Waiting for Def Leppard

I find myself in the middle of a crowd again. Standing. Waiting. I’m outdoors this time. The space is much bigger. The crowd is much bigger. It’s quite warm in Belfast tonight; we’ve just survived a heatwave. But that hasn’t stopped thousands of metal fans from coming out to see Def Leppard.

I keep to myself at these things. It’s how I like it. That’s how I get to write this now.

Yesterday, in the sweltering heat, I went for a run. It was the first run of week 9 of my Couch to 5K programme. My first 30-minute run. Ever. I crushed it. Three months ago I could barely run for one minute without collapsing in exhaustion. I’m quite pleased with myself for sticking to it. I plan to continue running and graduate to a 10K before the end of this year.

Tomorrow we fly to Wales for a week. In the evening I’m going to a gig in Cardiff. Alter Bridge, a band I love. On Sunday I’m seeing Metallica. It’s a busy weekend and a rocking start to a holiday.

We head to North Wales after that. We’ll spend some time in the coast and then work our way back through the mountains. There’s a mid-week Snowdon hike in the itinerary that I’m hoping I wouldn’t run out of energy for.

I am of course planning to finish my last two Couch to 5K runs amidst all this.

I should go now. Maybe I’ll write two more dispatches tomorrow and the day after. After all, you can write anywhere.