Day 30 #Juneathon - Thank you

30 Days of Juneathon. What can I say? It's been fun! Admittedly, not every one of the 30 days has involved some form of activity (that would be like today then!), as planned or as per the essence of Juneathon but nonetheless it's been a blast! I've loved the camaraderie, banter, support, comments and general coming together of like minded people taking part in the fun event. I've loved reading the blog entries of lots of different people who I would likely have never stumbled across on the t'interweb and I did because Juneathon brought us all together (Is that a tear in your eye, dear reader?). I now follow some fabulously-fab & fun people on Twitter and I look forward to taking part in Janathon in, erm, that's right, January! So thank you to Cathy White for putting on Juneathon, as I say, it's been fun. 

And a big thank you to everyone who has read my blog, commented on my blog, retweeted my blog, supported me with tweets of encouragement & general advice or followed me on the back of Juneathon; it really is appreciated and I hope you've enjoyed my random and, often very long-winded & expansive, ramblings. I know I've enjoyed writing them. 

Thanks again. And don't be a stranger :o) 

Day 29 #Juneathon - Positive & Proud

The penultimate day of Juneathon. I'm sure I'll cover this off in the finale entry but I've loved it, really loved it. All the camaraderie, support & banter has been fab. And it's rekindled my love of blog writing.....enough gushing, back to the matter in hand. 

Day 29 was the day I took part in the inaugural #Virtual10Miler as set up by @runnerskness. (Sadly, it wasn't as virtual as I had originally thought and I had to actually get out there and run the distance! I jest!) I was part of 25 runners across the world, the actual world!, running 10 miles just for fun....and a fabby bit of hand-personalised bling. I was a late entry to the team following a previous participant dropping out on Thursday; I was due to run 9 miles this weekend anyway so what's another mile between twitter buddies! Before I knew it, I was on the list.  The only 'rules' were that you had to run the distance today, take pics before, during & after and submit these to Mr. Runnerskness. So, before I knew it, I was all geared up, P20 suncream applied (ever the optimist!), Garmin on, Help For Heroes and Summit for Heroes wristbands on (support for Armed Forces Day) taking a snap of myself and I was out of the door. 

I won't go into mile by mile detail but for the first 3 miles, I felt OK; a comfortable pace and trying to enjoy the scenery. I had a route planned out that would see me cover a regular route, back into town and then out the other side for a little additional countryside loop. However, a little after mile 2, I changed my mind and ran a different route, and I'm glad I did. It was countryside all the way, albeit hilly. Quite hilly indeed. More hilly than I thought it would be. Just to clarify, it was hilly. 

As per the rules, I took a few pics en route as proof I was doing it. This is approx 4 miles....the view and me! 

My pace was far from perfect but OK for me, bearing in mind the afore mentioned hills. However, a little over halfway, I felt the pace really change and I admit that I was struggling a tad with the heat and the run overall. Fuelling when moving is also a struggle for me and an area that I've never mastered. I took with me a High 5 gel and had this about 5-6 miles as well has having a High 5 zero tablet in my water which I was sipping as I went. Nothing sat right and from about halfway I felt a bit icky. Not using this as an excuse at all, as I didn't stop me running just made me feel a tad queasy.

Anywhooo, I trundled on and the time and miles were ticking by. I am really am lucky to live where I do and have such beautiful countryside on my doorstep. Even with heavy legs, before I knew it, I was just a mile from home. With a last push, at keeping upright and not grinding to a halt, I made it. Home. And in not too bad a time at all. My Great South Run time in October, for the same distance, was 1:40 (PB) and today's effort was 1:42. 

Happy to be done

Not bad at all. Not bad at all considering the dire mile times that slowly got slower and slower as the mileage ticked by. No negative split for me but one whopping great big positive split!! 

Regardless of my heavily positive split, I am proud of myself for getting out there and doing it. I am also super proud of myself for only having one mini 'nanny nap' consisting of 20 mins of zzzz's for the whole day. A day of proud moments for me! 

Day 27 & 28 #Juneathon - Give it a rest.....

Day 27 was a bit uneventful. As you know, my rest days are normally Wednesdays (what do you mean, you didn't know that?! Did you not read day 26's entry? Tsk!) but after a little bit of an exercise streak this week, my foot started to twinge and I thought that a rest would be the best thing to do. Especially with some above average mileage planned for Day 29. 

Day 28 echoed Day 27. What do you mean you didn't know that Wednesdays are normally my rest days? Did you not read day 26's entry? Tsk! Etc etc. But seriously, it echoed it in the sense of a rest. Too much work and not making enough time to do any form of exercise, not even a little arms workout. But it's all for the best as Day 29 is awaiting with some above average mileage, well, for me anyway, and I wouldn't want to overdo it.  

I think that's enough carrot dangling for one evening, so I'll give it a rest (for now!). Hopefully, I'll be in some form of fit state to write up about it later in the day. 

Day 26 #Juneathon - Ignorance

Wow. Only 4 days left of Juneathon, where have the past 26 days gone?! 

Day 26 has fallen on what would normally be a rest day for me. Wednesdays are generally too hectic to fit anything in due to working at the Head Office in Wales every week and it is my catch-up-over-dinner evening with my pal, Jolene. I had planned in, what I felt to be, a deserved rest day too as I ran Sunday & Monday and did a pretty hard cardio & abs workout yesterday (my abs are soooo sore today!) However, the temptation to get out and cram in even a little mile on such a lovely evening was growing and, after working out if I could fit it in before Jolene arrived, I was back out the front door 10 minutes after getting home!

I decided that I would only use my (brand spanking new!) Garmin to record my run as I have been so used to using Nike+ on my iPhone that, until now, I have been using both. Weird, I know and I'm not entirely sure why! So I decided to just have the tunes playing on the iPhone & use my Garmin for the stats. Admittedly, it was a bit odd not hearing the mileage milestones spoken to me and I was finding it hard not to check my watch every few mins but I cracked on regardless. It wasn't the best of runs, yet again - I seem to be having an off week - but on a positive, I have managed to shave 20 seconds off of my minute miles since Sunday. I'll take that, thank you! And another 4 miles banked this week. Not bad for a comeback week. 

So, it turns out that ignorance (of mileage whilst running) was not as blissful as expected; not knowing my distance as I run will clearly take a bit of getting used to. Good job I've got a good few events booked in for the coming months, plenty of time to get used to it! 

Day 25 #Juneathon - JFDI

Day 25 finds me away from home for the evening once more and, sadly, for business rather than pleasure. So, as usual, the workout kit was packed and after an early start, a long-ish drive and a loooooong & busy day in the office, I found myself debating what to do - to run or not to run? The evenings are still light and although I am pretty sure that the area I am staying in is perfectly safe, I would really want a 'quality run' rather than a 'where does this road go and how am I gonna get back' kinda run. I was also feeling a tad worn out from a shockingly bad night's sleep (always the way when you have early start though, right!) and feeling a little jaded. It would be oh so easy just to have a little nanny nap in the hotel room before heading down to dinner, then cracking on with some work before heading back to the office tomorrow. Oh yes, it would be oh so easy and oh so very nice indeed. And oh so sloth like too. I just needed to crack on!

So there was nowt for it than to perch the laptop on the windowsill, move the chairs, push the bed back and crack on with Davina's 'Fabulous Fat Burner' followed by 'Target Abs'. And I worked hard too as the lure of the Caramel Apple Pie on the menu was proving a little on the strong side! 

Although I do feel tired, it's tinged with a little 'I feel good for doing something' feeling of tiredness. And I am pleased that, when it came to the debating of whether to do it or not, I adopted a colleague's popular phrase, JFDI - Just Flippin'* Do It! I am also pleased that I chose to ignore this phrase & advice when it came to that every so tasty & calorie laden Carmael Apple Pie though.......I didn't JFDI and had a green tea instead. Gotta dash, I've got a halo to polish!!


*Often replaced with a slightly stronger word!!

Day 24 #Juneathon - Short & sweet

After yesterday's tentative trot, I was adamant that I would have a little rest day today and not do too much too soon. However, the post run endorphins were still at a suitably influential level that, after being out on the road & in meetings for the entire day, I was itching to get out and run off the days work worries. I really should have listened to myself as it was not the best of runs and a bit too stop-starty. You know when you first learn to drive and you are getting used to clutch control and it can go a bit kangaroo-hoppy? Well, tonight's pace was a little like that! And if it wasn't the pace, it was my breathing that was like it. Ironically enough, my foot was bearing up OK with only a few twinges....it would appear that the rest of me was falling apart. Still, 3.8 miles in 37 mins is OK for a comeback run and I'll chalk it up for what it was, a run but not my best.   

Day 21, 22 & 23 #Juneathon - 2 out of 3 ain't bad!

Hello you, long time no blog! Well, three days so not that long to be fair but hope you've not missed me too much! 

Day 21 was yet another non-eventful day exercise wise. I would love to say that, non-exercise wise, it was an amazing day but alas, no; another busy working day and nothing major to report other than my foot is getting slightly better; the hobble-limp is subsiding & the bruising coming out in that lovely hue of yellow. I did, however, finally gave in and purchased a Garmin Forerunner 410. Whoohoooo! I was quite pleased with my foot getting better and I think I got a little carried away and 'rewarded' myself with a little running gadget. It has been on the cards for a while as I want to get more serious & structured with my training & work on likes of my splits & intervals, and my Nike+ app on my iPhone doesn't allow to track this. Not sure if I am trying to convince you or myself more that my purchase was justified! 

Day 22 was a busy day with lots to be getting on with at home. The weather was shockingly autumnal and perfect for cracking on and getting things done so that it exactly what I did. A productive day. As the day went on, I felt that I should try and get more mobile on my foot and see how it would bear up with some exercise. It will come as no surprise to you that it was in the form of my ever-trusty Davina DVD & the Bootcamp session. My foot held up OK with some slightly concerning cracking & clicking at some points although I did keep it fairly low impact on jumping etc (maximum effort on the weights though!). Overall though, it felt good to be doing something energetic and I'm glad I made the effort to give it a go, even if tentatively. I'm also glad I made the effort to move as it made some room on the calorie allowance for sharing a bottle of wine whilst watching a DVD with a friend in the evening ("I Give It A Year" - low key funny film, worth a watch, chuckled throughout and LOVED Minnie Driver but not enough Stephen Merchant in it! Barry Norman-esque review there for you!)

Day 23 I ran today!! I actually ran!! Whoop whoop! It was again tentatively and I was debating whether I should really be trying to run at all yet - Is it too soon? Have I rested enough? Should I have eaten that second sausage or had that slice of cheesecake at Liam's 4th Birthday BBQ this afternoon? - all these questions running through my mind. But sod it! I was getting itchy feet and restless at not running for a week and the only way I would find out is to get out there and run. I felt like I needed to support my foot in someway so pulled on a tubagrip & my shiny new Garmin and headed out the door (I did have the rest of running kit on! I'm not that cruel!!) The first mile was slow (10:18) as I was really cautious of my impact & landing but by mile 2, I had loosened up and was a little less cautious as my mile time will confirm, 8:48. Sure, it was still niggling and the odd shooting pain was there but nothing to make me want to pull up and stop. It felt good to be out. Just as I was cruising along I had a sharp shooting pain so did have to pull up and walk for a bit but I wasn't too concerned that it was anything serious. After a short while, I was back trotting onwards and back into a rhythm. Before I knew it, I was home after running 3.7 miles in 36 mins. Not setting the world on fire by any means but I'm pleased to be back out there. And my foot? Well, it's a bit sore and currently my frozen sweetcorn is in action but overall, it's OK. 

So, there you are, a quick round up of the past 3 days and my Juneathon activities and 2 days out of 3 ain't bad (for a peg leg like me!) Let's see what day 24 and the last week of Juneathon has to offer. 

PS: Well done to all runners who took part in Longest Day Run (@longestdayrun) and The Wall Ultra (@ratraceHQ) as well as all other races & tri's!