Fog, colds and Movember

Like most of the rest of the UK it seems, I've had a cold for the last couple of weeks - which has curtailed my running a bit. I thought I'd got rid of it but it seems to have made a return and is still lingering in spite of all the fruit eating, vitamin C tablets and hot lemon and honey drinks. Hopefully I'll shake it off soon.

Last weekend I went to Greenwich for my regular Saturday "long slow run" to discover a 10km race was underway as part of Movember - the annual moustache-growing extravaganza to raise funds for men's cancer charities. Lots of the runners had entered into the spirit with plenty of moustaches, real and painted, on display on men and women alike. It was a good natured event with plenty of banter between the runners, stewards and passers-by. Even the "come on come on woman", a regular Greenwich visitor, helpfully pointed out to me that I was "running the wrong way!" as I passed the runners on my anti-clockwise lap.

I completed four full laps and a smaller one for a total of 9 miles, and ran down the "finish straight" the wrong way as the organisers were dismantling the race tents etc.

Work is pretty busy at the moment so I haven't been able to get out at lunchtime as much as I'd hope but I managed a couple of 4 mile runs along the Thames on Tuesday and Thursday this week. The weather has been great for running lately - mild, clear and dry. If only there were more marathons and half-marathons in November !

Bit of a late start yesterday so we went to Dulwich and did a few laps just before lunchtime, but made up for it this morning with another trip to Greenwich, where I did three full laps and one smaller one for a total of 8 miles. It was a cold, foggy start and while the sun was doing its best to break through it never quite managed, making for a rather strange, and chilly, running experience.

So the challenge-o-meter now shows a total of 928 miles. 72 miles to go, in 35 days if I'm going to finish before Christmas. Soon I'll have to start thinking about how I'm going to celebrate the end of the challenge - I think eating and drinking is going to feature quite heavily.

Approaching the final straight

It might seem odd to be talking about "approaching the finish line" when I still have 115 miles to run. But in a 1000 mile "race" it's the equivalent of passing the "3 miles to go" sign in a marathon. Which makes it seem a lot closer. Although fortunately I don't feel as knackered as I did when I reached the "3 miles to go" sign in an actual marathon back in April.

And at the current rate of progress my "challengeometer" says I should complete 1000 miles by 14th December. Which would be good since I don't really want to be out clocking up miles over the Christmas holidays. After 1000 miles and a year's worth of denial (not much alcohol, not many late nights, not much lardy food) it will be nice to just relax and put my feet up for a while. Also, if last winter is any guide, we might have a cold, snowy snap before Christmas, and while it's possible to run in the snow, and I did plenty of it last year, I'd rather not.

Actually I'm quite enjoying running without a training plan, now that I don't have any more races planned. No tempo runs, no intervals, no race pace runs, just gentle jogging and plenty of scope to enjoy the scenery. My four laps around Greenwich today were a real pleasure in fact - a cool cloudy day, a nice empty park (seemed like most folks were at home or preparing for Bonfire night) and, now that the trees in the park have lost most of their leaves, great, open views.

It was also a day of polite, friendly, people holding gates open for me - a spate of them in fact, including one other runner who waited quite a while for me to reach the gate, and an older couple who said to each other "hold on, we should let the athlete through". Not sure who they were referring to, perhaps someone behind me :-)

Tomorrow it'll be off to Dulwich Park for a few more laps.

Earlier in the week I completed my 150th run and my total for the year now stands at 885 miles. Not far now. Just the equivalent of running from my house to Bath. Fortunately not without stopping.