Typecast

I sat alone, glancing furtively to the left, willing him to make the first move. I was shy; I always had been. He stood up and flicked his eyes in my direction. I quickly looked away but it had happened – our eyes had met for a split second. He stood up and attempted to casually kick a stone away. He missed. He shoved his hands into his coat pocket and whirled around on his heel. He walked up to me, leaned over and pecked me on the cheek. I felt that patch of skin burn and tingle. My face flushed and I coyly looked at the ground. I mustered up all my courage, rose from my seat, walked over to him, tiptoed up and gently brushed the corner of his mouth with my lips. I rushed back to my original seat. My sister jumped off the adjoining swing and shouted, “YOU KISSED ANTONY SHIELDS! I’M GOING TO TELL MUM!” She jumped on her bike and peddled as quickly as her chubby little legs would carry her. I focused on Antony’s face, feeling slightly sick, mumbled something a...

I've turned a corner.  Feeling negative about running has been locked away and if it threatens to rear its ugly head again I'm going to look back over the past couple of weeks and remember exactly what it was that changed my attitude.  First and foremost, hard running - and running further - is paying off.  If you follow me on Instagram , you'll know that I ran my furthest ever distance last week... EIGHT MILES!  Claire - my training partner - arranged a Sunday run but initially wouldn't tell me how far we were going so I couldn't psyche myself out. It was Really Fucking Hard Work and I could feel my body having to push beyond any boundaries I had experienced before after six miles but I did it!  At the end I got overly emotional and sobbed in the street.   I also hit my goal of running 50 miles in January.  It actually ended up as 63 miles in total, even with a run totally written off because of tight calves. This was a club challe...