Find the treasures on your doorstep
Make the most of your local area
and starting planning your next 6 months
When BoJo announced that there were no limitations on how far you could travel to exercise, I thought what an idiot (with a few additional expletives).
Firstly, there's the environmental factor to consider. We're supposed to be trying to save this planet, not encouraging people to get into their cars and use petrol like it's going out of fashion (actually, it kind of is at the moment!). As always, he didn't account for the morons amongst us who saw this as an open invitation to drive as far as they could and head to the coast or for the hills with no respect for anything or anyone and leave their rubbish everywhere.
Secondly, there's the ethical factor to consider. BoJo was openly encouraging people to travel from their local areas, some even visited other counties, which put enormous pressure on these communities. These people have no respect for anyone else. Have you seen the morons cliff jumping in Dorset?! This ended with police having to close a (packed) beach so that helicopters could land due to people being injured. What a shocking waste of time and resource for emergency services due to someone's stupidity and no thought for anyone other than themselves.
Thirdly, and I'm going to try and keep a lid on my ranting now! There are so many things to enjoy in your local area. Why on earth would I want to travel when I have this on my doorstep. I've been running round here for longer than I care to mention and I discover something new every single time I run, whether it's a new path I've never been down or simply how the scenery changes depending on the weather and seasons. It's a bit of a standing joke now but every Sunday morning when I get back from my long run, Mr Bob asks "have you had a good run?" and I say "oh, it was fabulous, I know I tell you this every week but I can't believe what beautiful countryside we have and how lucky I am".
It upsets me when I hear runners say they've 'had a bad run today'. I've never had a bad run, disappointing times in races - yes, but never a 'bad' run. For me, every run is a good run, no matter how slow or fast, because it makes me happy. It's something that makes me smile every time I do it. How can I fail not to when I have views like these:
Even if you live in a city, there's plenty of undiscovered areas you can find for exercise. We are truly blessed in this country in that we are never far from green space, even in the largest of cities. I've had plenty of city breaks where I've made the most of the tiniest of parks or run along the canal in the heart of Birmingham.
This situation has also made me re-think how and where I shop. By being forced to stay local I've used different local shops and supermarkets. It's amazing what RS (Random Sh*t) you can find and be compelled to buy. There's also some wonderful enterprising initiatives by local shops and farm shops who are offering delivery services and/or have re-arranged their shops so that people can go and still be safe and socially distant.
Whole neighbourhoods have re-discovered each other again and pulled together with offers of collecting prescriptions and delivering food parcels to those people who can't get out.
Don't get me wrong, I think it's important to travel and have an appreciation of different countries and cultures but there's an awful lot to be said for appreciating your own backyard first and foremost.
I had the loveliest of days yesterday, I did my boot camp and then a few other things but in the afternoon I didn't really feel like doing anything. So I was sat listening to the radio, reading my book and generally just taking the time to think about the last few months.
I started planning for the second half of the year and setting a few goals. I probably won't have any big races for the rest of this year, maybe a few small ones if things continue to improve, so I've had to re-think my half marathon and marathon training plans for next year. Other things have changed considerably too and hopefully there's a trip to Ibiza to organise for my belated birthday celebrations - #51isthenew50!
But I've also made some new goals that weren't on my original 2020 list and these include things such as shopping locally and more ethically whenever possible and when I am able to travel again, doing the same to support their local communities. It's all too easy to go to a large supermarket and buy everything you need out of convenience. Go to France and many other European countries and you'll find that the majority of the population will shop at half a dozen different places throughout the week, fresh baguettes will be bought from the local boulangerie, cheese and fish will be bought from the local market, only items like cleaning products and household goods will be bought from the larger supermarkets.
Supermarket shopping has made us lazy because along with most other things, we want to do it as quickly and as cheaply as possible. Stop and think though, a few extra pennies spent at your local shop / farm shop will be much more cost effective in the long run. Not only will you be buying better quality produce but you'll be helping local farmers. The daft thing is that I do this all time when on holiday as I have the luxury of time, I do what the locals do, go where the locals go but because I'm always in a rush at home, it's straight to the supermarket for everything. Over the last few months though, I think we've all come to realise that our local services have, quite literally, saved our lives.
We wouldn't have got this far as human beings if we didn't have the ability to evolve and adapt - it's what we do best. So go get 'em tigers, seize the opportunity, go forth and make bigger and better goals than ever before.
#2020
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