Work / life / training balance

Everyone I speak to is feeling fatigued and looking forward to a break at Christmas.  We're all fed up of Covid, Omicron and politicians - think the politicians are possible the most dangerous part!  Hopefully we'll all be sensible and stay safe at Christmas but without living in fear.  Life must go on.  Existing is not life!
This time last year we wouldn't have imagined we'd still be in this position but we've adapted.  Working from home, flexible working and even getting into the office sometimes has been exciting - a bit like walking into a building that's been left unattended and unloved but in the future, the people will return but not all at the same time.  We've been working hard, sometimes too hard and we need to be careful.
We need to make sure we don't run our immune system down either through working too hard or through feeling stressed and this is where the training comes in.  To me during the pandemic, training has been like a safety valve, an escape from the sh1t that we're all dealing with.  Just getting out for a walk has lifted my spirits and even better if I can run with friends, although group runs have almost disappeared.  Just being out enjoying the fresh air and knowing that you are helping your body and mind in a positive way brings a smile to my face.  Even better if I'm with friends to chat through life or talk about what we'll be doing when we learn to live with covid without continually locking down.
Yesterday was our annual club fancy dress run.  We all took lateral flow tests before turning up and kept socially distanced when we met.  The only fancy dress outfit I could get was a skin tight purple morph suit.  It was -1.5 degrees so I don't come out too well in the photos if you get my drift!  But it was wonderful to see my club mates that I hadn't seen in months.  The group split up quickly with people running at different paces and we met up at the half way point before stepping up the pace for the 2nd half.  How I miss running with athletes who make you dig deep to keep up and because I was so cold I ran extra hard which was fun, chasing down my fellow runners.
This time next week, Santa will have been and hopefully you'll have met up with your loved ones and over indulged in food, wine and hugs (safely).  Make the most of it as I have a bad feeling that further restrictions might follow. 
As we head towards the end of another year in a pandemic let's reflect on getting that balance right between work / life & training.  My tip would be don't think of training as separate from life.  Make it part of your life and then all you need to do is make sure you don't allow work to take too much out of you.  After all, life is for living!  Have a wonderful Christmas.