Saturday, August 18, 2012

Day 55: Same tarn route, different running buddy

RUN: 3.4 miles

Today I was back at Yeadon Tarn with my boyfriend Andy, and we set out to do about five miles. Well the actual distance was quite a bit less than that - today was a bad running day for me. My legs felt heavy and it was boiling!

Here's me and Andy running along

The other day (Day 51) I did this same route with Amy and managed just fine - I was tired but could have managed another lap or so. Today the same thing was really tough. I guess you have to take the rough with the smooth, bad days with the good. Luckily it clouded over a bit towards the end, but it was still roasting.

Having a little rest under the trees before the last lap

Here's our route and info for today's tarn run

Friday, August 17, 2012

Day 54: A little run and a little news

RUN: 1.0 miles

After having said I'm not going to be lazy, I was running short on time this morning, and going to the cinema after work tonight, so I had no choice but to squeeze in a quick one-miler. I'm on track to meet my target of 20+ miles this week, so I'm quite happy with that.
I know I could have probably got moving earlier and gone a bit further, but all the best laid plans...

Anyway, speaking of plans, I have a small bit of news... (say it quietly) I've signed up for a marathon.
Yes I must be mad. Watch this space for more on this.

Here's the proof! Yikes!

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Day 53: Just one lap - changing my lazy ways

RUN: 2.0 miles

Well today I did just one lap of the route I did last night.
I have been working 10-7 shifts this week, which gives me a little time to run in the morning if I get a wriggle on, which is good if I've got things planned in the evening - but I'd rather not work shifts at all to be honest. It would be much easier to get into a running (and blogging) routine if I had a 'normal' job. Ah well.
So I'm a busy bee trying to fit in all this working and running, eating and sleeping, and trying to remind my friends and family (and my boyfriend) what I look like once in a while. So I'm feeling a bit guilty about my lack of daily blogging recently. I'm not even sure who reads this - but assuming that somebody does I'll try harder from now on to blog each day when I can possibly find time.
Speaking of people reading my blog, a few people have asked me how to leave comments. You don't have to sign in to anything to comment on my blog posts.
  • Just click on the yellow title at the top of this blog entry (Day 53... etc)
  • Write something in the white box at the bottom.
  • Where it says 'comment as' at the bottom, select 'Name/URL'.
  • Put your name in the 'name' part, and you can leave the URL bit blank.
  • Click the 'continue' button.
  • Click the 'publish' button (Is that clear, Gran?)
So if you want to leave me a comment, that would be lovely. If not, I'll carry on talking to myself!

Here's today's route and info

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Day 52: Four miles and a new book

RUN: 4.1 miles

I downloaded another book tonight - psychological thriller The Other Half Lives by Sophie Hannah, a very good (and local) writer.
This one is unabridged, unlike the last one, which had a bit of an abrupt ending. Still quite good though.
So I've got six and a half hours of listening to do.

I did my two-lap, four-mile route tonight, which I'm quite pleased with. The legs are feeling fine and four miles seemed to come quite easily. I think I'll try to step it up to five miles soon - maybe at the weekend.

Here's the maps and graphs of my lovely two laps

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Day 51: Tarn trip with a running buddy

RUN: 3.4 miles

It was a lovely, warm and sunny summer evening, so a trip to Yeadon Tarn was on the cards.
I was joined by the lovely Amy Casey for three laps of the tarn plus a bit of an extra loop.
It was great to have someone to run with and to chat to on the way round (when I wasn't too out of breath). We did well, clocking up 3.4 miles. Hopefully Amy will come with me again soon, and maybe we can even work up to an extra lap!
There were plenty of other people out enjoying the weather at the tarn - families, dog walkers, runners, fishermen and even quite a few people sailing (from the sailing club).


The weather is on the TV as I type, and  the weatherman says there is some 'wild' weather on its way. All wet and windy from tomorrow, so it's good we made the most of the good weather while it lasted.

Here's our route and information

Monday, August 13, 2012

Day 50: Feeling hot, hot, hot!

RUN: 2.0 miles

This morning I went out on an early run because I'm busy this evening.
When I say early, I mean pre-9am, so not really that early.
Even though it was first thing in the morning it was really warm and stuffy - even just two miles felt like a bit of a slog.
I want to go on a longer run tomorrow, so will have to leave myself more time than I did today. All this running and stuff takes a LOT of time.

Here's my route - round High Royds and back up the main road.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Day 49: 100 miles done! Woohoo!

RUN: 3.4 miles

I knew I had 3.2 miles to do to get to my first century, so I was determined to reach my milestone today, despite being short on time... again!
So I went down to the canal. There were plenty of people out and about getting active on the canal -perhaps inspired by the Olympics.
There were a few fishermen (not that that's an Olympic sport!), loads of runners, lots of walkers, even more cyclists... and even a woman hula-hooping beside her narrowboat. Not an Olympic sport either, but if it was this lady might be in Team GB. She was going for at least 25 minutes... she was still at it when I passed her on the way back. I might have to dust off my own hoop soon!
One American couple even challenged me to a race. I won - they were on a narrowboat.
The thing I like about running on the canal is that there's usually something or other going on to keep you entertained. There are also plenty of people about, and it makes stopping totally out of the question while someone can see you running along! Which is all of the time.
Here's my route and information. I miscalculated my distance on the towpath so I had to do a little loop on the main road too.

I needed to go to the supermarket quick-smart after my run, so having not iced my legs after my last two runs I needed to ice-and-go. Here's my solution involving tubigrips, icepads and wide-leg jeans!...