Run a 5k in 21:40

I've been running "seriously" (whatever that means) since around the time I read Murakami's What I Talk About When I Talk About Running at the end of last year. Maybe a little bit later. I'd been running irregularly since the lockdowns of 2020, and had even done a bit of running back in Japan as well, completing a marathon in 2015, but I tend to think of that, somehow, as less serious than I am now.

Nowadays, I'm running a bunch of times a week, I've joined a running club, and most seriously of all, I'm giving all of my Strava activities unique names.

Tonight, I ran a 5k in 21:40. That's pretty quick, for me! Maybe sometime in the future I'll look back fondly, because I'll be running regular sub-20-minute 5ks, but for right now, I'm pretty proud of myself!

I donated blood for the first time today. I'm always moved by the grace and patience of the NHS—I don't believe I've ever had a bad experience in a GP or a hospital or the gymnasium of a community centre, where I was today.

It was so easy: double check your iron levels, sit in this swivelling chair, clench and unclench your fist while the bag fills up. Try and tense your leg muscles at intervals to keep your blood pressure steady. The cannula was higher-gauge than I'd expected but didn't feel like anything once it was in. The little pouch of my blood on a swing, to keep it all mixed up, dangling next to me. The nurse plopped it into my hand when I was done. Less warm than I thought it would be!