My 50th birthday celebrations had lasted several weeks, but I really wasn’t sure being 50 was something I was ready for. A blogging challenge, with the goal making the most of every opportunity, seemed like the best way to embrace the moment.

In the spirit of the 27 Hours in Twizel blog, I’m going to try and make the most of every opportunity over the next year. It’s time to embrace reaching my half century!

At the start, I really wasn’t sure what I would find to write about or what the first year of my fifties would have in store. But if I looked for it, I knew inspiration would come.

And so I started writing – and found something to celebrate with tiny moments of joy, like going for a walk in the woods, meeting up with friends, volunteering, taking photographs, reading a book on a bench by the river, making soup, seeing the sun, having brunch or sleeping well.

Holidays and weekend trips inspired me to remember all the things I love about travelling (the original inspiration for the 27 Hours in Twizel blog) and write about them too – trying grapefruit wheat beer, crossing borders, book swap shelves, food courts, bear hunts, street art and mini golf.

I got to explore a new country in January, with a week in Cyprus, exploring, eating ice cream, drinking cocktails, lazing by the pool, reading lots of books and even dressing for dinner.

And revisit another one – ending my blogging challenge with a few days in Helsinki before my next birthday- staying up so late to make the most of the almost-midnight-sun that I needed a nap on the way home. What a great few days!

I was inspired by museum visits, theatre trips, comedy nights, music gigs and sporting events – the last 12 months have included Balloons, Tailenders Live, Hamilton and Deacon Blue in Manchester rugby in Cardiff, OMD and Rob Brydon in Swansea, a punk gig in Liverpool, cricket in Sedbergh, Durham and Manchester, Big Country and the Space Museum in Leicester.

And there lots of great moments closer to home as well – ceramics exhibitions, music gigs at local venues (including The Underground). hunting for Christmas decorations, Rosie Jones at the New Vic, afternoon tea at the Wedgwood Factory in Barlaston, and of course admiring the bottle kilns!

And, after a long period without much motivation, I found inspiration to run and enjoyed writing about it too – inspiration to run a race, run a bit quicker, run a bit further, run on the beach, or achieve my fastest parkrun time since pre-Covid lockdowns in 2020. I might have had a bit of a setback – I wasn’t expecting to end up in A&E – but I got back up and carried on running.

And on a beautiful day in May, I completed 100k from London to Brighton – definitely something else I hadn’t predicted at the start of the 50 for 50 Challenge. There were good days in training, long days in training, very rainy days in training and really tough days in training, but it gave me lots of inspiration for the blog and got my ultramarathon goals back on track.

And I never thought I’d get so close to trying liquorice panna cotta – lemon panna cotta with liquorice cream at the Fat Lizard in Helsinki. It was delicious, and close to the dessert we’ve been trying to find since 2015. Close, but not quite close enough. The search continues.

This challenge might be complete – but that just means I need to find another one.

What’s next?

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50 for 50 #50: 50 posts for my 50th birthday to be posted before I’m 51.