Tag: juneathon

Post-Party Juneathon Day 2

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 7 Comments

Last night was Mum's 70th Birthday Party, a fantastic evening of singing, dancing and chatting. So when I woke in a slightly delicate condition Juneathon was under threat because of far too many pints of Guinness and a late night sleeping on Mum's sofa.

Today's run was therefore a nice gentle jog in the sun at around lunchtime. A circular route of 4ish miles taking in some of the sights of the area. The Tarn was a favourite place to visit as kids to feed the ducks and run around the lake….

Today's mileage = 4.12

Total Juneathon mileage = 8.81

Mojo level = very high (despite a slightly hungover start to the day)

 

Juneathon Day One

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 2 Comments

We're off! Day 1 of Juneathon is well and truly complete!

If you are an avid reader of this amazing mediocre tedious blog you'll be aware that I'm in London for a few days to celebrate my Mum's 70th Birthday. Which began with yesterday's fabulous helicopter ride over London, read more here.

So as May came to a close the focus turned to Juneathon. Early thoughts were to begin Juneathon with a parkrun, this did not materialise because I woke up slightly too late. Therefore, the first day of Juneathon was to be completed pounding the streets of London. This has many pros and cons:

Pros

  • Concrete is everywhere – no problem with underfoot conditions
  • Roads are all massive – no single tracks to risk your life on
  • Houses everywhere – no problem with choosing a route
  • People everywhere – lots of people to say 'morning' too

Cons

  • Concrete everywhere – can make it a bit hard on your feet
  • Roads are all massive – therefore loads of cars, vans, buses, lorries, etc. making crossing roads a risky business
  • Houses everywhere – very easy to get lost – on more than one occasion I would 'nip down here' only to come out not quite where I had expected
  • People everywhere – the people I did say 'morning' too just looked at me with a blank expression

But it was quite enjoyable to be running somewhere slightly different, and I even managed the odd picture along the way in a bid to liven up the post.

This I couldn't resist….taking advantage of the green space and extending your garden, there are so many plastic ride on thingys that it looked like a branch of Toys R Us, although not sure what they would do if the council insisted that the trampoline be stored in the garden…

Also, as I was running along the 'Green Chain Walk' for a bit I crossed the railway line, this involved bounding up the steps in a 'Rocky' style and punching the air. No trains about, although I think engineering works were in 'progress' as I did spot a couple of fellas in fluorescent jackets leaning against the fence having a smoke….

Day 1 mileage = 4.69

Mojo level = very high

 

Decision made!

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 4 Comments

After fighting with my inner self for the last couple of weeks I have finally decided that I will be participating in Juneathon this year.

If you are not aware of what Juneathon is then hold your head in shame, or maybe just google it and find out. But if you would like to know the jist of it, the idea is to run every day of June: run, log and blog. Simple.

Not quite sure at the moment exactly how much time and motivation I have, but suffice to say I will attempt to run every day with a plan to run around 120ish miles by the end of June. Having taken part in both Janathon and Juneathon in the past I understand exactly what it takes to run every day for a month, that doesn't mean to say I'll do it, but fingers crossed for a successful attempt.

What has finally made me decide to participate? Well a number of reasons, cue a bullet pointed list:

  • I've been lacking on the running front recently, so this is a chance to find my running mojo.
  • Work has finally calmed down a bit – meaning I'm more likely to hit the road.
  • Following on from the monthly projects last year it has all been a bit too quiet so far.
  • The lighter evenings seem to allow for a bit more 'stuff' to be done.
  • The blogging front has also been quiet for a number of reasons – #juneathon means a daily blog.

So there you have it…Juneathon starts on Saturday…and I'm very much looking forward to it!

 

Review of 2012

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 7 Comments

I've read a few of these 'review' blogs over the last couple of days and after a year of various monthly challenges I thought a quick review of my own was required.

January started with my first attempt at Janathon. This was a quite a challenge to start the year, and I actually ran every day of the month and completed a total of 133 miles. It was great fun, really enjoyed reading the blogs of fellow janathoners. Good start to the years challenges.

After the excursions of Janathon, I decided on something rather gentler for February. The aim was to teach myself to play the ukulele. Didn't go amazingly well, although the uke is still hanging around and is often picked up every now and then.

March's challenge was again music related, only this time the challenge was to listen to new music and blog about it. This was an enjoyable month, I discovered some great bands and some have even made the list of bands to see in 2013.

Thanks to my sister and her birthday present to me, April was a month of model making: an Airfix model of The Cutty Sark. This was a very difficult challenge, the model was near impossible to make, very fiddly, and the paint didn't work either! Although a YouTube video of the final boat was a thing to behold.

And so we reached May and one of the most difficult challenges of the year: write a short story. Difficult for a number of reasons: time was an issue, lack of plan and a distinct lack of skill.

So after a couple of rather relaxing challenges, June brought us Juneathon and the attempt to run every day of the month. Didn't go quite as well as Janathon, I dipped out on running every day and completed 114 miles in all.

July's challenge was tasty: baking. I made ten different things other the course of the month, from cupcakes, brownies and tarts, through to shortbread, cookies and flapjacks. Lovely jubbly!

Of course, after making and eating cakes for a month, a physical challenge was needed for August. Swimming was decided. I could swim before but after a month of visiting various swimming pools in the area my swimming has really improved. I'm far from entering a triathlon, but maybe that's something for the future.

Learning to ride a unicycle. Seemed like a good idea at the time. September was the month to do it, which because of injury, turned into October's challenge as well. The unicycle was not mastered, even after two months, but I've not give up on that yet. Summer 2013 for the next attempt.

After the efforts of the previous two months, November brought the rather more gentle art of Origami, one per day for the duration of the month. My tutor group came on the journey with me and between us we produced 100s.

And so to the final month of the year, December, or should I say decembeer. The challenge was to drink a different beer every day of the month. This was a good challenge, and despite a dodgy illness over Christmas, it was completed. A reflection on 31 beers in the form of a blog post coming soon.

So the idea to dump the new year's resolution and instead complete 12 different monthly challenges was a complete success. I can now: run, swim, bake, unicycle, appreciate music, become more knowledgable about beer, have become an origami master, make models and write. All to varying different degrees. But as much as I've enjoyed the year…..enough is enough.

 

Juneathon Day 30

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 5 Comments

Today’s run a steady dog jog, 4 miles on the trails around Bourne. A pretty uneventful run, except for bumping into Shaun who was in the middle of a 17-miler! He did invite me to join him, but I’m running the Thurlby 10k tomorrow so didn’t want to go crazy!

Total mileage today = 3.95

Total Juneathon mileage after day 30 = 114.07

After ten days of Juneathon I decided to take a more relaxed approach to the whole ‘run everyday’ mantra. Due in part, to workload and Euro 2012, but also the fact that I didn’t want the added pressure – I missed out on 6 days actual running. But on a positive note: I really enjoyed the month, mileage was good (considering I dipped out on some runs), had some really great runs, read some fabulous blogs and good banter on Twitter. Well done everybody!

Juneathon 2012: a success!