Floating eyes and Craters

The recent downturn in the weather has unfortunately (for my toes) coincided with an increase in training, specifically running.

With 14 weeks until the Brighton Marathon it was time to begin the marathon training plan, which it being january - meant digging out the running trainers, wooly hat and gloves. Im pretty fortunate in that i live in a fairly rural area which means that the majority of the run is done on country roads with very minimal traffic with only 1.5-2 miles of my normal six mile loop taking place in the town.

This means that my runs are generally quiet, with only a small amount of contact with cars/people, which having adopted a recent plant based diet, means i am free to ... ahem... turbo boost, whenever i please!

I have also decided to do some time saving training with a weekly run to work, which depending on the route generally means between 7-9 miles. Due to leaving at a quite frankly silly time in the morning, it means that most of the route is done in the dark using a head torch (the awesome shower at the other end makes it worth it....nearly).

This is fine for the most part, but the torch has the habit of picking up animals eyes - which in my half asleep state, scares the living daylights out of me as they appear to make a beeline for me (im still not sure of the need of a clearly retired lady to walk her dog in the dark at 630 am!).

As i am running more and both hockey and swimming clubs have restarted after the christmas break (The FA take note), it has left only a small amount of time to ride my bike.

Although having worn tights, leg warmers, cycle shorts, thermal under shirt, cycle shirt, thermal jacket, buff, thermal hat AND two pairs of gloves today when cycling to work, i still arrived at work looking like a frozen smurf, both my body and washing machine will probably appreciate the small break in cycling at this time. It may also allow the local council to stop circling and start filling in the craters/chasms that feature every 10 yards on my route.

Please remember im doing all this to raise money for a good cause, please donate using the links at the top of the page. As one horse-burger-selling supermarket says 'Every little helps!'