Whoops there goes another year...

Day 4 of Janathon today, which takes us, um, about an eighth of the way through? (Disadvantage of Janathon over Juneathon: 31 is much less easy than 30 to work out percentages of.) It's also, though obviously far less importantly, my birthday. Yay! I'm 43, which sounded a bit depressing, but then I thought that if I live till 86, which seems perfectly feasible looking at the rest of my family and the great ages they tend to achieve - the women, anyway - I'm still only halfway through my life and not even halfway through my adult life, which was a much more cheering thought. Also takes me one step nearer to my grand plan of continuing running until I'm so old I'm the only person left in my age category at races and might therefore actually win a prize.

Anyway I had planned 6 miles today but what with the need to entertain and dole out cake to visiting relatives (I wasn't allowed to make my own birthday cake, so had a pink Disney Princess one from Sainsbury's instead, chosen by guess who), time was short and I only managed 5-and-a-bit. I did get to use my nice new birthday Brooks hi-vis gilet from Run4it though, which I was quite impressed with, though I did initially feel a bit as if I was about to go and dig up a road. It will certainly get me seen, though, which I guess is the main idea. It was very light and comfortable to wear, has pockets which is always nice and even a little inner pocket for your MP3 player, although I didn't discover this until I got home and hence didn't use it. I did look a bit like an explosion in a paint factory with my blue long-sleeved top, purple gloves and fluorescent gilet, but never mind. I didn't overheat, which was my main concern as I do tend to warm up very quickly when I run and hence hate wearing too much. I'm always amazed by the people I see out running in big jackets etc.

Also a word of praise for Run4it who had exceptionally fast delivery (ordered in the afternoon, arrived by courier the following morning) and even threw in a free packet of jelly beans. Good service.

After yesterday's icy experience I decided to do a loop starting by running up the hill and leaving the icy bit till last. The icy bit wasn't quite as bad as yesterday, though still hazardous in places, and it was an enjoyable (and highly visible, just as well given the dark and drizzly weather) run.

Stats:

Distance: 5.1 miles
Time: 50:18
Splits: * 10:51 (up the hill!)
* 10:04
* 9:17
* 10:00 (up another hill)
* 9:15
* 0:50
Average pace: 9:52