Ho ho ho!
I left work late again on Friday, after almost being hoovered up and dusted by the cleaner, and not feeling very festive at all. It was dark when I got there, and dark when I left. Always dark, like being in the doldrums. And right now it feels that nothing I do makes a difference, and no one cares, or probably even notices what I do. Bah humbug.
Mmmm... humbugs....
I mean, bah humbug.
I was very disappointed in myself for feeling this way. I have been working hard on my mental health, and it's been going very well, and I have been feeling very much better. I was disappointed to have been adversely affected by a bad few days at work. My resilience to this is meant to have improved!
So, enough, I must rouse myself out of this rut, and find a new focus.
I have decided to do the Marcothon. The Marcothon was invented by a wife, who had a husband named Marco. Marco ran every day in November, so his wife named this running streak Marcothon, and then ended up doing it in December. I think it was in 2009 and every year it's becoming more popular. You don't have to sign up to it or anything, it's just a personal challenge. You are meant to run at least 5km or 30 mins each day (whichever comes first), but there's no upper limit.
I thought it sounded a good thing. I've done a couple of running streaks before and enjoyed them a lot. In 2015 I ran every day for 100 days (1000 miles altogether) for charity, and in 2017 I ran every day for the 75 days I was in Australia and New Zealand, as a comeback after being unwell. I like it because it sort of takes the decision making away from deciding if you should run or not today. And sometimes making a decision is hard if your mood is low, so if it's already decided, then that solves that!
So, one decision for the month decided upon, it was time to get on with it.
Day 1: Sunday
My Marcothon began in Milton Keynes. I have never been to Milton Keynes at all until 2 months ago, and now I've been 3 times. I really quite like it. It's not all concrete and round-a-bouts. It's got big open spaces, parks, trim trails, countryside, nice cafes (good hot chocolate) and as well as concrete cows, it has a concrete triceratops.
I don't know anywhere else that has a concrete triceratops, or any kind of triceratops for that matter.
I was here for my fourth attempt at Krav Maga. My friends Alan and Tom have been kindly teaching this, and today Hisayo and my sister Kate came too. From the train station, we ran 3.5 miles to and around Willen Lake, including about 12 Trim Trail (the outdoor gym) stations. It didn't start off well, when I fell off the top of the first climbing frame (fortunately I had a bike helmet in my back pack, which cushioned my fall from grace). But then, and for the first time in my whole life, I did a monkey bar, the entire way across. Pleased as punch with that (plus grateful for a distraction from my previous balls up), and feeling like I'd finally achieved something of note this week, I was considering heading to the cafe for hot chocolate and a sit down, to recover from this dizzying success. But that would mean missing the rest of the Trim Trial (Push up bars - my favourite! The upper body balancing bars - my double favourite! Ha!) and Krav, so I pushed all thoughts of hot chocolate out of my mind, and got on with it. I love Krav, I mean I'm terrible at it, but it's such fun trying to learn it, and even stood outside in the freezing cold, the time passes like a flash. Thanks Alan and Tom for sharing your knowledge and experience! After that, it was time for hot chocolate, and then a 6.5 mile run back to the station.
Day 2: Monday
I actually could not believe it was Monday morning again already. I was meant to get up at 6:15 so I could run before work, as I already had plans in the evening. But I got up, and spent so long staring out of the window in dismay at the darkness and frost, that I ran out of time to run. This was not going well already.
I came up with a plan B, which is a plan I have put off for about 2 years, which is to run to work. It mostly just that the organisation to do this is beyond me that early in the morning. There's just so much stuff you need to get ready at work, and then it has to all fit in a running bag! That, plus the plumbing at work is always breaking, so I've always been worried I'd run there and then the shower would break and flood the building. Which come to think of it, might not be such a bad thing, but anyway....
Marcothon has helped me get over all this faffing, and running to work was a good start to the day, and to make the run up to 30 mins, I did an extra lap around Highbury Fields, which was nice in the morning sunshine.
And I didn't flood the shower.
Day 3: Tuesday
Today I just ran home from work, 5km, which is kind of a usual weekday run. Nothing exciting, down Holloway Road (the worst bit), through the back streets of Canonbury to the Regents Canal, then through Hoxton. Does the job though, and being able to run home feels much better than a tube or train.
It's now only three weeks away from Christmas Eve! And as there was nothing exciting to take a picture of an my run, it is time for some Christmas cheer.....
I've just realised, I perhaps should explain what running streak means. It doesn't involve running naked. Thank goodness, it is December after all. It involves running a streak of consecutive days, wearing full running clothes. Glad that's cleared up.
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