Keep on running by harrietemma

Sadly the Santa Fun Run at Maldon was cancelled.  It was due to happen today and we all got texts on Friday to say they had made the decision due to icy conditions.  It's understandable but such a pity - I had looked forward to it as it's such a laugh!  I had thought that all the ice was gone but once I had set out with Alfie this morning realised there is still quite a bit around.

We did a 4.8 mile round trip, quite a bit of which is along the sea wall next to the estuary.  I had walked this route before but never run it.  It was the longest run I have done in a few weeks and the longest that Alfie has ever done.  Needless to say he was still raring to go when we got home 58 mins 39 secs later!  I actually found it very enjoyable, not a struggle at all, very much enhanced by the peacefulness and lovely wild views (photos soon I promise).  We both got extremely muddy which was easy to remedy in my case with a bath and change of clothes.  Alfie, however, was relegated to the kitchen until the mud dried.  He has a magic coat - all you do is leave him and it all dries and falls off and then you can brush him and he is all silky and lovely looking again.  I wonder whether the mud is good for his coat like a face mask.

The plan now is to pick up the half marathon training again.  I have oodles of time if I am going to do it next Autumn but I think my main concern is psychological - I haven't run more than 10k since my 20s so I want plenty of time to work up to it and get a bit more confident.  But I may have to be a bit easy about sticking rigidly to the plan for a while as Kevin has suddenly decided he wants to run with me sometimes!  We went out on Friday with Alfie, and he found it easier than he expected but I think the realisation that his 48 year old mum can run further than he can has made him want to improve!  Tomorrow we are going to buy new running shoes for him (not mega expensive as he is growing at an alarming rate and I figured he can manage without the pampering my feet get in their gel nimbus 12s!).  So for a while I will run with him during the week, trying to get some sort of speed session in at some point, and make sure I do a long run as per the plan at the weekend.  In any event I will also keep up the classes, boxercise and gym so it's all positive!

Just a little girly aside.  Today I am wearing my holy grail jeans.  For anyone who doesn't know what holy grail jeans are, they are the jeans you wish you could get into and are a way of measuring how close you are to your weight loss goal without using scales or a tape measure.  For some time I used to try these jeans on and see if I could get them done up.  Bit of a struggle.  Now they are pretty loose, needing a belt to keep them up, not terribly flattering to tell the truth!  But it's such a good feeling to have a practical sense of the weight that I lost and how much slimmer I am now.  I am now very careful to eat proper meals with adequate protein and avoid white carbs most of the time (and pretty much avoid bread altogether).  But I have relaxed a lot about treats, usually have chips with my steak at the weekend and have over indulged a bit on chocolate.  I haven't weighed myself but I guess things are ok as the HG jeans are still baggy!  Happy days!