Life has been pretty crazy lately with my daughter's epilepsy and seizures becoming more frequent. Then add in helping her with her school work, which normally ends up being 'dad does it for me.' Then I need to figure out how the hell to submit it when she has no idea what any of her passwords are. Just a nightmare. So is the life with a kid with special needs. You don't give up though. Ever. 

Weather has been shit. We had a “heat wave” of 80’s and humid and it felt great, just like home. Now we’ve returned to 60’s, clouds, random rain. Shittiest summer so far I’d say. 

I’ve taken a step back from martial arts. Honestly kind of losing interest. I’m not a fighter anyway, however there are obviously other mental benefits too. Been enjoying being home and being able to ride bikes with my son and run, even if it is in the garage. JKD just seems to drone on without any new goals and eskrima I just want to focus on curriculum for my second degree black belt rather than do new things. Also my morning habit of practice has gone away as I need to keep an eye on Annabelle. No more early mornings which I love. 

 Since Crown King way back when I've slowly been becoming more consistent with training. No main goal yet other than the Arc of Attrition in January. I probably say that every blog! Anyway, I ran the Wyre Forest Half marathon a couple weeks ago. I hadn't ran it in years due to conflicts with other races and me shying away from shorter faster races. Training has mostly been shifted to the treadmill in my garage. Huge thanks to my parents for the birthday money towards it this winter. It's nothing fancy and I bought it used but it ticks the box for training perfectly. Not only am I home more and available more if needed but it's eased me back into more faster running which I'm thoroughly enjoying. It was the piece of my training that was missing as well so my fitness will improve dramatically. Besides it's really fun being the fast old guy. Yeah it's kind of boring but it works well considering the situation I'm currently in. My son will usually ride the turbo trainer next to me for a bit as well so he's at least exercsing too. I'm still getting outside though for my Monday long run and usually a Saturday morning before work so I'm not totally stuck inside. 

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 Wyre Forest Half was super fun. It's a trail race thats deceivingly hilly and can be really muddy and hot. I finished pretty much the same time I ran 6-7 years ago so no complaints. I felt strong the whole race which was a huge confidence boost. It was ideal conditions this year, cool and dry. I finished 2nd, again! Some hotshot young kid always shows up! To be fair he was a 2:30 marathoner and half my age so no complaints! Best part was finishing and chatting with other runners, many of which were customers from work. 

Up next? This weekend I'm meeting a friend from Cornwall in the Lake District to run the Cumbria Way. 74 miles through the center of the Lake District National Park. Splitting it up between three days with options for "high routes" off the traditional route if the weather is good. Should be awesome. Day one around 25 miles, day two 36, day three an easy 15 to the finish. Vert will vary significantly depending on high versus low routes. Some people go to therapy, some drink, others have friends.  Me? I run. Can’t wait.