“Yeah, no shit, you run every day” would be the response from those close to me, but actually this is a big deal. I haven’t ran since March 20, which is 48 days, which is the longest I haven’t ran for since 2018, 6 years ago. It was Covid. I’m a late bloomer, but my time was always coming. Bloody cracker time to hit too. Dad was visiting, we had a public holiday bonanza, I had a birthday, work projects were kicking into full gear, weather was awesome. Anyway, it could be worse, and it is for a lot of people, so I won’t whinge. It is what it is, but I want to set the context.

My asthma flared up, having to use a puffer for the first time since 2019, and with it I got nausea, passed out once, headaches, ripping throat, all that fun stuff. I attempted to go back to work once, but that made things worse, then the doc put me on half days, which are about to come to an end. I think the resting has kicked it, and my jog today was a sign I’m ok. I’ll go back to the office tomorrow, finish out these half days, and fingers crossed be in full swing next week.

So the jog was awesome. I knocked off 6.9km at a surprising 5:22 /km pace. It felt comfortable so rolled with it. I went a little further than my planned 30 minutes, typical of me to extend a run to [insert next obstacle here] (it was a cattle grid) when I’m feeling good. Couldn’t help myself. I got through ok, the exertion making me take deeper breaths than usual, which felt amazing with the fresh Autumn air. The muscles are reminding me now that its been a while.

So why am I writing about this and not my stupid bloody fix-it jobs around the house? You’ve committed to fixing something every day for the month and now this? What gives?

Yeah, kinda sounds like I’m getting flakey right? You wouldn’t be wrong. I do that. But I wouldn’t be partaking in Weblog Post Month if I never got Covid and stopped running. I wouldn’t even know what the Fediverse or Mastodon was, or have a website. On a normal week I run 10-20 hours. Injuries and illness give me time back to do the less physical things, explore my nerdy side, tinker in the digi-world.

So here I am, I got sick, I adjusted.

Exploring the Fediverse and creating my digital profiles has been my substitute, keeping my brain active, providing the odd dopamine hit, connecting with new folk. Weblog Post Month in particular has aided my recovery. I chose a topic that would give me my dopamine fix but is also super practical - ticking off something around the house once a day so (hypothetically) if I suddenly dropped dead, friends and family don’t have to deal with all my crap (death cleaning), and living like I’m selling which also encourages getting things done. I’ve been careful not to overdo myself.

So, just like running kept me away from learning about the Fediverse or Weblog Post Month, instead you get this post triggered by running, and not about a new job ticked off. But don’t sweat, for the one person who read this far (hello!), this blogging thing has caught on and I think it’ll stick, no matter my running coming back into my life.

I’m not actually sure about the point of this post. Sorry.