It’s now been two whole weeks since set our weight loss targets and today was our first progress weigh-in.
Thankfully it was good news with both Mrs DDWT and I shedding 3lbs each – taking our weight to 12st 9lb and 17st 3lb respectively. It was a welcome surprise and lifted our spirits quite considerably on what was proving (mentally) to be a tough weekend.
After I’d spend the morning doing a bit of landscaping work in the garden – removing some lawn and replacing with chippings (in readiness for some large flower) pots – it was time for a family get together at ours.
I think it was just the tonic the whole family needed in light of the events of the past couple of days. DDWT Junior and I kept everyone amused with our water antics – which was great fun and Baby DDWT was all smiles especially for my Dad, which lifted his spirits no end.
So all in all it’s been a nice end to what’s been a thought provoking couple of days. I think that we’re going to need as many of these ‘days’ as possible over the coming months.
In light of my Dad’s news yesterday, I felt it was imperative that I try and focus my mind and continue to go about my/our business in order to remain both positive and strong.
With this in mind, I decided to go for an early morning run. I opted to cover the same route as my run last Sunday – albeit it a slightly slower pace. Still the 32 minute 25 second had a semi-positive effect, even if I did feel ‘shot’ after it.
In the afternoon Mrs DDWT thought it would be a good idea to get out and about, so we headed off to the Swansea Sea Festival.
Unfortunately by the time we got there – gone 3pm – most of the displays had finished. We were fortunate enough to catch the Newfoundland dogs lifesaving display, which was very impressive.
DDWT Junior enjoyed the mini-pirate ship and the shanty music was quite entertaining as well. Baby DDWT spent the whole time sleeping!! So if you wanted to see pirates of all ages (and sizes) – some on stilts – then it was the place to be 
We also made yet another visit to the National Waterfront Museum, which in all fairness never ceases to amaze us with the amount of information and quality displays on offer. Here’s a tip for you, it’s a great place to take the kids especially during the summer holidays.
Whilst inevitably casting our eyes towards the sea, it was impossible to ignore the sheer height and size of the Meridian Quay development.
Looking back to a previous post I made about the development (back in April), you can see how much its come on. Quite amazing!
As you get older and supposedly wiser you consider all the things in life that one day will inevitably happen to you – however unpleasant they might seem. Well one of those days has seemingly arrived for me.
Today, my Dad was diagnosed as having liver cancer. That in itself was an almighty shock for me, but just to compound matters further – he also has a tumour on his bowel and spots on his lungs.
The doctor said that we should know the full extent of the cancer by the end of the week, when the specialists have had time to analyse all of the scans. The wait will seem like an eternity.
The news has really come as a bolt out of the blue for everyone and it really hasn’t even began to sink in to be honest. I’m just numb with the news.
I don’t usually blog about things as serious as this, but I just felt the need to let out some of my feelings and share them.
With my Swansea Bay 5k entry now posted in readiness for August 5th, curiousity got the better of me today as I wondered what my projected finish time would be – in relation to my running times of late.
Step in the Runner’s World race time predictor a useful online tool for calculating just that – your race time!
Anyway, it gave me an ‘estimated’ time of 28 minutes 8 seconds for a 5k run. I was relatively pleased with the projected time, given that I’ve not really done at awful lot of running of late, apart from the last couple of weeks.
So with this in mind, I decided to push the boat out a wee bit further this lunchtime and change both the route I took and the distance I covered. The result was 3.4 miles covered in 31 minutes 5 seconds. Whilst I haven’t bothered checking (yet) if that is up/down on my projected time, I was more than happy to have at least covered a 5k distance. Something which as this stage is really what I’m concerned with, my times will come later.
After our busy day yesterday we were determined to make the most of the rest of the weekend and in particular the dry weather that greeted us once again.
The sunshine and showers of the past few days had given our lawns a new lease of life and with the recycling collection due on Wednesday, it was an ideal time to give them a quick once over with the mower.
With the jobs out of the way, it was then time for a water pistol fight with DDWT Junior and the new water pistols we’d bought in Toys ‘R’ Us yesterday. A word on which you should now that you can get a double pack for just £9.99 – a saving of £6. They were great fun and could spray water a good 10 feet plus – even without the pump action!
As you can imagine we both got absolutely drenched – but had so much fun it didn’t matter one bit. The fun continued into the afternoon with a visit to Coed Gwilym park for some football, frisbee throwing and of course the obligatory go on the swings.
I’m also chuffed to say that I rounded off the day with a run! So on top of all the walking of the past two days, I added a 34 minute and 6 second (approx 3.7 miles) run to the tally. Let’s hope I can keep this momentum going through the week and it’ll make next Sunday’s weigh in an interesting event I’m sure
