A Norwegian wedding and a total commitment to play: a meandering round up!

I sat in the grounds of Sandvigen Fort, Hisøy, still sleep-deprived and revelling in the mellow post-wedding vibe of other people and became aware that I was truly happy. Quite apart from my daughter having just married someone who is truly worthy of her and a truly lovely human, my own life is a happy one.

I had a tough start to this year. My spinal diagnosis made me sad for a bit, and then my eternally fragile lungs had a rough ride, terminating in three months of antibiotics and steroids from February to May, and I lost myself a bit. Anyone who has trained for a few years and for whom running/riding/surfing/whatever is woven into the fabric of their identity will know that not being able to train is like tugging the end of a loose thread in a jumper as the fundamental web of their existence begins to unravel. I don't think I am particularly weird or obsessed or dysfunctional, I think we all build a beautiful web of strands of life that make us who we are, and the structural integrity of that is contingent on the co-dependency of those threads; Break one and the structure starts to sag.

For much of January to May, I was surviving. The training was intermittent, and eventually, after failing to consistently manage my training for months, I took a step back from being coached by Damian and decided to use three months to just focus on getting fully well. I reduced running to 5 km a few times a week, as much to manage my lungs as anything else, and I made upping my strength work to three days per week my main priority. I struggled to focus at work, and I definitely trod water for a while, but I knew in my heart that it never just keeps getting worse, so I just kept turning up and waiting for the tide to turn.

And then it did.

The increasing daylight hours of June, the then sun (we have since had the wettest summer that I can remember), some good life decisions, the massive reduction in pain (a product of the strength work), an investment in sleep (I now try to get nine hours), several weeks without illness, and ticking over with running (as opposed to stopping), and the final magic ingredient which is the totally intangible, mystery alchemy that fixes you if you hang on in there long enough, and I was ready to train again. I had kept a wandering eye on the development of the new trails, the Tamara Trail and Klygh Kernow, so when they popped up as finished, the last piece of my life puzzle slipped into place. I pinged Damian a message to see if he would have me back as I knew that technically he was at capacity, and thankfully his response was "Of course, Emma" which was ace!!

And...back to the Norwegian wedding and where we are at training. I started training the fortnight before the Norway trip, and my first two weeks were perfick. I started on low volume, easy runs with a few strides and all good. This week I have been totally off training as Norway has taken my time, and I haven't slept much this week; I am currently making a desperate bid to catch up on some sleep. I have managed two days of yellow recovery on Whoop, so I am clawing it back slowly from the red zone, and training begins again tomorrow.

Happiness-wise, where I started this post, I realised in Norway just how right my life is. We never stop learning and evolving, and I am definitely a growth mindset kinda girl. I decided in the run-up to summer that I needed to play more, to get away more and to take on long journeys because they were worth the effort. Being down in Cornwall, it is easy to stay here and never leave, but it is good to leave from time to time, and Norway reminded me of that.

Norway itself is likely to be a big feature in my life in the future as K & A are planning to settle there in the next couple of years and are planning to have a family, so a big part of my tiny family will be Norwegian. In the meantime, I am grabbing every opportunity to play that I can, with both hands. How we spend our hours is how we spend our days, and how we spend our days truly is how we spend our lives. I know how I want to spend mine.

It's all really rather exciting!!