Category: Junathon 2010

Day 6/30 – Tormented by canal desires

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First of all, an apology. I was absolutely knackered yesterday and actually fell asleep, laptop on knee, whilst writing up my Juneathon efforts. There was a much better entry planned in my head as I ran, one that was full of witty bon mots and insightful comment. What you ended up with was something barely literate and lightly dribbled on. After that, I crashed out for an hour before heading out for a lovely afternoon/evening with big sis and my adorable niece.

There was no way on this earth that I was going to get up for an early run. No alarm was set and yet I still woke up at bang on 5.45. Thanks Juneathon. Needless to say, I looked at the time, muttered darkly and fell back asleep. A bit unfortunate because a morning run should have been a given today as it’s my mate’s birthday and we were off sailing the dark and choppy waters of the Leeds-Liverpool canal.

I reckon that everyone should have a go on a canal barge at some point in their lives, it’s ace! It’s brilliant seeing things from a different perspective and at a different pace, even if it’s somewhere that you know quite well. The route that we chose took us down to where I tend to do my canal runs and the outward journey was pretty much a repeat of one of my most regretted and hellish runs ever. It was far nicer on a boat.

Where I start my canal runs, viewed from a barge

It’s definitely left me with a taste for a towpath run along a different section of canal. The downside of this is that I’ll have to park up at the ice cream parlour that we went to yesterday (and might well have accidentally called in at again today…) and resist the lure of a single scoop with sprinkles.

Oh yes, today’s exercise. I’m not sure what was the most amazing part of today – the fact that I stayed sober or the fact that I went for a run at the end of all this. Only 2.5 mile s (which was all that I wanted to do after my narcoleptic antics yesterday) and at a deliberately slow pace. I’ve come to the conclusion that if I want to start getting my distance up a bit, I need to keep an eye on my pace and this seemed an ideal opportunity to get used to using the nagging garmin to watch what I was doing. When I uploaded my stats, it was interesting (to me anyway) to see that my deliberately slower pace was the same as my average for yesterday when I was set off nicely then ground to a halt. I think that this should teach me something.

Day 5/30 – Yet another brow

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Yup. I did a new brow today. Downhill again, below is the elevation thingy which demonstrates why I am never, ever going to run up it.

All in all, it was another very quiet, uneventful session with not even a barechested man drinking a can of special brew to add a bit of exotic glamour to the day (spotted yesterday in the village at 8.15). Not too hot at 7.30, it was a  little bit overcast but this, with a bit of a breeze, made it quite lovely and I have learned from my previous mistakes and took water with me. Since this morning, the sun’s fought it’s way past the clouds, which provided the not really needed excuse to buy icecream and walk down the canal

I’m also pondering a bit of hillwork ( I think the heat is getting to me). Runners World advises using a ‘reasonable’ hill, but doesn’t clarify what ‘reasonable’ looks like. I have a sneaky feeling that our views will differ wildly.

Day 4/30 – unusually active

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What I love about the heady combination of sunshine and Juneathon is that it makes me really active. Not just with the running (or last year’s crown green bowling/golfing/aerobics exploits), but with basic domestic tasks. Admittedly last night I ignored the ever-growing ironing pile in favour of reading other people’s blogs, but I did make my sandwiches for today. By the time I went to work this morning I’d pegged out last night’s washing, done another load and pegged it out, cleaned the bathroom, eaten breakfast outside in the sunshine and run 3 miles. For me, this is something of an achievement (normally getting dressed and going to work is achievement enough). It was also a bit of a relief to find that my legs weren’t as bad as they were yesterday, so I’m going to blame the life-prolonging yoga for me being mardy.

Day 3/30 – Idiot

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Just after posting my morning vs evening dilemma yesterday, it dawned on me that I could have the best of both worlds – a lie in AND a morning run – because I had to take my car to be looked at, which meant leaving the house 45 minutes later. So that’s what I did.

I set off at about half sevenish and was immediately freaked out by the number of people and cars that were out and about. I have truly been spoiled by 6am runs. It freaked me out so much that I abandoned my planned route and went down to the lodge to enjoy some peace and quiet. Getting down there was fine, down one brow, across the troll bridge and round the lodge. This is where it went a bit pear-shaped… I got back to where I started, across the troll bridge and started up the brow. Now, this brow is a steeper brow than yesterday’s, in fact as I was running down it I remember thinking “crikey, this is making me go a bit fast, I wouldn’t like to run up this”. A few minutes later and I decide to start running up it. A few seconds later and I decide to start walking up it.

As if this wasn’t enough, my idiot brain keeps thinking… Now it’s, “Let’s not run up the brow, let’s follow this path that I’ve never gone along before. That’s a grand idea.” Turns out the path was a very long steady slope. At this point, there was more walking, a little grumpiness and a woman with 3 dogs. So I follow another path and reach a track at the back of some houses. I stop. I have no idea where I have come out or which way to go. I fiddle with my garmin for a bit and try to see which way a chap with a van goes – he goes right and out of a big gate. I panic and run back down the very long steady slope, back to the car park and up yesterday’s brow. As I reach the top, I look to my left and see the bloody gate that the bloody man with the bloody van went out.

I am an idiot.

Idiot

My legs were proper tired this morning. I’m hoping that they’re not being disturbed by the daily running, but rather that they were a bit wobbly from the fierce yoga I’d done ten hours previously. We have been doing the Five Tibetan Rites, which are supposed to help you live longer, though I suspect that any Tibetan would struggle to recognise my uncoordinated flailing as being anything mystical or life prolonging.

Another early morning run tomorrow and I’ve just dropped husband off at the pub with the words “don’t forget I’ve got Juneathon in the morning…”

Day 2/30 – Browbeaten

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Well, the Juneathon fear is loosening its grip slightly. This morning I woke up at 4.50, which is only an hour before my alarm and therefore an improvement on yesterday. I didn’t leap out of bed with quite the same enthusiastic terror as yesterday, which led me to ponder that if this is what I’m like on day 2, what am I going to be like on day 22.

Just did 2 miles this morning, sort of  breaking one of my cardinal rules on the way – never run down a road that calls itself a brow, it may be fun on the way down, but it will all end in tears on the way back. It was misty and grey this morning, the complete opposite of what I had been promised, so I abandoned my plan of going round the lodge and thought I’d just do a mile out and back again. As I ran down the long slope of the hill, I was suddenly gripped with the idea “I don’t feel like running back up the long, slow hill, why don’t I come back up the shorter steeper hill that I never run up because I tried it a year ago and it was a git”.

I did it. In a shuffling, huffing and puffing way, but I did it. I’m now just a little bit narked that I’ve looked at it on my garmin stats and the little graph doesn’t look half as impressive as I hoped it would. Pah.

Tonight is yoga night and tomorrow is supposed to be a post-work run. I’m divided on this. Part of me says “Yay! Lie in!”, part of me says “Arse! It’s going to be hot and sweaty!” and I’m not sure which will win.