this time last week...

was the first day of me going back to the hospital, all be it to a slightly different job. i'd forgotten how tiring 'long days' are, the aching throb of being on your feet for over 12 hours. for the first time in too long i'm having to think and use my brain again-it hurts!

there have been no surprises, the job is exactly what i thought it was going to be and thankfully my new colleagues appear to be very friendly and supportive. so far all is good. what is it they say 'hard work doesn't hurt anyone', or something like that!

the pay off for shifts is the time off in between and i've already been reaping the rewards. a long weekend in the lakes to finish off jane's birthday celebrations. along for the fun was cat 'n ruth, vikki and jon.

we had big plans for big hills, the langdale race route, fairfield horseshoe and maybe even a quick scramble up jack's rake. our eyes were bigger than our legs, or something like that! a short bonus run on the friday ended in the pub and set the tone for the weekend.

walk the ups, run the downs, be rewarded with tea, cake, beer, whiskey and giant portions of 'half and half'-not necessarily in that order. we got rained off on sunday and had an expensive morning in amblside. two cafes and twice as many shops. somewhere along the way i rediscovered running and the joy of sharing the fells with friends.