Janathon week 1

I'm not sure what my plan was for week one of Janathon. Even on New Year's Eve I was unsure I'd even run on Jan 1st because I was battling a niggling cold. New Year's Day is a brutal affair, and I told my father in law, when he asked, that I'd not run it if I was feeling less than 80%. I suppose I felt about 80% and I managed to pull through and probably placed quite well, almost certainly top 10. Beyond the Black Stump is an informal affair and some people leave at 6am and some before 7 while the main start is at 7am.

My decision to run that was also the test of whether I'd enter Janathon this year. Rather than slow down and rest if I have a mild cold I try to run it out, convincing myself that stopping and resting simply lets the cold get on top. No science, just a hunch and it seems to work. And it did this year. Jan 2nd was always going to be a struggle. The Black Stump destroys my legs and knocking out another run next day is an invitation to ouchy. But I can run on tired, aching legs - in fact I treat it as conditioning for the later stages of marathons, so you can ignore most of my bitching about sore legs.

I took the kids swimming on Saturday and ran home from the pool. A bit later in the day so it avoided the humidity of the morning but added a bit of temperature. It was my shortest day and the legs probably thanked me for the shorter run. Sunday morning I was back up to North Head early, copping the humidity but getting the miles over and done with before a family drive out to Berowra Waters, the location of Beyond the Black Stump. Those hills seem quite long when you're driving them.

Back to work on Monday which meant no thinking about where to run - there and back again. Tuesday and today I was off work looking after Alex so had limited options. Both days I've run my standard beach loop, today adding a little bit extra to bring up 100miles (161km) for the week.

The 100miles was more than I'd anticipated and due in part to a maths fail this morning. I was going to have a lighter, single run day and the intention was to finish on 147km so I could title my blog post 'maximum break' in a homage to snooker. I would have embedded 'Snooker Loopy' by the Matchroom Mob featuring Chas and Dave (my folks were friends with Chas and Dave) and probably written something about the time I met Alex hurricane Higgins in a theatre in London. But I finished the morning on 148 and didn't feel entitled to inflict the song on anyone. But, I figured, 148 is only 13 short of 161 and 161km is 100miles and my morning loop was 13km. Decision made - do it again this evening. And that is how I ran 100miles in week 1 on Janathon. I suspect it will be my biggest week by quite some way.

Rowlf once again missed out on his morning walk, but I made it up to him with a lunchtime swim. I'd have liked to have jumped in with him, but AJ is still off colour and leaving her, age 5 and 51 weeks, ashore while I went for a swim with my dog seemed a bit off.

Back to work again tomorrow and as things stand I'm thinking it will be another light day. It is not so much the pounding the body takes but the dehydration - and the subsequent recovery between outings - that gives me my upper limit. Sydney is horribly humid at the moment; it is most Januarys. We've not had a southerly wind for a while and it's wearing me down. It wears me down before I even start running, but if I'm going to sweat anyway then I may as well clock up a few miles.

Right, that's enough from me for today. Take it away boys!

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Janathon total - 161km, 100miles in old money.