Is social media bad your health?

 As an active social media user I've followed the posts with interest and do sometimes wonder if social media is a good or bad influence on my life.

I use social media on a daily basis to learn new information, to find out about events and products and to keep up with friends. (I look at millions of baby photos) My boyfriend has no interest in any kind of social media, he doesn't understand why I spend so long glued to my phone but he respects that I enjoy it. If I go on holiday I am happy to go days without checking my newsfeed and I am far from addicted. If I'm busy at work social media is the last thing from my mind, its just something I choose to check in my spare time.

But with recent famous instagrammers talking about the 'fakeness' of what is online. I'm not naive, I know people get paid to post pictures and wear products. At 29 I'm balanced enough to know people only post positive pictures online. No one shows them chilling out in their pjs on a Saturday night-but I'm not the impressional young girls maketing teams are trying to get through too. I can't justify spending £40 on a sports bra and I doubt many females my age have that disposable funds. 

Recently I've been having doubts about myself and the world of instagram. While going through my digestive issues I got really down about the state of my stomach. I made myself worst by looking through instagram and seeing lots of people eating burgers and having abs. I'm not one to comment if people are photoshopping instagram photos or if people are being truthful online but I couldn't look at those feeds. I went through my instagram and I deleted any account that I felt didn't show a balanced healthy lifestyle. I also deleted any accounts that just put up body shots and didn't educate me, inspire me or make me think. I also added more balanced accounts such as some inspriring yoga and mindfullness accounts so my feed is no longer full of abs & people eating green juices thankfully. 

I love social media and I will continue to use is everyday. But if it doesn't add to my life or make me happy then I will delete it, there is more to life outside a phone. Also I strongly believe every workout completeyl counts even if you don't publish it on social media.

Ealing Half 2015 - The Hangover Race

I've lived and worked in Ealing for over 6 months now and I've become very fond of this little Borough. When the local half marathon was advertised it wasn't perfect timing for my Royal Parks plans but I didn't want to miss the opportunity of running a local race.

But after a weekend of drinking and lots of beer I didn't feel like I was going to make it round the course, let alone be able to run. I regretted the (very tasty) beer, I regretted the (also tasty) burger and I hated my stomach for what it was going to go through for that morning.

But I did enjoy the relative snooze, not having to wake up until 7am to stroll down to the start line. I was very shocked about the amount of people who were running. I wasn't expecting the large crowd-it was double the amount of people who had run the Hackney half. So understandably waiting for the start was very slow. I put my self at the back towards the end of the 2:30 marker as I was aiming for 2:45 to save my legs for my next half in 2 weeks.

My plan had always been to take it slow and walk the hills. As I'd forgotten my Garmin I didn't really have a choice but to go with what felt natural and see how my body holds up. As I started to run I felt good, my stomach was a bit tricky in bits but the fresh air and exercise surely sorted it out. I was towards the back of the crowds (as you can see in my un-busy pictures) and got very happy in my own pace. I have no idea of my pace or my splits which is completely new to me for a race and I really enjoyed not having the pressure to either slow down or speed up. Somewhere after the 10 miles I knew I could finish and looked forward to the eating afterwards. I crossed the finish line with a finish time of 2:34 and I was mighty proud-I did walk the hills and run comfortably and got 10 minutes faster then my desired time.

I loved the race, I didn't think I would but it was great and I loved the atmosphere and running. If this was a test to see if I can run on too much booze then I can! As long as I get the training runs in and build up the strength in my legs.

For anyone wanting a Autumn race I would recommend Ealing-the hills aren't as bad as reviews make it out to be and has been voted best UK half marathon for the last two years at the UK running awards so they are clearly doing something right. It happens every year in the last Sunday in September.