#Juneathon Day 15, Halfway, halfway!!

Wow, I’m still here! Can’t believe it!

Today’s run was briskly out the door and off to the park. For once I really wanted to do it, is this a minor turning point? 

The park was full of lovely late spring sights, fat and fluffy ducklings, rabbits everywhere and older goslings taking to the air squawking ‘RIGHTEOUS, RIGHTEOUS, YEAH!!’ Or at least, that’s how it seemed.

Running gives you a chance to think how you react as a motorist to runners. Most motorists, to be fair, if they stop so I can cross a busy road do so with a smile and gentle wave. A surprising amount however, dash to a junction, stop with a squeal of brakes and wildly gesticulate at you to cross the road asap as if they had a new heart for the Ayatollah’s grandchild in a coolbox in the boot. (See The West Wing sometime early noughties). Why? Just don’t stop if it’s that much trouble!

Anyway a good run today, 3.5km in 24.05 minutes. Happy days!

Thanks for reading,

Helenx

#Juneathon Day 14, more digging, weeding, lopping and planting

Today’s Juneathon effort is gardening. For once this is an activity that even if Juneathon didn’t exist I’d be doing it anyway as after all that wet and a bit of sun the gardens gets delusions of grandeur and tries to go all rainforesty and out of control. So today I;

• lopped, yes again, bay this time, and the clematis which tries to strangle anything in its path
• weeded
• potted on cucumbers and yet more basil
• swept all the old leaves up to create one enormo bag of leaf mould

The rewards are starting to show themselves, these Iris put in a brief but brilliant performance every year.

 

This rose produces the darkest, deepest most velvety red roses you’ve ever seen. Also they smell lovely, making me more than happy to wait for them to bloom rather than buy them from florists.

Finally in the annual face-off between me and molluscs I’ve so far won all the pre-season skirmishes. But note the munched leaves dear reader, I suspect the real war is still to come as soon as these babies start blushing.

 

A run tomorrow, Barbary Boy has even promised to come with me on his bike, ‘just to cheer me along’.

Thanks for reading,

Helenx

 

#Juneathon Day 13, Finally a swim (small lecture enc).

Aaah, swimming; when it comes to running, I’m a novice, a total rookie who needs all the help and encouragement she can get, swimming however is another matter. I love swimming and always have. Just bashing out a few lengths makes me more relaxed than a day at a spa.

Today was my first proper (i.e. no monkeys around) swim since last summer when I broke the big toe. At the time the doctors told me I really shouldn’t swim until it had healed properly. Nothing to do with the injury per se, more that a person capable of smashing up her foot in such a STUPID way couldn’t be trusted on a slippery floor. Frankly, I could see their point. Today however, the foot is all better and I couldn’t wait to get in. 40 lengths later (20 breast stroke, 10 back, 5 front crawl, 5 alternating side stroke) I felt much more myself again than I had done in ages. I’d like to improve the ratio of front crawl as that’s the stroke that really gets the blood pumping, but overall 40 lengths in about 25 minutes is good going. I’d also like to make sure I get a bit better at side stroke. It gets you some funny looks to be sure but it’s a great nipper and tucker of bingo wings and waistlines. Also I like to feel comfortable that I could still tow someone in properly if I had to. As the summer holidays loom something that bugs me every year is just how many parents are comfortable letting their children swim without their supervision. Too often I’ve looked up in a pool and realised that I’m the only adult with about ten excited 8 year-olds around me. Gyms and hotels are in my experience the most likely to be a bit haphazard with their lifeguarding shifts, and also the most likely to have parents in the café rather than the pool. I’m sure most people have seen this article floating around social media, but it’s worth posting again here and well worth a read if you haven’t already, drowning doesn’t look like drowning. 

And breathe. Sorry are you still there? I swam 1km for my Juneathon effort today and had a good blog rant and feel so much better for both now.

Thanks for reading,

Helenx

#Juneathon Day 12 – A very important day

Today is a very important day, because today is Miss Marmoset’s birthday! There are now no five-or-unders in the house and yes I am a little bit sad, as I always am at the end of my children’s birthdays. Toddler days were some of the best days of my life, I really, really enjoyed them and I still miss them.

However, I’m so very proud of her, particularly as this year she insisted on reading one of her new books to me at bedtime. There is so much exploring and discovering to be done with her, I can’t wait to get started! 

It was tempting to slack off Juneathon today in honour of one of the most energetic days of my life ever, six years ago, but I managed to get some yoga done. The amount of thunks, cracks, clicks and whirrs from my back and neck assuring me that this was probably the best course of action for today. Also my normally rigid hamstrings appear to be developing a bit of give, as I down-faced dog this evening I was amazed that I can almost get heels to the floor whilst raising bottom high. That nagging achy hips and lower back pain thing is receding too. Give your hamstrings a good stretch gentle reader, it can make your life so much better!

Thanks for reading,

Helenx

#Juneathon Day 11, Sultry Running

Not me, I hasten to add, just the weather out there. I’m still in the mindset that grey equals cold and set off with a light pullover on, only to return looking like a walk-on part in Tenko. It’s a bit muggy out there isn’t it?

Anyway, tonight’s run marks the commencement of two minutes of running to one minute of walking. I won’t lie it was a painful transition, although it did get easier as I went on. Tunbridge Wells is a hilly town which I’m told will help me get fitter, faster, but ouch it’s a bit painful for a rookie!

I managed 3.5kms tonight and Strava apparently approves because it was nice enough to record my run this time. I’ll keep it to 3.5 for the week and aim to up it a little next week.

 

Thanks for reading,

Helenx

#Juneathon Day 10, I’m declaring this a fail…

Only because I haven’t actually done any ‘proper’ exercise today. I was tempted to try and get away with adding mountaineering to my Juneathon efforts considering the size of the ironing mountain I scaled this afternoon, but I’ll be content with saying I haven’t managed a Juneathon effort today, but I’m looking forward to tomorrow.

I just wanted to say thank you so much to everyone that’s been kind enough to drop by and leave some encouragement in the comments, it’s hugely appreciated. I can feel Juneathon is definitely having a positive effect on me, not so much with my fitness just yet, but feeling decidedly lighter of spirit recently.

Thanks for reading,

Helenx

#Juneathon Day 9, Even Strava’s a Critic

Well that’s a bit OTT. This morning I ran/walked 3kms. It felt pretty good and I was looking forward to seeing my stats, BUT, I updated the app last night and now Strava won’t work. *Heavy sighs*.

The main thing is that I ran and enjoyed it again. I suspect that next week’s moving up a gear part of the running programme is going to hurt a little bit but that’s only to be expected. I’ve run 12km over the past week or so, which I know is a piffling amount to many, but still feels like a huge achievement to me.

Thanks for reading,

Helenx

#Juneathon Day 8, Fete Accompli

By crikey I’m tired. Today was the monkeys school Summer Fete. Being stupid enough to be on the PTA I found myself there for set-up and all the way through to clearing away.

Today’s Juneathon effort has been spent on my feet, dashing about running errands, lugging machinery and seating about, creating candy floss for a large crowd of expectant six year olds, (possibly the most aerobic thing I’ve done in years, honestly) and last but not least taking part in the Mum’s Tug O’War team. We lost but the blisters on my hands are witness to my effort levels.

Hopefully sensible (or as sensible as it gets round these parts) exercise will return from here on in.

Thanks for reading,

Helenx

#Juneathon Day 7, the nick of time…

I’m starting to feel embarrassed about how many ‘proper’ athletes there are doing Juneathon, but for what it’s worth here are my exercise efforts for today:

• a two hour nature ramble with Barbary Boy this morning. Technically this should be an example of terrible parenting as I was supposed to be dropping him off for a visit to a local forest with the rest of his class. However there are two car parks for the forest in question and I appear to be the only parent familiar with the other car park. Cue 40 minutes looking for the another 30 kids before I give up and suggest we just ramble through the woods ourselves. Actually it was lovely, I rarely get BB to myself for any period of time and we had a grand time walking, discovering and both of us relishing a bit of ‘wagging it’. The teacher was very understanding.
• Lugging. It’s the summer fete tomorrow and I dutifully spent a good 90 minutes heaving tables, chairs and benches about the school field in set-up mode. I must admit for someone who’s always shied away from the idea of weights, it did make me wonder if I should explore it a bit more. I’m not very strong, and I do worry a bit about bone health in my future.

Tomorrow is unlikely to see any formal exercise, although I will still be ‘on the go’ all day. Is this stretching Juneathon too far?

Thanks for reading,

Helenx

#Juneathon Day 6, Well hello, hamstrings…

After my happy run yesterday I woke up this morning feeling a bit stiff and achy. It felt as if all the muscles in the backs of my legs and hips had all knitted together overnight. Typically I’ve embraced running without embracing the essential stretching that should go with it. So tonight’s effort has been all about Yoga. You can work up a good puff with yoga, when I remember to stretch before and after a run it’s usually a few warming up sun salutations before a run and a few after a run. Starting slow and speeding up, then starting fast and slowing down.

Tonight I did 10 sun salutation both sides, some spine twists, a few triangles (I’d really like my waist to nip in a bit more) and some hip openers. I genuinely feel well exercised and more comfy in my own skin than I did this morning.

Now I’m going to have a beer.

Thanks for reading, 

Helenx