I can’t believe how much time has gone by since I last updated here.  I guess it feels kind of pointless to try and update a running blog regularly when you’re not running.  I’ve just accepted that whatever is wrong with my knee just needs time to heal, and there’s no point dwelling on all of the races I was desperate to run signed up for.  However, this is much easier said than done when places like Facebook are inundated with photos of friends proudly sharing their summer race photos.  I feel happy for them, but also kind of want them to break both legs.

Me. Basically every weekend.

The antidote to my venomous, jealousy-fueled rage continues to be keeping busy and throwing myself into new things.  I tried to style my hair differently for a week with varying degrees of success.  I considered getting another tattoo.  I thought about walking into a piercing studio and shouting out, “IMPALE ME!” just to see what I ended up with.  I bought red hair dye.  I looked at prices for flights to Thailand.  Basically, I’m going through a (very early) mid-life crisis.

In an attempt to hold off revisiting the rainbow hair and facial piercings of my teenage years I have continued on my fitness instructor journey and recently passed my Exercise to Music course.  I am now totally qualified to teach aerobics classes to music, and circuit classes using limited equipment.  The ETM course is also a pre-requisite for undertaking training for a variety of other classes (including all Les Mills classes) which is great, because despite what my face (and outfit) might indicate in this photo (taken today, during my assessment), aerobics is not really my thing:

In order to maintain authenticity during my routine, I had created a fabulous workout mix featuring Eurythmics, Duran Duran, Vanilla Ice, and this precious gem of a human being:

Despite today’s success and celebration, it has also been a sobering day.  17 years ago, an old friend, Jennifer, fell to her death from the roof of her boarding school.  She was celebrating her 14th birthday.  If she were alive today, she would be celebrating her 31st birthday.  Every year I see her brother and some old friends share a photo or a little comment to remember her, and every year it reminds me to be grateful for what I have, and to value the friendships I have with others.

Despite becoming a bit of a hermit with my running friends, I’m trying to be a bit more social, and positive, because even though I’d rather be running with them, avoiding them isn’t going to make me any happier.