Hello November

Happy November!

I’m not gonna lie. The past few weeks have been a little busy and throw in lack of inspiration, I have no idea where to start explaining my recent absence.

I actually went out with a friend. On a Friday night. What?! We went to see Vance Joy on his Nation of Two world tour. If he did play live which I think he did he was amazing. He only played an hour however after seeing his tour list I can understand why. He’s been touring since around April this year, with I think September as a month off. I’ve only recently heard his music after Shazaming Riptide out shopping. Googling who is this person, Vance Joy Barcelona came up. My adopted Aussie friend (She’s Scottish, lived in Australia for 15 years and married to an Aussie) was game to go. We hadn’t seen each other for a few months, so had fun catching up grabbing a bite to eat before catching the bus across the city to see him play.

I ran my 3rd Maori Obstacle Race. Compared to Spartans, the Maori Race is fairly easy even with 30 burpees for every failed obstacle. Like for the rope climb and the moving every time is different monkey bar style obstacle. Spain had huge polar drop that weekend with temps plunging by 11 degrees in 1 weekend. Going from a warm sunny 22C on the Friday to windy rainy 11C on the Sunday.

Can’t pose or side braid for sh*t!

I woke up on the Sunday not sure if to run as it was freezing! I did and glad I did. Loads of others were and the weather and terrain is an obstacle too. I wore a lightweight rain coat and gloves which saved me from getting to cold from the polar drop. It was fun race, even jumping into a pool and I’m not comfortable out my depth swimming. Thankfully they let us take off layers to jump in. Yep, my jump to touch the ribbon suspended overhead was more of a plunge! Even though layers were already wet, they weren’t as wet as full emersion. My raincoat also helped ease the chilly mud during the barbed wire crawl later. The rope I skipped only having to do 10 burpees instead of 30. I booked late, getting a late wave. I think most of the volunteers were frozen and wanted to go so waived burpees! The standard monkey bars I surprised myself on. They were slippy thanks to the drizzle and previous muddy hands but somehow did them! I think thanks to climbing callouses. I was so shocked I didn’t let myself acknowledge it until I finished them. I didn’t want to do more muddy burpees. The next set of monkey bars, the moving ones the volunteer was ‘just try them!’ then waved us through no burpees. Collecting my bag later I could hardly undo the zip my hands were so cold! I wore lightweight gloves not to freeze too much and lost one getting changed. By the time I got back, showered and eaten I had just enough time to race to the zoo. Where else on a Sunday?

The polar drop was the perfect opportunity for a seasonal wardrobe switch out. I’d been stock piling a few jumpers that needed their wardrobe place and a much needed wardrobe sort out. Aj ‘helped’ too, he’s hunting for dry food I place around the apartment for them to keep them active.

The cold weather season of winter sunbathing’s begun for these 2. Blankets are out and these 2 love their blankies. A sure way to catch a house cat is to put out blankets. Works like a charm.

My 2nd to last physio/osteopath visit I came back with a taped up knee. I managed falling off my bike be able to do everything but run or anything high impact for a while. A visit to another physio at my climbing gym popped my tibia back onto place. I had knocked it out of alignment slamming it against my bike frame. I was able to run and do high impact only on the sand pre taping, but a day after I took of the tape, it began to hurt again. My climbing physio’s also a chiropractor so I left many more bones put back in place: my hips were unlevel, my neck popped back, my ankle where I’d twisted it back in May unblocked and more work on my psoas which has been playing up. Oh and some bones in one foot eased back or a block removed. That was painful but not as much sorting out my sciatica which has been back I think thanks to my knee being out. I almost felt sick it was so bad. But hey, I feel great until I next trip up or fall again!

The only thing I like about the hour change at the end of October are lighter mornings for a while. It gets dark around 18.00 which is just sh*t. Out shopping it’s not so bad in the dark or when I’m out. It’s more sunset comes so quickly it catches me out, leaving me feeling like I’ve wasted a day if I haven’t been out when it’s light. The zoo shuts earlier so I have to make sure I make last entry which is tricky and then I only have 30 minutes. I’m working on getting there earlier. Plus mentally the shorter days takes some getting used too. More so after Christmas when the lights get taken down. I try avoid dark clothes in the winter so I don’t feel double meh from the darker days or from being surrounded by dark winter colours which can affect my mood. Little tricks I do to beat the winter blues.

Surfing season’s begun too

And yep, there’s been zoo trips to escape. Most of the residents when I get there are tucked up asleep. I don’t mind, I get to hear birds, see the trees change colour which is the only place I can in a city and that autumn nearly winter sunlight glow that bathes everything.