You’re reading choccy run, a sub-section for weekly recaps, assorted links, and out-of-context insights from my notes app — usually written alongside a cup of hot choccy. So glad you’re here.
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After about four months of the year and perhaps thirty-two months of telling myself that I wanted to do so, I finally did my first 5k run.
This Saturday, I joined Rhodes parkrun at glorious 8 in the morning. This was already a shockingly improbable event because 1) I’m not a runner 2) I’m not usually up at 8 on a weekend but against all odds, my ass cheeks were there at 7:58am, joining a mob of 724 runners1 at a venue that was once used for the 2000 Olympics.
My goal was to keep up with the 40:00-minute pacer, managed to catch up to the 35:00-minute pacer, and subsequently lost him towards the end. According to the results scan I’ve got a time of 37:09 minutes which you know what, that’s a fair enough benchmark for someone who hasn’t ran very much and couldn’t go to the gym these last two weeks due to renovations.
That’s enough of a win this week. Other cool things include:
Published my piece on presenting data in a senior leadership setting which is a continuation to writing good ass reports. My honest disclosure is that I’m growing weary of career-based topics but I’ve still got one more in me to make a nice, packaged trilogy.
Walked from home to a shopping centre a few nights ago (~35 minutes, a route I’d normally drive) with grey sweatshorts and an ugly maroon running shirt and I only realised upon getting there how stupid I looked. This is interesting because I don’t normally feel that. What am I becoming? Since when did I give a shit?
I’m really feeling like making a Sydney travel and food guide. I feel like I’d be pretty decent at it other than the taking of pictures. This could be a far more Insta/TikTok-friendly series, but I’d like to post it on Substack too — the only caveat being it’s not a general guide (of which we have an abundance of creators already) but an oddly specific one (for example: Sydney restauraunts and cafes your Chinese-Indonesian parent who thinks all non-Asian food is dogshit would appreciate)
I want to start writing on Substack notes, meaning, very short snippets and observations that aren’t chunky enough to make a full piece. I keep adding topics to my notes app but perhaps the best way to do so is to just… type and post, isn’t it? The more I stop to edit, the less I’m likely to move on with it. I posted about running out of facial cleanser, a bit self-masturbatory I admit, but thought it was cute insight.
A new Kinokuniya opened at Chatswood Westfield recently. It looks like they’re building a Japanese corner with Daiso and Standard Products and highkey, it’s about time. Part of me wants to buy a physical book, but I also do all my reading on Kindle so it’s really not that necesarry.
Visited Ena, previously called Moon Phase, previously called Layers — and despite rebranding to coffee production, they are still the goat of croissants. If you like literally anything with flour in it, you should make the trek.
And finally, published my April retrospective where for once I’m on the front foot and did so earlier in the month rather than the middle. I realise that the choccy run series invalidates these somewhat, which is why I’ve found myself telling a bit of a story in this one and perhaps that’s a good thing!
Thank you for reading Choccy Run, sub-section of Journaling in Public. All my posts will be free in the foreseeable future but any forms of support — likes, comments, messages, free/paid subscriptions, coffee donations — are so tremendously appreciated. Yours truly, Sav.
I did NOT think there would be this many people.
wooh nice!