I called my parents today and spoke to my mum to tell her that the boys and I will be visiting in summer. I want to be better at keeping in touch, but it’s just so difficult. The last time my dad called me, I was in Italy for the wedding, and I had to quickly excuse myself after just 10-15 minutes. Maybe one day speaking to my dad won’t make me mad and / or sad.

HV and I had arranged to meet up for a day out to Hampstead Heath, and Golders Hill Park. O said he wanted to show me the orienteering activity he undertook with his school during exam week. And there’s a small zoo we could visit too. The orienteering challenge turned into quite a mission as we had to bushwhack our way through overgrown paths with stinging nettles and thorny bushes. It felt almost like we were in the wild Amazon rainforest or African bush, instead of London – what an adventure! We eventually realised there were easier paths to the challenging points (#2 and #11), which were unfortunately not well marked or mapped on the orienteering map.

We ended with a game of tag. I didn’t want to play at first, because of my injury, so I agreed to a race initially. But we eventually played some tag. HV emerged triumphant in the last round (which I sat out), as both boys didn’t manage to tag her despite working together. I said that she could skip one of her run training sessions, and just play a game of tag with the boys in future.

HV and I finally agreed on our next race together, which we had been discussing for a while, and I bought the tickets once I got home, in case it sells out, like so many events have recently. Now we are making plans around the race.