real Winter and absolutely everything just goes all-out, but I do love our long, drawn-out growing season. (ETA: I added captions if you care what the flowers are, haha)

Looking back at my run/hike yesterday, it seems great! But in the moment I was Not A Fan. A bunch of little stuff came together to mean I left about an hour later than I had planned...and I really should have eaten lunch before I went, because by the time I actually hit the trail, it had been 4+ hours since breakfast, and then it was a good 3 more before I got back to where I stashed my sandwich. I set out with the intention to beat my total time from the last hike, figuring that I wouldn't need to stop and check directions or backtrack as much. I didn't, but the hunger made it very hard to keep running and between mild lightheadedness from hunger and bad chafing, I walked more this time and increased my total time by a good chunk. Beating myself up mentally the whole way back, of course, because if I can't manage One Little Thing like a 13km hike/run sandwiched between 12km bike rides, what on earth was I thinking, signing up for a Big Fancy Trail Race (note: the race course is only ~9km, although it has a similar elevation gain to my hike, so it will be challenging). There were lots of pretty sights, though (under the jump)! This is my favourite time to be out in the woods - everything is damp and smells perfect and all the secret flowers are starting to bloom and the moss is luscious.

Trail adventures are so worth the time and effort! But I always forget and end up just running the same chip trail. Good luck getting somewhere new! I went back to Scafe Hill yesterday and saw a completely normal number of ravens (like four or five), so I feel extra special to have been there at just the right moment last month. Ravens are usually kind of sociable but not really flocking types, so it's definitely unusual to see more than a handful in an area.

Zero week run accomplished! (Let’s not talk about workouts) I had an incredible experience. Got out to one of my adventure locations for a hike/run. Tried to quit beating myself up for walking as much as I ran because 12k is 12k and walking on uneven trails also builds ankle strength and other anti-fragility measures. Almost turned back at 5k because I had, as is traditional, made wrong turns and had to backtrack several times (also because of flooding on the main trail! But I discovered just how much nicer the secondary trail is, score!) and was feeling some time pressure. Mr. Radost was expecting me to pick him up from work and I didn’t want to keep him waiting long, but I decided to chance pressing on to the summit of Scafe Hill. You can see photographic evidence of the very moment when I was like “no, I am GOING to DO THIS,” in my Instagram post because I am cool and I took a selfie. https://www.instagram.com/p/CqTFVqULEET/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= Did you click through to the post? You probably should, because the most magical, otherworldly thing happened and you can hear it in the last slide. I’d been hearing ravens the whole time I was in the park, which isn’t unusual. But as I passed the halfway point on the hill, it was getting to be A Lot of calls. By the time I neared the summit, I could tell that there were dozens of ravens, not just croaking and cawing, but doing their friendship quorks and the water-droplet chuckle that means “I love you.” At the summit I got to see them flying - more ravens than I’ve ever seen, easily 30 and maybe more. It’s mating season so I guess there’s a lot of showing off and no small amount of playing, too. They were hanging upside down on tree branches, swinging around and dropping like a kid on a jungle gym…well, one who drops a couple body lengths and then flies off into the stratosphere. If it happens that you’d like to walk through the Ravenmoot with me for a few minutes, I uploaded a 5-minute video to YouTube. Sorry there isn’t much visual evidence of the ravens, they are hard to catch through the trees.

Holy smokes, it's almost race time! I booked the day before off work so we can go over early, and we got tickets that evening for Distant Worlds, symphonic music of Final Fantasy, so it will be a Top Notch weekend! edit: wow, I went to look at the course map so I could explain that I'm not running on the beautiful mountain in the background there...and had some serious stress when I saw that the elevation gain was like triple what I consider challenging-but-fun...then I realized it was in feet when I'm used to metres, haha. So the total elevation gain is around 700 feet/213 metres, which is perfect. And not that snow-capped mountain. Physical Discipline All in a day's march - run every week. I will be hitting the trails every Saturday, or making time on another day if I know Saturday is too busy, plus I may make time for a few extra runs, especially in week 1 (my spring break!). Combat training - do at least two 20-minute workouts per week. At least 4/10 must be Darebee or Zombies!Workout. If I fit in a second run, that can count for a workout. Trail blazing - run or hike/run in 3 places I don't often get to. Alice Lake counts for 1, so I need to make time for 2 more. Mental Discipline Strengthen the shine - celebrate immediately every time I choose a veggie or movement snack instead of junk food. Celebrate if I succeed at rationing supplies. Ration supplies - no junk food snacks after work on Tuesdays or Thursdays. Stepping it up from last time. Sharpen vision - one hour of painting or gardening per week. Both come under Mental Discipline because they help ground me when I'm struggling with executive dysfunction. Adventure? Decipher ancient mysteries - I plied the yarn! This challenge, I will knit it and spin the next ounce. Say 'yes' to Plot Hooks - schedule two fun social or artistic activities during this challenge, in addition to Race Weekend. Bonus: post here every week!

Guess who made it out for an after-work run today??? Day 3 of pretty nice weather, regular rpg session was cancelled (waaaah), and off work a bit early so I got out for a short, fast run before dinner. The mountains on the horizon were beautiful! Saved my snacking for after dinner, too. A good Tuesday!

Week 3 finished strong. RingFit Thursday, JustDance Friday, run Saturday. I don’t know if I’m going to manage my extra runs this challenge, but I’m keeping up every week, even yesterday when I had a sore throat and had slept badly and the weather was gross. Doing really well side-stepping while teeth brushing too. I completely missed painting again, though. Haven’t picked up a brush (or a garden trowel) since mid-February. I think that’s my plan for my Bonus Alone Time this Wednesday (Sibling B has their regular shift and Mr. Radost has his “quarterly nag” at the office). I really hope I can get out for a hike/run at [challenging lake trail] or a 10k at [easy lake trail] this weekend. I just haven’t had time and decent weather concurrently (Mr. Radost needs the car for work on Saturdays and it’s a long bike ride to either lake…which I often enjoy but not if it’s seriously raining or windy). But I’ve recently realized I’m SUPER BORED with the park trail in my neighbourhood - rightly so, since it’s just a 3.5k loop and I’ve been running there for about ten years now - and I need some adventure runs! It’s better in spring because I’m watching all the flowers come out, but even still, it can be a bit like “oh, this patch of camas, as usual.”

O hai, I am truly not doing well on my Adventure bonus of posting regularly. Here’s a challenge-midway update! Physical discipline: middling success overall so far, I’m at 3/8 runs (almost on track), and 5/12 workouts (2 meet the Train Harder criteria). Could have made 6/12 yesterday if I’d come upstairs right away when I got home from work super early (I drove instead of biking due to snow, and also got off 15 minutes early), but I stopped to chat with my mom when I returned her keys. She’s one week into recovering from hand surgery and super bored, so I can’t say it was a bad decision, but I was a little bummed not to have time for both. Mental discipline: I’m doing okay with the shine, recently added a new habit to work on of doing side steps while I brush my teeth, which I hope will strengthen my smaller hip and butt muscles to help protect my knees. Rationing supplies I’m at 2/6 despite telling myself I could try a make-up last week. Seriously, one minute after having the mental conversation with myself that I was going for no-snack Thursday I stood up, walked past the last sugar cookie, and ate it without thinking. Better this week, though. Sharpen vision is at 2/6, last week I did not get any painting or gardening done. Actually, we’ve had a cold snap, with snow and below-freezing temperatures and everything, so the garden is back on hold for a bit, sigh. I just bought some summer bulbs, too. Adventure: I finally finished spinning (Ancient Mysteries step 1)! Now I need to ply (step 2)! I feel behind, but I think I’ll be able to finish by the end of the challenge. The Plot Hook I said yes to already was MIL’s birthday (what’s more adventurous than baking something Totally New on a deadline in the middle of the work week???) and Plot Hook 2 is the concert I’m going to with my vocal ensemble peeps right around the end of the challenge.

Whoop! We did go out last night. Completely forgot about the lecture on ferns and fern propagation ‘cause I was so into assembling this beautiful monster. The sound MIL made when she saw that not only had we come over but there was cake made all the effort totally worth it. And my ganache turned out well despite my misgivings…I think the white chocolate I used did not contribute as much as I hoped to the flavour so I’ll have to experiment with that, but in principle I can now make whipped ganache!