Drunk too much. Much too cold.

Sat 25th Feb St Mary's Lighthouse 4.9m 34:54
Sun 26th Feb Tynemouth Priory 6.7m 46:33

At the beginning of the year I had two New Year resolutions. One was too stick to a running plan and the other was too cut down on the amount of alcohol I drink. While my running has gone particularly well so far I've not really stuck to the other side of the deal. My weekly alcohol intake seems to be rising in line with my weekly mileage. In fact last week it was at an alarming rate. I had half a dozen pints on Wednesday whilst watching the match with the lads. Then on Thursday Terry had endured a difficult day at work so we split a bottle of wine, then Cava and a couple of cans on Friday and the same again on Saturday. It all added up to one pretty tired runner. Now if it was all down to my training it wouldn't be so bad, but most of the fatigue was due to poor quality of sleep you get after drinking. So from now on it’s a concerted effort to bring my drinking under control - although having said that I've a night out planned with the lads this Friday.

No football again this weekend, which was just as well because I needed Sunday to catch up on my running. Felt pretty rotten on Saturday morning and the icy blast blowing off the North Sea didn't help. The first part of the run out to the lighthouse was something of a nightmare but I gamely struggled on and running home with the wind at my back came as something of a relief. An average pace of 7:07 per mile wasn't bad given the condition of both me and the weather! The weather got even worse on Sunday with wind and hail mixed in. I opted for an afternoon run and really had to fight the wind on the way back from Tynemouth. I'd planned only a 6 miler but I felt good enough to run the extra 0.7 miles and go along to the Priory. The wind at my back in the first half was a joy tempered by thoughts of what I would face on the way back. I resisted the temptation of cutting inland to take a more sheltered route home, gritted my teeth and tried to spur myself on with mental images of running for a medal in the Olympic marathon. It worked to a certain extent. Although I'd managed a 6:47 per mile average on the way out, I was quite pleased with 7:07 per mile into the wind on the way home. This was my equal longest run of the year so far and almost 3 minutes faster than the same route 2 weeks ago.