Return to Running

Morning troops,

How's it going? Are you being good? I do hope so!

Pounding the pavements ...

As you may have guessed from the title, I'm glad to be able to report that I finally made a welcome return to running last night. I hadn't originally intended to actually run properly when I set out, but it felt fairly comfortable so I just went where it took me. I didn't push myself, so I took short walking breaks far more often than I normally would, but my intended 20 min route turned into a 30 min route and I felt fine. In fact, even with the frequent breaks, I was barely slower than I usually am (which prob says more about my usual running pace than anything else lol).

I have to say though - sometime between my last run (sometime back in early September) and last night, it got bloody freezing out there!!! I remember running in a vest last time and being quite hot, but last night was chilly, even with my Technicals fleece chucked over the top. Time to start thinking about a few key pieces of winter clothing I think!! Mind you, I don't think it helped that my beloved fleece is now too big - turns out they're not nearly as warm when the wind can just whistle straight up the hem! I've spent a bit of time this morning looking at tights and soft-shells / winter jackets for running / biking.

Anyway, it was really nice to be out - I was lucky that I caught it while it was still light, although my whole route is lit anyway. Everything looked really different from last time, as my route is mostly on tree-lined streets and all the colours have changed, plus having to skirt round (or kick through!) huge piles of leaves! Oh, and Tricia was right - for the length of my run, my cold seemed to disappear - my nose miraculously unblocked, and I stopped coughing and sneezing. It came back later but at least it was a bit of a respite.

Still snotty ...

Otherwise, the cold continues full force. I can't smell anything, and my sense of taste has pretty much abandoned me, and my hearing feels a bit muffled - basically I'm feeling a bit like somebody hit the mute button on my world! Still really hungry and sleepy, but still on plan (go me!!). Mind you - eating stuff when you can't taste it isn't really that satisfying - I had porridge with cinnamon in this morning - a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon, and I couldn't taste (or smell) it at all!!!

Measurements update ....

I talked sometime earlier this week about weighing in at the midpoint of the challenge but not having lost anything as yet. As we all know though, the scales telleth not the whole story - Syl more than proved that point with her 30 Day Shred Challenge in September (bloody amazing results they were too!). So this morning, out of curiosity, I whipped out the tape measure as I was getting ready. I decided at the start of the challenge, that I should chart my progress in more than just one way, so I took my measurements, even though I didn't publish them on here. The plan is to do a full round-up at the end (another 3 weeks yet). But I felt like I needed a little extra encouragement, and I have it. I'll not put the results up til the end, but suffice to say that in the first 3 weeks, I have lost some inches - yay!

I'm planning on having a nice quiet evening in tonight - no exercise, just a bit of pampering for me. I've worked out hard the last 4 nights in a row, so I think a rest would be good. Hopefully, by this time next week, I might be able to think about going back to Body Combat class - can't wait!!!

I'll leave you with this perfect example of my complete inability to plan my own social life - I realised last night that I have managed to book gig tickets to go and see Paramore in Birmingham with Bridget for the same night as my office Christmas party in Cheltenham. What a total idiot!! No idea what to do as I really want to do both things! Genius, I tell you!