About Me

United Kingdom
A runner now for 17 years, started short then moved up to marathons. The last couple of years has seen the transition to ultras. The start of this blog begins with the Juneathon Challenge.

Thursday 5 January 2012

Janathon Day 5 - Moonlight and Waitrose Pastries


I awoke early to the sound of a howling wind and was contemplating a quick blast round the lanes. The sound of a watering can going flying across the patio put paid to those thoughts... It's ok, I'll run tonight, it'll be less windy then :) Another full day of meetings without so much as going outside made the thought of the evening run even more appealing.

Home by 7 and a quick change and I was out the door, the plan was for 9 miles to bring up 50 miles for the first 5 days. I would run my default 8 mile loop and a small diversion at the end to add on the extra mile. The first 3 miles were quite windy still with lots of clouds scurrying across the bright moon. Once on to the quiet country lane the moon was fully exposed and rendered my headtorch superfluous to requirements. Running by moonlight with the strange shadows being cast on the road gave that eerie but exciting feeling.

My son had asked on the way out if I was visiting Waitrose on my way back for the '5p pastries' (This has been a frequent diversion in the past when all the 'use by today' pastries are slashed to ridiculous prices after 8pm). Sure enough a £1 coin was tucked into my shorts ready for hitting Waitrose at around the 6.5 mile mark.

Off the country lane at 6 miles I stepped up the pace in anticipation of the sugary delights. Stopping outside, I paused the watch and turned of the headtorch (didn't want to be accused of cashier dazzling) and headed inside. NOTHING, not even a dry crust, I hesitated and thought I had to leave with something. Six ice fingers for £1 - that'll do nicely, I paid, turned the headtorch back on, restarted the watch and headed back off up the road.

I took the final 2.5 miles slightly slower and cruised along past houses still brightly lit in Christmas lights! On to home and another 9 miles was in the bag in 65 minutes.

Stats
Distance: 9.02 miles
Time: 1:05:28
Janathon Total Distance: 50.27 miles
Streak Total Distance: 1675 miles

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