This may turn into a new distraction

I managed to avoid jogging until the pandemic

Week five of lockdown and I’m doing stuff that I never expected. Yesterday I took out the ‘Gym Boss’ I use for interval kettlebell training and used it to time a walk/run to Hampstead and back, about 6 km in total, moving from walking to jogging every 1’50”. It was gruelling but made somewhat more pleasurable by the opportunity to peek into some lovely homes and generally admire the variety of architecture along the route.

My oldest school friends will know that I have been a proud member of the anti-running brigade since I was about 14 and refused to run around the track, proudly walking each and every step around the course. I did the same for school cross country runs and sprints. I never understood the appeal. It all seemed like a lot of effort. Too much sweating. My boobs were too big, uncomfortable and in the way. This was before sports bras came along so I felt suitably justified abstaining from a sport that clearly wasn’t meant for me or the other members of The Invisible Shoelace Club, a group I formed at school comprised of other young women who couldn’t see their feet when peering downwards.

Bob, my partner, and I have been using our one hour’s worth of daily exercise to walk, mainly to Hampstead and back. We could have changed the route but there’s something very satisfying about walking up big hills which my other neighbourhoods don’t provide. We went a few times down to Paddington Rec and Maida Vale but there were too many self-absorbed runners that clearly weren’t going to stray from their path and freaked us both out. We went down Abbey Road to St. John’s Wood too but it wasn’t picturesque enough and far too flat to feel as if we were doing any actual exercise. Hampstead and back are what seemed to combine the best of both worlds - lovely scenery and a steady incline.

After a month of back and forth, I felt we needed to switch it up and this week suggested that maybe we broke it up with a gentle jog. We’ve done it twice and are already talking about how we can better our time and introduce more jogging. F*** me. I can’t believe I’m actually jogging. I’m almost embarrassed by the very idea of it. For any of my runner friends, if I’m still doing this in a month’s time, I give you permission to say, “I told you so.”

Aside from jogging, I have dipped my toe into the water of video. For years I’ve been trying to get someone to pay me for creating an online ‘startup school’ for those that thought they were too old to start again and then realised they didn’t have any choice. Now that’s pretty much everyone I know. I applied for a grant last Friday because the application was short and I figured this time around when all the funders are seeking online solutions for offline problems, I might get lucky. I’ve written the same application so many times, it just wrote itself. In the meantime, I decided that even if nobody wants to give me the money, I might as well turn the video on my Mac and record an intro and a session.

Without a script, I managed to record 30 minutes or so about the importance of doing customer research and a short intro to the series. One of the benefits of being a very comfortable B+ student is that I don’t stress about whether what I’ve produced is perfect or not. If you want to get s*** done, it’s important to be comfortable about being slightly above average. There are people in the world that can add polish and that extra special shine, I’m not one of them. I just want to get stuff out there. All the perfectionists I know spend far too much time thinking and not enough time doing.

At 6.45 am this morning I attended a BNI meeting, a networking club but without the nice cocktails and nibbles. I’m a morning person so it wasn’t nearly as painful as it sounds although I wasn’t sure there was much point of waking up that early to meet local plumbers, builders, architects, a financial advisor, photographer and a couple of life coaches. A bit like jogging, I have managed to avoid structured networking breakfast meetings despite being asked multiple times while I was a PR as it was assumed we were all interchangeable.

The meeting was on Zoom, like the rest of life. There were the usuals present, the builder, the architect, the graphic designer who also builds websites for a monthly subscription model, the plumber, a few other people that had something to do with real estate. There was one guy, ex-Time Out, ex-lastminute.com, a business ‘doctor’ with a big sign behind him announcing he was the ‘Business Doctor’. Last week I went to another early morning networking event where one guy called himself ‘The Mug Man’ because he made mugs with logos on them. I’m serious. Clearly, if you can’t describe yourself with three words, the first of which starts with ‘The', you’re instantly forgettable.

And it’s only Tuesday.

What I’ll be watching this week:

The new series (6) of Bosch on Amazon Prime

Chichester Theatre Festival - Flowers for Mrs. Harris

The second part of the documentary about Andy Warhol on YouTube

The final part of Esther Perel’s ‘Love, Loss, Loneliness (and a pinch of humour) Under Lockdown’

What else I’ll be doing:

Singing jazz & blues on Facebook Live - no idea when but it’s on my mind

Checking into the Facebook group I started for musicians who aren’t earning any money and want to live stream and accept donations - Corona Concerts

Buying 20 items or less from Chop Chop app - Sainsbury’s answer to getting staples quickly - doesn’t quite work that way but it’s better than queueing

Making more videos

Mainly participating in a 12-week business programme for Silver Sharers that, thankfully, comes with some funding as all my other work has dried up!

This has taken up far more time than I anticipated. I hope you found it entertaining, informative and a pleasant distraction from having to think about the coronavirus. Comments, feedback and knowing whether or not you would prefer me to stop or continue are most welcome.

Stay safe & well,

Suzanne