Pyro's Yard v2.0

I guess Janathon's had a few positive effects, on both my running and on life in general. In terms of running, it has meant I wasn't worried about the prospect of covering 20km-plus over a day, and in terms of life it's meant I've met some new, friendly, like-minded people. Well, 'met' is a contentious term, but at least commented on blogs and had them comment on mine... Yesterday was a combination of both of the above. I headed out relatively early in the morning to get down to the Leeds parkrun, a nice steady 25 minute jog from home down to Hyde Park as a warm up, then a steady 28 minute 5km, taking it a little bit easy as I knew I had more mileage to come over the day and I didn't want to wreck myself early on.  A cuppa and a bottle of water at the Union and a lovely couple of hours just relaxing, stretching out gently, enjoying the sun, the Redlands Palomino Company and a good book, and then back over to Hyde Park for the 'Northern Post-Janathon 5k...

So, one challenge ends, another arises. As the song says, that's the way (ah-hah, ah-hah) I like it... I placed top ten in Janathon, 6th place I think, which was a heck of a shock. I never entered for any sense of competition, just for something to give me the motivation to train early in the season and to give me a kick up the jacksy to do some work. I'm happy with my mileage and the effort I put in, I know the areas where I could have done more and the reasons why I didn't, I've shifted my view of my own limitations, I've run further in a month than I probably ever have in a year, and I've managed all of the above without injury. All good stuff. Really good stuff, in fact. And now, with the lessons learnt from Janathon, we carry forward to the next challenge. It's a way off yet, but it's a reason to continue jogging, logging and blogging. And to express it the same way as the big piece of paper on my wall does (target visualisation, don'tcher...

My resolve is broken. I swore I wouldn't. I swore I'd stop. I have to confess... ...I went for a run. Whoops. Airienteers Headingley streets 45min Score-O: 7.95km, 50:50 (damn me trying to push for those couple of extra controls...) Just as well. Big plans ahead. Febathlon, anyone?