Diamonds are a girl's best friend!

Some good things happening in my life right now - run training going extremely well, weather has got milder and..... I got engaged!!

Cold again

I'm not liking this cold weather! It feels even worse when you've come back from a week in the sun. I had a long run to do on Friday morning and despite all the layers I still didn't warm up.

Then I was supposed to be racing today in the Dewsbury 10k and it was cancelled! Really gutted especially as I had to miss my last race due to being ill. Why did the snow have to come last night? Couldn't it have just waited one more day?!! I then spent the morning driving to places that I thought would be fine to run off road only to get there and the ground was too icy. In the end I had to resort to treadmill at the gym for my efforts session - borrrring! I find running on the treadmill tedious even when doing efforts. This is not why I run - I like to be outside even when it is freezing cold. Oh well at least I have a gym membership which gives me that option as its better than missing the run altogether.

Some warm weather

Just had a lovely week away training in Lanzarote! It's amazing how easy it is to get out of bed early in the morning and go running when the sun is shining. Spent some good quality time with mum and lil sis too as I would train in the morning and late afternoon then spend the day relaxing and gossiping with them!

I finally feel that I'm back to myself after being ill with the cold and double ear infection. My efforts times are now back to where they should be and I feel great on my long runs. The tiredness I had has now gone and my legs are feeling fresh and bouncy! Let's just hope it stays that way.

Sheep on a lead!

Running on the Wirral Way today and ran past a lady walking a couple of dogs and a sheep on a lead! Thought maybe I was seeing things but looked back as I ran past and I wasn't!!

Deaf!!

Feeling really fed up. Recovered from my Christmas cold and back into proper training then I get an ear infection in both ears and have gone practically deaf! On antibiotics which wiped me out for a few days and now only doing short easy runs.

Last day of taking the 7 day antibiotics course today and I still can't hear very well. I've even been having the subtitles on the tv!

I really hope I can get back into proper training next week. I'm then off to Lanzarote the week after and want to get a good training week in whilst out there. Disappointed too as I've had to sack off a half marathon I had planned on 22 Jan. Really gutted - as I was hoping to do well in it.

Christmas

Had a good Christmas in Kent - great to see my family and gets lots of pressies!!

Had a bit of a cold whilst down there though which meant I didn't run quite as much as I was hoping. This also meant that I didn't get to to test out whether runners are more smiley to other runners down south or up here! When I did go out running it was generally early in the morning and I didn't see anyone else. Will have to test it out again next time I'm down!

On a good note though I did a longish run in the same place as I saw lots of miserable runners before and actually got hellos out of all the runner I passed!!

Running

Well its been over 3 weeks since my marathon and I can't believe how recovered my legs feel! I've been mostly doing short easy runs but did my first session of efforts (only 20s efforts though!) 2 days ago and legs are feeling springy!!

I also can't believe how warm the weather has turned this week! Last Friday I was out running and it was snowing and this morning the sun was shining and it was about 12 degrees. Despite the gorgeous running weather though I was surprised at how many miserable runners I saw. I ran past about 6 people and said hello to all and I didn't get one hello back or even a smile. Very sad.

I'm going back "down south" over Christmas and will be doing lots of running so I'm going to test out if people are happier runners up north or down south. I will report back next week......