Went for a run this evening as soon as the hubby got it in.
It was a bit brass monkeys to say the least but I managed 6km and was pretty chuffed as tonight’s 6km was pretty much two minutes faster than my last 6km on 9th January! I’ve shaved 20 seconds of my pace too! Hoping I can keep up this improvement…
Hopefully something different for tomorrow! 🙂 xxx
Today was just a really lovely day, despite the rainy weather, for a number of reasons;
It started with taking the Blue One to a taster session of Saturday football that his coach (Coach Alex of AW Football Coaching) invited him to. The Blue One has been doing football sessions since he was about two with Coach Alex, who he adores, starting at a toddlers session at North Cray Children’s Centre – he now attends an improvers session at Falconwood and does another session at Sidcup Youth Centre.
At this session, the Blue One and three or four other ‘little’ boys his age got to see what exciting things they have in store for when they get bigger and they got to play with the ‘big’ boys – who are all of about 4 and 5, but when you’re still only 3 that’s quite a difference!
My Blue One had a fab time and was totally in his element, not nervous or intimidated at all, and he ran around for a full hour! Good going when you’ve only got little legs and it was raining! He chatted to me about it non-stop after he loved it so much, but he now thinks he’s going to be playing football 3 times a week!!! I on the other hand now realise I am a ‘soccer mum’ – oh dear! Must remember not to keep calling out… haha!
What the Blue One loved about football today
The boy and I then popped into the Card Factory after, and if you follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram you may already know this, but the nicest thing happened, whilst queuing to pay for our purchases the Blue One was chatting to me about the Spider-Man balloon he liked and maybe he could have it for his birthday, he was then chatting with the lady behind us in the queue. Just as we finished paying the lady asked if we could wait 5 minutes, and then said to the Boy “the lady in the shop has a surprise for you as you’re such a good helper to your mummy, happy new year” and then she was gone and she’d bought him the Spider-Man balloon – I was overwhelmed and speechless! Bought tears to my eyes, such kindness and I don’t even know her name – but Thank You, she made my boys (and my) day! The kindness of a stranger has definitely restored my faith in humanity!!!
So on that high we headed home, where the hubby had sorted out the front room as we’ve hired a RugDoctor to clean our carpet, so we did that for the afternoon and then we were all confined to the kitchen and conservatory as the carpet has to dry – which it is doing, slowly!
It was at this time I decided to go for my run! So this is my actual Janathon activity for day 9. I managed a 6km run!
I was pretty chuffed with that, because at the 2km mark I thought I may have to stop and walk home as my ankles were really hurting, but I plodded on and it did ease, it’s annoying as the rest of my legs felt strong and my breathing was good and for once my brain wasn’t telling me I couldn’t do it – so I am proud that I kept going.
My legs, which were still feeling achy and a bit stiff after my Boxercise class, now actually feel much looser and better after my run which is great – and I made sure I stretched properly after my run, especially my ankles.
On a little side note, I also got an email telling me one of my Redbubble images had been sold as a greetings card – I made all of 15p – but someone bought one of my images, it’s so exciting, I am very happy! Here’s a link to the image and a link to my previous post about my Redbubble.
All in all a really lovely day! 🙂 xxx
So today I managed to go for a good run, but not exactly the most exciting thing to blog about, so I am going to use it to review my lovely new Buff. I think I may have mentioned it once or twice… possibly more…
I’ll start with a bit about my actual Janathon exercise, as I said yesterday, I like having a specific goal, so today I needed to go to Morrisons to ask about hiring a RugDoctor – we’re desperate to give our carpet a thorough clean. Morrisons is about 3km away, so made it a good middle point. So I set off, with minimal procrastination, as I did do some Open University study this morning as well.
The run there was a little tough as there is a bit of an incline – but this did mean coming home I would have some downhill which was a nice thought! I made it to Morrisons and went in and ask my questions.
The run home was very pleasant, running downhill is much nicer, and the sun was shining brightly, did my usual of wearing one too many layers, but all in all I was pretty comfortable!
A good 6.48km covered!
I may have previously mentioned (in my last two posts) that I am now the proud owner of a Buff!
So what is a Buff? According to their own site a Buff is;
Multifunctional Headwear
Apparently, it can be worn in 13 different ways! If you want to learn more about the history of the Buff you can find the information here!
I purchased mine from the Buff store in Bluewater and it cost me £15, but they are available from other distributors such as Amazon. Going to the store was quite nice when buying my first one as I could see what they were actually like and feel the material etc.
It’s quite amazing what looks like a simple tube of material can be so useful, comfortable, versatile and make someone feel quite so happy!!! I think I’m a bit obsessed!
I get quite warm when I am running, so generally run in a baseball cap rather than a beanie hat (the peak is useful for keeping the sun and rain out of my eyes without me overheating), but in the winter months I absolutely hate my ears getting cold, when they get too cold it actually makes me feel sick, this is why I bought a Buff (as recommended by my running buddy Helen).
Absolutely hits the spot, I wore it today for my run as it was a little chilly, as a headband going over my ears, and I was still able to wear my beloved baseball cap (bit of a lucky charm) over the top of it. The Buff was super comfy, didn’t make me feel too hot, but kept my ears nice and cosy and my headphones in!
I will definitely be purchasing more of them and am also considering them for the kids as they like mine and I think will be easier to wear than a normal scarf, we will see! I personally have my eye on a Star Wars one, but I also like the super colourful ones!
As a laugh I thought I’d attempt the ‘How To Wear’ that’s on the packaging!
There is also a hairband option – but my hair is too short to demonstrate that!
Scientific bit – the material provides thermal insulation and takes moisture away from the skin. This Buff has Polygiene Stay Fresh – Permanent Odour Control too!
I would highly recommend them – great just to wear walking as well as running! 🙂 xxx
So for Juneathon Day 23 this evening I went for a pleasant one mile run with Helen – but I was annoyed that I didn’t noticed until afterwards I’d entered a Walk rather than a Run into MapMyRun!!! Argh!!! Oh well, never mind!
Prior to my run I did my 23 toe touches, 23 sit and reaches and 23 sit ups/tummy crunches (starting to really feel these in my tummy muscles now!) I also did an additional exercise which involved my kids sitting on my legs like I was a ‘throne’ and then me being an ejector seat – to much hysterical laughter! I only managed a couple of these, my feet started going numb!!! haha!!!
🙂 xxx
So today was a pretty reasonable day for Juneathon Day 18 – I remember this morning to do my 18 toe touches, sit and reaches, and sit ups/tummy crunches – so much easier earlier in the day, though saying that I can definitely feel them more with the increased number! Will I make it to 30 of each!?!
I also actually donned my running gear and went for a brisk short run – only 1.61km – but my pace was 6:30min/km – which after a week and bit off running due to my dodgy foot, I didn’t think was too bad! Plus I couldn’t go out for too long as today was an OU study day! My Garmin wasn’t playing ball, wouldn’t find my location – so very grateful for MapMyRun! I felt pretty good after – I think I might plan a short run each week and see if I can increase my pace… I will keep you posted!
Additional exercise came in the form of the weekly Big Shop – usually I do this on a Friday morning but my poor Blue One has got his jabs tomorrow – I hate when my little ones have to have jabs, stab me with a needle – that’s fine, but leave my little ones alone, I deal with it so badly my hubby as to come too – which is ironic as he hate’s needles and injections himself! Will then treat the Blue One to a new toy… sorry I digressed!
The Big Shop was more fun this week as I had company in the form of Helen! Yay! So here you can see the photographic (and video) evidence of our exercise…
Check out the Trolley Dash!!!
Must organise myself and get this all logged on Running Free Online… I did exactly what I promised myself I wouldn’t do and have let it build up! Urgh!!! Oh well at least the important bit – the actual exercise – is done!
🙂 xxx
So for day two of Juneathon, I met up with the lovely Helen of helbels.org.uk for some interval runs this early evening. We took a gentle stroll to Avery Hill Park and then had a gentle jog to warm up. We’re running along and my legs felt so tight, completely like lead (hence the clever title of this blog post!) so we stopped for a moment to stretch out.
We then gently jogged to where we usually do out interval runs, though both admitted that we weren’t really feeling it this evening – a real lack of enthusiasm. Though after a day of studying, it was nice just to get out as it was pleasantly warm though very windy!
We thought we would time how quickly we could run 100m and then we’ll see at the end of Juneathon, by timing ourselves again, whether we have managed to increase our speed.
So for the beginning of Juneathon 100m – 19.5 seconds (will this improve?)
We had a slow jog back, then showed how in to Juneathon we are, we climbed a rope ladder on a climbing frame – I’m a complete wuss and with a total aversion to heights, so one rung height was enough for me!
Then I did a speedy run home – it’s great to feel how quickly I should go to do 5:52 mins a km – if only I could keep it up for a kilometre!!!
Also, don’t forget my two toe touches that I tweeted this morning!!!
🙂 xxx
Today I was lucky enough to run the Cancer Research UK London Winter 10km run! What an amazing experience it was too. Especially as the night before I wasn’t sure I felt well enough to even walk the course let alone run it and getting there looked like it was going to be a mission as the trains were going to Cannon Street and none to Charing Cross. On top of that the Blue One woke up in a right tizzy, waking his sister in the process, and it took some time to calm him down which did not bode well!
The morning of the run I was waiting for the 07:34 train to London Bridge when I got a message that the friend I was going to meet couldn’t make it anymore as she had a bad ankle and she was completely right that it would be silly to run and do any further damage. So I was having a think as I really don’t like going to these sorts of events on my own when I remembered one of my other friends (My Godparents son) had said he was doing this particular run. I sent him a text, to which I got no reply – so did one better and text his wife! Got a reply that yes he was running and she and their kids were coming too and we could meet at the Warm Up Zone which was near Downing Street. Huge plus point to this meant I didn’t have to try and navigate the Bag Drop or go back after the run to pick my bag up my friends family kindly looked after the bags!!! Yay!!!
Feeling more confident now that I knew I was meeting up with people I enjoyed the rest of my journey to the venue, getting off at London Bridge and then getting the RV1 (which is a Hydrogen Bus) to just by the London Eye and then a pleasant if rather chilly walk across Westminster Bridge. Beautiful blue skies and nice views. I then waited for my friends – during this time I used the portaloos which weren’t too bad at all and the queues moved quickly. I had my first Polar Bear hug! Then I was getting rather cold standing around so went for a walk to see if there was a shop I could stand in and defrost – my toes and fingers were numb – instead I went down into the tube station – which was exceptionally well timed because within 5 minutes my friend and his family came through the barrier!
After stripping off my superfluous layers (my goodness it was cold without them) and donning my very fashionable bin liner my friend I made our way to the start. There we waited for about 10 minutes, doing warm ups, as they needed to space out the waves of runners. Then with a bleep of a Garmin we were off! I waved to my friend as he was going to be considerably quicker than me. I settled into a pleasant jog listening to my playlist and enjoying the beautiful London scenery. Slight panic when I looked at my Garmin about five minutes in to see I’d only run 0.5km and I usually do 1km in about seven minutes – then went passed a sign which said 1km and with great relief realised my Garmin was in miles! Phew! Slowed my pace back down!
I plodded along quite happily, being overtaken and personally overtaking the occasional walker. I told myself once I’d run 5km I could have a walk, but I reached 5km and felt good to keep running, then I made it to 7km and felt I would be cheating myself if I walked but my pace was slowing. Though running through the zones of fake snow was quite fun! What didn’t help was that my music stopped with 3km to do. I was concerned the battery had died on my phone, but when I crossed the finish line it still had 50% left – so who knows!?!
I did chat to a nice lady for the last kilometre as were both jokily complaining that there’d been a sign to say ‘chill you’re near the finish’ to then pass the sign that said 9km!
Rounding that final corner and seeing the finish line was overwhelming – I was muttering to myself – “Come on legs you can do it” – unlike my first 10km there was no massive sprint finish, though I did go a bit fast for the last few metres and then finally it was over! I felt rather emotional – I’d done what I set out to do and run the whole 10km and according my Garmin (which I initially forgot to stop) said I’d run 10.10km in 01:09:20 – which was faster than my first 10km, just the icing on the cake! I got some cartons of coconut water, a polar bear hug and much wanted finisher’s medal!
A fabulous day with a great atmosphere and really great meeting up with my friend and his family. Met up with them after – felt great getting my layers back on – and he kindly treated me to hot cuppa and chocolate chip cookie, which was very kind of him and much needed! We then went our separate ways and I travelled back to London Bridge and there I got myself a very healthy meal, to replace my lost calories of McChicken Sandwich Meal Deal, – Yum! Yum! Only a ten minute wait for the train and my lovely hubby collected me from the station! Just the perfect end to a lovely day!
So today I’ll keep it short and sweet – I’ve got an early start in the morning and did I mention before it’s my first timed 10km race!?! I took it easy and went on a beautiful, crisp and cold afternoon walk with my Mum, which was just lovely as it was only the two of us so we could talk! Really relaxing!!!
Now to rest ready for the morning…!!!
yet again fell asleep before posting…😴
Jog on Mum 