Day 60 - The Extra day

In case you hadnt realised, its a leap year this year. Today is our extra day to use up those spare bits of day in the last 3 years. People who are born on Feb 29th must both love it and hate it?

Day 59 - Small dogs and Big pickups

Here is Max & Daisy trying out a potential new vehicle for size. Think they like it :-)

Day 58 - When the red red robin....

Well I had intended to take a picture at Poole parkrun this morning for todays picture but when this little chap started posing for a shot right in front of me, well I just had to oblige....

Day 57 - Take me to the Bridge

I've been trying to take a picture of this bridge with no one on it for ages and everytime I go across it there is always someone else on it. Today it was empty so I took my chance. I'd like to try and get one when its frosty one morning but no such luck so far!

Day 56 - the long and winding path

The weather was good enough for the first time I think this year to take a lunchtime walk without a coat! I was rather taken by the path meandering away in the sunshine.

Day 55 - A fitting dinner for today

Given how cold it was this morning and this evening, what better dinner than Stew and Dumplings....yum.

Day 54 - blood moon

Sadly, I left my phone in the car so couldnt take a picture myself, but this was the colour of the moon as it rose over the Heath on our trail run this evening. Quite spectacular but unfortunately it had risen far up enough to turn back to white by the time we got back to the cars so no chance of a pic then either. Had to resort to finding the closest I could on t'interweb.

Day 53 - not much happening except a dog hugging a cat

Not much happening today, and certainly nothing worth taking a picture of, so here is my desperate attempt to take a pic of something - Daisy hugging her pet cat. At least I can go for the 'Ahhhhh' vote :-)

Day 52 - All the cows

Not often you see all the cows on Upton Heath in one place, but we went past them while running today. Most of them were laying down apart from 2. I make that an 80% chance of rain. The cows were wrong thank goodness but we got a move on just in case!

Day 51 - this years first race number

Not the first race that I will be running this year (that will be the Larmer Tree 20 in a few weeks) but the first race number has arrived for the Exe to Axe coastal 20 mile run a couple of weeks later. 20 mile training runs are hard enough without doing them on your own, so 2 of them will be completed as races! All as part of training for London in April...

Day 50 - To kill a mocking bird?

Its always a shame when a respected author leaves us.
Despite it being a widely regarded classic, I am ashamed to say I have never read 'To Kill a Mockingbird', indeed we were never assigned it at school either, but after hearing that the author Harper Lee died today, perhaps I need to put it on my book list.

Day 49 - Red sky at night..

Well kind of more orange really, but a pretty nice sunset all the same. taken just before leaving work.

Day 48 - its a BOY!

Today's image is a very important one!
A big hello to my First Grandchild, baby McCabe, and he is a boy! a 20 week scan on daughter Hazel today reveals all is going well. This pic is of the top of his head and his arms, see all the fingers.

Day 47 - a bright and frosty morning

What a bitterly cold, but astoundingly bright and sunny morning along the trailway today, glorious sunshine but by the time I got to work I couldnt feel my feet!

Day 46 - Swan lake in the dark

Quick walk round Poole park, reveals quite a lot of swans this evening. This is one that Daisy was harassing, she likes to tease them, he was getting a bit hissy so we left quickly!

Day 45 - For the love of cake....

After doing three rounds with a 15 mile run and feeling like I'd lost, nothing hits the spot like a bit of fresh lemon drizzle cake. Even if I do say so myself :-)
Even the dogs agreed with me.

Day 44 - I'll take that!

Its been quite a while since I got a new parkrun PB.
Yeah, yeah I know it was just a course PB and not at my usual parkrun, and several minutes slower than my Poole one, but hey, I'll take that! you never know how long the next one is going to be :-)

Day 43 - Darwin Day

Who knew that Feb 12th was Darwin Day?
Charles Darwin was born on 12th Feb 1809, 207 years ago.
The day is used to highlight Darwin's contribution to science and to promote science in general. Apparently Darwin Day is celebrated around the world.

I wonder if in another 200 years or so there will be an Attenborough Day. . .

Day 42 - I can cook a rainbow..

As I was cutting up veg for a stir fry, it just occured to me how colourful it all was, just missing yellow and blue for a complete rainbow. Well the yellow could be the noodles I guess, no idea about blue.
Thats all really...:-)

Day 41 - Intervals are the Work of the Devil

Wednesday night is interval night at the moment. 
Supposedly intervals are good for increasing speed, and aerobic capacity, and also give your fast twitch muscles a bit of a work out.
They just seem to make me really really tired!
Just to rub it in is the realisation that the speed I can just about manage to produce for 1 minute at a time.....is a speed some people can keep up for a whole marathon.
Ho Hum. 

Day 40 - Webbed feet required

After all the rain, storms, wind etc the river at Wimborne looked a little flooded this lunchtime. Think I might give sitting on this bench a miss....

Day 39 - Recovery day for Athletes

Now Max is a seasoned Athlete and getting to the car after 13 miles and asking him to get in causes him to stand there looking at you as if to say 'Is that it? only 13 miles? I thought we were going for a long run'. Daisy on the other hand is still upping her mileage and 13 miles is about the furthest she has run so far, so sensibly she has spent the following day recovering like a Kenyan (eat, sleep, repeat)

Day 38 - It's a Sign.....

Its not always easy running a race route you haven't done before with a map and rusty map skills instead of helpful marshalls & signs, so while checking out the WSR Larmer Half route it was encouraging to see a stray lost arrow sign in the middle of nowhere, so of course what could we do but follow it?

We were obviously lulled into a false sense of security though as a couple of miles after this endless field we did go wrong very slightly a couple of times......but only by a couple of hundred metres so we still made it back before it went dark :-)

Day 37 - Sika Surprise

Picture borrowed from Dorset Life

Trouble is when you have dogs you have to take them out even when the weather is grotty. The reward for taking them out along a muddy wet windy walk near Bere Regis today though, was spotting a small herd of about a dozen Sika deer while walking a new route we had not been before (in order to try and stay out of the wind!). I didnt manage to take a photo as I was hanging on to the dogs while the deer made a quick getaway but the picture above (borrowed from Dorset Life) is pretty close although the ones we saw were moving quicker than that!

Day 36 - Stay Alert

A quick lesson in what happens if you let your attention wander on a nighttime muddy trailrun. You end up covered in mud. Ooops!

Day 35 - World Cancer Day

Cancer sucks.
I've seen how breast cancer affected my Aunt and my Mother in Law and am in awe of how they pulled through.
If you need cheering up, look at those little faces above.
If you then feel like giving something, buy one of those little unity bands, give a fiver to a cancer charity, or something, but not nothing.
thanks. :-)

Day 34 - Light at the end of the tunnel

It might not mean a lot to some people, but look....Its still a bit light as I leave to go home! The days are getting longer again, and evening trail running in the daylight is not too far away. Magic.

Day 33 - Groundhog Day

February 2nd is Groundhog Day in Pennsylvania, USA, when, the groundhog peeps out of his winter home and if he sees his shadow he goes back in for another 6 weeks sleep and another 6 weeks of winter.
It's also a great film with Bill Murray as Weatherman Phil Connors who learns some interesting life lessons by getting stuck in a time loop and having to live the same day over and over.
I like the film better :-)

Day 32 - Nothing, but thats a good thing.

Not a lot happened to me today.
A few things happened in history; 1835 - Slavery is abolished in Mauritius, 1957 - Felix Wankel produces the first working prototype of the Wankel Engine, 2003 - Space Shuttle Columbia tragically disintegrates upon re-entry killing all 7 astronauts. Among other events
But not much happened to me (well apart from going to work and coming home again). However this proved to be a blessing in disguise. Kev had kindly made dinner, and walked the dogs, so all that was left for me to do was pour a glass of wine and run a bath....sheer decadence.