Michael Mclaren

We’ve done it 💪🏼

Day 31 and a 5km personal best to top it off 🎉

(Was to busy trying to cope with my lungs on fire to get a picture today, so this one from last weeks run with .sykes will have to do 😊💚)

Our wee team has absolutely nailed it with , and obviously I can’t speak for anyone else but I’ve had a hell of a lot of much, much needed fun from it too!

Over 1,300km covered and almost £600 so far raised for 👏🏼

You can still donate to anyone of us to keep that total rising, our links are in our bios! 🙌🏼

Now we’re onto Fresh February, a completely made up challenge with no other aim other than just continuing to get out for more walks, runs and giving us something positive to focus on for at least 10 minutes a day!

1,000 miles in 28 days? Challenge is on! 🔥

Re-posting this because they’ve been so helpful to me over the past few weeks - hope they can inspire a bit of Friday Feeling with someone else 🙏🏼😊

We’ve only just gone and smashed our 895km target with 10 days to spare! 🎉😁⠀
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Looooving every second of this year. 🙌🏼⠀
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Pushing on to see if we can get the length of the UK now before the month end…. ⠀
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Gotta finish it strong now! 💪🏼⠀
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Our JustGiving page is in our bios for anyone wanting to donate and help us raise funds for this year.⠀
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Any amount is massively appreciated! 🙌🏼😊⠀
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Gotta be honest..

I’m finding it ten times harder to get myself up for training in the living room this time around. 😬

If I had a hat to fit my big head I’d tip it to every single person getting themselves up for it everyday.

Especially those who don’t exactly like it - but still get it done! 👏🏼

I guess that’s all that matters though really, whether you get it done or not.

Our feelings towards it, are kinda irrelevant.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m fascinated by feelings, and definitely believe you just gotta let them do their thing.

But I can’t help but feel they’re gonna have very little influence on the position I’m in 6 months from now.

It’s what we do now that are the building blocks for then.

For anyone who just really dislikes training at home or is struggling to find the “motivation” to do anything remotely close to exercise - I’m with you!

I absolutely get it.

Probably why I’ve been so grateful and keen to get stuck into our Red January challenge.. It’s given me a reason and way of exercise that I’m genuinely hyped for each day - even in this weather.

(Which you can still donate to btw, link in bio!)

Sorry for the cheap plug..

I guess my wee rant is just that, a wee rant. I’d never in a million years expect to get someone in the headspace to really give it their all with only a social media post.

Like I mentioned, nothing but respect and admiration for everyone getting it done.

It’s the best feeling when you’re genuinely looking forward to it - when it almost feels effortless.

In the meantime though, for those who aren’t quite there yet, take a break from the self criticism and consider further down the line.

And know that how we feel about it today, won’t have anywhere near the impact in 6 months time as what we do today.

Unlike lockdowns, less than desirable habits can’t be lifted at a press conferences notice.

And I wholeheartedly believe..

That while we don’t always get to love it, we’ll always love that we did it. 🙏🏼

Who would have thought someone who hates cheese so much could be so cheesy? 😬

Still though..

I’m starting to feel like it’s less about making someones day great, and more about just making an effort to simply changing the trajectory of it.

So little effort required, so much to be gained 🙏🏼

🗣 “Do more of what leaves you feeling good, rather than exclusively just things that feel good.”

I thought the little speech emoji might make it seem more empowering - truth is it’s just something I scribbled down this morning. 🙄

Because I’ve been feeling pretty good over the past few days!

Optimism my old friend - it’s been a while. 👋🏼

Always confident it’ll come back eventually.

It’s one of the reasons I’m entirely ok with feeling a bit s**t now and again - never in any rush to bury it or smoke it out with being forcefully positive.

Convincing myself of false narratives that everything is wonderful just doesn’t cut it for me anymore.

I have to feel. I have to be ok with it.

Now, I’m sure it would have come back on it’s own… maybe.. probably.. hopefully!

But I like to think I had a wee part to play in it. Even if I did just speed it along a little.

I feel like my optimism was like a reward.

A genuine, sustainable sense of feel good was earned - often through doing things that felt completely s**t throughout.

That’s when I decided..

More of what leaves me feeling good, over things that just feel good.. even if what leaves me feeling good afterwards, is proving to be the last thing I want to do that day.

It’s definitely worth remembering the next time you don’t want to get out of bed that early, or you don’t want to go for that walk or run..

The thing we’re waiting to feel the energy for, is the thing that will leave us feeling that exact same energy afterwards. 🙌🏼😊

It’s never gonna be a quick fix, and it’s ok if anyone reading this isn’t feeling there yet.

Just know it’s coming, and you can decide at any given instant to play your part in making it sooner rather than later.

Maybe I'm a little too weak minded to handle it all.. 🙄

But, it's been one of the best decisions I've made to consciously and seriously reduce the amount of speculation and what if'ing that I'm exposed to through news sites and social media. 🙏🏼

The only alert I need every week is to tell me which team sucker punched Hibs with a last minute goal..

Seriously though - highly recommended if your a serial worrier like I'm often prone to being. 😬

It's amazing how much even the little stuff can impact your mood and thoughts for the rest of that day.

On a mission over the next few weeks and months to do more stuff that just leaves me feeling good 🙌🏼

Coffee and walks are definitely up near the top of that list 🙂

Lovely little latte from and a solid 1 hour wander around the city to get the distance in for ! 💯

Something I’ve found is working wonders for me keeping me grounded these days is looking through old pictures like this.

Just good times with, albeit compared to now, fairly little to complain about.

There were times when any thought of stuff like this would just send me spiralling into a pit of self pity.

Wishing we could just go back.

But I’ve watched Interstellar enough (🤓) to know that time just won’t run backwards unfortunately.

Now though, it’s having the opposite effect. It’s got me looking forward.

It’s kinda reminding me that something similar is waiting just around the corner. ��Granted, I’m not sure how big or long that corner is…… but it’s there!

The nostalgia I used to inhale from these pictures is now giving me a massive dose of perspective.

There’s been many occasions over the past few months where I’ve felt like just chucking everything to f**k..

That the goalposts are being moved so much it’s not worth even taking the punt.

But this bit of perspective I’m getting stops that. It grounds me and reminds me that someday, we’ll be looking back on all of this, not living with it.

I just want to make sure I’m around for it, and that I’m in the best possible state to enjoy it.

It definitely sucks when you look back at better times and become trapping in wishing you could relive it..

But to me, that’s not how life works. It moves forward. And we should too.

Less longing for the past when it stops us enjoying today, and more optimism and planning for the future, to help us get by today.

This isn’t meant to come across as forcefully positive..

I know this stuff sucks s**t right now.

Like laying bricks when we simply don’t know how big the wall will be..

Even the most basic things that protect your own physical and mental health may seem a little pointless somedays.

But something that’s helping me to remember is they’re helping us make the most of each day and preparing us to really enjoy the better ones coming.

Unfortunately we don’t always get to love it.

We just sometimes have to do it.

And try our best to find the little positives and win each day. One. At. A. Time.

Soooo glad we chose the kind of challenge we did back In November for . 💯

Having genuine reason (when there isn’t much around) to get outside, day or night, rain or shine, feels like a massive safety net for the news we’ve been dealt over the past couple of weeks.

We just got lucky, and now and again it’s just good to be lucky 😁

Grateful for the awesome little team we’ve got going, and ridiculously proud of everyones attitudes and commitment to it. 🙌🏼

We’ll hit 500km in the next couple of days - amazing stuff!