Back to school tomorrow!

 All good things must come to an end, but what fabulous weather to end the holidays with!         

                                                                    

I woke up up this morning feeling surprisingly wide awake and raring to go! I say surprisingly because I had a late night last night after a busy day shopping in Manchester then seeing and dancing with the rather gorgeous and fabulous Olly Murs at the MEN.  Then, once we got home I had to relax and unwind with a cheeky Gin and Tonic (or two) before hitting the sack! 

Anyhow, I was up by 8am, threw open  opened the curtains  and was delighted to see the sun was shining!  I decided there and then that I was going for a long run!  After  a Breakfast of Weetabix and a couple cups of coffee to get me going I was ready for the off - and strangely the sun was STILL shining, it was a bit of a shock when I opened the door and felt the blast of ice cold air!  Hey Ho you can't have it all!  I had a route planned in my head, and wasn't really sure how many miles it was but knew it would be over 10!  The main problem with Kendal is its in a "dip" so if you want to go any distance at all it involves going up a hill, there is no escaping it if you want to escape Kendal!  So off I went weighing up the best of the bad options before selecting which hill I would tackle...! Strangely on such a glorious morning I didn't see any other runners or walkers out, but came across many cyclists and horses!!  The riders of the horses must belong in the same gang as the youths who were blocking my path on Friday as they seemed determined not to clear a path for me to pass - or perhaps they just didn't have very much control over their horses! After many "excuse me's" shouted at varying volumes followed by fake extra loud coughing, huffing and puffing I was eventually allowed through! 

I know I said that to get out of Kendal you have to go up a hill, so logically that must mean coming down a hill to return... well ... it surely didn't feel like it today!  What ever happened to that glorious downhill feeling?

However, I DID make it home feeling not too knackered and was delighted to see I had done 12.09 miles in 1 hour 52 minutes, average pace 9.18 minutes per mile = a PB for me for that distance.  Bodes well for the 18th March!  A little more push and I might just achieve a sub 2 hour half marathon! I was reading a magazine article recently about accomplishing running goals (yes I'm becoming obsessed!), and it advised a very powerful technique for success was "posting goals" - making up a sign with your race time goal on it and posting it in key places where you will see it every day throughout your training programme so GUESS WHAT!  This is key place number ONE!  

My goal for Liverpool is 

I WILL DO IT!!

Anyhow, after a shower I tucked into a very welcome bacon butty, followed by a chunky Kit Kat and a coffee - I know not the fuel of an elite athlete but by jove it was good and I had worked for it!

Later on, once I had relaxed a little I managed a short 2.60 mile recovery walk with dog and other half before enduring the football on TV!!

It is now wine  O'clock CHEERS!

Yes, ME!!!