The party’s over. Three days of alcohol, chocolate and other calorific unmentionables, and it’s time to start repairing some of the damage. After three weeks of running and dieting, my weight has actually increased by half a pound.
Coming after the 7.5 miler on Christmas Eve – my longest run since the marathon in October – the 4 mile run on Christmas morning was painful and slow. I’d been looking forward to it as a curtain raiser to three days of gluttony and sloth, but it was a rather miserable affair. I decided to do the decent thing and go through with the gluttony and sloth, however. So after returning home, there were a few glasses of Champagne (Heidsieck NV) to be dealt with while cooking lunch, and my first reasonable claret in months (Ch Citran 95), while eating it. Throw in the Brown Bros late-harvest riesling with the pud, and I was just about done for.
Boxing Day started out as a rather groggy affair, but I did manage to get to Shepherds Bush in time for the midday kickoff. This was my last match of the season, and perhaps much longer. I waste too much time on the game. I’m challenging the idea that football supporters are hopelessly addicted. If I managed to give up smoking, I can surely get over this stuff. At least we won for the first time in thirteen games. To mark my au revoir, I consumed some hamburgers and a balti pie, before visiting my parents and enjoying another full Christmas dinner and a box of chocolates. But no alcohol at least.
Had to pop round to the pub last night for a neighbourly drink, which went on a little longer than planned. Long enough to make me feel decidedly rough this morning.
A run was the last thing on my mind when I eventually awoke, but it was such a wonderful day — bright sunshine all morning — that I really had to take advantage of it. So I ended up doing a 6.2 mile run along the canal. Oh boy. The excesses of the last few days caught up with me at last. I was cream-crackered by the halfway mark, and had to take a 5 minute walk break before forlornly jogging home the second half.
