Snot Rocket

A rather snotty run home from work today. I have been battling a dreaded summer cold for the past week and it really has been annoying. It's one of those things where you want to go for a run, because you physically can go for a run, but you just feel really bunged up and can't breathe properly, so your run ends up feeling rubbish and you sound like Darth Vader's relative.

Anyway, determined not to wait for the bus home from work and probably catch even more germs (I miss having a car...), I decided I was going to run home regardless. The run home isn't too far, just under 5 miles. But, I decided to extend my run, because I figured that I was out there anyway and I didn't get in any running at the weekend because of the cold, so I ran a little further and did about 6.5 miles. Not too much further, but it all counts. So, it was a snotty run, but a good run. It always feels good to bank some miles for the week.

Made it home

New Year, new adventures.

So here we are in a new year. And I get to thinking about new adventures more than ever...despite the fact that I’m always looking for them anyway. Where will I travel this year? Where will I live and where will I work? I’m still working on these three questions and they all need answers. This is the year for stability. I need to find a place of my own to live and forge a proper career. However, I also really want to run new and more exciting things. This is quite hard without a stable income and car at the moment. I miss all of those obscure ‘out in the middle of nowhere’ marathons. I know I will get there, but I keep asking myself, ‘Are we there yet?’ Nope.

In the meantime I have occupied myself by still running home from work a lot. I never feel like doing it when I set off, but when I get into it, it always turns in to a great training run. As much as I miss having a car right now, I appreciate those moments. I appreciate the self-sufficiency of getting myself home using my own two legs and determination Yesterday I even picked up two pints of milk from the shop on my way back home. Adding a bit of weight to my rucksack varied the training and it was useful, because I needed that milk for my protein shakes ;-)

Running here, there and everywhere.

What do you do when you don't have a car? Well, if you're a runner, you guessed it! The pros of this are that it's a fantastic way to get in all sorts of varied training. Running to and from work with my inov8 rucksack adds a little extra weight to my run, so that mixes things up a bit. I also get in some ‘night running’, since I’ve been running back from work in the dark. Then there’s also running whilst tired, as I almost always feel after work. So, sleepy runs on little food double as good ultra training. 

Running from work also means that I don’t have to drag myself out of the door after work, as I’m killing two birds with one stone via running home. And it is pretty hard to drag yourself out of the door into the cold night air once you’ve settled down in the warmth of your living room. 

Finally, since I’m working a lot over Christmas, that’s a lot of festive training in the bag, which makes up for all that mince pie munching. This also puts a bit of a positive spin on working so much over Christmas, which isn’t the happiest prospect ever (Boo!). I guess the only major downsides to running to work are having hat hair (wearing a hat becomes necessary if the weather is bad, to avoid looking like I’ve been dragged through a hedge backwards...) and remembering to take my makeup with me ;-)