Friday Feeling feat. Knee Pain.

Despite having finished all the official scheduled teaching of my MA, and having basically all time at my disposal to arrange how I please, I still get that Friday Feeling every week. And I woulnd't have it any other way!

As I work on Sundays in my local pub, I reserve Saturdays for me. Unless there is a real case of academic emergency, Saturdays are my free day, mine to while away, to escape from real life, to use for exciting activities or day trips, but to always be exclusive in my week for rest, enjoyment and freedom! And so, the Friday Feeling isn't so much a friday feeling, but a post-Saturday Feeling.

I've sat at this desk for five days straight. My word, I'm ready for a day off! And I intend for my Saturday to be spent alongside Daniel, to be long and lazy but not empty of activity. Lots of tea, lots of reading, lots of wandering and chatting and taking in the world.

And, since it's Friday, Lauren has provided another set of exciting questions to fill in the blanks!

1. The first thing I do in the morning is Switch on my radio. Then I unload the washing up rack, stretch and break my fast! I always wake up starving but I have to do so many stretches that I prefer to get them out of the way first so I can enjoy my porridge without an impending stretch-marathon looming over my head .


2. Every night before bed I drink a warm drink (either builder's tea, calmomile with honey or a milk-based drink) and lie in bed listening to Gideon Coe on BBC 6Music. Heaven.


3. My favorite thing to do when I'm having a bad day is run and run and run until it's out of my system. Now I can't run so easily, I dance it all away, which is almost as good.


4. Something that makes me cringe is when I see girls tarted up to the nines, either on a night out or in the day, and they look really really really over-dressed.


5. Social situations are not my think. I tend to talk too much about nothing, and insult people inadvertently before digging myself to Australia in an attempt to reverse it.

6. I like to collect postcards. I have loads - some are stuck on my fridge, some are stuck on my bookshelf, but most are in a box at my parents' house waiting for me to find a pretty display book to put them all in!

7. Weekends are for letting go and kicking back. In my opinion the best weekend activities include drinking tea in bed, reading the weekend papers (and ALL the supplements), getting drunk, baking, cooking marathons, wandering through the city and finding exciting hidden tearooms and bookshops .



Finally, breaking knee news. I have insoles, I have an intense physio regime, I have 2 weeks to recuperate and get myself back in shape for a 13 mile run around the most mountainous part of England. Sadly, I am starting to give up hope - I'm in agony after a couple of miles, and I can't see this improving in time for the race, even with my tri-daily stretchathon.

I'm incredibly disappointed, but at the same time I feel quite proud of how far I've come, regardless of whether I run on 2nd May or not. Having that date lying ahead prompted me to really give my all to my training, and I was amazed at how quickly my distance increased - if I did it once, I'll be able to do it again once my legs work better! It also made me re-assess my alcohol consumption, which is never a bad thing! Better than all of that though, it gave me a kick up the bum to get back into regular long-distance running, as I was feeling quite reluctant to get out there again after the relentless snow! Once my MA started, my running started to dwindle, and with it went my fitness and stamina.

Since my Dad is running in Keswick, I'm still going to head up to the Lake District that day anyway - maybe I'll add to my mountain repertoire instead?