August completely snuck up and slipped away before I even realised it was gone.
Between diving headfirst into unexpected musical obsessions, wrestling with my body’s sudden betrayal at the gym, and getting utterly furious at an audiobook, it’s safe to say last month kept me on my toes.
Here is a look back at how August panned out.
🎵 The Soundtrack & The Reminder Hack
July ended with me seeing Laufey live, and let’s just say it sent me straight down a delightful, jazz-infused rabbit hole. Unsurprisingly, she ended up as my top-listened-to artist for August. Stranger still, Elton John snuck into the number two slot, and if you can actually believe it, there was no Taylor Swift in sight! (A rare occurrence, I know).
I’m still very much on my “whole album” listening journey. If you’re looking for an ultra-efficient way to track albums you want to check out, I’ve found the ultimate life hack: I share the album, playlist, or song straight to my Apple Reminders app. When I’m ready, I just tap the link and boom, it opens right in Apple Music. Works a treat!
🏔️ Gariwerd, Physio, and “Gym Math”
After our holiday to Noosa, I made a promise to myself to get back into trail running. So, every Monday, I head out into Gariwerd and hit the trails. I’m slow, but I don’t care—I’m just so happy to be out there.
Of course, my strength training hit a bit of an unexpected speed bump. While on holiday, I noticed hinging was suddenly a struggle. I’d hit a sticking point, have to move at a snail’s pace, and—cue the muscle spasms. No fun at all.
The likely culprit? Deadlifts. Yeah, probably those times when my “gym math” got a little too ambitious.
I booked into the physio, though my body did a fair bit of its own healing in the meantime. I’m still working out, but I’ve shifted gears: focusing on upper body strength, working lower body exercises strictly within my current range of motion, and building up hip stability and balance for long-distance running. I swear, every time I see my physio, he hands me more rehab exercises.
Some might look at going from 115kg deadlifts down to 3kg single-leg deadlifts and call it going backward. I don’t see it that way. I see it as respecting my form and working within my limits so I can get full mobility back. To put it in perspective: a milk crate at work holds 18kg of stock, and I can’t lift that right now without tenderness. But 12kg? I can manage that. Baby steps. Forward is forward, no matter how small. Plus, focusing on upper body strength has actually made my running slightly easier, which is a massive win.
Between staffing curveballs at work and keeping up with morning workouts, my weekly running mileage took a bit of a dip. I’m a creature of habit—while I can run in the afternoon, getting it done in the morning sets my day up right. Because I fiercely protect my sleep, my morning runs are kept to a solid 45 minutes max. That gives me just enough time for post-run mobility, a shower (hair-washing included!), breakfast, and packing my lunch for the 30-minute drive to work. It’s a finely tuned machine at this point! That’s also why Mondays are sacred for my long trail runs, leaving Sundays free for quality family time.
Though there are no races on my immediate horizon, volunteering at the Wonderland Run at the end of the month gave me a serious dose of inspiration. When you’re out of the racing loop, you realise how few faces in the crowd you actually know. But watching people do hard things? It makes you want to get right back out there. And I am! In fact, I’m already eyeing up races for 2027—Baw baw, I have my eye on you. So much so that I’ve already booked my leave for March 2027.
📚 Five Books and One Very Angry DNF
August saw me read or listen to 5 books. Unfortunately, three audiobooks dropped all at once, leading to a mad dash against the borrow clock.
One of those was The Top 5 Regrets of the Dying by Bonnie Ware. I DNF’d this book with 50 minutes left (though I’m still counting it as read), because the author claimed she healed her suicidal depressive thoughts simply with meditation.
Hard no.
You don’t plan to drive yourself into a tree and then fix it with a breathing exercise. I haven’t been made this mad by a book in a very long time! While the seven regrets outlined in the book were somewhat interesting, the overall delivery was a massive disappointment. A simple Google search of the 7 regrets will give you way more value than this book did.
On the bright side, my favourite read of the month was Dani Atkins’ Six Days. She is firmly in my “if she writes it, I’m going to read it” author category.
What’s in Store for September?
Well, considering we are already halfway through the month, I’m keeping things delightfully uncomplicated. The September game plan is simple:
- Read good books
- Run and hit the gym (carefully!)
- Knit
- Listen to great music
Sometimes, you just don’t need to overcomplicate things.
How was your August? Did you pick up any new obsessions—musical or otherwise?