Mutterings for the Minority

Focus the mind

In light of my Dad’s news yesterday, I felt it was imperative that I try and focus my mind and continue to go about my/our business in order to remain both positive and strong.

With this in mind, I decided to go for an early morning run. I opted to cover the same route as my run last Sunday - albeit it a slightly slower pace. Still the 32 minute 25 second had a semi-positive effect, even if I did feel ’shot’ after it.

In the afternoon Mrs DDWT thought it would be a good idea to get out and about, so we headed off to the Swansea Sea Festival.

Unfortunately by the time we got there - gone 3pm - most of the displays had finished. We were fortunate enough to catch the Newfoundland dogs lifesaving display, which was very impressive.

DDWT Junior enjoyed the mini-pirate ship and the shanty music was quite entertaining as well. Baby DDWT spent the whole time sleeping!! So if you wanted to see pirates of all ages (and sizes) - some on stilts - then it was the place to be

We also made yet another visit to the National Waterfront Museum, which in all fairness never ceases to amaze us with the amount of information and quality displays on offer. Here’s a tip for you, it’s a great place to take the kids especially during the summer holidays.

Whilst inevitably casting our eyes towards the sea, it was impossible to ignore the sheer height and size of the Meridian Quay development.

Looking back to a previous post I made about the development (back in April), you can see how much its come on. Quite amazing!

State of shock

As you get older and supposedly wiser you consider all the things in life that one day will inevitably happen to you - however unpleasant they might seem. Well one of those days has seemingly arrived for me.

Today, my Dad was diagnosed as having liver cancer. That in itself was an almighty shock for me, but just to compound matters further - he also has a tumour on his bowel and spots on his lungs.

The doctor said that we should know the full extent of the cancer by the end of the week, when the specialists have had time to analyse all of the scans. The wait will seem like an eternity.

The news has really come as a bolt out of the blue for everyone and it really hasn’t even began to sink in to be honest. I’m just numb with the news.

I don’t usually blog about things as serious as this, but I just felt the need to let out some of my feelings and share them.

Projected race time

With my Swansea Bay 5k entry now posted in readiness for August 5th, curiousity got the better of me today as I wondered what my projected finish time would be - in relation to my running times of late.

Step in the Runner’s World race time predictor a useful online tool for calculating just that - your race time!

Anyway, it gave me an ‘estimated’ time of 28 minutes 8 seconds for a 5k run. I was relatively pleased with the projected time, given that I’ve not really done at awful lot of running of late, apart from the last couple of weeks.

So with this in mind, I decided to push the boat out a wee bit further this lunchtime and change both the route I took and the distance I covered. The result was 3.4 miles covered in 31 minutes 5 seconds. Whilst I haven’t bothered checking (yet) if that is up/down on my projected time, I was more than happy to have at least covered a 5k distance. Something which as this stage is really what I’m concerned with, my times will come later.

Water pistol fight

After our busy day yesterday we were determined to make the most of the rest of the weekend and in particular the dry weather that greeted us once again.

The sunshine and showers of the past few days had given our lawns a new lease of life and with the recycling collection due on Wednesday, it was an ideal time to give them a quick once over with the mower.

With the jobs out of the way, it was then time for a water pistol fight with DDWT Junior and the new water pistols we’d bought in Toys ‘R’ Us yesterday. A word on which you should now that you can get a double pack for just £9.99 - a saving of £6. They were great fun and could spray water a good 10 feet plus - even without the pump action!

As you can imagine we both got absolutely drenched - but had so much fun it didn’t matter one bit. The fun continued into the afternoon with a visit to Coed Gwilym park for some football, frisbee throwing and of course the obligatory go on the swings.

I’m also chuffed to say that I rounded off the day with a run! So on top of all the walking of the past two days, I added a 34 minute and 6 second (approx 3.7 miles) run to the tally. Let’s hope I can keep this momentum going through the week and it’ll make next Sunday’s weigh in an interesting event I’m sure

Dick Barton’s

Phew what an eventful day I’ve had - which is the complete opposite to a normal Saturday whereby I don’t do much at all.

My first port of call was my Mam and Dad’s who needed a piece of roof fascia board replacing and a leaky window sorted. I must confess to having been a touch nervous about undertaking the task - I’m not a lover of ladders and the bit that needed replacing was literally right on the edge of the house.

After a bit of trial and error I managed to get the ladder in a safe position - the narrow pathway below was safer than the embankment further back! It was then time to start fiddling with the replacement wooden fascia. After what seemed a ‘grand old duke of york’ time going up and down the ladder - I finally got the ideal fit. It was then time to add a cement finish! I was glad to see the back of job number one, but pleased with the result nevertheless.

The leaky window fix was a darn sight easier and straightforward I can tell you. I was even afforded the luxury of having DDWT Junior supervise in his new found role of foreman!

It had been a good start to the day and my parents were happy with the jobs I’d done.

We decided in the afternoon to take a trip into Swansea to get a few jobs done rather than sit around the house and garden. These ‘jobs’ included a visit to Toys ‘R’ Us where DDWT Junior finally got another Playmobil Dinosaur which he’d been promised and Baby DDWT got a small gift for her pushchair too.

Tea time quickly arrived and as it was such a lovely afternoon/evening I suggested that we took a nice stroll from Blackpill down to West Cross - well Dick Barton’s chippy to be precise. Dick Barton’s is legendary in these parts and I don’t think I’ve set foot inside the place in over 20 years, until tonight that is.

It was actually quite nice to take the family there as my parents had done with me when I was small. So the house of DDWT can now say that they’ve all experienced Dick Barton’s - well all of them except baby DDWT.

With our tummies full it was time to make our way back to the car, but not without taking a few snaps and having a pit stop at Blackpill lido.

So all in all it’s been a busy, but very enjoyable day. I’ll have to remember days like this when I’m next lounging around at home on a weekend!

End of an era

Today was the end of an era for DDWT Junior as he went to nursery for the very last time. Come September and he’ll be school full time. He didn’t seem to mind one bit - probably because of his little trip to Funsters with his friends and the promise of a Pizza Hut for tea. I think it was us who felt it more!

I know it sounds weird but it was kind of sad really. It doesn’t seem that long ago that he was going to mother & toddler classes and we were preparing him for nursery. Yet before we know it here we are at the start of the school summer holidays and our little boy is fast growing up.

It really is true what people say - enjoy them whilst they are small and young, for the time really does fly by without a shadow of a doubt.

With the weekend almost upon us, I decided to go for a run with coach at lunchtime as invariably I switch to lazy mode over the weekend and don’t do any training!

I didn’t feel comfortable at all during the 21 minute 35 seconds run, mainly because I had an extremely irritating dry cough and I was a bit leg weary after yesterday’s outing.

Still it’s another run under my belt in preparation for the next Swansea Bay 5k on August 5th.

Cold on the way?

Despite developing what appears to be a cold, I opted to go for a run lunchtime after a rest day yesterday. Let’s hope I don’t regret it tomorrow!

The overcast skies and blustery wind made it look cold and like a berk I’d forgotten my running shirt - having only a vest in my bag. Thankfully it wasn’t cold and the risk of ‘getting a chill’ given my under the weather status evaporated.

The 30 minute 4 second run ensured I worked up a sweat and kept me surprisingly warm - not that the air was cold thankfully!

I’m hoping that another few doses of day/night nurse will do the trick and avert a full blown cold, which is the last thing I want having got back into the swing of training.

Another day another run

WOW, running two days on the trot - that’s almost unheard of for me and a throwback to many moons ago when it was the norm.

It was good to get back out running with coach again too as that is always a bonus and ultimately a huge incentive - especially as we’re both VERY competitive. We decided to take it easy and clocked up 19 minutes 37 seconds in the process.

Still it was a pleasant run and at a pace which got me at least out of the ‘comfort zone’ - if only due to the humidity! Oh how I wish we’d have a thunderstorm to clear the air.

There was no school for DDWT Junior today as his class (albeit very few of them) were off to Bristol Zoo for the day. Somewhat bizarrely they’re back in school tomorrow despite a national two day strike by Unison - which affects the non-teaching and catering aspect of schools in particular.

Charlton ticket

With the football season just weeks away, I gleefully took possession today of my ticket for the Swans opening game in the Championship - Charlton away. The £30 price tag is certainly a rip-off, but I wasn’t going to miss the Swans first game at this level for over 24 years.

With over 2,500 of our 3,300 allocation sold already it’s looking increasingly likely that a small part of the London borough of Greenwich will be turned into a sea of black and white come August 9th. The excitement is now starting to build and no doubt come the day the pit of my stomach will be churning with excitement, nerves and a touch of emotion.

After setting my sights on another goal yesterday (i.e. my weight) it was back to pounding the pavements again this lunchtime. My time of 29 minutes 5 seconds was longer that I’d anticipated doing, but I must say I felt quite refreshed and comfortable afterwards - unlike last week. Now that’s got to be a good sign.

Target weight

Now that Baby DDWT has turned a month old - yes it’s been that long already - we’ve decided to turn our attention back to getting into our old dietary and training routine again. And what better way to do that than set a target weight we both want to reach.

Let’s face it, when you want to achieve anything you have to set yourself challenging but realistic goals - which is what we have done. So by December 1st 2008, Mrs DDWT wants to be 10st 7lbs and I want to be 16st.

We figured that Christmas would be a great time to achieve our goals and at the same time set another challenge of keeping to those weights - despite the festive season!

As things stood this morning, Mrs DDWT was 12st 12lbs - she’ll play mary hell when she knows I’ve put that on here - and I was 17st 6lbs. Don’t fret my love, after all you only gave birth to our beautiful daughter a month ago. DDWT Junior also decided to get in on the weighing act and tipped the scales at 3st 3.5lbs.

So now we’ve gone public with our aims and objectives there’s no hiding from the shame if we don’t get to our target weight and it also serves as some extra motivation!