Life update – Potter Head Run Club and injuries

Oh hey world! It’s been a while, hasn’t it. I’ve been living a crazy busy life again, and if there’s something I’ve learned since having kids is that there’s never time for everything. You’re forever playing the juggling game and figuring out which one you can get away with not giving any attention to and hope you don’t drop anything.

It turns out I’m not great at juggling and I’ve been dropping balls (ha – that sounds rude).

There’s so much that I want to write about in detail, but it’s a rare night that I have the time to sit down and blog. I don’t think I’ll get time to write in detail, so here’s a speedy recap of everything going on in my life.

*edit* So I started writing and this turned into a massive post; I’ve kept it short and will write another one ASAP since we’ve suddenly got a free weekend!

In this update:

• Injury woes
• Joining a Harry Potter-themed running club

 Injury Woes

I’ve been writing about my training plans for the upcoming half marathon in August (my first ever half). Things had been progressing well, and then the injuries I had been expecting came on.

Let’s be honest – it’s my fault. I’m terrible at stretching, warm ups and cool downs. I don’t foam roll out my muscles enough. I’ve pushed myself a bit hard and my body is telling me it’s enough.

As of right now I have:

• Achilles tendonitis (my left ankle and the ligament running down the back is super tight)
• A calf strain on my right calf
• A super sore right knee – my bad one that I had a knee reconstruction on (it’ll be 10 years in December!)

I had no idea how I did the knee, but finally realised on Wednesday I had been walking around in the sand, and I was probably twisting my leg. My knee complains if I’m on unstable ground at the best of times. It hurts on the inside, where I had damaged the cartilage there when I did my knee. So I dare say it’s just a bit of bruising and complaint from the cartilage again. For the first time in a long time I’ve given myself the night off and I’ve put my legs up.

A bit of rehab, icing, recovery and taking it easy and I should be on the go again soon enough.

Potterhead Running Club (PHRC)

I joined a running club! I was already a member of the Running Mum’s Australia facebook group when someone mentioned about PHRC. I decided to take a look.

I enjoy the Harry Potter books and movies, but I wouldn’t say I was obsessed. I like the idea of magic existing, and I think that’s what drew me to them in the first place. When I had a look at the running club I was astonished at what I found.

You guys, even if you don’t like the books or the movie, this running club is AMAZING!

If I have to do something for myself, like following a training plan on my own, it takes a bit for me to be motivated. If I have to do something for a team where I have the potential to let someone down, I will do everything I can to avoid that happening. That’s where the beauty of this club kicks in.

Here’s the deal:

• • In the beginning you’re “sorted” into one of the 4 Hogwarts houses – Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, or my house, Ravenclaw
  • There are various facebook groups you join:
    • The Grand Hall (all members of the running club)
    • Your house’s “Common Room” (members only for that house)
    • Any others that may have been created as a result e.g. I’m part of a group that’s a strategic group to find ways to motivate everyone
  • All year long you are in a competition called the “House Cup”, similar to the books/movies. There are challenges and events that take place all year long that upon successful completion award your house points. The house with the most points at the end of the year wins.
  • The club is super charity-focused. One of the challenges is to join your house team and clock mileage using an app called “Charity Miles”. This app awards your nominated charity funds based on your mileage. Right now I’m running for  “Girl Up”, a charity focused on the safety and education of women in developing countries.
  • The events they run are awesome! There are virtual runs (you complete at your own time wherever you like) that have medals, and then there are non-medal events for fun in your own house designed to encourage mileage. When the Super Bowl was on recently I joined my team in competing in the “Superb Owl” competition. We were split into teams and competed against each other, having days when we were on the attack vs defence (it was scored based on mileage). I drove my hubby insane with my need to be up and moving at all times getting mileage.
  • There’s even a hardcore “quidditch” match (out of Harry Potter) which I’ve not experienced. From what I understand you nominate to be in it, and if you’re picked to be in a team it’s a fortnight long event. I’ve heard there are serious runners (ultra runners that do crazy distances) that even take holidays from work for these events. Wowsers.
  • They do non-mileage events too e.g. making beanies for the homeless. They had a goal of 20,000 beanies, they managed 41,385. Woah!
  • Everyone is SO supportive. If you have life that gets in the way, they get it. Everyone’s health and well being comes first, and everything is opt-in. You’re encouraged to do things and sign up for events, and for me personally I always really want to, but if you suddenly get injured (like me at the moment) there’s no one hunting you down with pitchforks. On the contrary people are messaging to make sure you’re OK. I love that!

But anyways, to wind things up about the running club, as you can tell I’m now a huge advocate of this group. I’ve never been more motivated to get moving and running, and never had so much fun doing it. I’m sure that I annoy some friends by telling them repeatedly they should sign up, or when they do, asking a billion questions (sorry Lenore, Emily, Amanda, Tina, Vanessa….and anyone else). I’m also not sorry for annoying Jo about why it’s so good and why medals are awesome, even if it’s for a virtual running event.

Finally, how’s this for some money raising and mileage? So much good indeed!

By the way – just wanted to let you all know I’m a proud Ravenclaw *grin* And this year we’re bringing home the cup for Bill (a husband who is married to a Slytherin, proudly displaying the green banner at home because Slytherin won the house cup last year).

So this post that was meant to be a quick post turned into a long update on running, whoops. I’ll make an effort to prioritise more time for my blog again – I miss letting you all know what’s going on, and the mental health debriefing too!