Christmas is coming and there's nothing I can do

After Saturday's Grim, there was no way I was going for a run on Sunday. Why would I? Last time I checked, pain wasn't something I particularly enjoyed and I was still feeling pretty stiff due to the lack of post race stretching. The Lovely Girlfriend was convinced she was going to go out for one though at which point I thought it might be nice to get on the lovely single-speed and keep her company. Then Sunday morning came and LG decided that she had too much to do to bother running today and would rather spend half her morning in Tesco buying more food and wine than we could ever eat!!

Then she got back and we had to go out and buy a Christmas tree that I promised we'd get as we have people coming round in the next week and she wanted to get creative with the decorations. Now I'm guessing I've lived a somewhat sheltered life in my 30 years because those things are bloody expensive!!! I don't know whether it was just London prices but after looking around a couple of places, we she eventually settled on one we she liked. We phoned the bank for a mortgage application and were luckily given an answer straight away. 'Yes you can have the money to pay for a tree that will be up for a max of 4-5 weeks before dying and then you can to spend one of your early January weekends queuing up at the recycling centre to get rid of the stupidly expensive tree!' I was then employed as a lumberjack to haul said tree around. I must say I was disappointed to find that the tree didn't come with a free flannel shirt as part of the package.

That was enough for me. I put the tree up and went into the bedroom to read my book while LG did her thing. Then the christmas tunes started!! Consider my limit of christmas cheer reached!! I told LG I was going for a run to eek this christmas out of me and stretch the legs a bit and happily, she decided to come with.

An out and back route through the common was called for and it felt OK. I mean my legs felt like lumps of wood attached to my hips but a slow 4.14 miles was completely in 40:54 and (41:10 for LG) which put her on 9:57 pace which was her best over this distance yet. Plus best of all, I avoided the christmas overkill in the flat!

I must point out here that the flat does look very nice but what's wrong with the week before christmas?? Bah Humbug!!

Anyway, Tuesday night and another run was planned. Our 4.21 mile loop that has a downhill to start and then a very long bitch of an uphill for the last mile and a half. I know I'm running slower than I usually do but I'm really enjoying running with LG at the moment. I don't feel like this is just my little hobby anymore. We run, we chat and I encourage. It's good fun. Yesterday's time was great. We ran together and LG smashed her previous PB of this route by finishing in 41:02 (9.45 pace) which included a downhill first mile of 8.45!!!! That knocked a minute and 19 seconds off!!

One minor problem with yesterday is I appeared to have aggravated my shin splint problem on my left leg possibly by that first faster mile without proper warm-up but I'm at a loss of how to get rid of it. I've tried the whole rest, ice, compression, elevate thing but to no avail. Any suggestions welcome and hopefully they'll be more in depth than a guy I work with who's answer was 'pain killers'. He has got a point but I'd prefer to try and solve the problem rather than just mask it.

Finally, I've managed to persuade LG into a Christmas Morning 6 miler! We'll be down at LG's parents and I intend to eat, drink and be merry so a 6 miler first thing will get rid of my guilt when I go for seconds at the dinner table or have a second mince pie for desert! 6 miles along the coast of Worthing on Christmas morning. I think LG's starting to wonder what she's got herself into!!