Day 4 (part 2): D is for Dilemma Solved

Beautiful Oxford

Dilemma: If not solved, then at least addressed for now.  Mrs Badger came up with a very cunning plan :- we were due to visit some friends this evening to say happy christmas and new year to their scarily intelligent and well-behaved children. (I had a conversation about relativity and quantum physics with their 12 year old!). Mrs Badger said "Why don't you take your running kit and run home?"  Genius!!!

So I ran home. It was only 2 miles but I feel very smug about the fact that I ran today not just cycled. In fact my runkeeper note that I took afterwards says "ha ha! cycling = cheating (for me in any case)".  Unfortunately, because our friends live right next to the river, once again it was uphill all the b****y way. Not very uphill, but enough to annoy me that there wasn't going to be any downhill reward at the end of it. Still, it was a run and it was more than a mile!

DrrrrrrrrrIINK!

Drink: (or, in the voice of Father Jack: DrrrrrrrINK!!.... FECK! ... ARSE! ... GURLS!)
Ok well not really that kind of drink.  I can't get a handle on my drinking for running.  Either I drink too much beforehand and spend most of the run needing an urgent wee, or I don't drink anything at all.  During several races I have attempted to take a drink along with me - usually a bottle of lucozade sport. The problem is I just forget that I've got it. On more than one occasion I've reached the end of a half marathon with most of a 500ml bottle still left over. I therefore carried nearly half a kilo of extra weight for nothing! On top of my extra lard kilos!  CakeOfGoodHope recommended that I got one of those bottles with a hole through it so that I could carry it more easily (and they hold less), so I tried that, but it had two major faults:

1. I couldn't squeeze it hard and get the liquid to flow out fast enough.
2. After a few miles of me wanging it around it has a head like a pint of guinness and is waaaarm. mmmmm.

I tried to address item 2 by putting it in the freezer the night before, but that means you have to take less liquid (otherwise the bottle explodes) and your hand gets freezing cold and you have to wait for it to melt before you can drink it which doesn't help item 1.

So if anyone has a source for an insulated bottle that I can pour liquid out of like really fast (I like to gulp it down in great big glugs, not sipping like a girl) then please let me know. Or let me know what works for you.

Despair: I reach this point about 1 mile into any run that I do. It's starting to hurt and I just think there's no way I can make it to the end.  I learnt all about this "moment of self doubt" as part of our "training" for my wife's drug-free self-hypnosis labour.  Of course my moment of self doubt is far more serious and important than her moment of self doubt which passed while she pressed contraction timing buttons on my iPhone contraction timer app (seriously!), whilst lying on the sofa listening to whale music.


Doughnuts:  mmmmmmmm. Doughnuts.

Janathon Stats:

Today:
Distance: 3.2km (2 miles)   Time: 17:20    Avg Pace: 5:23/km  (8:40/mile)

Overall:
Distance: 26.66km (16.56 miles)    Time: 2:29:11   Avg Pace: 5:36/km (9:00/mile)

Extras:

Cycling: 9.4km - 26mins