Week note — week commencing Monday 9 March 2026
A lot packed in. Blood donation, three days away in London, Oldham away, Gorillaz at Bradford Live, and a good run of running to boot.
Health
Monday started with a blood pressure check, now a regular part of the routine. Tuesday was blood donation day at the Bradford centre — it went fine, though it hurt a little more than usual. "I had to adjust the needle," the nurse said, before handing over a leaflet just in case of bruising. Lemon drizzle cake and a donation to charity afterwards made it worthwhile. If you've never given blood, you should give blood.
Sleep was a mixed bag, never great when working away, but came into the week refreshed enough.
Body and food
Hovering around 87kg — which means I've already hit my end-of-March target with a couple of weeks to spare. If the direction holds, 85-86kg by the end of the month feels possible. Progress.
Running
38.96km across six days, my third highest weekly return of the year. The plan called for 48km but I'm not bothered about the gap — Sunday's long run gave way to some front garden work before the rain came in, which felt like the right call. Tuesday's run was trimmed to 8km due to time rather than the donation. Saturday was the standout — legs felt good and the morning was fine, so 9.34km instead of the planned 5. The London runs were fun too, doing a couple of circuits of the area rather than just a straight out-and-back. Year to date now at 292.32km, close enough to plan pace to feel healthy.
Work-y
Three days away in London, working out of Impact Hub in Euston and Work.Life on Old Street.
The appointments in the NHS App work is entering its last weeks.
Agile in the Ether on Friday — the lean coffee format as good as ever for surfacing things worth chewing on. I really enjoyed the "things we have learned" bit; nice to break out of just work stuff.
I got back some work-y shots I had taken. I'm already submitting this with my application for a stint reading a story on CBeebies.
Other bits
Over 15km of tracked walking across the week, which is a good total. London on foot helps – and London on foot is my preferred way of London-ing. (Related: Unplanned, saw a lot of the Barbican on Thursday, which was very very nice.)
Good to have some catch-ups with people from across the industry while in London — something I'm making more of an effort to do rather than just keeping my head down when I'm there.
Tuesday evening: Grimsby Charter Day, marked in the appropriate way with a drink on the Tattershall Castle on the Thames — a paddle steamer that used to run the Humber between Hull and Grimsby before ending up as a floating pub opposite the London Eye. Feels right.
A good dinner at Decimo at The Standard. Yummy ramen at Bone Daddies another night. London fed and watered.
Oldham away on Saturday. An hour's drive to watch a match that had the shape of two teams getting in each other's way for 45 minutes, then a much better second half with chances, a bar hit — and then a late breakaway goal against us. Poor result. Lovely sunny day and good to catch up with friends though.
Saturday evening more than made up for it. Gorillaz at Bradford Live — warm-up shows for the Mountain Tour. Joyous, celebratory, a proper mix of music and cultures. And the venue itself is something: Bradford Live is a glorious building that had been closed for 25 years before reopening after redevelopment. Fabulous to see a gig like that locally.
Sunday: gardening in the dry before the heavens opened, then an afternoon on the sofa watching How to Get to Heaven from Belfast, which was entertaining — no other word for it.
New windows went in at the house this week. The transformation is coming together.
Mind and culture
Continue to read Chief Engineer continues. Train rides along the east coast line are giving me the chance to make progress. Dense on detail but worth it — just needs patience.
Gym: went on Monday evening as planned. Two minutes in on the rower and: "I'm running a class here shortly and we'll need to use the rowers." Got up and went to Asda instead.
The coming week
Seville from Thursday with Kristin. Running plan already sorted — 46km across the week including runs in the city. Real Betis are at home in the Europa League on Thursday evening too — might be a stretch after an early start, but we'll see. Back Sunday.
tldr
A really good week. Blood donation done, running strong, London productive and social, Town predictably unpredictable still, Gorillaz joyous. Weight already at the March target.
Carry forward: sort the Seville plan, get the gym sessions in, keep the momentum going.