Category: Janathon

The day after the night before….

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 7 Comments

After last night's slight serious life-changing injury today I struggled to do anything.

My finger had swollen to the size of a house; I could barely lift a piece of paper. My elbow felt like it was on fire and the blood I had lost from my grazed knees meant that I needed a blood transfusion. But being the brave soul that I am, I struggled on and managed to get through the day, despite looking like this…

Did this stop me Janathoning? Did it hell! Tonight's incredible feast of exercise: 2 min 10 sec plank.

Tonight's mantra: 'Tomorrow's Another Day'

 

Health and Safety investigation needed…

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 12 Comments

Tonight's Janathon run took place in the woods; in the dark. I am now immune to the scary nature of running around the woods in the dark. What I'm not immune to is falling over. Tonight I fell over.

Stacked it.

Lost my footing.

Plunged.

Sprawled.

Went arse over tit.

Lost balance.

Tumbled over.

Went headlong into the floor.

Whatever way you want to say it, it happened.

I was running across some particularly uneven ground, being very careful so not to trip, but not careful enough. As I found myself falling towards the floor, I did what every brave, athletic soul would do: I went into the old SAS roll to save serious injury. This would have been fine if it had not recently rained leaving a lot of water in close vicinity. Suffice to say if anyone was watching they would have seen me doing a roly poly through a muddle puddle. Furthermore, this was not without injury:

  • Grazed elbow
  • Two grazed knees
  • Painful thumb
  • Swollen finger

I even have proof of injury….

Total Janathon mileage = 49.35

 

#janathon with Newton Faulkner

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 2 Comments

If I do end up failing Janathon it will be on a Monday. I find motivating myself to go out for a run really difficult on a Monday. Whether it is the first day back at work after the weekend or the fact that Monday at school just seems to be really hardwork at the moment.

But tonight I defeated the Monday Monster and got out for a run. It was late. It was short. But it was done.

Tonight I was accompanied by the fantastic Newton Faulkner. Downloaded a selection of tracks onto the iPhone put it on shuffle and set off. I was treated to, amongst others, 'Write it On Your Skin', 'Treading Water' and 'Aging Superhero'. Newton Faulkner is definitely on the list of gigs to attend. I've seen him a couple of times at Cambridge Folk Festival but would love to see him at an actual proper Newton Faulkner gig.

In other news….look who came to stay….

Today's mileage = 2.32

Total Janathon mileage = 46.61

 

Round and round we go….

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 6 Comments

Janathon Day 12

I went to bed last night with the idea that I would get up early (ish) and complete a run round the woods with the dog. This didn't happen. After waking up at 11am the plan was to have a quick cuppa and then get the run done. This didn't happen. Instead I created a beautiful fry-up and then went shopping.

It wasn't until 4.30pm that I finally got my arse into gear. Pressure was on, the darts was on at 5.45pm. I do like a bit of darts, ridiculous nicknames and cliche after cliche. So pounding the streets of Bourne was the answer. I didn't want to venture too far so decided on trying to run along every street, avenue, way, close, walk, crescent, and road on the estate. I really didn't know what I was doing, the place is like a rabbit's warren*. Any Tom, Dick or Harry** would get lost. First half of the run was ok, I knew roughly were I was going. But it was a game of two halves*** and it all got very confusing in the second half. But, I think it was a pretty good effort….

5 miles in total.

Total Janathon mileage = 44.29

* see…cliche…clearly watching too much darts

** see above

*** see above

 

I think I need to plan…..

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 6 Comments

No this is not me dicing with the edges of educational blogging, as much as I'm tempted, I'm merely thinking about entering a few races for the coming year.

What's brought this on? Well, an email arrived yesterday from some crazy woman at school. She was following up on an email sent about 4 million years ago* that was inquiring whether there were enough people that fancied doing the Rat Race, and that maybe we could enter a team. I don't actually remember replying to the initial email, although as it was 4 million years ago that's not surprising, but apparently I was interested. This crazy woman is now looking for definite numbers and is on the verge of entering a team! And…..I'm in!

So….10th May…..20 miles….200 obstacles….yowza!

20 miles? That's quite a way! So I've been thinking about entering a few races before May. I've got a couple in mind that I've done before:

  • Spalding Half Marathon
  • Newton's Fraction Half Marathon

Although, taking part in Janathon is a good start for getting a bit of mileage in. Today is the eleventh day of Janathon which means, especially with all the rain, it is beginning to get a bit crowded at the back door…

Today was a 5-miler around the woods with the dog. Lots of people about this morning: runners, dog walkers and cyclists, including some particularly ignorant people about who refused to acknowledge my 'good mornings'. Sod 'em!

Total Janathon mileage = 39.36

* this may be a slight exaggeration