Janathon Day 12 – it’s all going well

I’ve always been a fair weather cyclist, only venturing out for a leisurely ride on hot days, usually poncing about the countryside on my pink Pashley Poppy.

pashley_poppy

Since getting my Boardman though

boardman

and feeling guilty with it spending most of its time in the garage (although not as much time as my little Raleigh Shopper which I haven’t been on for years),

raleigh-shopper

as my £30-from-gumtree mountain bike

mountain-bike

is the one that gets the most use, getting me to the station and back or taking me into town, I’ve taken the opportunity when it’s arisen to get out for a longer ride on the Boardman.

Over the last few weeks, these rides have been a trip to Wye and back (around 20 miles), 28 miles last Sunday and then a record ride for me – 40 miles yesterday.

I was feeling mega-super-hardcore about my 40 miles, until I remembered @naominf RAN 45 miles the day before. Mega-mega-super-super-hardcore.

Although my Janathon exercise effort was to be applauded,

cycling

my diet certainly wasn’t. My food intake for the day was:

Breakfast: satsuma, nectarine, plum

Lunch: Creamy hot chocolate and a toasted teacake

Post-bike ride: 2 x hot chocolate (I was freezing) and 3 biscuits

Pre-dinner snack: 2 x Ferrero Rocher

Dinner: pizza and garlic bread

Post-dinner: 1 piece of peanut butter fudge, 3 squares salted chocolate, Tesco mint thin

Think I need to go and make some granola bars so I have something a bit healthier I can munch on instead of Christmas leftovers.

I also need some cold-weather cycling kit as the three-quarter length cycling tights I bought in the summer weren’t quite up to the job of keeping me warm. Any suggestions?

A birthday blog

Happy birthday to me
I am now forty-three
Happy birthday dear JogBlog
And yes, I’ve been for a jog

After opening my presents (an octopus sculpted by the mega-talented Rich (aka Ume Toys, aka Joggerblogger),

martin

a pair of cat socks, a pair of giraffe socks, a pair of pig socks, the Miranda book, a red polka dot dressing gown and a day off cat-litter-tray-cleaning-duty from iliketocount, and a notepad from Travelling Hopefully)

notepad

and eating Ferrero Rocher for breakfast, I said I’m going for a birthday run, do you want come with me? thus completely forgetting how much I hate running with other people. As far as I’m concerned, socialising should be kept for the pub.

But, anyway, he said yes and so we went out for a rainy run. It did mean I got to wear my new Howies running top. It’s made from merino wool so it’s nice and warm. When it arrived, I thought it was too nice to be worn for running and I quite fancied wearing it with jeans to the pub (although not tonight as birthdays are dresses days). After putting it on though, it’s a bit too see-through to wear as normal clothes – if you look closely, you can see my belly button (this also acts as a warning to not look too closely if you don’t want to see my belly button).

howies-running-topThe run was wet. My feet got soaked. iliketocount tried to loop off and catch me back up until I reminded him of the ‘with’ bit of ‘running with me’.

So, the presents have been opened, the run has been done, the dress is on – time for the pub!

dress-side