Well, 2020 has been a bit bonkers right?!

Firstly I just want to say I hope you are surviving. I think surviving is the least we can hope for. Be kind to yourself and try not to worry about what others are doing. Some people have taken use of more spare time to achieve great things and others have taken this situation to reflect on what’s important in life and make changes, whereas some people are simply pleased when they manage to get up in the morning and make their beds.

It’s okay. Whatever you’re going through or feeling or doing… it’s okay.

Spring and Summer saw me focusing on runner, especially once lockdown rules eased and I found all of my weekends to be clear of engagements. It was a great escape to go out for a long run on a Saturday and then come back, have a nice bath and relax for the evening.

My marathon was booked for August, although looking more and more unlikely that it was going to go ahead, but I kept training for it just in case and decided on a Plan B to do if it was cancelled.

As expected it didn’t go ahead and instead I set off from home one day and ran and walked 33 miles!

You can watch my vlog of the actual challenge here:

The dogs are both well. I’ll be honest I neglected them a little while my focus was on running, although they would come with me for most of my weekly runs around the farm, and we’d enjoy nice walks together every day, but I wasn’t spending a lot of time training them.

A week after completed my ultramarathon (I’m claiming it as an ultra even if it wasn’t all running or a race), I turned 30 and me and Ash made the spontaneous decision to walk the Gritstone Trail in 2 days, carrying all of our kit and stopping to camp overnight. It was such a great expedition and so nice for us to do something together.

As Autumn arrived I switched my focus back on to the dogs and dove in to gundog training with Zebby as the shooting season approached. It’s doubtful that he’ll be ready to work on a shoot this season but I try to use the pheasants around the farm to my advantage and we work on hunting patterns, stop whistles and recall, plus loose lead walking and calmness.

Leaving the farm is an even bigger challenge for Zebby at the moment while we haven’t really been anywhere, but our training at home is going well.

We also entered two fun Steeplechase competitions at Dig It Dogs this year, where you have 30mins private hire of the arena and a course already set up for you to attempt. He achieved clear rounds every time after a few practise runs, smashing out one clear round in his first run which I was super proud of.

I’ve been lucky that I’ve continued to work throughout the year and like a lot of jobs it’s been challenging to adapt to working within the restrictions and keeping everything safe while continuing as much as possible.

My mental health has wavered throughout the year and I’ve found it exhausting at times, which is one reason my blog has been a little neglected.

I’ll be honest I don’t feel like I’ve had anything worth writing about or had the time or the mental capacity to sit down and write something, but what I am proud of is that this blog is a source of information and knowledge, so if anyone is looking for tips for camping with a dog or running with a dog etc there are blog posts that can be found on lots of different topics, either by searching through the menu’s or typing in the search bar.

So this isn’t a promise that I’ll be back, but that doesn’t mean this is goodbye.

If you’d like to see more then make sure to give me a follow on instagram as I’m most active on there: https://www.instagram.com/ruth.on.an.adventure