Day 12 to Day 25!

  

So I'm halfway through the challenge!  142.32 kilometres tracked, with 16 hours 33 mins total!!

If I'm being honest, it's not been too difficult!  Admittedly there have been some days when I've struggled to find the time (mainly over the Easter weekend, when I was attempting to paint most of my flat!), but I've always managed to cram it in (rushing to the gym to do a 5km at 9.30pm on Easter Monday, covered in paint was a low point!!)

To keep things interesting I've been on some new running routes, and last week we went to the assault course at Inverleith Park.  It was ace.  Apart from the monkey bars.  And the pull up machine. Luckily this isn't a 5 pull ups a day challenge or I'd fail miserably!!

So assessing things half way through, I've decided to add an extra element - partly because I have to make up for missing a day, and partly because I feel like I want to make it more of a challenge.  For the next 25 days I'm going to cut out two of my favourite things: alcohol and sugary treats (fruit doesn't count.  Costa's Millionaires Shortbread does.  Crap!)  This is perhaps the biggest challenge of my life.  Oh, apart from I'm giving myself one day off on Saturday 10 May, because I'm on a hen!  And not drinking would be sacrilege to the Hen Gods.

BUT I am going to try to avoid alcohol when I go to the Rugby 7s the weekend before.  This is a big ask, as I honestly have no idea what you're meant to do at a 7s tournament if you're not drinking and sitting in the sun.  Oh, watch rugby?!  Hmm.

Avoiding sugar and all good treats is also a ridiculously hard challenge.  Because I'm giving myself a day off from the alcohol, there will be no excuses for the sugar.  Damn.  This might be harder than staying off the booze, because (much to my dismay!) there are hardly ever bottles of booze just lying around the office, asking to be drunk.  Whereas there is aaaalways good food.  Right now a couple of massive bars of Cadburys and some home baking is whispering my name!  But I'm ignoring them!!  I am however planning out when I can next have some of Costa's Millionaire Shortbread (it's soooo good!).  At the airport.  Day 51.  With a Gin.  It's probably not a winning combination, but if I've managed to avoid alcohol and sugar then it'll be well deserved!


So here is the amended goals for the last half of the challenge:

1. Five 5km a day.  (Natch!)
2. Run 5km, at least five times a week, and at least three times outside
3. No alcohol (apart from on Ally's hen!)
4. No sugar (no exceptions)
5. Blog more!

That all seems doable.....

    

       

Day 2 to Day 11

Day 2 to 11...Done! 

I came across a picture on instagram last week which had the 5x50 tag...the caption was 5km down, 245km to go!  Eeeeesh that is a lot of kilometres!

But here I am on day 11, and it's 50 kilometres down, 200 to go!  And yes, those maths skills do seem questionable!  It should really be 55 kilometres down, 195 to go, but I was off work ill yesterday, and had absolutely no energy to get the 5km done.  So I had an (unwilling!) day off, and was right back on the bike (literally) tonight.  I feel a bit disappointed that I'll not manage the 5km every day, so I'll either tack the extra 5km on at the end, or find another more appropriate way to make the day up (any suggestions?!)

The 50km down so far have been mainly ok, but sometimes a little challenging.  Luckily I've had some amazing running buddies in the form of a bestie and a boyfriend (thanks guys!)  My aim by the end of the challenge is to be able to run a 5km in under 30 minutes, so I'm working to a training and pace plan to get myself there.  The first week has been almost plain sailing, apart from some agony in my feet - but with some googling I've found a way to strap them up, and the difference has been amazing!  My first run took me 36.42 minutes, and the second run (with the foot pain!) took 38.47....however, by the end of the week, I was down to 34 minutes!  Happy days - only 4 minutes to go!

So here's to the next 200 kilometres.....!