Picture the scene. I’m lying on my bedroom floor trying to hide under the bed. All around me is noise – crashes, bangs, electrical equipment. Strange men are shouting and figures are going past my windows.
Was it an earthquake? Was my home being burgled? Was it an alien invasion?? Some of all of the above actually. We had builders. A small extension we’d been planning for 10 years was finally taking shape, but it meant my home had been invaded and over run.
Over the last few weeks I have made it out for just a few runs, sneaking off in my lycra when work was going well and I wasn’t going to be needed to answer any ‘technical’ questions for half an hour. I had days when I planned to run, but then the plumber turned up and the water was turned off. Or the electrician switched the power off. Or there were just too many people needing cups of tea and coffee to keep them happy and working. Determined to do something instead of running, I decided I would try an Advent ‘plank’ streak instead.
So throughout December I have tried my best to do a plank every day, building up my time from a pitiful 40 seconds to a slightly more respectable 2 minutes and 10 seconds. It hasn’t been a compete success, as I did miss a few days. I was often to be found planking in the early hours of the morning just before going to bed. On the day of the ‘hiding from the alien invasion’ I was spotted planking on my bedroom floor by one of the builders heading across the front of the house to the portaloo. It’s amazing quite how quickly I found I could ‘drop and roll’ and pretend to be looking under the bed for something.
As we come to the end of December, our builders are having a break, the first phase of our building work is very nearly finished and thoughts are turning to January and New Year’s resolutions. I have signed up to Janathon and Jantastic, both of which should encourage* me to get out and run as well as building my fitness and strength in other ways. Oh and Janathon will ensure I get back into the habit of blogging regularly. Brace yourselves!
* encourage / prod / shame