What a week (and Easter weekend).
Monday: homecoming
On the Monday, LINOS and I flew home from Oslo. We’d gone there just for the weekend, to surprise a friend for this 30th birthday.
We had the most amazing time – I can’t believe how chill Oslo is!
One of our highlights was definitely jumping into the (four degree!) sea while visiting the sauna. Nothing describes the feeling like our expressions do in the video.
Tuesday-Thursday: working nine-to-five
Tuesday was back to work – but only for three days, as Friday would be the start of the Easter weekend in the UK.
My best friend (since we were eleven years old!) had her birthday on the Thursday. Sadly, I wasn’t able to go see her, but we did have a lovely chat which almost made up for a hug.
We’re going to meet up next month though, and I already can’t wait!
Thursday: chaos
I spent most of Thursday trying very hard not to stress out about anything – if you’re a regular here, you might already know about my new experiment to completely give up worrying (something I’m calling the Frosting Experiment).
This was a particular challenge on Thursday though. I needed to get a 90-minute brick workout in first thing before work (a brick workout is a where you do two activities back-to-back – in this case cycling 20k and then immediately running 5k) – except I slept over my alarm and woke up half an hour late.
I wasn’t going to let that stop me though. And, somehow, I managed to make up some time so I was only running fifteen minutes late.
After that though, I had to pack everything I needed for the long weekend, plus all the stuff I was going to need to race (as I was meant to be racing on Sunday). And, of course, I had to phone my BFF for her birthday.
Then I headed to work, where I climbed about a million sets of stairs on already knackered legs. When I clocked off, I went straight to pick up my bike (she doesn’t fit in my tiny apartment, so we live separately ?). Once I’d dismantled her to fit in my car, I headed back to mine to get all the stuff I’d already packed. Also to have a dinner of whatever was going off in my fridge (roasted cauliflower and some weird vegan sticks from my mum, in case you’re interested).
Then I finally got to drive over to LINOS’s to begin the weekend.
Good Friday: leads to Happy Saturday
I don’t know about elsewhere in the world, but in the UK, Easter is a four-day weekend. (The Friday before and the Monday after Easter Sunday are both Bank Holidays).
LINOS and I had planned to chill out and spend some quality time together, but…
Well, we did spend some quality time together. I’m just not sure how chilled out it was!
Friday we woke up early (I’m talking 6am) and the dog was desperate to go out (in the most adorable way). We took him through the woods and got to watch the sun coming up, which was beautiful.
We then headed straight to the supermarket to get supplies for the weekend (and those who love me know how much I weirdly love a supermarket trip).
We’d planned to spend the rest of the day lying in the sun or watching movies, before having dinner with LINOS’s sister and some friends.
However, when we returned home, those friends had already arrived (it’s about 8am by this point). So those plans changed.
LINOS ended up making breakfast and lunch for everyone. Then both of us cooked (and cleaned up) a BBQ (because no one could be bothered to cook dinner).
We also walked the dog three times (which he, of course, loved).
Saturday: take two
Another early morning, and this time we took the dog over to Mote Park along with LINOS’s sister, her partner, and their dog.
Both dogs immediately jumped in the lake, which I always find funny. Especially because they: a) never want to get out, and b) can’t ever figure out how to get out.
We’d already planned for some friends to come over for a BBQ that day, so we had to stop by the supermarket again to replace some of the supplies we’d ended up using the day before. Holding two BBQs in as many days gave us a good practice run though: I think we nailed it – there wasn’t a piece of food left!
Easter Sunday: ready, set, go!
Easter Sunday started early for me – I had my first ever duathlon to get to.
A duathlon is a run, followed by a cycle, followed by another run. In this instance, it was a 5k run, a 20k bike, and a final 5k run.
The weather was perfect (sunny, but not too hot), and the bike was on a closed-road circuit (so no cars).
I didn’t race too badly, but I also didn’t feel that great about my performance. I just didn’t feel it. Usually I love racing. (Though I usually race triathlons, which replace that first run with a swim instead). But I’d spent all week stressing out about this race (for no reason, and in direct contrast with my Frosting Experiment plans). And then I didn’t even enjoy the race that much.
It’s sad, but I think I might be falling out of love with triathlon. It feels weird, because I’ve loved this sport so much. And being a triathlete has been such a huge part of my identity for such a long time.
I need to do some soul searching, I think.
Anyway, I got pipped to third place in the final km, which was annoying, but then I got to head back home to LINOS (which was the best prize anyway).
We ordered burgers for lunch and finally got to snuggle up and watch a movie together (we’re rewatching all the Marvel movies in release order, and today was *Thor: Ragnarok’*s turn). It was perfect.
After that, we packed up the car (including the dog) and headed over to my parents’ house. We were having a little family easter celebration on the Monday, so LINOS and I were staying there Sunday night.
The four of us had some dinner, then LINOS and I took the dog for a walk around the block, before we all watched Hidden Figures (which was an incredible movie, I highly recommend it).
Lesson of the week: not everything goes to plan
This weekend reminded me of something I’ve been trying to work on – adapting when things don’t go to plan.
I’m a planner, and I also struggle with sudden change, so this has been a constant self-improvement focus for me. Reminding myself that we’ll only get this day, this moment, once, and it’s better to enjoy what is (not what could be), definitely helps me to chill out and go with the flow. Especially when I look back on weekends like this and see how much fun we had – even though it was different to how we originally planned.
Because you never know – the new plan might be even better!
I hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend (and Easter, if you celebrate). Until next time!
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