Where have you been? An update post.

As mentioned in my blog update post, things have been quiet here over the last few years for, what I hope to be, understandable and forgivable reasons. Part update, part apology, part sympathy-fishing, this post will just quickly bring you up to speed with what’s happened over the last three years and where things are now. That’ll provide the common grounding for the stories, posts and musings that will be forthcoming on this blog.

Health

Starting with the biggest factor in my neglect of this site, the last three years has been a tumultuous one for my health. In May 2018, I was hit by a car at speed when cycling to work (see image). This broke both my collarbones, injured my kidney, and caused cognitive and psychological issues that have impacted my ability to work, exercise, cycle and drive. The investigations that accompanied this also revealed an underlying kidney issue that has required 3 surgeries and almost two years of having a uretic stent in my body. This has made any exercise beyond walking pretty much out of the question. However, my last (and hopefully final) surgery was a month ago and the stent is being removed next week, so I look forward to being able to return to some running again soon, something I have been desperately craving. Researching and writing about running while not being able to do it has been much harder than I imagined!

Job

In the midst of this, I started a new role at Birmingham City University in 2019. I originally joined BCU in 2017 and my new role still sees me providing academic support to students. However, I am now a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Post-Qualifying Healthcare Practice where I support Master’s students, and predominantly international students, with academic and research skills. I love the job, the students are wonderful and I get a lot out of it. Being in the Faculty of Health, Education and Life Sciences means I have lots of colleagues who work on health, sport and exercise related research, so it is an exciting place to be working and bringing my geographical approaches to.

PhD

All of the above resulted in some hefty extensions to my PhD. However, I submitted last November, had my viva in May (in lockdown, on video calls – weird experience), had my corrections accepted last week, and very thrillingly was awarded my PhD on 1 October. I am now Dr Simon Cook, the world’s first and only Doctor of Run-Commuting. I LOVED doing my PhD, really enjoyed my viva experience and had two brilliant examiners in Professor Tim Schwanen and Dr David Bissell. But I am pleased it is all done now. Well, the formal part at least. There are lots of exciting things to come from the project and I look forward to sharing these with you. However, it also means I have been able to start work on other project ideas that have been brewing over the last few years, so expect updates about these in the future.

So that’s it. That’s why things have been so quiet here for the past few years. I hope you will forgive my absence and thank you for sticking with me. I am excited about the things I have planned for the blog, there’s plenty in the pipeline, and hopefully I won’t have need to write such a post again!

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