Tuesday: Scribs decided to join me for an outdoor run and, not knowing just how far his little legs might take him, we turned back at the chimney (2.5k point). We finished the 5k in 36 minutes, which I think was pretty good for someone that doesn’t run.

Wednesday: Had already decided to join Claire in the gym but it was just as well because I woke up to a thunderstorm and I know I never would have dragged myself out into that. Did my first 8.5k on the treadmill in just under 52 minutes. My 60 minute 10k is looking more and more likely, which is great.

Friday: Back in the gym. Did a 20 minute 3k with the treadmill at a 2 degree incline. Swiftly followed by an immense weights session.

Sunday: Woke up to a balmy 7 degrees and so decided to go back to the gym. Did an 8.5k workout, which actually ended up at 8.75k, in 54.5 minutes.

Total run: 25km

My monthly challenge with Matt ended this week. The final score wasn’t quite as close as last month, let’s just hope I haven’t put him off :-) The Nike Men vs Women challenge ended yesterday too. I logged 141.8km for the women’s team, we still lost. Next year though… :-)

Good luck to those running Boston today.

Thursday: Another 8k. Felt a bit wobbly after 4k but carried on til the end. Just under 49 minutes.

Friday: Did a 17 minute 3k as a warm up for weights. Have been ignoring resistance work since my mileage went up, should probably see to that.

Sunday: 8k again. 48 minutes, which was pretty good, but I did stop for a couple minutes at half way in an attempt to get rid of a stitch. Props to Claire for doing 3k of intervals, nice one :-)

Nike+ challenges are going well. As of yesterday I was whooping Matt 86 to 41k, was 14th out of 55 in the 300 miles in 300 days challenge, and 30th out of 72 in the Marathon Multiplier (210k in a month). Men vs Women still isn’t working for us – 557,106 vs 225,854k.

I also got my free Nike+ Men vs Women long sleeve tee in the post on Friday. I got an email from them last week (as did, I assume, anyone that’s logged enough miles in the challenge) saying that the first however many to reply would get a free tee. Well I can’t pass up the opportunity for free stuff so I’m now the proud owner of a shirt that says “I love you. But I will crush you.” on the front and “Join the men vs women challenge at nikeplus.com” on the back.

My gym membership has now expired so I’m going to attempt running outside again. Expect some longer times as I struggle :-)

Wednesday: A recalibrated 7.5k. My shoes were spot on this time. 47 minutes.

Thursday: No basketball on Wednesday night so was around to go for a run Thursday morning. Set off to do another 7.5k but got odd stabbing pains during the 3rd km. Got so bad that I gave up at 4.3km (25 mins). Decided to have a stretch and then do a couple of km on the exercise bike to finish up.

Friday: Yet another 7.5k in 47 minutes. I think it’s going to be easier to just add on 500m next week instead of trying to get my 7.5k down to 45 minutes.

Sunday: My last 7.5k. My time according to my shoes was a little over 48 minutes but I know that the distance was slightly off as the treadmill was saying 7.75km by the end. I actually clocked in at a little under 47 minutes at the 7.5k mark.

As of midday yesterday I was beating Matt in our monthly distance challenge by 58.8km to 30.1km. I’d finally moved out of the 20s to 16th place in the ’300 miles in 300 days’ challenge (out of 55). The official Nike+ Men vs Women challenge isn’t quite as good. The men have more than doubled our distance of 134,500km. I can only assume it’s because we have less runners :-)