Jantastic week 6

I am sure I say this every week, but the time is flying by!

This week was not that easy for me to get my 100% score, but I managed it, just.

I made some little chocolate pb cups for Andy (we don’t do Valentine’s but he bought me some popchips tp celebrate half term)- they are not really a recipe just something to do- melt chocolate, spoon into cases, melt some chocolate and pb together and use as the filling= delicious.

Back to the running:

Monday was a rest day as I had run 11 miles on Sunday and wanted to make sure I was recovered. I also got home late from work, and although I actually felt OK I didn’t want to push anything too much, especially as I had run on the Saturday too.

Tuesday I went out after work- I didn’t think I would go too far but in the end did 4.1 miles.

Wednesday and Thursday were both rest days due to being at work both evenings, and by the time Friday appeared I was crawling towards the weekend so decided to just chill out and watch some of the Olympics with a cup of tea.

Saturday I went out for a run- our parkrun was cancelled due to the council not liking them using the off road route too much, but that suited me fine as I went out for a little run by myself. After all the crazy wind I decided to run by the allotments and saw that our shed has blown over again. I tried to lift it but could only get it about 6 inches off the ground. We shall have to go at some point together. Anyway, I told myself I would just have to go out and run 1 mile (the minimum for a Jantastic run) but I felt OK and in the end did 3.6 miles- half a mile more than a parkrun.

Then I mostly relaxed (and did a little work)- we walked up to Aldi later in the day for some washing bits, and I was very excited to see these:

Chocolate marzipan hearts! They sell them at Christmas (in a different box) but I have never seen them at any other time of year.

Sunday morning we were off on our longest run- 12 miles. I wanted to do it in under 2 hours as I have been trying to keep to a sub 10 minute mile pace for longer runs. Last week we had to add on some small loops to our usual route to get it up to 11 miles, so Andy had planned a different route that he used to run when we were marathon training. It was all new to me, which I am never sure if I like or not- ignorance can be bliss when I don’t realise a big hill is around the corner, but also it is harder to pace myself when I don’t know what is coming. Anyway, from the start I think I had decided it was a bit too much of a challenge, I was tired after such a busy week at work, I was regretting my Saturday run in case it had tired out my legs too much. At least the weather was beautiful and we saw plenty of spring flowers out- snowdrops, crocuses and daffodils all in bloom. I kept worrying that I would need to stop and walk too, but luckily I won that battle against my mind and kept going. There were some tough hills, both up and down, so all we kept saying to each other was that we hope Bath is flatter than this! Nearing home we weren’t quite close enough to 12 miles so we had to add on a small loop and then our front door was dead on 12, with a time of 1.59.50! Phew.

So, 3 runs out of 3 completed. 12 miles as my longest run (that was what I set for myself).

Next week won’t be as successful as I am resting today (I did some yoga first thing)- tomorrow I am hoping to get in a 5 mile run before a busy day, and then we are off to see Pompeii- I am not taking my running things with me so shall enjoy a lot of walking and sightseeing. At least I can play my joker.

What I am loving too are the motivational messages that appear when you log in to your Jantastic homepage- today it says “Even a little run is better than no run. Yes you can.” That was what got me out the door on Saturday and although during tough moments on Sunday I was wondering why I did it, actually I am very glad I did as I felt loads better for the rest of Saturday.

One day it just said “Love running“. Which is the most important statement of all. Of course when the weather is rubbish/ you are tired from work it can be hard to get out the door, and we can get a big bogged down with trying to get faster or run further, but actually the reason I run is because I love it, all the rest is the icing on the cake.