Impossible List - 15 June

How far I've come over the course of the last month in regards to the impossible list of goals I've set for myself.

Professional

So my work into exploring a quoting/invoicing app for under serviced trades is going well, I've got a basic prototype and I need to get it thoroughly tested and then make everything live and start the marketing. I'd expect this will take the next month, who knows if anyone will actually want this or not. Here's hoping.

Health / Fitness

Still on track with Ultra training. Still on the band wagon for not drinking this year. Regretting it, but I'm sure my waist will thank me.

I've lost weight this year, but not at a 1lb a week rate. I'm down a half stone since the beginning of the year really. Not great, not bad either. We'll keep at it.

I Ran the Fife Pilgrim Way Ultra of 56 miles and finished in the cut-off. I went into the Ultra Scotland 100 full of confidence and bombed out at 40 miles. I was under prepared. I need to definitely bring sticks with me, practice more in bog conditions, practice slippery down hills, and dial in a better response for cramping.

I'm determined to nail the Ultra Scotland 100 next year and I've still got the Ochil Ultra 50 mile race later this year to look forward to and train for. It has a soft cut-off that means I need to put away 40 miles of the race in 12 hours which I think is doable, but I can't hang about. It's got 6 main climbs throughout the day, but they will be focused on the beginning of the day, get through the first 24 miles and 5 of the 6 climbs will be complete and I'll be free to make up time as best I can. I can still finish if I miss the cut-off it will just not be the whole course. I don't want another defeat this year.

Personal Skills

As I said I'm working on reducing my focus on the book and moving across to a side project to hopefully build a product and make a few bucks on the side. Saying that I have recently started working on another book, yeah I'm dumb. I like how it's coming though. I still want to finish my original book, just taking a detour.

Flickr has 848 photos in it.

Travel / Events

My eyes are always big when it comes to travel, but this year is not heavy in travel. I'm planning a short trip to Lithuania to see Nick Cave play and for Louise's birthday we might had up a munro.

No adventures after that that go out of the country. In the end I didn't want to spend all of my allowance on one trip, particularly when I need to buy so much gear for the longer races I want to run in. I have spent some money to climb all of the Isle of Skye munros including the Inaccessible Pinnacle. Should be a good time.

Volunteering / Charity

I'm working on getting the basics set in place for Tayside Re-Users. Beyond that we need to focus on tackling costs and targeting higher sales to help set ourselves up for the future. We've had some good news of late that our sales are up and our online sales projects are returning value, so finger’s crossed we can move forward with those ideas and perhaps get some grant money this year.

We are not on target to make a profit this year, but hopefully 2026/2027 will be our comeback.

Education / Languages

I've been reading a lot, but no focused education has really been looked at lately. Still need to win the lottery to give this too much more focus. I am hoping to read 36 books this year, I'm currently 15 books in.

Financial

Just working hard in my role as Staff Engineer and trying to sort out my shop and put everything into a good status. We are moving forward, but this might take years. I am also starting to look outside Insights a bit and start to plan what my next career steps my take.