Category: Juneathon

Juneathon Day 8

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ Leave a comment

A busy day today saw the first real threat to Juneathon. To begin the day we had a long drive up north to return the dog we’ve been looking after. Followed by a visit to, Kath, the sister-in-law for some dinner. She served up a Spaghetti Bolognese that wouldn’t have been out of place in a Michelin Star restaurant.

Whilst there we watched the first game of Euro 2012. Nephew Jason was also at home, attempting to complete his History homework. However, I’m slightly concerned that it won’t be his best piece of work due to the fact that he was watching the footy and tweeting.

This all meant a late run, the first of the month, I’d rather not run in the evening, but needs must. Just a short run around town was the plan. It was incredibly windy tonight, like a scene from The Wizard of Oz.

Although I did manage to avoid the flying cows. Tonight’s run was 3.43 miles. A pretty uneventful run, but then again I didn’t have my contacts in, plus it was dark, so pretty much anything could have happened and I wouldn’t have noticed.

Total Juneathon mileage after day 8 = 31.38

Interestings things seen = 0


Juneathon Day 7

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 5 Comments

I woke up this morning and unbelievably it wasn’t raining. So I got changed, grabbed the dogs, and headed for the woods. After working hard during Tuesday’s night training and last night’s 5k race I had already decided on a very gentle jog. What with all the rain lately I was ready for it to be a bit muddy and the woods are definitely looking green and lush.

 

We began very gently and managed to avoid the worst of the mud by sticking to the main path. After a few minutes we came across a family out walking their dogs. I did notice that one of the dogs had a ball in its mouth and ran past praying that Sam (the dog we are looking after) wouldn’t notice. He did. This meant I had to run back and attempt to persuade him to give me the ball. I was either not very persuasive or the dog is just plain stupid. Therefore I had to physically yank open his jaws and grab the drool covered ball, handing it back to its owner. At this stage in the slapstick incident Sam noticed that the other dog also had a ball. So we then went through the same process and finally were able to leave the family in peace.

So in an attempt to avoid the stress of meeting anyone else we headed for the tracks through the woods. All was going reasonably well, I had managed to avoid most of the mud and still had dry feet. We had passed some of the statues that were placed around, including some oversized mushrooms.

All was going well, that was until we came to a particularly muddy downhill section….

As I slowly started jogging down the hill, the lack of grip meant I began going faster and faster, meaning avoiding puddles became more of a problem, resulting in very wet and muddy feet by the time we reached the bottom. As the track continued we also had various obstacles, fallen and overhanging trees, to avoid.

This reminded me of a blog I read recently, Run For The Quiet, which mentioned the Tough Mudder. This got me thinking, I wonder if once we have completed the Zombie Evacuation the boys would be up to take on the Tough Mudder?

Distance today was 3.26 miles.

Total Juneathon mileage after day 7 = 27.95

Number of wet, muddy and cold feet = 2

Number of families annoyed = 1

Number of dogs nearly taken to the vet to be euthanised because they don’t listen = 1

Juneathon Day 6

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 2 Comments

Today’s Juneathon run was a 5k race, the first in the Peterborough 5k Grand Prix Race Series. This very grand sounding name is basically a series of 5k races run in and around Peterborough. Tonight’s race was hosted by Neve Valley Harriers at the Water Sports Centre at Ferry Meadows. A great little 2 lap course around the lake.

A chicken curry was the perfect pre-race meal and despite a bit of rushing around to register and drop off stuff at car I made it in time for a quick warm-up. Around 300, mainly club runners, took to the start line. Although slightly disappointing was the fact that only about eight Bourne Town Harriers showed up. We were given the obligatry health and safety warning before the off, “Watch out for the bridges, they’re a bit slippery”.

We somehow managed to avoid the storms in the area and only had to cope with a light shower towards the end. Despite a slow start, due to the number of runners, I worked hard and ran a pretty even paced race. Finished in 21.06 which I was pleased with – don’t think I could have ran any faster.

Today’s distance was 5k, or in old money 3.1 miles.

Total Juneathon mileage after day 6 = 24.67

Most nostalgic track heard today = White Lines (Don’t Do It) by Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel

 

Juneathon Day 5

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 2 Comments

Tuesday night is club training night. So by the time 6.30pm came round, low and behold, it was chucking it down. I did contemplate not going, waiting for the rain to stop, and running later. But after walking around the house and moaning about the weather for 10 mins I bit the bullet and went to join the rest of the club assembling at the local school for some track training.

Tonight’s training was:

  • Warm up.
  • 6 laps at 10k pace.
  • 4 min recovery.
  • 6 laps at 5k pace.
  • Cool down.

It was a poor turn out tonight, which was unsurprising, considering the weather. In fact the ‘coach’ didn’t even bother showing up. He just sent a scrap of paper with the training schedule scribbled on.

Tonight’s mileage was 4.69 miles.

Total mileage after day 5 = 21.57

Juneathon Day 4

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ Leave a comment

Day 4 of Juneathon was a dog jog round the woods. And taking the lead from Mark here’s a picture of Billy Boy on our return home enjoying his bone:

He’s a bit soggy because we always somehow manage to make it to the ponds for a dip (the dog, not me).

It was late afternoon when we finally got out and the woods were surprisingly quite, in fact we didn’t pass a single runner, dog walker or human being, which is very strange. Maybe everyone was preparing for the Queen’s Jubliee Concert.

Today’s run was 5.39 miles.

Total mileage after day 4 = 16.88

Music accompaniment = Beach House and Frank Turner

Dignified pigeons spotted = 0

Juneathon Day 3

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 1 Comment

Last night we continued with the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations by attending the Bourne Festival – with every other person in Bourne – it was very busy. ‘The League of Mentalmen’ were on form – Madonna, Proclaimers, Steps (just no name a few) – all in a rock style! I was keeping Sam company (Amy’s fella) while she was at work. Yes you’re right – he is an actual real-life giant.

After Day 2 of the Bourne Festival the Sunday run, normally the home of the long run, was never going to break any records. With constant drizzle all morning, coupled with watching the pageant on TV, I decided to hang on until the rain stopped. Although by about 4ish the pageant was wearing a bit thin, once you’ve seen one boat you’ve seen them all. I’m sure the same thought was rattling around in the Queen’s head. So what looked like a slight break in the rain I pounced, got changed, and went for a run. However, as is normal in these circumstances, as soon I was about a mile into the run the rain got steadily heavier. I don’t particularly like running in the rain, today was no different, I decided to cut the run short and head home, by which time I was absolutely soaked and not happy:

Summary
******
Distance: 2.81mi
Time taken: 00:23:32
Average/Max Speed : 7.16/9.35 mph
Average/Min Pace : 00:08:23/00:06:24
Calories: 332

Total mileage after day 3 = 11.49

Music accompaniment = nothing (ipod and rain does not mix)

Number of times I cursed the rain = 15