FOMO? Oh No!

So we are in the month of February (just) and all my running buddies are clocking up the miles, the long mile runs are getting longer and I'm in a reflective mood thinking about last year when that was me and I can't help wonder if I'm suffering a little bit of Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO)? 

But as my "long" run of 10 miles loomed yesterday and the snow, sleet, rain and wind battered my window I decided that NO, there was definitely no FOMO. There was even some bargaining with myself that, as next a half marathon was not until May my run could even be shorter, as there was no 'real' reason to run 10 miles!! 

The miles ticked by, the weather was still deciding between snow, rain, sleet or all three and then the turning point loomed on my run, I could either turn for home (with 7 miles in the bank) or carry on and get the 10 ticked off... Being type A,  already being wet and cold, I thought how bad could it be!! 

10miles later, with the help of a great audiobook the 8th instalment of the Peter Grant series and quite smug of my multitasking by ticking another book of my 20 books in 2020 challenge,  I was back shivering at my front door dripping all over the mat and looking forward to a hot, steamy shower and a nice cup of tea! 

Finally, I thought it would be a good opportunity to update on how my Dad is doing for anyone who has either followed by rambling for the last year or had the pleasure (cough) of running with me in the last couple of yeats will have known that my dad was diagnosed by with Bowel Cancer in late 2018. He went through very tortuous treatment with enduring both radiation and chemotherapy, which was why I decided to run Edinburgh marathon last year to help fundraise for Bowel Cancer UK. 

His initial scans after the treatment were encouraging and he was put on a watchful waiting list; this means scans every 3 months to ensure that cancer remained in remission. 18 months on Dad is star patient, he remains cancer free and back to his usual fit, healthy and of course annoying self and we would not want him any other way!! 

Both him and mum are looking forward to the weather picking up a little so they can get back in the van and touring around the UK and Europe chasing the better weather. 

Thanks for turning in to my ramblings

2019 - it’s a wrap!

QUICK STATS: run 1,565miles, bike 477miles, swim 59,230 yards. Races 7 

parkruns 30, parkrun volunteering 25, different parkruns 8 and fastest parkrun 23:57

January-  Ran the New Year's day parkrun double at Hanley and the Wammy; joined Derwent Running Club as a Social member, to help with my Marathon Training when it starts. We had the annual Family New Year's day meal and realising how much my nephews are growing up and a lovely birthday surprise weekend in Manchester for a cheeky parkrun and a visit to the Manchester Beer Festival….oh and how could I forget a haircolour change!! 

February - My marathon training began, my long runs were getting long!! WE had a girls night out to Bingo again, unfortunately, our luck had run out but we had a great evening catching up and it was the month of my best clean joke for a long time!  "I had a hen who could count her own eggs…..she was a mathemachicken"

March - The long runs keep coming and the aim is to run 18 miles before our week long holiday in Mexico, which I manage not once but twice so I could go away safe in the knowledge that 1 week of lower mileage would not hurt the training too much. Had a lovely week away in Mexico, we were testing out a few theories this holiday..was Mexico too far for a week's holiday, how was Cancun compared to Playa de Carmen and could I pack for a weeks holiday with just hand luggage! The holiday was both informative and successful in terms of our theories, the responses were; yes, no Playa is nicer and yes!! So no more waiting at the carousel of doom!

April - Early in the month means that I was getting into the tough weeks and my longest runs were coming up with a 20 one week and 21 mile a week later running to my parents' house on a very hot bank holiday Sunday!   It didn’t get any easier but knowing they were behind me was a comfort and that my miles would start to decrease helped to lift my spirits in the final mile. We decorated and swapped rooms around in the house, the carpet that had been down since we moved in finally went and both rooms got spruced up!  Our collective weight loss is becoming more and more noticeable and we had to take 8 bags of clothes to the charity shop!!

May -Can only mean one thing Marathon Month, but before the Marathon, we had the Market Drayton 10k and I managed a very respectable time of 50:29, I had secretly hoped for sub 50 but that wasn’t my A race so I let it go and carried on with the taper which should have been easy at a lower miles however it certainly didn’t feel like that.  Then before we know it were heading up to bonny Scotland and finally the marathon is here! 4hours and 3 minutes later and 26.2 odd miles and I crossed that finish line and yet again vowed to never run another marathon again…but I still wanted to run

June - After all the build-up, miles and hours put into training I was able to diversify my training again and with a Pool based sprint triathlon scheduled for September I needed to get back in the pool again que the 5:30am starts and being in the pool for 6am!

July - we are in the holiday season and we were heading back up to Scotland first to go to Rewind 80festiveal in Scone with another cheeky parkrun tourism and the commencement of our Scotland road trip in the campervan, we visited some lovely places and I got to swim in a Lido which was another first for me!

August -  The Hanley park renovations have finished and we could finally run the course 2B and start to use the bandstand again, shame they never did put the sides on it so we could use it as a shelter during the occasion wet Saturday parkruns….final bank holiday of the year before Christmas was an excellent opportunity catch up with friends and walk/wander and stagger the  Hartshill beer mile 

September- after much discussion about house renovations we decided to that wanted to update the garden and make it a haven to come home too and spend time in during the summer months (should we actually get some nice weather) so our GRAND DESIGNS garden work started and finished! I ran the Great North Run again and had a blast this is one of the best half marathons and one everyone should run and I closed out the month with the North West Sprint Triathlon.

October- We had a quick running weekend away to run the Bilbao half marathon and if it hadn't have been long I'm sure that I would have got a sub 1:50 but that is Brexit for you…also the realisation of the over the last couple of months starts to dawn on me that my running has really improved recently, my times are coming down which is great !

November- There was a brilliant weekend away with the girls to Wales and we saw our first snow of Winter 2019, we participated (very hungover) in Pont y Bala parkrun  and I finished in a very respectable 5th, to be fair there were only 24 people and we made up a third of them! I managed to actually get a 10 mile PB at the Derby 10k which I was really pleased with, but then got injured right after it!! Oh and I finish my contract in Nottingham and start to look for my next contact as well as updating my project management skills

December is all about going out with friends, catching up with friends and spending time with the ones you love! Oh and I ran my fastest parkrun in 6 years!!

Heres to 2020 and whatever not only the new year but also the new decade holds :) 

Just keep swimming

Following the marathon, with the next six months stretched and whilst we are waiting for summer to load I’m contemplating what to do with my next….. it’s true that marathon training really does consume you both physically and mentally, there is little time to think or do about anything else. 

This happens slowly and you don’t notice it happening, nearly every waking hour is taken up with thinking;

• about the route you will take, 
• the pace you will run, 
• have you got enough gels to get you though,
• will last night’s tea make and unpleasant reappearance where there are no facilities….
• do I have the energy to run again, 
• race day is T-minus x, 
• RACE DAY
• Finish line photos posted to the social media of your choice,
• retold the story about how the wheels fell off, or that you had an amazing race and yes you are pleased with your time!!

and then all of a sudden you have all this free time and mental capacity to do stuff….but you don’t know what to do with yourself. Personally, I’m not going to go on a 20 mile training run for shits and giggles if I ain’t got a marathon to do!  During my long runs, I’d dream about the stuff that could fill my day when not running, and now it is here I’m at a bit of a loss. 

So there was only one thing for it…sign up to a triathlon!  Which I have the North West Sprint Triathlon the end of September it’s a pool based Triathlon so (hopefully) there will be no getting out of the swim and bursting into tears! But what it does mean and with all this additional time I can finally get back in in the pool and back on my bike. 

So far it is week 3 of the new training plan and I’m keeping up my 2 early morning pool swims a week, it’s not easy and something I don’t enjoy that much, mainly because it is pure alone time with my thoughts…which is a scary place to be, because believe it or not I’m not very interesting. The strategy to keep me amused is to a) try not to imagine what those other weird floaty things are in the pool and b) remember what lap we are on.  Another good game is how many laps can I get done before other people join my lane Wednesday's record was 36.  But in the words of Dory “just keep swimming swimming”.

There has not been much in the way of bike training year other than spectating at the Potters Arf the other
week, so I need to up my game there but the awful summer weather hasn’t helped and my bike is need of some TLC maintenance to sort out the squeaking disc brakes.  Currently, my knowledge of how to sort this out has come from two YouTube clips and it looks easy enough what’s the worse that can happen...

Well I really enjoyed the majority of that..

Edinburgh has come and gone, all over in the blink of an eye! scary really after 16 weeks of training where every run felt tough, then slowly as the runs got longer they started to feel a bit easier and dare I say a little more enjoyable. Having said that I was really pleased to be done with the 2+ hour runs.

I had set my goals for Edinbrough which were twofold:

a) finish time with 4 at the start

b) still have the desire to put my trainers on and run again

To help me enjoy the run I had created an awesome music playlist, that I was really looking forward to listening too. It was an interesting mix of songs that I love both listening to very loud and singing along to in my car very badly! I'd purposely not listened to music too much in training and my long runs have mainly been listening to podcasts to distract me so listening to my mix was going to be a real treat.

Before my race, my training had really been turning a corner, with dropping around 10kgs and actually enjoying my running, my speed has started to pick up. So many people had started to question my seemingly soft target of a 4 something marathon.  

Did I achieve my two goals?

Goal 1: Finish time was 4:05 ✔

Goal2:  I really enjoyed the first 22 miles my songs where awesome, each one was a joy to listen to not quite singing out aloud but there was a lot of smiles, air guitars, air drumming and plenty of dancing hands. 

The weather had perked up which was brilliant as conditions at the start was awful, downpours and heavy drizzle then as the start got underway the rain dried up and it stayed dry for the entire run (despite the advanced weather warning!!) and finally the crowds where brilliant out in there droves clapping, cheering and telling everyone how brilliant they were.

But a marathon is 26.2 miles so what about the last bit….. last 4.5(!) miles were tough, it felt like I'd been handed a piano and to run into a headwind all the way to the finish!! 

There were a couple of walking breaks but I soon started running again. It helped to remind me that although this was tough, this was nothing compared with what Dad had to go through during his treatment.  When his last few rounds of radiotherapy were well and truly kicking his arse (excuse the Bowel Cancer pun), he continued to get himself to the hospital have his treatment because he knew that was what he needed to do to beat cancer.  

I also remembered telling him that his last few treatments were like the last 4 miles of the marathon, tough but you know you need to carry on because you don’t want to waste the first 22 miles…….

Eventually, I rounded the corner and the finish was in sight, halfway down the white runway to the finish I threw my hands in the air and even tried to smile a little!

I'd finished and yes I do want to run again, but just not marathons!

Your pace or mine!

Nine days to my marathon and my thoughts are on what my actual pace is going to be. As my long run mileage has dropped my pace has got quicker and last Sunday I ran an old favourite race of mine Market Drayton 10 and got achieved my fastest 10k in 5 years and a course pb!!

So the temptation is to change my goal from a 4 something to a 3 something at the beginning of my finish time; perhaps I could go for a 3:50 … but this is a dangerous game because then you find yourself looking up London marathon good for age time (cough 3:53) ***looks away whistling 😗 ***

But 26.2 is a long way to go and anything can happen so I’m not considering changing my marathon time goal of a 4 something. Ideally a low 4 something as my A  goal and anything starting with 4 as my B goal. 

So my pace is going to  be 9:15 and see how I get on, this should give me a around 4:03ish time so let’s keep our fingers crossed.

Now to keep injury free and try and relax over the few days

May means marathon month!!!

I have arrived in May with more me miles (677) under my belt than the total sum of the miles run last year (663) !! 

My last long run of 20 miles was over two weeks ago and the taper is upon me, this is where I start saying “yeah I only have 14 miles for my long run this week”. It always amazes me how I go from ugh 7 miles is tough to running treble the distance in a couple of months, but needless to say I got there. It's strange that the long runs are getting shorter, I'm finishing them really knackered!! 

Although I’m enjoying the thought of the mileage dropping, maranoia is upon me;  I’m already thinking that I should carry on running 20 miles just in case I forgot how to or that all of my fitness will disappear. Which is ridiculous and many a marathon runner can testify they will have had the same thoughts, I just need to keep reminding myself that the hard miles are done, the training is been successful as I’m still in one piece and slowly getting quicker.

There is around 2 weeks to go now until Edinburgh, my Bowel Cancer uk vest has arrived and I need to iron on my name, which is more taxing than running the marathon 😂😂

Getting stronger ?? part 1

I started this blog post last weekend and it is now a post of two halves…..

There round 5 weeks left to the marathon, getting stronger both in terms of my running and mentally. I ran 21 miles to my parent's house on Easter Sunday.  We have had a very busy weekend with decorating the two back bedrooms, I'm convinced it would have been easier to move but Sean said that I was a bit too dramatic!

I said that I was more than happy to decorate, but there was a 20 mile in the plan for some point at the weekend and the plan was to run to my old homestead and would be needing a lift back.  We settled on Sunday as  most of the decorating would be out of the way and would be left with glossing (which I hate!) but at least I could the skirting boards meaning shuffling along on my bum!

We had been blessed with a wonderful Easter weekend, wall to wall sunshine and warm temperatures it was a joy to be out running in it even doing a long run! I had my podcasts ready, my hydration pack and a front-loaded route. There is nothing more soul destroying than having to find an extra 2 miles at the end of your run.  Off I set with the sun on my face and a spring in my set; the run went well I ran up to the Bet 365 stadium and then on to the canal for a run into Stone. 

Miles 4 to 10 were along the canal which was lovely, quiet and peaceful and odd barge tootling along and 

giving a cheery wave, I also saw a couple of Herons on the banks and managed to take a snap before I continued with my run. Half way is done with an average pace of 9:20 and now on to the next stage of the run was along the busy A34.  I  decided to change things up and put some music on, it was going to be too difficult to hear podcasts as cars zoomed at 60mph. 

Miles 11 to 18  along the A34 were very different to the canal on the only notably site was a viagra packet on the side of the dual carriageway… I didn’t stop to check to see if it was empty or full but it did distract me for a bit thinking about why and how it ended up on the side of the road.   The music definitely helped me up and over Yarlet Bank which is a bit of a climb, but once it is out of the way it is mainly downhill or flat for a good couple of miles.  As I approached Stafford my pace alarm was going off to tell me to slow down, which I did try to do but not that well as my average pace of 9:08 between miles 11 to 18. 

Miles 19-21 (?) there was a lot of bargaining going on with regards to the route, I had already realised that it would be 20 miles well before my parent's house, now the dilemma was, do I go up one big hill and run around 22 miles or take the alternative shorter route few a couple of sharp inclines and only run 21 miles…….21 miles it was.

As I turned in my parents street I was well and truly done in, but 21 miles at this stage in my training is great going…especially when it is followed up by 7 chatty miles with Jen the then next day!

You do have love long bank holiday weekends, these are even better when the weather turns up.  As I said that the start in terms of my marathon training, things are going well and getting stronger all the time!!


However, part 2 .........

Highs and lows of a 20 mile training run

Pre run:	Have I got everything I need? hydration pack ✅, gels ✅ , podcasts ✅, Garmin and headphones charged ✅, route planned ✅, phone ✅, emergency£2 ✅….  Right let’s do this🏃
Mile 2:	20 miles is a long way, perhaps I could shorten it, do 14 miles now and go out for 6 later? I’m I mentally strong enough to do this, I still have 18 miles to go
Mile 6:	whoop whoop gel time! Also, I get to stop and take in my surroundings but mainly the joy of stopping is quite nice.
Mile 8:	this is really silly, why does anyone want to run a marathon, I still have another 4 miles until I can stop and have another gel
Mile 10:	only mile 10, I know it’s halfway but really it feels like it should be more like 12-14 miles,  still 2 miles before my next gel/stop is this route long enough or am I going to have to reroute
Mile 12:	whoop whoop gel stop!! A gel has never tasted so good!! Oh no it's over too quickly time to get going again and brilliant only 8 miles to go
Mile 13:	what I still have 7 miles to go!!! Gutted
Mile 14:	why on earth did you plan a route which includes a hill at mile 14, you could have gone along the canal again!!
Mile 16:	only 4 miles to go, but in distance, it’s only 3 miles, need to re-route!
Mile 17.5	left turn extend extend
Mile 19:5	another bloody hill, we are going move to the bottom of the hill
Mile 20:	Done IT!!!! To be fair there was a point between mile 6 and 14 where I was kinda in the zone, whilst these were my random thoughts I didn't once think about giving up. The podcasts I listened to this run where: David Tennant does a podcast with James Corden Oxygen Addict with Simone Mitchell Ted Talk - can't remember for the life of me! Marathon Talk - night at the science museum with Martin

Over thinking my over thinking

Trainining is going well although sometimes I have a tendency to over think my long runs…

·         which route will I take, 

·         do I have enough time to fit it in, 

·         should I go flat 

·         should I hill 

·         what about my pace 

·         will I get bored

·         Do I have enough podcasts 

·         do I have enough time

·         what route 

·         go in the morning before dawn

·         after the commuter traffic

This goes on in a loop around my head and then I start to feel all overwhelmed about the fact I don’t know the answers to these relentless questions.  

My worry is that my run will be doomed to failure as it will be; too short, too long, too hilly, too flat, I’ve run out of things to listen to and I’m late for a mythical appointment I didn’t know I had.  I’m trying to remember if this has always been my default when complicating my long runs or did I just wing it??

Having said all of that my last long run was 15 miles on Friday 22^nd Feb; a route in mind, a full podcast play list, hydration backpack and fuelling strategy and it was lovely.  The weather was perfect, as we are experiencing an early Spring here in the UK with temperatures well above average, the route was perfect quite flat with  number of hills and 15.1 miles door to door, winning!!

You would think that this week, in preparing for my slightly longer run (16 miles) this Friday that the “what if” loop would have stopped….unfortunatey NOT...  but inevitability ir will get it done and it will be fine, whatever is thrown at me, I will both cope and adapt!  

Happy running!

Marathon training has begun!

As you may know, I have been preparing to train for my marathon for the last couple of months. It all started in December with running every day to 25^th and also trying to increase a single run to 10 miles.  All was achieved and I have been steadily running 4-5 times a week since the beginning of January 2019 and increasing my long run distance.

So 4th Feb signalled the start of my 16-week training plan; which does feel long but I’ve built in some wriggle room and factored in a week in Mexico🌞. I have still not managed to really get in much quality work, reps on the treadmill are hard work and no one really fancies a tempo session unless you have company😒 .  

But I did get my longest run for 2 years done a whopping 14 miles last week and followed up with 13 miles this week.  On both runs, I was feeling the effects by the end and none of it was particularly quick.  

I like to reminisce about my long runs, of the past when I could run 14 miles at 8:30 min pace and question whether I will be ever that quick again…..but then I remember that I’m older,  that style of running hurt and I didn’t really enjoy it.  So I will carry on with my plodding miles and hope that the pave does quicken a little.

You do have a lot of time during your long run and I used to decide which charity to run for. I'll be fundraising for it's Bowel Cancer UK and my link to my just giving page is here I had originally thought perhaps I could run for all the B cancers; Bladder, Bowel, Balls and Breast, but I don’t think that there is such a charity out there yet!

Bowel Cancer UK  provider expert information and support to patients and their families, they campaign for early diagnosis and treatment, they support and fund research to help stop people dying of bowel cancer and they educate. To find out more check out their website. https://www.bowelcanceruk.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/

Cancer has struck my family again; my Dad survived his last bout with Bladder cancer and has been fit and healthy for the last 8 years.  Then last year he started to get some symptoms, which made him book an appointment with the GP and following that he was put on the cancer two-week pathway and had a battery of tests. 

The outcome and diagnosis was not what any of us wanted but in the grand scheme of things it was in the early stages and he had stood a good chance to win in this battle too.  

His treatment plan was an aggressive one of combined radiotherapy and chemotherapy, neither were very pleasant and towards the end of the treatment, they were beginning to take their toll on him.  However, after 5 weeks his treatment stopped and although the treatment effects continued they didn’t get any worse and they even started to lesson week by week.  By week 5 after he finished treatment he was back to his chipper self….all be it a lot thinner than when he started. 

Now for the next barrage of tests again to see how things are going….and it was good news treatment had gone well the tumour was now a distance memory.  Although things don’t stop there, because of his previous cancer and the treatment he was unable to have the usual next stage in traditional treatment pathway which was an operation to remove the site of cancer, which meant there were several options to him. 

As it stands, 4 months after he finished treatment,  he is now on a watchful waiting list, where he has regular scans to ensure he remains cancer free and the second anything changes we face a new decision which is knife or no knife…..

It is a tense time for all of us, but I think that it is the Owen way to feel invincible and that we will defy the odds, so let’s keep our positive pants on and keep moving forward.

New year, new me??

A good question is it a new me? Well, certainly from a hair perspective I have gone bold and being brave!

Let me tell you a little story.... when I was 12/13 and it was the early 80s, “Born Blonde”, "sun in" hair bleach was all the rage. I  had decided that a blonde fringe looked so good going full blonde was the only way to go....fast forward a sunny Saturday afternoon, sitting with a bottle born blonde on my LONG DARK BROWN hair, in the sun with a plastic bag on my hair (to help aid the processes 😮), as I went to wash off the peroxide concoction off my hair, the fear of impending doom never struck me, until the towel fell from my hair and I finally looked in the mirror!        

Needless to say, it took less than 10 minutes and I was back at the sink with my mums wash-in wash-out brown/black hair colour. For the next 5 years, I had to constantly dye my hair dark brown and had to stay away from perms which in the 80s was the style of choice for any self-respecting teenage girl!!

 

30 years later I was sitting in the hairdressers with a clear plastic bag on my head watching the colour leave my hair, trying to convince myself this time it will be better, time has moved on… computers can fit in your hand,  cars run on electricity and you can get a flight to Vegas for £250! Surely they are not still using Born Blonde…. Whilst I’m enjoying my new hair, to a degree, there is still that 12/13 girl looking back at me in the mirror on the odd occasions.

So what about your running I hear you ask, well I'm feeling a little more like a new me; I ran my fastest parkrun in 16 months and I ran my longest run is nearly 20th months!! I did rest while I had my cold and waited until I had recovered before I commenced training again, so it was a good 5/6 days off, but I got straight back on the plan and even took it sensibly, with some reduced mileage runs rather training to ramp things back to where they were.  So after my mini break and my week back, I have three new records:

My fastest parkrun (27:33) since 19/08/2017 at Fletcher Moss parkrun, which was a nice little course, a couple of small hills which had quite impressive downhill section considering I’m sure we didn’t climb that much. 

My fastest mile (8:03), I can remember the last time I ran a whole mile that quick it was in my last mile of my parkrun, I was picking people off as in the last half a mile and even managed a sprint finish which I have not done in years either!

Finally ,my longest run (11.1 miles) since 28^th May 2017 which I am pretty sure was Manchester half marathon!!   

So it really does feel like a new year and new me 😁

Where have I been!

Is that the question you are all asking?  the year started promising with a blog post in January bragging about my walking 10,000 steps per day for the year and writing all about it….

No, I didn't get lost or just carry on like a walking Forest Gump...I managed 52 days in total, it was 21^st Feb that let me down, only 9,823 steps! I must have fallen asleep and forgot about my target because if I have known there would be been some pre-midnight house prowling going on. The next time I missed it was 28^th Feb and this time only 9,312 step…slippery slope.  

From then on in there was a definite decline in performance and it is much easier to say the number of days per month I achieved 10k a day:

March 14 days,

April  8 days

May  19 days

June 21 days

July 13 days

August 23 days

As you will imagine this is the pattern that has been replicated in my running, which for some time has been rather below par… 

I had fallen out of love and favour with running, the tight hamstrings didn’t help and neither did the long commute.  Now 45 mins to 60 mins might not seem like a long commute for some, however, for me it was too long and sometimes soul destroying; by the time I got home, a run was the last thing on my mind and running before work was not an option as I needed to start my journey to work early in order to miss all the static traffic. 

In May, I got a new contract 😊 , started work in Nottingham which was better as I could stay in Derby (Mon-Fri) and my commute was back down to 10-15 mins much more my style. Now my problem now was lack of familiarity with my surrounding and fear of getting lost in deepest darkest Derby City.  

However, I was able to continue my Gym membership with Nuffield Health, started going back to the gym again and if needs be I could use the dreadmills, although that might not be the best way to re-spark my love affair with running again.

Over the last few months, there has been progress on both my steps, my running and spinning; with my routine being spin class most evening, and every morning out for a 6am run with a quick shower at the gym and in the office for 8 ish.  I have even started to incorporate a short run interval session, which is something which you can do on your own, but for those longer tempo runs, I am going to need to find some company.

So my running goals are for the rest of the year are:

• Consistency  running ideally 4 times a week
• At least one quality run session a week
• Get up to 25 miles per week by the end of year

All of this is because I have signed up for Edinburgh Marathon (hence the tracker that has appeared on my blog)…which is something I never thought I would do again…..just goes to show how things can change.

One last thing, I promise to blog more....I have a few things coming up in the next few months so potentially lots to write about