Hey, hello! It’s me again! I thought I’d jump in for Fit Five Friday just before the end of the year!

WELOME to Fit Five Friday with with your FIVE amazing hosts – me, Darlene -My First 5K and More, Michele – Running With Attitude, Jenn – Runs with Pugs, and Zenaida – The Running Teacher ! 

It’s been a crazy ride this year, and working full time again (I was 4 days a week for many years), has really made things more complex! I used to have time for blogging, social media, and other extracurricular activities but it’s kind of been a doozy. And of course we always have topics for Fit Five Friday and as per usual I’m deviating from that because I wanted to at least recap how things went this year as far as my goals were concerned.

How it Went: Five things to Achieve this Year

25 parkruns this year

Let’s start out on the positive, shall we? Goal Achieved! 26 with the possibility of one more at home, in the Netherlands, Austria, Germany, England and Scotland!

January
Zegerplas – Netherlands
Donaupark – Austria

February
Sonsbeek – Netherlands
Van Heekpark – Netherlands

March
Rothay park – England
Sonsbeek – Netherlands
Sonsbeek – Netherlands
Queen’s – Scotland

April
Sonsbeek – Netherlands
Wienburgpark – Germany

May
Sonsbeek – Netherlands
Kralingsebos – Netherlands

June
Sonsbeek – Netherlands
Heslington – England
Sonsbeek – Netherlands

July
Sonsbeek – Netherlands
Sonsbeek – Netherlands

August
Sonsbeek – Netherlands

September
Wezenlanden – Netherlands
Sonsbeek – Netherlands
Sonsbeek – Netherlands

October
Rubbenbruchsee – Germany
Priessnitzgrund – Germany
Edgbaston Reservoir – England

November
Sonsbeek – Netherlands

December
Sonsbeek – Netherlands

Get Control Over Stress

LOL. Now that’s funny! Not a chance.

Continue My Walk Streak

Nope. Actually just forgot to walk one day. Busy at work and in the house. I did bike to the gym that morning and did strength training. I just forgot to also to a walk. Streak ended at 648, but I’ve continued #everydayactive since then – so walk, run, bike, train; anything active counts.

Continue pursuing better mental and physical health

Check. Still working with the Internist and Sleep Neurologist.

Internist: Well. They don’t know. We’ve tried several medications. Nothing is working. And I’m not “fat enough” (my words), for weightless medications. There’s no need to say that this is a good thing and it’s much better if I don’t, etc., etc., just please understand that I’m doing *everything* to lose weight and I haven’t lost a single ounce. I’m pissed, I’m frustrated. I can’t run like I want to. It’s not about how I look, let’s be clear. I don’t give a shit about that. I want to run without the burden of 25 extra pounds. It’s about running.

The sleep neurologist: I’m now doing “sleep training” with a device that buzzes when I lay on my back. It’s supposed to help the sleep apnea and help me sleep better when laying on my side. The thing is when it buzzes, I wake up. So, yeah, that doesn’t help. I’m trying though. Ron also recently bought me some HHC gummies to help me sleep as well. I’m not really into drugs but desperate times require taking desperate measures and it’s legal, so…

Register and participate in at least 5 races

Well, it would have been 5, and I was registered for a race in November, but decided to DNS. There was a 2 hour time limit on 15KM and it wasn’t something I wanted to be pressured to do with a sweep car behind me the whole time. I already was 2nd to last at my race in April, completely last in May, about 5th to last at my race in September and… I’m not even sure I will finish the Half Marathon on Sunday. Time limits suck. See also me being pissed about not losing any weight and wanting to improve my running.

Not the best year ever

To be perfectly honest, this year has been kind of crap. I got out of a toxic work environment, and my new job is good, my colleagues are great, but it is stressful. Being in menopause still is sucking so bad; the depression and rage are insane at times, I’m completely overstimulated by everything -noise, smells, taste, touch – I cry pretty much every day. I totally understand why people step out of life when they go through so many years like this (Don’t worry, not a cry for help, I’m just saying I get it). On the other hand, I am enjoying parkrun, I’m not giving up, I’ve traveled quite a bit this year and have gotten to see my dad a couple of times (who is stage 4 now, which does NOT help me mentally), I’ve seen and spent time with some amazing friends and the renovation project we started earlier is chugging along – we’ll actually finally have a kitchen again next week.

I’m not even going to say next year will be better – I keep saying that and it’s just one thing after another. So, I will just continue being active every day and I will continue taking one day at a time until it does get better.

Not trying to be a Dina Downer, just telling it like it is. Will you stick with me, even though I may not always be perfectly positive?

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