Magathon does Janathon

"You're what?!" Mik exclaimed,
"I'm going out for a run" I replied, straightfaced and completely sincere.
"No, you're not though; are you?"
"Yes. I really am; it's the first day of Janathon!"
Mik failed to find any words to reply to this, and instead stared at me with a facial expression that looked confused, aghast and bemused at the same time; not something I've seen before.

So, leaving my other half in the house with the football, a very comfortable sofa, and all the proof he needed that I am certifiably mad and obsessed when it comes to running, I headed out the door.  Well, actually that makes it sound easy. I actually took about 1/2 hour getting ready, couldn't find my i-pod, found my i-pod, forgot my garmin, remembered my garmin and changed my 3 mile planned run to a mile!

By this point, darkness had shrouded the streets of Moston like an old, faithful friend; I was very much glad of the darkness because I looked look an absolute state. Having celebrated the new year in with friends until 4.30am, I never made it to bed and instead slept on a sofa... in the dress I'd been wearing that night - classy!
Of course, why I'm telling you this, I have no idea... surely this is the place where I pretend I'm some kind of dedicated athlete who didn't binge-drink copious amounts of a wide variety of alcohol the night before, collapse into a deep sleep, then wake and eat a large big mac meal AND a festive pie! OH GOD! I'm doing it again!!!

Anyway... needless to say, with that kind of preparation, mile one was hard... and I burped a lot!

As mile one ended though, I started feeling better which lead to a mile two... and a slightly faster pace; having hidden my watch beneath my sleeve, I didn't realise this until I returned home though! It was at this point I started thinking about the reason I was out: Janathon. If it wasn't for Janathon, and the vain attempt of 170 like-minded people to run everyday for 31 days, I wouldn't be running through the darkened streets of Manchester; and instead of this causing me to turn tail and head for the safety of my sofa, I felt glad to be a part of this virtual challenge and community. And I felt good.

So I managed mile three... and as the nostalgic notes of Ash, Girl from Mars, flooded into my ears through my ear-phones, I realised I was going to run four miles! Woop woop!

So, in the style of Mr Gordon Ramsey (for no particular reason): First run of 2011: Done; first run of Janathon: Done; cuppa tea and collaspe on the sofa... Done!

Distance: 4.11 miles
Weather: grey and drizzly
Feeling: that it was more like exorcise than exercise!
See my run here