After a week of business trips to London, events in Edinburgh. Babysitting my nephew and frustrating work processes the dogs and I had cabin fever. Nearly a whole week without a run!
We headed out with a vague idea of a new route to avoid a skinny footpath in the dark. Candy and Winnie were well prepared with flashing collars and I put on reflective gloves. Just as well as it was already dark at 5pm!
No satellite signal on my garmin 310xt… 3 false starts, Two resets and and a turn off and on fixed the problem, by which time we’d walked quarter of a mile and the rain had started!
Down hill for the first two miles was a doddle but reality kicked in as the path evened out! As the rain got heavier and the dogs were shaking it out of their coats. I decided to go for 5 rather than 6 miles and turned to run back up the hill home!
Two dogs and me in the shower was a must at the end of our hilly climb home because we were all covered in leaf mulch and mud in the rain!
Surprisingly I felt more awake and happier despite the rain dampening the run!
One day at a time!!! Keep on going…

ninety nine, 100! Well that’s what we used to say at School and it’s proving pretty accurate for my marathon training plan thus far!

So what’s been happening? Well… lets get the excuses out early,
‘it’s cold’ ; ‘it’s dark’; ‘it’s too late’ ; ‘it’s too early’ ; ‘I’m tired’ ; ‘I’ve been working late’… etc!

So I’ve painted a desperate picture but actually I have averaged 2 runs a week or 9 miles (some weeks as much as 13 miles! v’s 20 miles plan).

My stats are improving… pace is going up and heart rate / recovery times are coming down… critically I’m delighted to report that I’m finding it a bit easier! (not the dark nights part just the running).

So bear with me… I’ve just got a new iPad from work so should be doing this dog blog more often now… =) only 21 weeks to go… !

p.s. Photos are difficult due to dark nights but I’ll see what I can do!