Hello everybody... and a HUGE Corner Welcome to 2025
It is so good to see you here in the corner...and if you just sit a while and take a breather, then that is just fine with me. The drinks are warm, the snacks, still festive and the fire glowing gently.
The weather here, is about to turn again and we have heavy snow forecast towards the weekend... I am not sure how much running I shall get in.
I have been sitting here and looking at some of my lovely gifts I have had this year...I have been very lucky...and it brought to mind a post I have used before and one that someone, on C25K, said I should post again...
Hopefully, some of you will have been lucky enough to have or give gifts this year, and something that you wished for maybe, something you knew someone would appreciate... and of course there are the gifts that really cannot be bought.
Time spent alone, time spent with family, time spent with friends.
These are the gifts of precious time... time we are able to spend with family, or friends... and I know my best gift this year, was having Mr OF home and safe and recovering after his operation.
So, you may guess from this, that gifts were really on my mind, when I was thinking about this post.
This is the post I wrote a while back.
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I have, as many others have said many times, that running, is, truly, a gift.
It is a gift and one that gives ,far, far more than it takes. It should never be taken for granted, Those forum friends who cannot run right now, know this all too well.
This particular gift has very special properties.
It has the potential if we allow it, to make a better version of ourselves, and not only that, it has the potential also, to help pass that on to others.
By sharing our runs something wonderful happens. We run, we talk, we share, we listen, the seeds are sown and everything begins to grow, branching out, further than we may ever realise.
Running is a gift of friendship. It is our friend, a friend that we can love, dislike, use and yes, sometimes abuse, but it will never give up on us. Running gives us the gift of realising our dreams, raising us above the stresses and strains of life and worry. It is a friend that cherishes us.
There may be times when this gift gets mislaid, tucked in the drawer of life. Injury, illness, or something else may means that we lose it for a while. This is where another property of this gift shows itself. It teaches us so much; about ourselves, about others, and not just in the way we run, The habits that running teaches us, can be transferred to so many other aspects of our life.
Good habits. Life changing habits. Habits that, may, just may be able to carry us through some of the dark times that we all encounter at some point in our lives.
So, we should take this gift gladly. There may be days when we think, it is not what we wanted, that we made the wrong choice. There may even be days when we think we should give it away.
No. We just need to try to take it slow and steady ( yes, I know), one day at a time, one step at a time. Weather the times of self-doubt, feel the total elation of achieving whatever goals we set for ourselves, Find joy in the victories and run right through those walls that threaten our progress.
We have to use the gift, we have no idea where it will take us, but take us it will, to wherever and however far we wish to go.
Running. The gift that keeps on giving! “
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This year. my gifts... ? I was so lucky !
Some new thermal running socks.
A pair of thermal leggings... ( Pre Christmas gift sales ) !
A pair of new yoga trousers
A lovely longline top for Yoga too.
( Yes, , I am embracing the Yoga this month !
Lots of lovely art books to help with my painting.
SO YOUR TURN NOW
Grab a cushion.... come close to the fire and let us all know how things are with you...and let us know, please, if you got any running related gifts too 
Wishing for you all, a Year filled with Health, Happiness, and Hope x
Oldfloss x
