**Disclaimer: I’m writing this rants and raves post after spending the day ‘trapped’ inside my house waiting for a parcel to be delivered. So much for making the most of my annual leave. As a result, I have a suspicion that this rants and raves post may turn out to be a tad ranty and irrational. As always, all rants and raves and moans and groans represent my personal views. Other, far less negative running blogs are available**

I’d like to start by saying good morning, good afternoon, good evening, etc to whoever takes the time to read my latest selection of rants and raves. It’s been a few months since my last rants and raves post and I’ve been feeling a bit stressed so I’m hoping that having a moan on here will relieve some of my stress. I hope that you are all keeping well, staying safe, and looking forward to the weekend.

As always, I’ve waffled on far too much, so here is my selection of rants and raves. I apologise in advance for the repeat rants and raves, and I hope that you enjoy this tiny insight into what’s been happening inside my brain and in my life recently.

Rave: Commonwealth Games medals

The Commonwealth Games are rapidly approaching and although I’m not planning on watching any of the events – I’ve given my tickets for the triathlon in Sutton Park to a friend – this Brummie is starting to feel very excited. I love the Commonwealth Games medals and I’ve got everyone crossed that Team England finish on top of the medal table.

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Not everyone is a fan of the medals. I’ve seen a few people joke that the cracks in the medals represent the state of the roads and pavements in Birmingham. Joking aside, I hope that the relevant roads are going to be resurfaced before the triathlon and Marathon events. I have visions of a competitor’s dream being ended by one of the numerous potholes on Boldmere Road. That is if the water in Powell’s Pool doesn’t wipe them out.

Rant: Team England Commonwealth Games kit

Although I love the Commonwealth Games medals, I don’t love the Team England Commonwealth Games kit. I know that I shouldn’t really have an opinion as I’m not a member of Team England, and apologies to the athletes who helped during the design phase, I just think that the kit is uninspiring. I guess there was a limit to what the designers could do with red and white.

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According to the kit manufacturers, the kit showcases England and Birmingham. I’m not sure exactly how Birmingham is showcased and I’m far too stingy to spend £25 on a flag t-shirt to find out. Hopefully, the kit will grow on me so to speak.

If you like the kit a retail replica range is available here.

Rave: Giggling Squid in Mere Green

I know that this is meant to be a running walking blog, but I want to rave about a Thai restaurant in Mere Green. If you follow me over on Instagram you may have noticed me complaining about the quality of the food and the poor service in my local Bistrot Pierre.

I could just about cope with the introduction of a £1 charge (per person) for five small slices of baguette as, let’s face it, the cost of food seems to be increasing on an almost daily basis. I could also just about cope with waiting 45 minutes for a couple of starters to make an appearance in what appeared to be an empty restaurant. What I struggled to cope with was being charged multiple times for lunch.

I figured it was time for a change, so the following Saturday, I decided to book a table at the restaurant next door to Bistrot Pierre, the Giggling Squid. You may wonder why I’m raving about a restaurant in Mere Green when I’m pretty sure that no one who reads this blog lives in Mere Green. Giggling Squid has restaurants all over England so there may be one near you.

Not the best photo in the world, it’s a good job I’m not a food blogger as I find taking photos of my food embarrassing. I ordered prawn crackers and the Greedy Squid Tapas set off the lunchtime menu. My friend ordered Ruby Noodles with Beansprouts and stole 75% of my prawn crackers. The food came out quickly and tasted amazing and the pudding I ordered helped my mouth recover from eating the Samui Zingy Prawns.

Rant: Imposter Syndrome

A repeat rant, apologies, but something I’m unfortunately dealing with every day at work at the moment, the dreaded Imposter Syndrome.

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I wish I knew how to control the never-ending self-doubt and anxiety, but I don’t. I wish I knew how to stop myself from feeling like I’m a fraud who is about to be exposed by one of my colleagues, but I don’t. It’s getting so bad at the moment that most mornings I sit at my desk feeling completely overwhelmed just waiting for the dreaded ‘you’re fired’ phone call.

Rave: the parkrun Australia shop

This was almost a mini rant but it’s not parkrun Australia’s fault I seem to have an abnormally small head. I’ll start with a quick question. Does anyone know why the parkrun UK shop doesn’t appear to stock useful items such as parkrun branded socks, visors, and caps? I’ve seen the parkrun caps for sale on eBay but don’t think apricot is my colour.

Anyway, I chose to ignore the carbon literacy training I’d recently completed at work and treated myself to a unisex lightweight cap from the parkrun Australia store for my birthday. The hat was advertised as one size fits most, so I figured it would be fine.

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Not long after I ordered the cap, I received emails stating that my order had been confirmed and dispatched. I received regular updates from Australia Post, and four weeks after I’d ordered my parkrun cap it was delivered. Unfortunately, when I tried on the cap, I discovered that it didn’t fit my small head. It’s remained in its original packaging ever since, perhaps I should just be brave and wear it.

Rant: My knees

Ever since my appointment with a first contact practitioner back in April, when I was told to “have faith in the NHS” I’ve spent a fair amount of time, listening to this piece of hold music. I’m trying to remain positive as I know the NHS is under a huge amount of pressure and that a knee injury is not a priority, but July is approaching and I’m yet to receive the letter that will hopefully allow me to book an initial appointment with one of the local NHS physiotherapists. When I first contacted the physiotherapy referral management centre in April, I was told that I would receive a letter outlining what would happen next within a couple of weeks.

It’s nearly July and I’m still waiting to receive the letter I was promised would arrive two months ago. When I contacted the physiotherapy referral management centre a couple of weeks ago – I was concerned that the letter had got lost in the post – I was told to be patient and that my letter hadn’t been sent out yet. Evidently, I’m still ‘on hold’ and I should be contacted in 4-8 weeks. I asked again if the referral management centre could recommend a private physiotherapist and was told to “have faith in the NHS”. I’m trying to remain positive and to be patient, but I can feel myself getting increasingly frustrated. I dread to think how long the waiting time is for MRI scans.

Rant: Strava ‘It’s time to make your comeback’ emails

May was not a good month for me and my exercise mojo went AWOL. I failed to get anywhere near my target of walking 100 miles during the month and I hated the way I was feeling both mentally and physically. I think it’s fair to say that I didn’t appreciate receiving an email from Strava at the end of May telling me that it’s time for me to make my comeback.

It’s great that Strava has joined forces with This Girl Can and I knew that the email wasn’t aimed at me personally, it’s just a shame I received the email in the middle of a particularly bad day. After having a mini rant on Twitter where it became clear most people shared my frustrations, I did what most sensible people probably did and deleted the email and forgot about it.

That was until last Sunday when Strava sent me another ‘It’s time to make your comeback’ email. Whereas in May I barely did any exercise, last month I recorded at least two miles of walking on Strava every single day. Although I’m no longer addicted to exercise, If I’d received this email containing highly disordered messaging in my early 20s when I was addicted to exercise, it would have left me feeling like I hadn’t done enough exercise with potentially devastating consequences.

And, until next time, I’ve reached the end of my rants. As I’m still trying to be more positive in 2022, I’ve decided to end this post with a selection of random raves.

Rave: parkrun magazine

I spotted a lot of negative comments about the parkrun magazine on social media, mainly about the printed format of the magazine. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, and I found some of the comments amusing and appreciated the temporary distraction from all of the shit things that are happening in the real world.

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I love parkrun, so when a box of parkrun magazines recently made an appearance at Sutton Park parkrun, I was quick to grab a copy. I thought the content of the magazine was great, largely because it didn’t contain adverts for expensive shoes and technology that no one can afford and pictures of airbrushed models pretending to run.

I hope parkrun produces more issues. I’m not going to lie; I’d love to have something I’d written published in a parkrun magazine.

The magazine is currently available to purchase in the parkrun shop.

Rave: I finally managed to walk 100 miles in a month

This is a random rave even by my standards, apologies. It was very much a case of sixth time lucky, but during my lunchtime walk on Monday, I achieved my target of walking 100 miles in a month. It felt amazing to finally achieve one of the more challenging targets I’d set myself. I’m now confident I can do it again so to speak next month.

Rave: The Massage Company

I’m in the middle of writing a dedicated review post so I’m not going to say much here, but a couple of weeks ago I got to experience my first ever sports massage. It was a slightly surreal experience but one I’m planning on repeating as soon as possible.

If you made it to the end of this latest random selection of rants and raves, thank you. I’m not sure I would have made it this far. As always, I feel much better for having a bit of a rant. And finally, I hope that I haven’t somehow managed to inadvertently offend anyone – if I did, that wasn’t my intention, so I apologise – and that my rants were reasonable.

Will you be watching any of the Commonwealth Games this summer? Did you manage to get tickets for any of the events? I was lucky enough to get two tickets through the West Midlands ballot for the triathlon event in Sutton Park.

Did you manage to get hold of a copy of the parkrun magazine? If you did, what did you think?

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