Paternity leave not included

No. of km done: 149

No. of km to target: 851

Conditions: Cloudy and wet

Starting music: Gasolina  by Daddy Yankee

Finishing music: On a Day Like This by Elbow

Very tired today after the unexpected early arrival of little Juno on Sunday night (and hence no run on Monday as I was far too knackered), but managed to grab an hour or so today to clock up five miles. Good practice for still having to put the miles in when I'm being kept awake at night I suspect!

And later on, I might even have a go at pushing a pram round while I do a route. Though possibly not down the towpath :)

Oops

No. of km done: 141

No. of km to target: 859 

Conditions: Cloudy and cold

Starting music: Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel

Finishing music: Evacuate the Dancefloor by Cascada

Completely forgot to upload my run yesterday, but I did do one! Which is just as well, as I wouldn't fancy doing one today as it's tipping down. As is the forecast for most of next week. Looks like a soggy few days ahead :(

Was quite chilly on Friday, but I seemed to run faster and better (helped by random selection of a lot of loud, fast dance music - not something I'm usually a fan of, but I have to admit it does work well when running). I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion I work better when it's a bit cold - it's pretty horrible until I warm up, but after that I'm much more comfortable than when it's hotter. Which might make summer interesting...

Hard night's day

No. of km done: 133

No. of km to target: 867 

Conditions: Cloudy

Starting music: I Salute Your Solution by The Raconteurs

Finishing music: Spaceman by The Killers

Bit of an odd one today. Missed Monday's run after being up very late on Sunday night after a hospital visit with Jane because of the baby (thankfully false alarm, all good now), then last night I had to work late and then had to deal with our cat Twig being unwell and howling, so didn't get much more than 5 hours sleep. Thought I'd better go running anyway though before I started to slip behind target, and much to my surprise I felt fine apart from a bit of cramp. How I'll feel tomorrow though is anyone's guess!

Think it may be new shoe time soon - the current pair are starting to feel a bit "dead", and they wheeze a bit - that usually means some sort of air cushion has burst in the sole, so they're only going to get deader and probably waterlogged as time goes on, and that in turn leads to numb feet (well, does for me anyway) and cramp. Off to TK Maxx to scour the sports shoe section for me!

Technical diffculties

No. of km done: 124

No. of km to target: 876 

Conditions: Some clouds, very mild

Starting music: It Feels So Good by Sonique

Finishing music: New Frontier by Counting Crows

Today was almost disappointing again - run was fine (weather was so mild, for the first time this year I had no gloves or hat on), I took pictures, I got home, hooked up the camera and...nothing. Thankfully, half an hour or so delving through dusty corners of the Sony website came up with the world's lowest resolution PDF manual, and I figured out I had my USB settings wrong on the camera ("Normal" mode is apparently not normal, despite what it may claim. I needed the mysterious sounding and entirely unexplained "PTP" mode). Anyway, that's all fixed now, so here are some pics of my "hard" route - so called because it features going uphill through four sets of locks and is the muddiest and narrowest of my regular routes. Though if I carried on and did 5 miles out then 5 miles back, as I have done a couple of times, it gets a lot worse as there's a ladder of 21 locks in a row! (If you're interested, have a look here.)

25 miles or so that way is Birmingham...

A lock.

The same lock, only I'm closer to it (great caption, eh?).

...and 125 miles or so that way is London. They run a 150 mile race every year down the tow path all the way - and horrifyingly they run it non-stop!!!

No, I haven't got any bread. Sorry. No, not even a bap.

Pretty pictures (not)

No. of km done: 116

No. of km to target: 884 

Conditions: Sunny, quite mild for January

Starting music: Slight Return by The Bluetones

Finishing music: I Know The Gun Isn't Loaded by the Cosmic Rough Riders

Well that's a bit disappointing. Today, I took out my new* tiny tiny Sony DSC-U20 Cybershot camera, and took some nice shots of the towpath and countryside. And for some reason they all appear to have deleted themselves in my pocket on the way back. Bah!

I shall try again on Friday if the weather is decent enough. Which it probably won't be, as rain is forecast. Bugger.

*Well, new to me anyway - it's actually about 7 years old and used to cost hundreds of quids, but I got one off eBay for a fiver specifically for taking pics while out as I can shove it in my pocket without it weighing so much it bruises me in the groin when running or makes my shorts fall down (neither of which are that appealing).

Beware of falling trees

No. of km done: 107

No. of km to target: 893 

Conditions: Windy!

Starting music: Cecilia by Simon & Garfunkel

Finishing music: Come Up And See Me (Make Me Smile) by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel

Fairly nice run, if extra-knackering because of running into a strong headwind for a good third or so of the distance. Could have been a lot more exciting too, as on my way home one of the roads was closed as the wind had brought down half a tree onto the road and pavement - the same pavement I'd run up the road on about 20 minutes earlier.

Lucky escape!

100, not out!

No. of km done: 100!

No. of km to target: 900 

Conditions: Grey

Starting music: Songs of Love by the Divine Comedy

Finishing music: Nothing - battery ran out :(

Well the weather was lousy, I was overtaken by a smug sporty arse in a running club tracksuit, and my Walkman had a fit and then ran out of battery after just a mile, but I did 10 km today, which takes me to my first milestone - 100 km in the can, with no major injuries and one of the worst months weather wise (in theory) behind me. Wahey!

Now I'm off to celebrate with a cup of tea and a large number of chocolate biscuits. But first, a shower, because I smell. Of victory! But alas, also: sweat.