Tag: jury service

Excused

~ e.v. ~ 2 Comments

I went to the physio about my knee, after all. I wouldn’t normally have done so but I thought I was going to be on jury service for a few weeks so I might not get another chance. Though I’ve been excused from that, thankfully. Anyway, he thinks my quads are too tight and my external hip rotation is quite poor on my right side but OK on the left. So I have some stretches to do. I also found this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K5k5o_8kyQ for external hip rotation, which I tried yesterday and does seem to relieve some of the tightness.

The jury service palaver made me realise my anxiety has been pretty bad lately. It kind of creeps up on you and only after a while you realise you’re having more bad days than you used to. I think it got kicked off by the virus I had in September and has been a bit hyperactive ever since. I’m going to try going on a total news detox and see if that makes any difference. I seem to spend a lot of time browsing the news on my phone or laptop now. It doesn’t make me feel good and it’s such a waste of my energy.

Jury service approaches

~ e.v. ~ 3 Comments

My jury service starts next week. Yesterday they sent me an email to try to assess my suitability to sit on a five week trial.

I wasn’t exactly pleased about having to do it for two weeks, and the thought of five sent me into a panic. I started drafting a response citing the disruption this will cause to my tiny employer, plus the fact it offloads my responsibilities over Monty onto my parents, which is unfair on them…

… And then at 5 o clock this morning, when I’d already been awake for hours because I was stressed about it, I realised that was the answer right there. Why was I panicking? Because I have an anxiety disorder. I’m on medication for it. I went though over a year of counseling for it. I missed a lot of time at work because of it. I’m not just “a bit stressed”, I have a health condition for which I am still being treated.

That’s what I need to say. I can say the other things too, but I need it to be clear that I have a legitimate mental health condition and their demands are negatively affecting it.

I may yet get excused entirely…

I owe it to my own wellbeing to try, anyway. And I certainly owe it to my parents, who don’t really want to be looking after a crazy, high energy dog for five weeks at their age.

Judgement

~ e.v. ~ 2 Comments

The first piece of exciting news is that I have been selected for Jury Service! Ahhhh. I told my manager and he was like “yeah, fine”, but then he told the company owner, who is now having a bit of a tantrum about it. I don’t think he’s come across the situation before as he doesn’t seem to understand the options and currently thinks I don’t need to do it if it inconveniences him (nope).

I can ask to defer it until another time in the next 12 months if my employer won’t give me the time off, which is probably what he’ll want me to do. I don’t really see why my employer gets a say at all, to be honest, and I would prefer to just get it out of the way. I need to respond to the summons within the next few days (or potentially be in contempt of court!) with either an “ok” or “I can’t do it on this date because [reasons], but I can do it on these dates instead” and at the moment I’m twiddling my thumbs waiting for my employer.

There was a post on Reddit earlier that said something like “in relationships, look for people who make your life easier, not harder”. Very apt.

Anyway…

It’s three and a bit weeks to go until my next half marathon. My last few weeks of running looks like this:

I’m mostly focusing on durations rather than distances. I haven’t really decided on a target time or pace, but it should be between 1:30 and 1:40, hence why you see a lot of 16km runs (which take me about 1:30 at an easy pace).

My body is hungry, tired and achy, and I am so fed up of the weather! The 18km on Wednesday included a 60 minute tempo, which included long stretches of running into strong wind gusts. Try holding a tempo pace in a 30mph headwind, it’s not easy!