Day 181: Into the gym for an early Christmas 'treat'

RUN: 6.2 miles (10.04km)

This morning the rain was incessant. This afternoon the rain was incessant.
I had been hoping to do a longer run today after being rather stuck for time and having had to squeeze in some woefully short runs of late. So after 180 days of resisting the lure of the cosy gym, I finally gave in.

As an early christmas present to myself, I took to the treadmill in the gym. I wanted to make it count, so I aimed for 10k, which I ran on the street in less than an hour a few weeks ago.

The treadmill wasn't quite the 'holiday' I'd imagined - I must admit it was pretty difficult.
Compared to outside, the gym was very warm... too warm. I couldn't work the TV on the treadmill, so spent about 40 minutes staring at a wall, a blank screen and the digital display, watching the time and the metres sloooowly tick up. All the while I was surprised how much I wished to be back outside.
Towards the end, things brightened up a bit when I worked out how to get the TV back on, so I had a bit of a distraction for the final few minutes.

 

The treadmill shuts off after an hour. As you can see from the photos above, the first 9.07km took me the hour, plus all but nine seconds of the five-minute 'cool-down'. Then the 0.97km took seven minutes. A poor performance.

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the gym! I shall not be back in a hurry.

Running a bit behind on my blog posts

Just a little apology for those keeping up with my blog and wondering why I haven't given an update for a few days.

The running is certainly still going on and I won't miss a day, even though my blog might seem to tell a different story. I usually type a little note on my phone and then add it to my blog when I get chance. All this running and blogging takes rather a long time, so with the added business of Christmas preparations I'm falling a few days bit behind.

I'm very grateful to those who bear with me and keep checking my blog. Marathon training begins in early January, so I'll be picking up the pace and making a New Year's resolution to do daily updates. Keep watch this space!

Here's my sophisticated admin system - a list of each day and the distance run on my phone, and a calendar print-out to check the day number and date!

Day 180: Hooray... Winter Solstice is here!

RUN: 2.2 miles 

At last! The darkest day of the year has arrived. I'm looking forward to seeing the evenings get lighter and lighter. The good thing about running in the dark is that not many people are about to see you, but it's definitely much easier to go in the light. Plus you don't have to stick to the main roads and you can go down all the footpaths that are all too dingy and creepy in the dark.

So now the shortest day is behind us, it's all downhill from here... in a manner of speaking.

Here's today's run

Day 179: Another lazy run in the mud and rain

RUN: 1.2 miles 

I've had a rather lazy week this week, I'm afraid. I've been super busy getting everything ready for Christmas - buying presents, making presents, wrapping, preparing for Christmas dinner etc etc - but I've also been giving myself a little festive 'break' now I know I'll reach my halfway point with a respectable mileage. I'll hopefully be fresh and ready to start the marathon training schedule, too.

The miserable weather hasn't helped matters either. It's very wet and muddy. Here's another little run for today.

Straight through the middle it is, then

Day 178: Bit of a delayed reaction on the scales

RUN: 1.2 miles

I've been running for almost six months now. I'm doing it to raise money, not lose weight, but being a bit fitter and healthier is no bad side-effect and I imagined that I'd probably shed a few pounds along the way. Plus, people always ask me if I'm losing weight with all the running. So here's the answer...

Up until recently the scales have not budged from my original weight of about 9st 10 or so. I'm a healthy size 10 so wasn't bothered about losing weight. "Running isn't a good way to lose weight,"..."You're looking slimmer,"..."Muscle is heavier than fat," says everyone. But I didn't notice any difference, in myself or on the scales.

But over the last couple of weeks I've stepped on the scales out of curiosity and I've seen a rapid change. Now I'm 10 pounds down! I took some photos just to record the miraculous event, because I'm sure it won't last long with the big Christmas eat-off just around the corner (excuse the manky toe in the pics).

Here's today's run

Day 176: Turning on the waterworks after two miles

RUN: 2.2 miles 

A very strange thing happened this evening.

I did a bit of Christmas shopping (that's not the strange part), then squeezed in a quick run before tea. Just a two-miler.

The weird part was that as I finished my run I burst into tears. Luckily nobody was around or they would have thought I was a nutcase.
I wasn't upset or anything. I didn't feel particularly emotional at all. I felt like some sort of physical, chemical response. Then I couldn't stop!
I am a bit of a cry baby sometimes, but this was weird - so I Googled it. Turns out it happens to other people. But normally after 10, 12, 16 miles and marathons... not two miles! Bizarre.

This whole challenge - or 'journey' as I would call it if I was an X Factor contestant - has been rather more emotional than I expected.
Not through the effort of the running, but because the level of support and the number of people who wish me well, want to see me succeed and even sponsor me to make my efforts worthwhile makes me feel very loved and lucky.
Then there's the faces that we're all trying to fix. Mine's fixed already. Very lucky me again.

Here's today's run

Day 175: Squeezing a run between Christmas gatherings

RUN: 1.2 miles

Running is taking a bit of a back seat at the moment, thanks to Christmas activities. We had two social engagements today - a family Christmas lunch then straight to an evening gathering with friends - so just a short one this morning. It's a hard life with all this fun to fit in.

Here's today's run