20 minutes

That is how long I ran for today. Which is in fact my entire 1.5 mile route without stopping.

Shock. Horror. Oh my god. What the hell happened there?

Yes, I'm a little surprised too. After my really good run last week, I was pretty damn chuffed to do 15 mins without stopping, and only one break on the whole run. But I was very careful to reassure myself that if the next run wasn't as good, then it was no big deal because we all have good days and bad days. And that's what I was telling myself the whole way round this evening's run, especially as I hadn't particularly wanted to go in the first place.

But somehow I just kept going this evening, even when I got to the little hill where I stopped for a breather last week. I thought maybe if I just ran to the top then I could have my breather at the top instead, but then there didn't seem much point stopping, so I just kept going until I got back.

Which isn't to say the run was easy - going up the hills I was practically at walking pace, even though I was technically still jogging, and it's a little depressing when a runner comes out their house just in front of you and just effortlessly drifts off into the distance, but I'm still mega-satisfied with what I did.

I'm going to keep running once a week at least, and have a regular night I do it. My aim is to do it whatever the weather, and if the weather's really shit, to take it inside and run on the treadmills at the gym. I've had a morbid fear of doing this in the past, partly because I hate running really badly in front of all the fit people, and partly because I'm a terrible clock-watcher in the gym, but once I get a little better still, I hope that neither of these will be such an issue. In the meantime, my plan is to keep the same distance / route for the time-being until I've acclimatised a bit more. I'm aware that I've come on in such unexpected leaps and bounds the last 3 weeks that if I push too hard I'll burn out and start to hate running, so I just want to make sure I take it easy. In the long run if I can get to a stage where I can comfortably run for 30-40 mins once or twice a week, I'll be perfectly happy with that.

Other than that, everything is as usual. I bought a new denim mini-skirt yesterday. My old one, which was a size 20 (but I've got long legs, so I was able to get away with it), was loose enough to remove without actually undoing it, which nearly led to an embarrassing incident in Cheltenham two weeks ago, when I got out the car, and self-consciously tugged my skirt down, only to nearly tug it too far down. Additionally, the jeans button that fastens it has been dodgy for ages, randomly popping off when ever it feels like it, with no warning or provocation at all. Well, it finally disappeared altogether when the skirt was washed after it's last outing, so I've admitted defeat and bought a new one. It's a size 16 - still a tiny bit snug around the waist, but I can't get over how damn small it looks (relatively speaking, in relation to my usual clothes) - doesn't look like it should fit round me at all!

I've also finally got the art of buying food for entertaining a bit more sorted. Since we had friends over yesterday, I got a few nibbles. I bought Kettle Chips, but when I put them out, I weighed out a separate bowl for me so I knew how many points I'd eaten. French Fancies, because they're only 1.5 points each. I fed the dreaded Belgian chocolate truffles that I got for Easter to my guests, and only had 1 for me, and I got fresh raspberries to snack. Just the right amount of food and it all got demolished, without me having to go over points for the day - genius!!!