Live life on the wild side

 As 2023 comes to an end and the Festivities have been in full swing, I want to take a moment to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy new year.  This year has been filled with mini adventures, the challenges of pregnancy, the journey of navigating a new job role and fitting in general health and well being as well. As for 2024 well that is a whole new adventure!  In my older years i have never really been one for new years resolutions but i do like the idea of making commitments and agreements with myself, and each year they are usually just things that i want to continue working on to continue to support and improve myself, so rather than giving up chocolate or hitting the gym every day I usually focus on things like, lets make sure i focus on my sleep routine, take on more adventures and make sure i move a little daily.  These are normally my big three, there are may things I want to work on and goals come and go, things change and plans get adjusted, fo...

 3.30 am alarm rings.... turn it off and roll back over, not ready to wake up yet, doze back off and eventually drag myself out of bed just before 4 am.  Spending time getting ready for the next adventure, running kit on, breakfast made and coffee in a take away cup, pack the bag with bits i need and sort out my 33 fuel gel for the run, sort out some tail wind and water and they gather it all together, 4.20 ish heading out the door off on our next adventure. Its dark out, not to cold, but not overly warm, bundle the bags in the car and put the bits in the front we need access to and then off we go, today we are going to wales, off to hike up Pen Y Fan, one of the three mountains/peaks i will be taking on in April, its and early start to get to our parking destination for 7 am, all in aid of an early start to the hike, the car journey is long and dark, but cosy with the layers of clothing.  Arriving at the storey arms car park we park up and jump out the car for a stretch ...

 Double post this weekend guys! (only just got round to posting my Halloween one)  This week has been a mostly chilled one with a week of lighter work outs and more rest before I kick start my first hard week of three, I'm going to be following a three weeks on one week off system, so 3 weeks of harder efforts and then an easier week, the easier week will still have runs and rides, just a lower intensity.  This week I have also been working on my plants, I dropped a small fortune on plant care stuff, pots and an orchid but I finally have everything i need to complete my indoor gardener badge, so all i have to do now is keep them alive till January.... If you're wondering what i am on about talking about badges, I am working through the Rebel Badge book  a book that gives you tasks to do to earn badges much like scouts or guides but for adults! Its a fun little book with a great community around it.  So one expensive shopping trip and a huge mess later I have all...

Rest and Recover The week after brutal was a quiet week, focused on rest and recovery, restful days, easy sessions and plenty of sleep.  The day after race day was a challenge in the way of walking, added with the combination of more than two flights of stairs a day because of my job at the time and movement was more tricky, I think it finally took till about Thursday to be walking like a normal person. Running was swapped out for gentle walks, stretching was added throughout the days during long periods of time waiting round and lots of focus on massage as well.  I did manage to get out for a run through the week through, a short social on Thursday more walk than run and a short run on Sunday, a good way to start getting back to some sense of normal, recovery also saw me prioritise more time on sleep, getting to bed at a decent time and because of the change of shifts more focus on a lie in and less focus on early starts, the increase in sleep was a huge benefit to my recover...

 Well what an adventure! I mean where do I start, let's take it back to race night.  Friday 9th September. We are back at the hotel, food has been eaten and we are packed, I'm still frantically trying to figure out what I have forgotten, but I haven't, I have everything I need, We pop on the TV, try to settle down and get an early night, Its an early 4 am start for us tomorrow.  Saturday 10th September.   Race day- 4 am alarm rings, weary eyes eventually open, we get dressed, fill the bottles, make sure everything is packed and make sure all the chargers have been unplugged. The nerves have kicked in, I feel sick, I honestly don't know if I can do this.  4.40 am we head to the car, laden with bags, heavier due to the water bottles now being full, the drive is long to the start, or at least it feels that way, we get to the parking and in my haste I mess up the payment then need to try and do it again, only I haven't pushed the button and now I'm trying to do it i...

  The start of the end..... Well not the actual end, in fact this was not suppose to be the end at all, this was just to be a stepping stone in the journey to the end.  If you are a regular follower of our YouTube, Instagram or Facebook you will have known we took on the #DragonDuathlon, a race we never finished, a race that runs every two years, alternating direction, north to south, then south to north, I say it runs....It ran.... We made the decision after having to pull out of the race that we would wait the 4 years, so we could redo the race we targeted, north to south, We had already spent a little under 2 years training for the first one then a further 4 training and working toward the second, around the pandemic, restrictions, broken collar bones, a year of no running with a hip injury and just keeping on top of day to day life. 6 years, a lot of our life we put on hold so we could go back to #DefeatTheDragon. Long story short the Dragon isn't happening any more offici...

  Hi, it's been a while, actually it's been a long while So the last time I clicked on this blog was.....2017? Were now in 2022, I have been through a lot, the world has been through a pandemic, I've worked in 3 different places since then, and I'm very much a different person (in some parts anyway) So let's start over shall we.  Hi my name is Jess, short for Jessica, I also respond to Jessie, I class myself as an adventuring kind who seeks a challenge and loves getting into anything that really years me, a few to mention being sea kayaking, becoming a manager, my first marathon, a bungee jump, jumping out of a plane, attempted a race across Wales and many MANY more.  So what is this all about? Well, recently I have undertaken a new project, well several new projects with the rebel merit badge book, its kind of like brownies or girl guides, for adults and it is amazing! One of the merit badges is the writers badge, and one of the options is a blog..... you see where...