Struck me kinda funny
Seemed kinda funny sir to me
Still at the end of every hard day
People find some reason to believe

Taking a Mulligan, in other words, a ‘do-over’ or free shot, can be a wonderful thing. Of course, this requires that the next stroke sail straight and true a long way down the fairway. It keeps the fun in a morning of recreational golf.

Of course, there’s not a lot that’s more frustrating than taking a Mulligan and hoicking the follow up shot into the bushes.

With that in mind, I am very happy to have used a Mulligan at the end of week 12. This was supposed to be the end of my experiment, but I just could not bear to leave the experiment so deep in the weeds.

I have become accustomed to getting one reading a week of 130s over 80s, within sight of the benchmark. Occasionally, I’ve had two days in a week.

That range was hit four times this week – on three consecutive days, and then again on Friday. To truly stretch the metaphor, this was the opposite of hoicking the follow-up into the bushes.

The do-over split the fairway in half.

I have no idea of the sleep-depriving or stress-inducing surprises that life could throw at me next week, but there was enough in this week to keep me on the programme.

Mulligans are a special kind of luxury that weren’t an option in the types of lives around which Springsteen built so many of his powerful lyrics. The extra week I added – my Mulligan – is giving me “reason to believe”, to borrow from The Boss.

The pills can wait a bit longer.

The Week in Numbers

Sunday (post social)
BP: 153/86
Bike: 97 mins, mostly zones 2 and 3

Monday
BP: 132/82

Tuesday
BP: 136/81
Bike: 67 mins in zone 2

Wednesday
BP: 132/78

Thursday
BP: 146/87
Bike: 47 mins (evenly spread between zones 2, 3 & 4)

Friday
BP: 137/85

Saturday 
BP: 153/87
Bike: 2:12 on trail (25% in zone 2, 37% in zone 3, 34% in zone 4, 2% in zone 5).