January 2014 – Page 4 – Black and Tabby Runs

Janathon Day 3. Finally a Good Day

Yay – finally a good day, with a good run. I’m dithering about entering a really tough trail race, so thought I’d run part of the route and see how I felt. It’s one of the muddiest sections, slithering downhill through the woods, followed by a steep hill back up to get home again.

I felt proud of myself for heading off on this run as although it’s not a long route it’s really hard.

The mile down a track to get to the woods was windy, blustery and cold. The path then drops down towards the river and the mud starts.

Muddy puddles, but not the muddiest part yet

The path leads down into the woods and here it is sheltered and quiet. The route is steeper, the mud becomes slippier, and the hard work starts. Even my arms felt tired from windmilling around to keep me upright.

After the stickiest point the path then starts to head back up and finally joins a lane. A sharp right turn leads to the steepest part of the hill which is the route home.

Turning into my drive, I took a final photo, an ‘after’ shot of my legs and feet.

I seem to have changed the colour of my socks. ..

3.73 miles in 42:28, which included lots of photo stops, plenty of slips and many smiles. And just for good measure, a 1 minute 40s plank, *not* in pyjamas this time.

Janathon Day 2. Getting Worse.

After yesterday’s dreadful weather, January 2nd dawned dry and sunny. Of course that’s why I didn’t run today. Sigh.

To save my legs, and to get my children out into the fresh air, I challenged my daughter to choose a route for us to have a walk round the village. She agreed, told us we’d need wellies, and off we set. 0.73 miles and 29 minutes later, we were back home again. Double sigh.

In an attempt to get my Janathon back on track, I took up the challenge of ‘planking in my pyjamas’, with photographic evidence courtesy of my son. 1 minute 30 seconds- done.

Janathon Day 1. A bad start

January 1st. Start of a New Year. A time for new year’s resolutions, new plans, new starts. It’s also the start of Janathon, a month that has been described as a month to ‘Jog, Log, Blog’, or alternatively ‘a month of activities and excuses’. Having signed up to Juneathon a day late last year, I signed up to Janathon nice and early in a fit of enthusiasm, keen to complete the entire month this time.

On New Year’s Eve I had tentative plans to maybe go to a Parkrun in the morning, as a great way to kick off the year. At 8.30am I was awake and up, but rather than heading out, instead I fed the moaning black and tabby cats and slunk back to bed. Not a good start.

Out of bed for the second time several hours later, the weather was foul with wind and rain battering down on the window. Not encouraging, but I had a cup of tea, put my running gear on and prepared to face the weather. Remembering that for Janathon I have to record my activities, I grabbed my Garmin, and saw it had a completely flat battery. The signs and omens for getting out for my run were not good.

15 minutes of charging time later I was finally out of the door. What can I say about this run? It was wet, it was incredibly windy and very muddy. It was 3 miles to log at the start of Janathon, I just hope the rest of the month will be better.