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• 10 Dec, 2025 *

I’m still alive! But a busy schedule and trip kept me from being here...

⏪ Week in rewind

🤧 While I was feeling ok-ish at the beginning of week, I started the have headaches and a heavy stomach again. I did more digging about what I could be suffering with, and came to an idea that perhaps my stomach was to blame. I know I have a sensitive stomach, so I went to see the doctor again. As all previous actions didn’t help, he prescribed a stomach-protecting medicine, which I started to take as of Thursday. Could this be the magical cure I need?

🏃 This week should have been the pinnacle of my running career, running a marathon abroad. However, as I was still suffering with my health, I was completely lost whether I could/should run. I even had thoughts of not going at all. I did a run on Wednesday, a short and simple 5km, but when I arrived home I felt tired. I know I haven’t been running much lately, but I shouldn’t have felt like this. All in all, this didn’t give me much confidence to start on Sunday. However, with the help of my friends and wife, I got in the mood and took the decision to travel to Valencia and enjoy whatever I would do.

🖥️ As with any upcoming trip, the pressure to finish work deadlines came up. And likely as I was off the week before, but my work schedule was crammed with meetings, leaving me even fewer time to finish urgent tasks and presentations. After-school activities were still ongoing adding more pressure to finish everything while also prepare everything for my upcoming trip.

🛫 I left with my friends early Friday and arrived at a warm and sunny Valencia. What a nice difference, coming from the cold and rainy Belgium, arriving in a 20°C sunny city. On Friday we picked up our racing gear and did some walking in the city center. On Saturday we didn’t want to tire our legs, so we rented a bike and went sightseeing. I wouldn’t have expected this, but Valencia has great accommodation for biking, with bike paths everywhere and in most cases even separated from cars and public transport. We went for paella in the evening, heading back to the hotel in time, to prepare for marathon day, trying to get sleep and waking up at 5h50. I was still undecided what to do...

💬 I’m happy that my Spanish lessons and repeating via Duolingo paid off. I took Spanish lessons years ago with the idea I could use it when we went on holiday, however, I never visited a Spanish speaking country since. But the repetition via Duolingo worked and I became the translator of the group, checking for availability, making reservations,... It was nice to finally put it to good use.

📔 I’ve continued my manual note-taking journey, which I’m still enjoying it. The feeling of a pen on paper is not something I get when using digital tools. It also provides a quick glance at my days, activities and what I might have felt. It feels much easier and natural than clicking through all days, or querying digital entries. One thing I noticed though is that it was easy to write and update when I was home, however, when I was constantly out and about (returning late in the hotel) in Valencia, I did struggle to keep my notebook updated. It’s a portable version, but still I didn’t have much time nor the reflex to write on the go.

📺 Watched

• 📺 I managed to watch a few episodes of Viking on the plane.

📚 Reading

• 📗 I took my Kindle to read during my trip, but as I had so little time, it remained in my backpack the whole time .

📱 Apps in focus

No new apps discovered last week, but you can still view my full App library.

🏋️ Fitness log

• 🏃 Running: ? (I know I’m teasing, but check my Valencia marathon update to see what I did)

Thanks for taking the time to read this!

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#2025 #2025-12 #article #weekly-rewind