There has been a paucity of Juneathon posts of late. I have to admit to bailing mid month, unable to cope with the pressure of late night running followed by early hours blogging, but it wasn’t long before we missed at least the running bit.

It’s actually refreshing to run daily and yet without the challenge of Juneathon it’s very hard to enforce the commitment. After a brief lull we tried to pick up the pace – here’s the daily running tally.

Yesterday we headed out just as the sun was disappearing for a 5k trog around the refreshingly flat Tooting Common.

Lynn led the way from the start, she’s gotten too damn fit during June and I can’t match her pace. Now she has to run a helical route while I trog straight as a dye.

It’s a strange experience to follow, I usually know exactly which path I want to take and Lynn kept refusing to take them. It felt like she was taking me on a random walk, zig zagging from one corner to the next, neatly taking in all the gravel paths with huge stones waiting to embed themselves in my minimally shod arches.

When I checked the GPS track at the end it proved to be a relatively neat route, apart from the last 500 metres where we were desperate to keep ticking over til the 5k mark.

These SW London commons are titchy compared to the likes of Bushy Park and Richmond Park, it’s tough trying to trace out a full 5k route, I don’t imagine they’ll be expanding the park runs out here.

This run marked the first non-stop 5km for the Non-Runner. I remember those early days of personal bests with almost every run, it reminds me how self-affirming this sport is.

I’ve developed a strange affinity for brick walls.

I haven’t been able to pass one today without pinning myself to it and straining hard.

My achilles tendons still feel like very short steel rods so I’ve passed on todays running session in favour of yet more stretching.

A few more hours of partner yoga and I may once again be able to flex my feet.

Plantar fasciitis leads to a terrible tightness in the soles of your feet and it has become fairly normal nowadays for me to hobble across the bedroom floor after I’ve first woken.  This mornings usual moans and groans were particularly enhanced. When I tried to propel myself down the first flight of stairs my right achilles twanged like it was about to snap and my barefoot blister screamed out for mercy.

I might have overdone it a little bit with the barefoot running yesterday.

I’ve since done a little bit of reading about barefoot or minimal shoe running and discovered that most people recommend that you start out incredibly slowly. In the link that I’ve shown it suggests that you should still be inside running gently on the spot for the first 4 weeks and not make it to 3 miles for about 3 months.

Now that is way too slow for me but it seems I’ve probably paid the price -  it was fun though.

Today I had to take my blister and aching limbs for a 7 mile trog around the park in an attempt to raise a few coins for the Samaritans. The non-runner wants me to make it clear that I moaned like a true moaning thing for at least 3/4′s of the way round and that I was fairly intolerable. I only perked up in the final few miles because we had started running and had finally caught up with the grotty kids who’d set off at a ridiculous pace and refused to walk with us. They were obviously intent on winning the “fun walk” but having caught them we pushed on, ignoring their squeals and were laying smugly on the grass, licking 99′s by the time they got round to crossing the finish line.

Should anyone be looking for an excuse to throw some money in the direction of the Samaritans – here is our group sponsorship page

The new shoes didn’t go down particularly well at home. The kids thought I was a freak and the Non-Runner attempted emotional blackmail and then just refused to be seen with me unless it was dark.

In retrospect I probably ought to have a chosen a black pair but they’re not that hideous, and anyway, I like running under cover of darkness.

I was a little apprehensive about trying them out. Our usual route is quite hilly and all tarmac based. I expected the downhills to be particularly painful but when I relaxed into it I was fairly quick to find a flow.

The run was much easier than I anticipated, I seemed to change my form away from heavy heel striking and for some reason my breathing seemed easier as well. I assumed I must have slowed down but the Non-Runner felt I’d set a tougher pace than usual. I can’t check it out unfortunately as I managed to leave the GPS off and I haven’t yet fathomed a way of attaching a foot pod to the minimal Vibram Five Fingers (VFF).

I was really enjoying this run so we pushed on for 4 laps and then I felt a bit of a twinge under the ball of my big toe. Blister alarm bells were ringing and I’d probably overdone it for my first attempt at minimal shoe running or almost barefoot running.

We’ve got a 7 mile charity walk tomorrow for the Samaritans and I’ll probably be obliged to go with normal shoes but I can’t wait to try the VFF’s out again.

Fitnessfootwear have kindly offered up a free pair of the Vibram Five Fingers to the winner of this years Juneathon – good prize!

I’ve got a cold and I’m feeling very sorry for myself. I stayed home tonight, donned pyjamas and put my feet up in front of the tv to watch Marathon Man while everyone else went out for a party.

I thought I was safe.

But the non-runner has just returned all bouncy and eager not to break the Juneathon code. I’ve been dragged out tissue in hand to run another mile.

The sweat is stinging my pitiful red nose.

With only 20 mins to go until the 10th day deadline the damn GPS decided it would attempt the record at the worlds slowest satellite lock on. I had to lean out of the attic window for at least 3 mins.

We decided to head out without our respective ipods just to scrape back a few precious minutes.

Big mistake.

Good golly that non-runner can’t half moan. Apparently her shins and calves are killing her from the incessant running and I managed to add a little moaning echo as all the suspension seems to have departed my knees. You could have pushed two grannies out of their bath chairs, made them run a relay sprint and they wouldn’t have been able to drown out our whining.

Thankfully it didn’t last for long. 5 mins in and our lungs were screaming, no breath left for speech or groans. We wheezed our way round a 14 minute mile and logged on to the blog with 2 whole minutes to spare.

This late night Juneathon running has got to beat our usual Horlicks at bedtime.

By far the hardest thing about Juneathon is the commitment to blog daily, the exercise bit is a cinch in comparison. Blogging requires you to look at your world in a different light, constantly examining your experiences for an interest factor.

I’m afraid interest bypassed me today.

Triggered by Big Runners latest post I allowed my mind to wander in the direction of a potential new obsession or at least a temporary fad. A minimalist running detour that will add flavour to my Juneathon runs.

I have been tempted down the path of barefoot running. Of course actual barefootedness will not do, I cannot adopt an obsession that doesn’t carry with it at least one high tech gadget.

Therefore I am awaiting delivery of some Vibram Five Fingers whence I can commence barefoot running training in shoes.

In the meantime we managed 3 laps of our usual posh house loop.

I went to see the osteopath this evening to deal with my myriad of foot, leg and back complaints but I think she pressed the wrong button as I came away with a whole new ailment in my left buttock.

I’m a positive sort and came home happy in the knowledge that I would not be running for Juneathon as I practically had a medical sick note and would instead substitute a session of long overdue yoga.

We all gathered around the living rug, argued over the relative merits of the crow versus the eagle, shouldered up for a round of the sun salutation and then called half time as one of the kids ended up in tears over a misjudged head stand.

I thought that was quite sufficient to keep me in the running for Juneathon champ but the Non Runner who takes things very seriously indeed, was looking stressed. Apparently yoga just wouldn’t cut the mustard with my own unofficial adjudicator and besides supplies were required.

In the end it was decided that she would run down to ye olde corner shoppe to fetch bread for the kids packed lunch, while I would make our tea. Which for those that are interested, was a low carb version of corned beef hash. Bugger Atkins I say.

Juneathon 8 day tally

Runs: warriorwoman 7, nonrunner 7, kids 1

Yoga: warriorwoman 1, nonrunner 1/2-ish, kids 1

I was close to quitting when I got home this evening but as I was relaxing into the sofa the Non-Runner reminded me that we were expecting a visitation from her ex-Mother-in-law and a nun who wanted to see the kids. That was all the motivation I needed to grab my GPS and trainers, and head swiftly out of the door under the pretext of buying bread.

The Non-Runner was close on my heels as apparantly we needed milk also.

We took our time about it but ticked off another 2.25km in the name of Juneathon and family irresponsibilities. I think we forgot the milk as well.

I wanted nothing more than a lazy evening in front of the telly but as we are committed to the Juneathon cause, we grudgingly donned lycra and ran out into the early evening rain.

We’d had some dispute about our choice of route, with the Non-Runner voting for an exciting never-been-run-before route around Tooting common while I dug my heels in for the excitement of multiple laps around our by now, traditional neighbourhood loop.

I’ve always hated running laps and have avoided multiple loop races like the plague but I seem to have developed a fondness for this 800m circuit of the posh houses. 800m is just about manageable however lethargic you are feeling and it’s short enough to be able to persuade yourself to go for another one and then maybe another and so on.

Today there was plenty of activity in the street and I appreciated the distraction of being able to piece together the story as we tuned in every 7 minutes or so. I found the private sale of 4*4 to be particularly engaging but then I think I must just be a little bit dull.

We were on track for a potential 42min 5k which was the time from my last race but Amy MacDonald had slipped into miserable mode on the ipod. I took the risk of stopping long enough to switch to Audiofuel – Running Wild, and let the first track on that power me up the final hill.

Another good run.
6 laps, 5.22km