Post-Ultra Diaries Part two: Getting back to full strength

Before we begin: I've just noticed that the Post-Ultra Diaries can be wonderfully acronymed to PUDs...you can possibly see which direction my thoughts are permanently orientated towards...

Anyway, on with this whole post-ultra recovery thingimajig:

The sun is slowly setting behind the rolling hills in the Lake District, turning the sky a brilliant orange with streaks of pink in the west; the east already bleak with the onset of dusk. My belly is full, my mind relaxed, and my heart content.

I've enjoyed a few days of delicious luxury with good friends in my favourite city in the UK: Edinburgh. I'm seeing it as the final few days of nonchalant overindulgence following my long run around Shropshire - it has been so hectic since I finished that I didn't really get a chance to switch off and relax afterwards, so this trip has felt like a crucial part of the recovery process...and of course, was a great excuse to spend time in an incredible city!

Beautiful Edinburgh

So despite spending filling all of our time with plenty of roaming, drinking and eating these past few days, my mind has been refreshed from returning to so many of my favourite haunts, haunted or otherwise (I was fortunate to study at the University of Edinburgh so I know the city fairly well, although I am a big chicken so you'd be lucky to find me on any of the haunted city tours; a friend once tried to make me watch the Woman in Black - he decided to switch over when I let out a blood-curdling scream about thirty minutes in)...

I feel like I have now pretty much recovered mentally from this running business. It's been a pretty draining couple of weeks, but I now feel ready to start tackling some gentle exercise, with more massages to help my creaking ligaments, and time to start plotting some fresh adventures.

Unsurprisingly my body actually lost abit of chub since doing the run - it was under a fair bit of stress that week and my metabolism must have been in overdrive, so much so that my turned to me one day to remark: 'You're looking rather slim at the moment Hatty, are you eating enough?'
I took this remark very seriously, and proceeded to gorge on two mouth-watering pastries for my second breakfast, followed by a piece of cake and a mahousive cookie that afternoon. This has swiftly become a near- daily routine...

Work Macmillan coffee morning, aka a great excuse to eat copious quantities of CAKE

Mmmmm soo much baked goodness!

Exercise-wise, it's all been nice and gentle: plenty of 'yoga' (me attempting half a sun salutation and swiftly remembering that I'm blessed with incredibly short hamstrings) and trudging around Grinshill, enjoying being leisurely and not having something specific to work towards.

And now the run is complete I can finally start doing something that I have sorely missed - getting back on two wheels and cycling!! Bella has come cantering out of her sabbatical, and I'm having a whale of a time commuting to and from work - oh look, a neat little video of me chatting on a bicycle, taking my multitasking skills to near-CV level....

Time to crack on with some adventure planning me thinks!!