I'm still here ...

No, I haven't disappeared forever. I'm just not writing a lot at the moment and not really worried about it either! In the back of my mind there's been a little debate going on about what this blog is all about. I'm not producing any poetry at the moment, so that's out. I could choose to post on the many social and political issues of the day that I find interesting me, but there are so many other bloggers out there doing that sort of thing so well already. It takes time to post that sort of commentary, and I don't have the energy to put into it.

It's probably no surprise that the topics that do inspire me to write are mostly fitness-related. As time goes by I read more and more running, triathlon and general fitness blogs, and they tend to be the first I click on each day when I open my Google reader. I don't know quite when I accepted that running etc has truly become the centre of my life. I thought that it might be another phase, but as each month passes this interest of mine only grows stronger. It's an odd obsession for me to have chosen. It's not like I'm particularly good at running, or cycling and I sure as heck can't swim that well. I'm reasonably strong now and increasingly agile, but I have other, more natural skills that I'm neglecting in favour of these new ones.

Perhaps it's because my new hobbies continue to challenge me, that I continue to see both improvement and room for further improvement. I find them hard, but they reward me more often than they slap me around. They challenge me more than physically. They make me confront myself mentally, spiritually and emotionally in a way very few interests have before. Moreover, getting to this point has taken so much effort that I'm unwilling to stop, for fear of losing what I've gained. The pen is always there. The meditation cushion is always there. The arms that got me through three sets of pull-ups last week, the legs that can run five minute km's? They're going to disappear on me if I don't keep giving them attention.

In my mind there's been a small awareness that, at 35, I've only got so much time to milk my improvements. If I ever want to do triathlons (and a half-iron would be nice) I need to sort out my swim. My running's probably not going to get a lot faster, although I'm confident there's room for improvement on the bike. I've had a few really bad runs lately, but I've had more fast, strong, confident ones. My muscle-tone continues to improve. I look at myself and I see someone who could conceivably be an athlete. Duck has me working on some basic strength stuff that continues to build my confidence in what I can really achieve.

So I'm happily obsessed, and this blog will probably continue to be about that.

And on that note, a list of things I'm loving:

• Bouncy new Addistar running shoes. Like walking on clouds.
• Wednesday and Friday runs with tri-geeks from my gym.
• Getting my Saturday run/Balance combo back again.
• My Garmin telling me I'm speedy.
• Pull-ups and push-ups and being able to flick a medicine ball up with my feet and catch it (David Beckham look out - this girl's got skills).
• Hamish being excited about Geocaching.
• Hamish taking his bike in for servicing (it's only taken 8 years).
• The two-for-one rock-climbing voucher on my desk.