An ode to January sun and cycling jerseys


Well.... my annual leave renews at the end of January and I had some days to take. I fully expected to spend them at home inside reading a book and having to go out running, against my will, in the cold, wet, windy misery of the English coast in January.
Last Thursday this was looking likely - the sea was rough and there were a LOT of stones where there shouldn't have been stones! For those familiar with Brighton sea front - this is the worst I have seen it in 10 years of living there. However, an area of high pressure settled in and it has been a glorious extended weekend.
Huge kudos to the Prom Parkrun sweepers who went out and moved a lot of the stones for Saturday morning before the council came in with the big machines and to the 514 people that turned out on Saturday morning in the glorious cold.

Now for a note on the cold and appropriate clothing for those long winter runs (I did one of those as well in the sunshine on the prom). I am the kind of runner who likes the heat. Hot is good! On bank holiday weekend when people were trudging through a 30 degrees parkrun because it was just too hot, I ran a personal best and was all like "again, again!!!" So as you may imagine sunny or not January is not my favourite time to be out running. So, on go the base layers and the thermal leggings and the shorts and the hat and the gloves and off I go. Then 20 minutes in, I am overheating because, much as i like the heat, hot hands are the worst! Here is my tip, run in a cycling jersey. they are a good outer layer because they are warm, they have a zip for ventilation, they come in fun colours. But so does my New Balance running top? True, but that does not have three pockets on the back, perfect for a hat, some gloves, and for those really long runs... a snack!

Speaking of cycling - did I mention that after the London Marathon I will then be attempting the London to Brighton bike ride and the London, Surrey Ride 100? Oh I did?? Good.

In preparation, I have now finished building my single speed that was rescued from a shed and I managed a ride out in the sun AND IT DIDN'T BREAK!!!

Note: I will not be riding 100 miles on it - I shall do that on a proper bike with gears!


Alas now, after a glorious week in the January sun, the weather has now resumed normal service and I have to go back to work!




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