Santa Dash!

Start line

 

Back in mid November, I once again cut out junk food and focussed on endurance at the gym, and kept up with some running. The plan: to get fit for the Saddleworth Santa Dash. 

I was 11’9’2 – 73-74kg – at the time. I’m now 11’9’4. Oh well. I have, however, matched my plank record of 7:00, something I’d originally attained in May (and not since til this week). I’ve put 5 more onto my dips record, now at 145. I’ve had reasonable times with a running route I do, but no PBs. 

The Santa Dash – a 5km fun run through the villages of Saddleworth Oldham, featuring 1200 Father Christmases – took place today. I got a respectable 33:18. I was faster in 2018, and slower in 2019. 2020 was cancelled and 2021 I was ill. 

The route starts and ends in Uppermill, where food and drink stalls offer hot and cold refreshments and a live DJ reads out the fastest runners in each category. I ran with my family, although we all ran at our own paces. Finding your relatives afterwards when you’re all a sea of red and white is a challenge, but we managed. 

Prior to today, cutting out junk food was hard. I still had the odd energy drink, out of necessity, including this morning, but beyond that I’ve eaten pretty clean. No takeaways, chocolate, or other such. I perhaps could have upped my porridge and cut my cereal consumption back. 

Thanks to Saddleworth Round Table for organising the day.