Day 98: Frog-shaped leaf or leaf-shaped frog?

RUN: 2.6 miles

With the nights drawing in and damp autumn well on the way, it's difficult to see what's going on around your feet among the fallen leaves.
I've been a bit paranoid that I'm going to stand on something, particularly a frog, even though I haven't actually seen one... until today!
This little froggy friend - or is it a toad? - posed for my picture before hopping off into the darkness.

So now I'm even more paranoid that I'm going to squish something - slug, snail or amphibian. So if you see me hopping around like a nutter, I'm trying to avoid the slimy pavement creatures.

Here's today's run. It starts and ends at different points because I was picking up the car after it was abandoned for alcohol.

Day 97: Quick run out before heading to the Dales

RUN: 1.2 miles

Another quick trip around the block because I'm heading off on an Ales in the Dales trip for our friend Tim's 30th birthday.

Anyway, with Day 100 coming up on Tuesday, here's an update on my progress. I've run 228.8 miles, so I could have reached Southampton or Perth in Scotland. I've been running for about 40 hours altogether and burned about 22,422 calories. I'm 37 miles behind schedule - thanks to the bit of leg trouble I had in the beginning - but that's ok. I'll be doing a lot more miles once I'm marathon training after Christmas.

Here's today's little run

Day 96: Goodbye Center Parcs!

RUN: 1.2 miles

Just a quick nip around the woods this morning before packing up the car to head home. It's a good job it was a short one because there were dads in cars everywhere trying to pack up the family, negotiate the narrow roads of Center Parcs and run me over, apparently.

Here's another rubbish picture to illustrate:

And here's my little one-mile round trip

Day 95: Hobbling round the woods - thanks, Kettlercise!

RUN: 2.6 miles

Well, as I anticipated, getting out of bed proved quite difficult today. And for once it's not running that's to blame for my aches and pains. My arms and thighs are really wreaking their revenge for kettlercise yesterday and I'm struggling to move at all, let alone run.
But run I did, of course, once I'd loosened up with a little cycling, Zumba and table tennis. My boyfriend Andy (also aching) felt sorry for me, and accompanied me on my run. He did cycle alongside, rather than run, mind you!
A spa night is just what I need to soothe these aches - good job we're booked in tonight :-)

Here's the route and info for the longest 2.6 miles I've ever done!

Day 94: Taking it easy on a busy day of activities

RUN: 1.5 miles

Cycling, archery, kettlercise, badminton, swimming and running. Quite a packed schedule today, so I just squeezed a little run in between our Center Parcs activities.
Unsurprisingly, nobody else fancied a run, so I headed off from the sports centre after playing badminton, just 1.5 miles the long way back to the lodge to grab my swimming stuff. All this fresh air and moving around a lot is pretty exhausting.
Now kettlercise is difficult. It involves lots of squats and lots of throwing a kettlebell around - mine weighed 4kg. I have a feeling this little devil is going to be to blame for some serious aching tomorrow.

Here's the route and info for my third day in the woods

Day 93: Going off-road - lost again

RUN: 3.1 miles

Today my boyfriend Andy joined me for my second run around Center Parcs.
I still have no idea where I'm going, so have to keep checking my map as it all looks the same - trees, lodges, paths, roads, more trees...

This morning we went out on our bikes (pedalling is much easier than all this running business!) and played a very damp round of adventure golf. Then it was time for a run. Luckily the rain had stopped by that point.
We took a bit of a wrong turn and ended up creeping round the back of people's lodges in the woods. Hope no-one saw us - we probably looked a bit dodgy!

Here's our three miles around the village - 777.7 miles left to go!

Day 92: Lost and locked out in the woods

RUN: 3.8 miles

Day one at Center Parks and we - me, my boyfriend Andy and my mum and dad - have arrived, been swimming and unpacked, and I've been for a run, of course.
I've never been to this CP before, so it's fair to say I was lost for most of my 3.8-mile run.
I even found myself locked out of the village...

Here I was on the wrong side of the scary 7ft-tall perimeter fence. I'd found myself accidentally running past the check-in desks while lost, and thought I'd better keep going as if I knew what I was doing because some Center Parcs employees were looking at me a little bit funny. Then I had to sheepishly run back past them, since that seemed like a better option than tackling the barbed wire. Ah well.

Here's my route through the woods

Day 91: Hangover takes over

RUN: 1.2 miles

Sundays are usually a day for putting in a good few miles, with no work and more time on my hands to make the most of the daylight hours. Today was not a day for a long run. Today I have a hangover.
I haven't had a real hangover for ages, but today I definitely have one.
So I dragged myself around the block and got back into my pyjamas.
Hopefully I'll be able to add quite a few miles to my running total this week because we're heading to Center Parcs for a few days, so four or five runs around Sherwood Forest are on the cards.

Here's my little route map and info

Day 90: Summer is back (for today at least)!

RUN: 4.0 miles

Today I went for a four-mile run around Menston. It was lovely to be out in the daylight AND the sun!
I know I'm not always a fan of running on sunny days, but today wasn't too warm, just lovely.
I took this photo to show you the lovely weather as I ran through High Royds. Something tells me it won't last...

Here's my route map and info

Day 89: Thank God it's Friday!

RUN: 1.7 miles

This has been a busy week. Working shifts does not do much for any element of life, let alone running.
Work...Run...Eat...Sleep...Work...Run...Eat...Sleep...Complain...Work...Run...Eat...Sleep...
Just wait until the marathon training kicks in!

Just to cap off this pain-in-the-bum of a week, I almost fell flat on my face when I kicked a paving stone.

I'm off work next week and we're going to Center Parcs for a few days. So my blog should make for a bit more uplifting reading. I'm really looking forward to going away and it will be nice to have a change of scenery for my runs. I'll even take some nice pictures for you, hopefully.

Here's today's run, squeezed in between work and a very late tea.

Day 88: A short run and a little reflection

RUN: 2.0 miles

So I've written a lot about running and being tired and being injured and moaned about the weather, but I haven't written a lot about why I run.

It's all for a good cause and all that, but the real reason is a bit different. I run because I'm so lucky and so grateful. Things could have been a lot different for me if I had been born elsewhere.

The pictures of the children and adults with their facial disfigurements are not nice to look at. But it's really imagining being on the inside looking out, it's the thought of them having no hope for the future, and that everything me and my family have been through pales compared to the hopeless existence of those children stigmatised and sidelined in society.

We always had hope and I never thought I would have anything but a normal life and never thought having this bilateral cleft lip and palate would stop me doing anything I wanted. So if I manage to give just one person a little of that hope and freedom then it will have all been worth it 100 times over.

So tonight I ran two miles. Here's my map and information.

Day 87: I can see my breath!

RUN: 4.1 miles

As I was on my way out of our building tonight, I passed a man on his way in who warned me to get moving because it was "freezing".
Well maybe that was an exaggeration, but it is certainly getting a lot cooler after dark. Tonight was the first time I noticed I could see my breath as I ran along.
It's no bad thing, though, because I'm quite enjoying (for want of a better word) these cooler runs - they feel far easier than the very warm runs of a few weeks ago.
I just hope it stays dry and doesn't get much colder(!) Winter here we come...

See today's map and information here

Day 86: A sponsorship update

RUN: 1.2 miles

Today's run was another quick trip around the block (although not as quick as yesterday!)
It was getting very late by the time I was able to get out, so I was lacking time and, if I'm honest, motivation.
But I do have so much to keep me going, not least all my brilliant sponsors.
So here's an update on where we're at with the all-important fundraising.

The running total stands at £703.

• I've had donations all the way from Australia - thank you Trevor, Pamela and Clare; and from America - thank you Eric and Betty.
• I've had kind donations from lovely friends and colleagues - thank you Sam, Nick, Brendan, Carla, Carly, Danielle, David and Doug.
• I've had generous donations from my brilliant family - thank you Moomah, Gran, Uncle Chris, and cousins Richard and Annie.
• I've had generous donations from my boyfriend Andy's fantastic family - thank you Michael; Gerry; Nuala and Laura; Bernie, Andy, Lizzie and James; Grandma Audrey and Dominic.
• My Grandma has recruited some donors, too - thank you Auntie Shelagh and Uncle Joe, thank you Brian and June Smith.
• And I've even had donations in the form of ongoing instalments from some very kind-hearted people indeed - thank you so much Donna, Jess, Una and John, and Andrew.

And this is all just three months in. There are lots and lots of people I haven't hassled for money yet, so plenty of time to reach (and dare I say beat) my £1,000 target.

Here's the map and info for tonight's rather short run

Day 85: Pizza inspires my fastest mile

RUN: 1.2 miles

Today my boyfriend Andy returned home after running, hiking, cycling and kayaking 100 miles across the Scottish Highlands in less than 12 and a half hours. (Well done you big hero!)
So all that discipline and training definitely called for a pizza-shaped celebration at the end.
After a call to Domino's, I got ready and headed out for a quick run.
On my way out of the door I passed the delivery man with two pizza boxes (that was quick!) and caught a whiff of the deliciousness inside.
So that was enough to spur me on to do a personal best. I whizzed round my 1.2-mile route in 10m 42s - a good two mins quicker than I've ever done it before!
I think I need a pizza waiting for me at the end of every run! Maybe not.
All I seem to blog about is food, actually. Specifically junk food. I don't really eat badly at all, I think I just feel the need to confess my sins when I do.
Here's the offending article. Yummmm!

Here's today's lightning run! - 1.24 miles in 10 mins 42 seconds (8m 38s per mile. That's very fast for me)

Day 84: 200 miles done! Hooray!

RUN: 4.1 miles

Another milestone today, 200 miles!
I was determined to get it done this weekend, so at the end of week 12, I've got 800 miles to go.
I've done the second 100 miles in five weeks, whereas it took me seven weeks to do the first 100 - so I'm definitely heading in the right direction and seeing improvement.

I went along the main road towards Rawdon today, to the JCT600 roundabout and back. I watched a bit of the Great North Run on TV before I set off to get motivated. Here they are all setting off...

I think I'll try to do a half marathon before the full marathon in May. It's probably a good idea to give me half an idea what I'm getting myself into. 13 miles... yikes! 26.2 miles... YIKES!

Here's my run to Rawdon that took me up to 200 miles!

Day 83: Plane spotting at Yeadon Tarn

RUN: 4.1 miles
Planes spotted: 0

Today I've been back to Yeadon Tarn to do a few miles. I really want to hit 200 miles this weekend, and before I set out today I had 8.2 miles to go and I managed to do half of that today - so hopefully I can do the same tomorrow and reach my milestone before the end of week 12.

The tarn is a great place to run because it's nice and scenic, there are plenty of people about enjoying themselves and it's right next to the Leeds Bradford Airport runway. It's great when the big planes come wooshing overhead - they make a really great, really loud noise. So today I thought I might try to take a picture of a plane landing or taking off for my blog.
This is what I managed to take... see the the tail fin in the middle?

Haha. Two rubbish photos in a row! I'll try to get a good one next time.

My boyfriend Andy and his friends have run more than seven miles, cycled 48 miles and kayaked one mile today and are doing fantastically at the halfway point of the two-day Coast to Coast challenge in Scotland. Well done Andy, Tim and Luke. Very proud.

Here's today's map for my Yeadon Tarn run

Day 82: Keeping cool on a windy, windy day

RUN: 3.0 miles

The wind is really strong today, so thought I might get swept away on my run round Menston.
I'm still building up my miles after my sick days this week, so tried three today, which felt good.
I think the windy weather helped me, if anything - it kept me nice and cool. I think I'm going to prefer running on the cooler days ahead to the the warm, sunny days of summer. I bet I'll be cursing the cold, cold weather in winter though.
I took this picture to demonstrate how windy it was. Haha! (It's hard to show wind on a photo, especially in the dark!)

My boyfriend Andy is running, and kayaking across Scotland tomorrow for the Coast to Coast challenge, so fingers crossed for good weather up there! Go Andy!   Here's my run and info for today

Day 81: Lovely evening to take it easy

RUN: 2.2 miles

I headed out aiming to do a couple of miles tonight, and imagined I might struggle, still recovering from a couple of days with not much food and all that. But actually I felt quite good and the distance felt like an easy stroll. I'm pleased with that, and it bodes well for a few good runs over the weekend.
So I'm feeling a lot better, and so is the weather. From what I saw from the comfort of my bed, the last couple of days have been pretty wet. This evening was lovely and this sunset sky made me want to get out and about. There is a cool wind, though - autumn is on the way.

Here's my route round to Guiseley Morrisons and back to White Cross - got to stick to the main roads now on these dark evenings