Janathon forgive me, it is a long time since I ran. December 12th was the last thing to be recorded on my Garmin so there was a certain amount of dread and trepidation about the start of Janathon. My excuses have gone (in order) icy roads/snow/eating ferrero rocher and knitting in the warm/slush/ummm… Since going back to work after Christmas I’ve seen loads of runners and whilst this has made me very envious, I’ve not actually done anything myself. Except reflecting and looking back on my goals from last year.

It turns out that I was sitting on my arse eating ferrero rocher this time last year as well (which comes as no surprise) and I didn’t really set any running goals (apart from running my first 10k, which was carried over from 2009). I mainly wanted to be more sociable and dynamic – we won’t dwell on the level of success with these, let’s just say that I remain cantankerous and hesitant. I didn’t even really manage any of knitting goals –  didn’t learn to crochet, didn’t knit a sock, didn’t finish the throw that’s been in my knitting bag for a year and a bit, didn’t start the felted bag that’s been waiting since June 2009… I did sort my wool pile (on Boxing day) and did learn to knit on double pointed needles, but rather than knit a sock I used my new found skills to knit a banana and a Grumpasaurus.

I haven’t really set any goals for this year (all suggestions welcome) other than putting up a good show for Janathon. I’m confident about the first 3 days and then I will be running in the dark for days 4-7, which doesn’t fill me full of optimism (despite my shiny new hi-vis vest). Day one was intended to be an extendable there and back again of at least 3 miles  (it turned out to be 4 miles) and didn’t turn out to be as painful or slow as I had imagined. This was good in itself, but the highlight came just yards from my front door when I saw cars stopping to let a cat cross the road on a zebra crossing (note to self, must get padding for this ancedote).

Day 1/31 – 4 miles

Ferrero rochers burned*

*Alright, so it’s actually 6.93

Now to catch to catch up on everyone else’s blogs…

So I knitted my hats and sent them off to the lovely people at Innocent at the end of November. Since then, I’ve been following the Hat of the Week only to get wool envy and have to sigh a big sigh that none of my hats made the grade (considering that they’ve received 625,360 hats this year, the odds were stacked against me). Except for this week when I didn’t look at the contenders and I only went and won the bloody thing! I am giddier than is seemly for a woman of my age.

Having signed up for Janathon, competitive knitting is the only thing  I’m likely to win in the near future. I love Junathon – the bright early mornings, the evening runs along the canal, the sun on my face and the breeze through my hair…  At the moment I struggle to get up in time to do the basic necessities to look vaguely presentable, go to work in the gloom and come home in the dark. I hate running on my own in the dark and continue to avoid buying a new hi-vis bib so that I have a ready made excuse to stay in. Why the heck have I signed up for Janathon?

It’s been a bit of a mixed bag since my last post. I’m still having problems adjusting to the dark nights, which has been made worse with the clocks changing, and I still haven’t invested in any new reflective stuff  (a bib that doesn’t slide under my bosom and round the side would be nice). I’ve started running with my mate again (she has a good hi-vis, so I just run behind her) and I’m trying to keep up with a longer run on the weekend.

After one evening run with my mate, I found myself wondering which was worse, having a run scuppered because of your own dodgy tummy or because that of your running companion. With both there’s the grumpiness that you’ve lost a planned mile or so, but having waddled the last mile and a half of a 4 mile loop, coming close to asking strangers if I could use their facilities, I realised that it’s far worse if it’s your own… I redeemed myself the day after with an early and frosty 7 miles, which was also the opportunity to try out the sunglasses that the kind people at Polaroid had sent me.

The caveat attached to this review is that I’m not good with sunglasses on the grounds that I think that they make me look a bit daft. When I’m already looking quite silly in my running kit, putting sunglasses on is a bit like saying “I want sprinkles” on an already gaudy cake. And if you’ve read any of my previous posts, you’ll also know that I’m more of a haphazard runner than anything serious, so if you want a proper review by a proper runner, have a look at Taking Jelly Babies From Strangers.

I’d actually tried to wear them the weekend before, but had mis-timed my run and left it a bit late in the day. From this trial, I learned that they sit very comfortably on top of the head and don’t trap hair when you swap from nose to head and back again. Do not underestimate the value of being able to run without having to detangle a pair of glasses that are suspended in front of your face. With hindsight, I could have used this opportunity to try the fancy orange lenses for low light (“it’s like being in a bottle of Lucozade”  says Ginge), but they’ll have to wait for another day.

So off I went into the bright sunny morning. The first thing that I realised about the Polaroids is how light and comfy they are, there was certainly no bouncing around and they didn’t leave dents on my nose like my normal sunnies. Second, the route that I took has quite high hedges, but the sun pokes through and a lot of the time I was running with the sun in my peripheral vision. The snug fit and the shape of the lenses means that there’s no intrusive glare round the sides. Thirdly, I always overheat when I’m running and despite the cold, despite the panting, despite the fact that I was steaming like a dray horse, there was no clouding up of lenses. Fourthly, they look like cricketer’s sunglasses, so if the worst comes to the worst and it rains all winter, I can run round the house pretending to be Graeme Swann.

So, all in all, I have to say that they are rather wonderful – fingers crossed for more sunshine this weekend!

I have reached my target of 31 little hats (well I had to achieve a personal best one day) AND managed to send them in before the deadline, which is something of an achievement in itself.

After my last post, I managed to haul myself back on to the wagon, only to fall off the other side. My last run was on October 3rd and was a social amble with my friend who’s trying to get her mileage back up. Before that, I managed an actual running PB – my first ever 3 miles under 30 minutes. I know this is a small achievement in the great scheme of things, but it makes me smile when I see it on my Garmin. Since then, I’ve been either lacking in time (a pathetic excuse) or been stricken with a cold (a pathetic sight).

I’m still a bit snot-ridden, but not enough to stop me going out this weekend (I’m still grumpy about missing gorgeous autumnal weather last weekend). The plan is for an Audiofuelled 40 minutes tomorrow and a longer run on Sunday. Fingers crossed I’ll be able to try out the fancy Polaroid sunnies that I’ve been sent – the evenings are getting gloomier so it will have to be a weekend test run for them. What I could do with at the moment is some new hi-vis that doesn’t either (a) make me look like I’m part of a community payback scheme or (b) cost more than my entire running kit. Any suggestions?

This week I have been learning (alright, re-learning) the lesson – if you don’t run as much, then it will be harder when you do actually run. It’s a simple lesson, but one that I need to remember. As I try to haul myself back on the wagon, I realise that I’m going to have to (a) learn to run in the dark in the morning (b) motivate myself to run after work or (c) think about heading back to my running group after, oooh a six month absence.

Recent efforts have incuded running to my mum’s for my niece’s first birthday party (4.5 miles, highlight was taking shelter at a bus stop with a mile to go. It was like someone was tipping the rain out a bucket. Hideous), running back from Blockbuster (3 miles with a loop at the end), running a strange loopy way back home from my mum’s (7 miles with a couple of walking spells, I felt awful after 3 miles and then perked up a bit to 5 and a half)  and 2.5 miles just round the village (should have been 3 miles but I needed to cut it short. To be polite about it,  I was bowelled out…).

One thing I love about running is seeing things that I don’t notice from my car. At this point, I have to admit that this does include a church about a mile away from my house (it’s a small church. Made of wood. Very discrete.), but there are lots of other small details that you don’t notice when you’re trying not to run people over. Over my last couple of outings, this has been post-it notes. I noticed one on the pavement and didn’t think anything of it until I saw that there were some stuck to signs and other things. On my next run they were on bus shelters, cars, walls… All of them blank. I’ve no idea what significance they have, if any, but I never would have noticed them to even begin to wonder about their significance. My favourite theory of the moment is that it’s some kind of Hansel and Gretel arrangement. Or a transient art installation.

In hat news, I’m up to 16 with another 6 awaiting eyes or other accoutrements. I’ve abandoned some of the more creative ones in favour of stripes to get my numbers up (well it is for charidee) so there will be much winding of pompoms over the weekend.

In social media news, I’m now on twitter. Gah.