After a cracking run yesterday, I was giddy with the prospect of doing a longer run, in daylight and finally getting round to listening to one of the many podcasts I’ve neglected over Christmas (there’s been such good stuff on the radio Good Omens, the final Cabin Pressure, the Archers production of Blythe Spirit…). The time to run arrived and despite my determination to keep my Garmin nicely charged, the battery was dead. This was not a major problem, but around the same time I was hit by a dark, gloomy cloud of a mood that left me feeling rubbish (and by default, left poor Ginge feeling rubbish because he took all of the flack from me feeling rubbish).

I even declared that I wasn’t going to run. But then I realised that if I failed Janathon on day four, it would just be another stick to beat myself with.

So I didn’t run until after five. When it was dark. And it was cold. It was so cold that my teeth were chattering for the first quarter of a mile. And I picked a route where the majority of the way out is uphill, and although there’s a lovely downhill to the halfway point, this of course means that you’re faced with hideous uphill to start the return. It wasn’t my best run ever.

But as I got to the halfway mark, all of a sudden there were no cars on the road and apart from the very distant hum of the motorway it was like the world had stopped. Just for a moment.

Why will running never make me thin?

Because I plan my runs to fit around pizza dough proving…

…and then I eat the pizza.

There comes a time in every Athon when you think to yourself “if it wasn’t for Jan/Juneathon, I wouldn’t be doing this”. My moment has arrived on day two. I’ll admit that this is a teeny bit early, even by my standards.

I may have only worked two days in the last fortnight (and they weren’t even consecutive) and yes, every day for the last two weeks has felt like a Saturday, but it’s Friiiiiiiday. I’ve had that Friday feeling all day and all I want to do is get home and commune with some wool. And possibly watch yesterday’s final of World’s Strongest Man….

But it’s Janathon and that means that I have to get off my bum and do something. My broad goals for this month are to get my short runs a bit faster and my long (relatively speaking) ones a bit longer. Tonight’s run involved belting out a mile and I was pleasantly surprised that I did it in 9.45.

It’s not just the running that’s been getting a quick fix, my knitting also had a creative burst last night. Like most knitters, I am a bit of a yarnaholic. As far as I’m concerned, wool can be divided into “wool that is in my yarn stash” and “wool that is not yet in my yarn stash”. In my wisdom, I have decided that I should knit all some a bit of my stash before buying any new stuff. I’m starting with the odd balls that have been bought for me or I have bought on holiday (I love to buy something that I could only get from where we’re staying).

Last night I settled down with a super chunky ball of Shachenmayer Tacoma (bless you) and belted out a dead easy cable headband (using the Winter Morning pattern from While They Play) that can become a dead easy cable neck-warmer when your ears become too toasty. Basically, I’ve made a woolly Buff.

The wool doesn’t really do the pattern justice, but there was just enough in the ball to make a headband that is nice and snug which is all I really wanted!

I’m not really one for New Year’s resolutions, I certainly have no intention of giving something up and then banging on about it to everyone I meet for the next week (I am steeling myself for all of the inevitable diet talk at work tomorrow). However at 7.30 this morning, I was plodding through the village looking every part the January First Enthusiast.

I had no desire to be out at that time, but Ginge was working today and as long as I was back for him leaving at 8.15, I could tick off my run and avoid having to go out at a stupid and as yet unknown time at night. For once, I managed to get myself out of the door without any procrastination or foot-dragging, but then it is only day one.

Oh and Mini-Ginge did his bit to show his support before he completely outgrows it…