February was a messy month, but there were plenty of highlights to share:
- Watched the Roller Derby World Cup with friends! It was an amazing time and such a great experience to watch the matches live with derby friends, my teammates, and derby Twitter. I’m still gutted I couldn’t be there in person in Manchester, but being part of the livestream was amazing fun.
- Visited Dundee for my buddy Theo’s housewarming, and got to experience the delights of Dundee (24 hour bakery! Rainbow bagels! Adorable cafes!), test my driving ability on a motorway for the first time ever (super enjoyable!), and we had a chance to visit the amazing Camperdown Wildlife Park. Here’s me making friends with a gibbon.
- Got back into spin cycling regularly. Yay spinning.
- PANCAKE DAY! Dave made awesome crepes and I tried out a recipe for a Dutch Baby pancake for the first time.
- Finished a great audiobook, Queen of Shadows.
- Took a nice long walk down the Dava Way on a beautiful, if blimmin’ cold, winter’s day.
- Tried skating in two different new halls, including with a few hours with the Inverness team of skaters which was a fun experience!
- Got much stronger at my sticky-skating and ploughstops.
- Got my new derby kit.
A few challenging things happened this month, too. My derby kit arrived with severe issues, which has been causing me a lot of hassle and holding back my practice. My skating progress went backwards in a lot of areas as I adjusted to the new kit. My writing wasn’t moving forward, my weight loss wasn’t progressing at the weight I wanted, and I was getting frustrated as heck with my lack of forward momentum.
Then the month ended with an unexpected close family funeral, and I had to travel through the snowstorm to be with my family and then get across to the Western Isles. Oooftttt.
In the midst of the funeral prep, I fell sick with norovirus.
Just. Oooftttt.
So, aye, hell of a month. It left me feeling pretty beat-up and run-down, which makes a lot of sense considering… y’know, everything. But March is already on the up-and-up, so let’s keep going!
For March, I’m going to concentrate on resting and recovering from this before heading onwards to the next challenge. Gotta be kind to myself and allow that recovery.