I was pleased with my 3.5km run this morning. Clearly the way to increase my performance is to work with a treacherous toad who compels me to vent my rage through exercise. I was a full minute faster on the same route than I was on Saturday.

Looking back on the last few runs my cadence is mostly in the green zone – which is better than my former start-out-green-quickly-devolve-to-yellow. I think I am actually gradually getting better at this whole running caper because I’m now much less exhausted on the hills.

The baby-steps and taking it easy appear to be paying off. Mostly, I’m glad I’m back to adoring getting out there.

xxxxxxxxxx

In other news, the baby/toddler hat survived the blocking!

I’m super-pleased with it. Will be toasty-warm, which is probably not quite what you need in the middle of summer – but I can wait until winter.

xxxxxxxxxx

In my 50 list news, as #36: read something long and challenging, I’ve chosen War and Peace on the recommendation of the most excellent ganching and overcame my translation decision paralysis and went for the the Maude. Cost, $0.00 from Amazon Canadia – where the space-kindle is still … domiciled.

I’m waiting until the long Xmas break to begin.

I’ve chosen to ignore Don’s suggestions of Infinite Jest and Gravity’s Rainbow because I would be in danger of death by eye-rolling.

xxxxxxxxxx

The new boss? On first impressions, I really like him. His other direct reports appear much less convinced.

Of course, time will tell. I think everyone is planning to polish their CVs over the break¹ – just in case.

¹ yes, yes, I know you have all heard this way too many times from me before to actually believe it.