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Today I wanted to be posting my ‘just finished my half marathon’ entry…..  But I have disappointingly been sidelined by a calf injury.

I was really looking forward to running this one, and I can’t say I’ve ever been really looking forward to running a half marathon before  (have completed 2 already).  I had also never felt more ready to run one, as I have done quite a bit of training to get me there, and, it was going to be a marker as part of my training for the marathon.

So now I’ll have to sit around and take it easy for a few days to rest before I can get back in training. Problem is I only have 6 weeks to go till marathon day, but, that’s the one I really need to be injury free for!

Well, dear readers, I think you might be in for a small flurry of activity on the blog this weekend, assuming we don’t get distracted by other things. Which is always likely.

But I may as well start with the easy one. Yes, it’s been just over 3 weeks now since the last cigarette, and I still can’t really believe how easy it’s been to stop. And I still have no desire, perceived need, or craving to have another one.

Every now and then when I go somewhere for the first time since I stopped where I would normally have had a smoke, such as walking between 2 unusual tube stations this morning, I still have to remind my brain/body that it’s not going to have a smoke. It’s a bit odd. I wouldn’t call it any sort of craving. It’s more like something in my brain/body going ” why aren’t we having a smoke now? We normally would?!” and getting a bit confused temporarily, but it soon sorts itself out.

The only remaining real impact seems to still be yet a higher level of sensitivity to caffeine. I noticed age ago when I “stepped down” to very low nicotine cigarettes that I had to limit my caffeine intake or deal with the shakes etc., but stopping has meant that I’ve noticed I’ve had to limit the coffee intake even more. I wonder if that goes away or not? I guess we’ll find out a bit later. Or a lot later.

Being around other smokers, or having to walk through clouds of smoke when walking down to the tube, doesn’t bother me at all either. It doesn’t make me want a cigarette at all, but possibly just as usefully it doesn’t make me want to go lecture those still smoking. I’m sure at least some of them will make up their minds to quit when they decide to. Years of other people telling me to stop didn’t seem to make any difference to me, so why would it make any difference to them. I don’t even feel superior to them. It’s more just kind of a low level of pity that they’ve yet to manage to stop.

So hopefully weekly or monthly updates can stop now. If there’s any new major impact you’ll hear about it, and I’ll let you know if I slip up, but I honestly think that’s pretty unlikely. After doing all this hard work, why throw it away?

And as pointed out by the book, and as I point out to other smokers at work that offer me one of their cigarettes as they seem sure that I really must want one, that “last cigarette” could maybe end up costing me another £46,000… That buys quite a few trees!

As Jo thought, I seem to have given up smoking. At least I haven’t had a cigarette now for (checks clock) just over a full week.

So that’s the hard work done then, I think. Actually, while I wouldn’t say it’s been easy, it hasn’t been as hard as I’ve thought it might be either. Probably helped by the fact that I’ve been smoking the lowest nicotine content cigarettes for ages now, so the drop isn’t as bad as it could have been.

I can’t tell you if I’ve done it the easy or hard way by not using any NRT patches, gum etc., but replacing nicotine with nicotine somehow doesn’t seem like it’s going to help in the long run, so cold turkey it was. And so far I seem to have managed to avoid replacing it with anything else either, like food or gum etc.

Why, and why now?  I have no idea really.  I just seemed to get the right amount of information on what you need to do to quit, and what you’re going to have to deal with when quitting.  I recommend Alan Carr’s Easy Way to Stop Smoking to anyone.  Even if you don’t stop when you’ve read it a lot of what’s in there just rattles around in your brain building up a bit of momentum for when you are randomly ready to give stopping a go.

I guess a constant prod comes over time from others at work quitting or attempting to quit.  Somehow someone who actually smokes quitting seems to have a lot bigger impact than someone who doesn’t telling you you should stop. Not that we talk about it much.  Those of us that are quitting/just quit at work seem to just be doing it in our own way, and talking about it seems just to make things harder, as we’re used to talking outside over a cigarette. Not really the best support network you could have!

Sites like this one are quite good to read too, as they help to understand what’s gong on: http://whyquit.com/whyquit/A_Symptoms.html But there’s a really fine line between helpful advice and too much doom and gloom that might just put you off even trying.  Some sites really go too far down the scary track!

Worst part so far has been having to limit coffee a bit.  Instead of going for a walk to have a smoke at work, going to get a coffee is another decent reason to stretch your legs. But apparently as your nicotine intake drops, you need about half the caffeine that you previously did to get the same caffeine hit. And I’d believe that from my experience over the last week. So I guess getting glasses of water might just have to do for some trips.

So, now that the almost-kinda-not-really-hard-work is done and the first week over, now I just have to keep up the slightly easier work for the next few weeks, then the really easy bit for the rest of forever…

Hopefully I’ve not been too cranky for Bec, but she can fill you in on her side of things if she feels the need.

People getting confused? This is fun!
Is it:

1. The number of hours I’ve stayed awake in the name of scientific research?
2. The length of time we’ve been married?
3. The number of hours since the temperature last dipped below freezing?
4. The time since I had my last cigarette?
5. How long I’ve had my arm in plaster after falling on some ice?
6. All of the above?
7. None of the above?

And still counting.

Jo, at least you know now which direction in time we’re going!

And counting.

A few weekends ago (actually must be just about a month ago now), we decided to go to Scotland to watch the All Blacks game. The atmosphere at Murrayfield is just fantastic, the only problem was as I had got the tickets through work we were sitting in the Scottish supporters’ area. But on a good note the game wasn’t sold out so we had plenty of room, and the All Black reserves were sitting about 10 rows in front of us (I was tempted to fall into them on my way to the toilet….. but was too shy).

The ceremonies before the game were great, I think my favourite was all the lights blacked out and the bag pipe band playing, then followed by the haka.

From memory we enjoyed the game itself and then the walk back into town with all the rugby fans (it is great to look ahead and there is just a sea of people everywhere – poor people trying to drive anywhere, but then what were they thinking?!), to go for a few drinks in a pub in the city.

The next day was poppy day (we pinned ours to our wooly hats) and an absolutely stunning day. Well the sun was shinning, but it was bloody cold!!! But we had a really nice time wandering through the city and seeing the sights.

(I’m sure one day this is just going to take off! – Mike)

Our legs did get a bit heavy though! We’re really not used to hills in London, so never seeming to stand on a flat bit of road all day took its toll!

Then at the airport we were joined by the All Blacks and I must say I was suprised how small they were when they are stanging just a few feet away from you (I am not so sure why I thought they were giants before, perhaps it is all the padding they wear at the game).

All in all it was a nice wee break away. (And we won the rugby!!).

It hardly seems like any time ago I was writing about the days starting to get longer rather than shorter.

But here we are now, with the days getting shorter again.

Where does the time go?!

Today I sat my ‘Life in the UK test’….  you might ask what that is, but it is a test to get you on your way to indefinite leave to remain and finally a UK passport – it basically means that you have a good understanding of English, some brief history and the way that life operates in the UK.  Before you take the test you need to have read the ‘Life in the UK’ book, as there are stats and things in there that you just would not know otherwise, no matter how long most people have lived in the UK.

Its been a long time since I have done a test and I forgot how nerve racking it is.  However, the good thing with this test is that if you don’t pass you can sit it until you do, only downside is that you will have to pay each time you sit it, so its not something you want to have to keep doing.  The few days leading up to it, I was surprised at how worried I was about sitting it.

Test Day – there are 24 multi choice questions to answer in 45 minutes.  After skipping a few questions till I had finished the rest and then going back to answer them and skimming over all my answers on the way passed before clicking ‘finished’. That took a total of 6 minutes!  So up I got, the first to walk out (which had a lot to do with the fact that English is my first language) and waited outside for my results .  Due to the fact that some of the staff were in a meeting I had to wait 30 mins for my results, only to be thinking opps perhaps I went too fast.  But luckily I was OK, I had PASSED! YAY!  For anyone that is going to sit it, although the test is pretty easy, you really do need to read the book – I know things about the UK I wouldn’t know if it wasn’t for the book and it definitely made me pass!

Last week I got stuck in a lift! After my experience I would be interested to know just how many people get stuck in a lift? I think I would be quite surprised.

The most annoying thing was that I knew I was just past the ground floor as I could hear everyone else getting off the other lifts. And when it made a clump noise and jolted down I thought at least I only have one floor to get to the basement. So when I realised after pushing some buttons that I wasn’t going anywhere, I rang the buzzer for help and shortly after I sat myself down and read my book.

Luckily I also had a mobile phone (so I could communicate with the outside world), and the book I had was to help me study for my ‘Life in the UK’ test that I needed to sit in a few days. At first it was quite funny, it was like ‘guess what, I’m stuck in a lift’, but after about 25 mins on a hot day in an enclosed space, and the alarm going off every few minutes, I was over it!

By 40 mins when the engineer finally arrived to pry the doors open (to find me sitting on the floor, book in lap and water bottle in my hand), I was well and truly relieved to be out.

But surely now my chances of getting stuck again are a lot slimmer now (touch wood)!?