Janathon Day 31 – Man-flu disaster averted!

Yesterday I spoke too soon. Call it false confidence, hubris, whatever. Just as the end was in sight, distaster struck. Last night I was struck down by the man-flu:

(Thanks for @Jo365 for reminding me of this clip).

Yes, that truly devastating illness that lays waste to all men at some point in their lives (whereas women just catch a cold and get on with it). I went to bed early last night feeling rough as a badger’s bum, hoping that I’d just sleep it off and wake up this morning, raring to go, ready to finish Janathon in glory with a lunchtime run at work. Nope, felt worse this morning. Bah….

After a day snoozing on the sofa and dosed to the eyeballs with Lemsip Max Strength, I felt reasonably normal by late afternoon. Charlie was due a walk so, much to Sarah’s disapproval, I decided to take him for a quick dog-jog around the block. It was a 20 minute run-walk affair and I didn’t collapse in a sweaty heap at the end. Disaster averted! Poor Charlie, I think he was miffed after promising him that yeterday was the last. Still, he’s done a total of 28 miles for Janathon, which is not to be sniffed at (geddit?)!!

I’ve saved one of my favourites for today’s #kidsshowathon: Paddington Bear

Paddington Bear

The FINAL #jokeathon comes, again, from Tommy Cooper:

A Janathon participant walks into the psychiatrist wearing only cling film for shorts.
The psychiatrist says to him, “Well, I can clearly see you’re nuts”.

I thought @Jo365 might appreciate that one!

Distance run today: 1.8 miles (2.9 km)
Total distance run: 134.3 miles (216.1 km)
Man-flu Janathon epic fails averted: 1
RunKeeper log: http://runkeeper.com/user/timcnicholls/activity/68858348
Running Free log: http://www.runningfreeonline.com/act/743142

And that’s it. Janathon is done. 31 days of consecutive running (32 if I count New Year’s Eve), a total of 134.3 miles, 18000 calories burned. I’m delighted to have run every day, really pleased with the mileage but most of all amazed by the support and sense of community spirit. With the support of Sarah, the kids and Charlie, I’ve found the running fairly easy to fit into my routine. It’s been a great basis to build running more regularly into my life and I hope it will stand me in good stead for the marathon training. The blogging made me nervous at the outset, but I’ve really enjoyed writing and getting feedback far more than I expected. My only regret is not having had time to read other blogs, comment and generally reciprocate all the goodwill that I’ve received.

 There’s lots of people I’d like to thank: my lovely wife Sarah especially for her support, tolerance and the delicious cakes that have kept me going! Charlie for putting up with the dog-jogs. Flo and Suzie for sharing runs with me during the month. Everyone on Twitter and the blogs who has commented, supported, teased, abused, joked and generally made Janathon so great. Thanks also to Cathy ‘Jog-Blog’ for organising Janathon. Special mention to Lesley Boniface, Phil Lengthorn, Natalie Bowers, Jo Hudson, Rachel Bedford and Jo Taylor for comments, tweets and groans at the bad jokes.  And a particular mention to the two Janathoners who I also know (and have run with) in real life, Mark Townson and Graham Blundell, who have diligently re-tweeted, commented and encouraged throughout the month. Thank you all!

It’s been a blast – see you in June!

Janathon Day 30 – Tell me why I don’t like Mondays

Well, not this particular Monday at least. The reason? Really bad DOMS after my long run yesterday. My legs have taken quite a hammering this month, but today is the worst they’ve been. I guess it’s not surprising after a total of 28km over the weekend, which is a lot for me. The most painful part is that inside bit of the quadriceps just above the knee, (vastus medialis according to an expert Wikipedia). Going down stairs is worst. But hey, I’ve nearly made it to the end of the month without collapsing in a heap of tight muscles and self-pity, so I’m regarding it as a badge of honour.

Someone else who doesn’t like Mondays is Charlie, because I drag him out of the door – figuratively and almost literally speaking – before sunrise, before breakfast, before any civilised, respectable cocker spaniel ought to be seen in public. I promised him this would be the last one to no avail. It took Sarah all her powers of persuasion to prise him from the sofa and deliver him door-wards. Once out in the cold, with the odd flake of snow poetically drifting down, I indulged him a bit, letting him stop and sniff every blade of grass between home and the centre of Wantage. In between sniff breaks I was limping and shuffling along like a day-glo homage to Long John Silver (minus the parrot) as my legs simply refused to cooperate with my attempts to run. The spirit was willing today but the flesh (and the dog) was definitely weak…

So it’s T-minus one day and counting. I’ve exceeded my second mileage target of 130 miles so tomorrow’s lunchtime run will be just about celebrating the glorious craziness of Janathon.

The penultimate #kidsshowathon is filed in the same vintage seventies classic folder as Bagpuss:

The Wombles

My favourite Womble was Wellington, followed by Madame Cholet. Of course there was the famous theme music, written by Mike Batt at the zenith of his career, many years before he inflicted Katie Melua on the world. (Sorry if you like Katie Melua, feel free to flame me in the comments )

Today’s #jokeathon is, yet again, a Tommy Cooper  one-liner:

Police arrested two kids yesterday: one was drinking battery acid, the other was eating fireworks. They charged one and let the other off.

Distance run today: 2.6 miles (4.1 km)
Total distance run: 132.5 miles (211.5 km)
Relieved dogs who won’t have to do any more early morning dog-jogs: 1
RunKeeper log: http://runkeeper.com/user/timcnicholls/activity/68662406
Running Free log: http://www.runningfreeonline.com/act/742397

Janathon Day 29 – Bimbling in the fog of Janathon

Thanks to Sarah kindly offering to take Charlie for a walk this morning, I was able to go for a long slow run this morning. Or, to use the technical term, a bimble. It was cold and foggy when I went out. I wasn’t sure how many miles were left in my legs – they are permanently tight at the moment and feel like I have almost no power – but I thought I’d give my favourite long, slow route a go.

It was surprisingly pleasant running in the fog. Once away from the main road is was really quiet and peaceful, just the bleating of the sheep and the cawing of the crows to keep me company. It’s such a great privilege to be able to do something so simple, so elemental, as getting out and just running. We spend a lot of time obsessing about pace, fuelling strategy, form, shoes, kit, the list goes on. Today turned out to be one of those magical runs where you can just zone out, put one foot in front of the other, and enjoy the sheer physical act of running. I paid no attention to my pace, my running form was probably abysmal but I had a blast. It seemed every other runner I saw must have been enjoying it too – lots of smiles, lots of hellos, even a few jokes. At the end it was my longest run in Janathon to date, and I could have run further if time hadn’t been pressing. When I got home the kids pointed out that I actually had frost on my hat! Fantastic.

On another topic – all of the #janathon #runart letters have been run over the weekend! Thanks to everybody for their efforts; the final collage is in production so watch this space for the results. I’ve linked to the various individual letters on the post I did the other night if you’re interested.

Another classic #kidsshowathon for you today: Bagpuss.

And when Bagpuss went to sleep, they all went to sleep

I never tire of watching this. I loved his yawn and have spent most of my adult life attempting to emulate it. I had a tutor at university who sounded exactly like Professor Yaffle, the carved bookend bird.

Today’s #jokeathon is yet another Tommy Cooper classic:

I bought my wife a wooden leg for Christmas. It’s not her main present, just a stocking filler.

I like that one. I’m easily pleased.

Distance run today: 10.8 miles (17.3 km)
Total distance run: 129.9 miles (207.5 km)
Long slow runs thoroughly enjoyed: 1
RunKeeper log: http://runkeeper.com/user/timcnicholls/activity/68501881
Running Free log: http://www.runningfreeonline.com/act/741652

Janathon Day 28 – Brought to you by the letter ‘J’

So the cunning wheeze of spelling #Janathon in #runart is coming to fruition! We have an ‘O’ from Cathy and an ‘N’ from Phil already with more letters being promised as I type. My original plan today was to go for a long slow run, but that didn’t work out so instead I went for a shorter, slightly faster run, incorporating a local street that I thought would be suitable for a letter ‘J’. I’m rather pleased with the results:

J is for Janathon

I’d have preferred it if the track ran down the centre of the roads but I would have looked a bit daft. It’s also a bit small but there weren’t any longer local roads with a suitable bend and a ‘T’ for the top, so the GPS sampling rate and position jitter make it look a bit spiky. I got a few strange looks from a dog-walker as I made sharp right hand turns and doubled back…

My total run today was a 1km run to the start of the J, about 300m of the J itself, then about 9km of a semi-bimble around Grove and Wantage. All I could think about was how the letter was going to turn out, so I’m pleased it’s worked!

In honour of the title of this post, and with educational entertainment in general, today’s #kidsshowathon is brought to you by Sesame Street:

Aww, gee, Bert!

Bert and Ernie’s bromance was my all-time favourite part of it. Is there anyone who doesn’t like Sesame Street? No, thought not.

Today’s #jokeathon is another Tommy Cooper rip-off:

I went to the doctor’s. He said ‘What appears to be the problem?’.
I said ‘I keep having the same dream, night after night, that beautiful girls are running towards me and I’m pushing them away’.
He said ‘How can I help?’
I said ‘I want you to break my arms.’

Distance run today: 6.5 miles (10.2 km) in 3 parts!
Total distance run: 119.2 miles (190.2 km)
#Janathon #runart letters delivered: 1
RunKeeper log: http://runkeeper.com/user/timcnicholls/activity/68415369
Running Free log: http://www.runningfreeonline.com/act/741324

Janathon Day 27 – Are we nearly there yet Dad?

It’s Friday, it’s the end of a busy week and I’m tired. My legs are knackered and tighter than piano strings. Another early morning dog jog today; Charlie’s tired too so we didn’t set the world on fire this morning. Still it was crisp and dry and it was good to be out in the fresh air. There’s not much else to be said. Hopefully I’ll get a bit of enthusiasm back tomorrow!

Here’s another favourite for #kidsshowathon (can you tell I spent a lot of time watching TV?): Roobarb.

Roobarb and Custard

It had that distinctive wobbly animation and catchy theme tune. I remember arguing with my brother about which was Roobard and which was Custard (dog and cat respectively). Ah, bring back the seventies!

Today’s #jokeathon is also dog related:

I went to a zoo the other day, there was only one dog in it. It was a shitzu.

A Tommy Cooper classic!

Distance run today: 2.5 miles (4.1 km)
Total distance run:  112.7 miles (179.9 km)
Poops scooped: Big fat zero
RunKeeper log: http://runkeeper.com/user/timcnicholls/activity/68207869
Running Free log: http://www.runningfreeonline.com/act/740208

Janathon Run Art – It’s Got Our Name On It

Inspired by the #runart efforts of @copy7t, an idea hatched on Twitter today to spell out Janathon over the weekend, one letter per person. We’ll then collect the run maps together and create a collage which will be posted on the #runart blog. Here’s the list of volunteers and letters. Where people expressed no preference I’ve made an executive decision and assigned one!

Letter	Name	Twitter	Contri
#	Mark	@marktownson	Done
J	Tim	@timcnicholls	Done
A	Shaun	iliketocount (blog)	Done
N	Phil	@phillengthorn	Done
A	Terry	@ReNcEsTaR	Done (*3)
T	Lesley	@lilbee67	Done
H	7t	@copy7t	Done
O	Cathy David	@jogblog @davidgalewis	Done Done
N	Jules	@jules_lewis	Done

So the plan is as follows: over the weekend, run your letter, post the GPS track on RunningFree or wherever you prefer and tweet or blog it. We’ll collect them together and post the collage as an end of Janathon celebration.

Of course, there’s no reason why others can’t contribute letters too. The more the merrier! Spread the word…

Simples!

P.S.If you want to change this, either comment on the post or DM me on Twitter so I don’t miss it.

Janathon Day 26 – A Sunny Interlude

Back to work today and normal routine so it was a lunchtime run for me. It wasn’t looking good this morning – rainy and dark clouds, but by the time I went out the sun had come out. Result! I ran today with a colleague from the lab, Suzie, who is training for the Reading Half Marathon, raising money for the Institute of Physics Africa Appeal and blogging about it here.

We ran an extended version of one of my normal routes around Chilton, adding in a section round bridle paths at the back of the village. It was a bit muddy and puddly from the morning rain but a very pleasant change from doing the same thing time and again, extending the route to about 8km. It was great to have company for once during Janathon and the time soon passed. When I walked back to the office after getting changed the clouds rolled in again and it started raining, so we had a lucky window in the weather.

For #kidsshowathon today I decided to appeal to the masses and go for something obvious:

Scooby-Doo

‘Nuff said really. TV genius. Apart for when Scrappy-Doo arrived and ruined it all. How I mourned.

Today’s #jokeathon is brought to you the by the letters R, U, B, B, I, S and H:

Q: What do you call a one-eyed dinosaur?
A: D’you-think-he-saurus!

T-minus 5 crap jokes and counting…

Distance run today: 5.1 miles (8.2 km)
Total distance run:  110.1 miles (175.8 km)
Rain showers dodged: 1
RunKeeper log: http://runkeeper.com/user/timcnicholls/activity/68100147
Running Free log: http://www.runningfreeonline.com/act/739743