Juneathon: Day 2

Boiling hot day today, which was just as well as it was daughter's nursery sports day, rescheduled from last week when it rained torrentially non-stop for, it seemed, several days. Cannot complain of lack of variety in weather. So spent an enjoyable hour sitting on small plastic chair watching toddlers get in a complete muddle about which direction to run in. Daughter was very proud of her medal and certificate, anyway, even though she didn't win anything and in fact came last in the first race, partly due to getting distracted by a butterfly on the start line and setting off a good five seconds after the rest.


Participants were then requested for the parents' race , which was the cue for everyone to sit staring at the ground and shuffling their feet in the traditional manner. Thought I'd better show willing, but it looked like I would be running in solitary splendour until a few more reluctant volunteers were hauled out. Was chaos anyway as nobody knew where the race was meant to be finishing or where, or indeed whether, to turn round and run back to the start. Mothers clearly even worse than toddlers at knowing where they are meant to be going. So I have no idea who won, though mother-in-law said I did, which was probably just family loyalty as it was impossible to tell, but as it's the only race I'm ever likely to even be in a position to not be sure whether I might have won it, I didn't argue.

Anyway it seemed unlikely that this would qualify for Juneathon so I dragged myself out for a five-mile run in the evening after daughter was in bed. As my hilly half marathon is now only 4.5 weeks away and I'm frankly crap at running up hills and generally make a point of avoiding them wherever possible (though can't entirely), thought I'd better include some in this run and not only at the beginning when I am not yet knackered but also in the second half of the run. So I did. And hurray, I managed without stopping, except at around the 4-mile point when a suicidal insect flew into my eye. But I really, really hate those hills, even though they're not very big.

Distance: 5.01 miles
Time: 49:43
Splits: 10:12, 9:49, 10:24, 9:45, 9:28
Average pace: 9:55

Total Juneathon distance so far: 8.17 miles
Total Juneathon running time so far: 1:21:48