Happy Sunday lovely chickadees! I’m currently preparing to watch England win the Euros. I have helpfully guaranteed this will happen by placing a very small bet in Spain. I absolutely swear I have done this because any bet I place never wins. So I tried my “bet on the other team” strategy on Wednesday, and look where we are now. Coincidence? I think not. You can thank me later.
Anyway, before I head off to sit on our insanely comfortable new sofa. This Week I….
Got my number
Yes that’s right, my number for the Cancer Research Marathon in September arrived and it suddenly seemed oh so very real. I must buy some good walking trainers with nice squishy soles.
I have already tracked the furthest I have ever walked a couple of weeks ago, and it just gets longer, so wish me luck! Oh, and bung me some sponsorship if you want!
https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/gemma-does-a-marathon
Tempted fate
I went out for lunch and I thought “Oh, I should wear my lobster dress, and how nice would it look with my orange wedges?” And the whole day the sky glowered at me like it was about to release a deluge the like of which the world had never seen.
It didn’t though, it just added a frisson of danger to my day.
Good story.
Did not have cancer
Well, obviously I did still have cancer, as the cancer I have is incurable. What I did not have is any more cancer. My cancer is still the same as it was before, and undetectable on blood tests. I have these every 8 weeks now. Myeloma is a tricky thing, often its return is heralded by an increase of what they call Paraproteins in the blood, so this is how they monitor it ongoing. However, some types of Myeloma are what they call non-secretory, which means the bloods may not always show its return. This means I also need to be aware of any new bone pain that may signify a lesion, and then they will run a scan. This is why every ache and pain comes with a side dish of paranoia these days.
Anyway, bloods don’t show anything, and I don’t think any of my current aches and pains are bone related, so yay!
I celebrated with an iced chocolate in Hotel Chocolat and a brownie.
Went for cake
The deliciously lovely Amy Webber has, against all odds, got herself a ballot spot in the London Marathon, and seeing as I’m doing one in September, I offered to help her train, so obviously we had to meet on Friday morning and talk about other stuff for 2 hours.
I had cake, but she had this epic French toast at two magpies in Norwich. Behold its awesomeness.
Went to the Football
While the men’s team are busy at the Euros, the Lionesses are busy qualifying for the women’s version next year, and one of those qualifying games was at Carrow Road!
Carrow Road! That’s near me!
So we bought tickets, and tickets for our pals that were visiting.
It rained, a lot, I mean it’s July so why wouldn’t it?
23,000 people sat in the rain and watched the Lionesses win 2-1. One of the goals came from a penalty, and the Ireland goal came in the 90th minute, so that was exciting.
We started off sat quite near the pitch, but also exposed to the rain. Then we were asked if we wouldn’t mind swapping to a seat at the back by the band, as the family there had an autistic child. Well, you’ve got to be pretty mean to say no to that haven’t you? Actually I think the view was better, plus it was fractionally drier, so a win I think.
Did not get a PB
I haven’t done a parkrun since the beginning of June, but my friends wanted to go and do a different Norwich one at Catton Park, so I went with them on a damp Saturday morning. Catton Park is an odd course, some of its on grass, or sandy trails through woodland. I was already very aware this was not going to be a PB as it was wet underfoot and I’m always wary of losing my footing. Then as I was nearing the 2k mark, running through woodland, a woman just behind me tripped and fell. Obviously went back to help. She’d hit her head and was bleeding, and also thought she’d dislocated her arm. We sent someone back to fetch a Marshall from the start and me and another woman waited with her till she felt well enough to stand up, then we slowly walked back to the start with her.
Obviously I was now anticipating a personal worst, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that I finished slightly faster than my first ever parkrun last year, despite having stopped. Woo for me!
The only news I have on my casualty is that her husband took her to hospital, so I’m sure she’s ok.
Drank some beer
On Saturday it was the Lord Mayors Parade in Norwich, but we managed to miss absolutely all of it by going out for beers with our visiting pals.
A lovely day was had, and the Pugs came with us courtesy of their new stroller, which was also loads of fun.
And that, dear readers, is where my week ends. With me having used an entire cutlery drawer full of spoons in one day, coming home from breakfast before our friends left this morning and immediately falling asleep on the sofa.
How was your week?
Lovely photo of you and Hannah xx