Those eagle-eyed amongst you would have noticed that my attempt to run every day of October, following the Ron Hill #RunEveryDay challenge, came to an end yesterday.

Managed 13 days, then made a conscious decision that I wanted a ‘day off’ – absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I found myself in the pub at the end of a very long term. 

So although the run streak has come to an end, I do actually have some good news.

Popped to Rutland Water Parkrun to complete my 50th Parkrun.

Lovely jubbly.

Parkruns recently have been a bit of a plod round with Helen or Amy, but to celebrate the 50th I gave it a go today. Started off fast and tried to run faster. Finished in 23.30 – I did indeed start off fast, but couldn’t go faster. But happy enough.

Now off to order t-shirt…

Today was at the gym again, I did 40min on the treadmill, followed by 2000m on the rower. 

Run streak = 13 days

Er….um…can’t think of anything else to say. 

Tomorrow: probably a run somewhere…

Another busy day today. Today’s run was 20 laps of the Sports Hall following by a bit of basketball action. Finished the session with quite a sweat on! 

Then it was a rush home, grab something to eat, before heading off to the Samaritans. I got asked if I’d like to get involved in the working group to select a new branch director. Tonight was the initial meeting. Everything went well; I have a list of things to do over the next four weeks or so. Shouldn’t be too onerous. 

Run streak = 12 days.

Tomorrow: absolutely no idea what is going to happen. 

In other news….I failed in the ballot for Frank Turner tickets. Not happy. 

Well amazingly, despite a busy day, the run streak is still going: 11 days. 

I was due to give blood early evening, so today’s run needed slightly more planning than usual. Didn’t have time to fit it in before giving blood. Running after giving blood risked fainting, so was out of the question. Which just left a run before work!

That’s what I did.

6am start. Yep, that’s right, a 6am start.

It was hell. Never again am I ever going to do it again. It was ridiculous. It is pretty dark at that time in the morning, not helped by the fact that the council are, probably in an attempt to save a few quid, reluctant to turn the street lights on. I nearly stacked it twice. On top of that, my legs are not used to having to run at that time in the morning; they didn’t like it one bit.

The streets were deserted and Tesco had only just opened.

As for the blood donation…they didn’t want my blood. 

Not a health issue, just not quite a high enough haemoglobin level – it was 126g/l, needed to be at least 135g/l. They said they have a high ‘cut-off’ level just to be on the safe side. They gave me a leaflet all about haemoglobin and iron. Although I put it down to all this running I’m doing!

Right….I’m off to eat some red lean meat, some mackerel, eggs, nuts, brown rice, green vegetables, dried fruit and to wash it all down with a some orange juice which is high in vitamin C. 

Following yesterday’s half-marathon today was always going to be a nice easy run. 

Initial plan:

However, this soon changed. It was chucking it down when I got home, so taking the dog with me for a run to the woods was never going to happen. In fact, me going for a run at the woods in the rain was never going to happen.

So it was the gym. Treadmill, cross-trainer and rower. 45min. Done. Run streak stands at 10 days.

Tomorrow: it’s a busy day, not sure when the run will take place. It might have to be BEFORE work. 

In other news….Frank Turner has announced his 2000th gig….and it’s at ROCK CITY! Ballot entered. 

This morning it was the Perkin’s Great Eastern Run at Peterborough.

Despite the threat of rain early in the day it ended it up being a lovely morning to run 13.1 miles (probably a bit too warm if I’m honest). I was planning on a steady 9min/mile pace, bringing me in around the 2hr mark. That’s pretty much what happened.

1hr 56min – felt pretty good – had plenty left at the end. 

Although I must thank Glenn for the jelly babies at the end (what was left of them – it must be tiring standing and watching) – without those there was no way I would have made the last 500yds!! 

That just leaves two things left for today’s post. One, the medal and t-shirt shot….

….and two, tomorrow’s day 10 plan: easy and short.