Week Number Seven in the parkrun House...(ya gotta say it in a Geordie voice)

Breakfast: 2 oatcakes (yum!)

Temp: 39 F (4 C)

Weather: White Cloud

Time: 27:10

Number of times I hit repeat for the song 'Flux': 2

Today's run went well and appeared to be a very popular week for the parkrun. I'm very curious to see just how many runners were recorded this week since it did feel rather full at the starting line. There was lots of water, mud & mush along the route but the sky held back the rain and it was a pleasantly overcast morning, perfect for a run.

This week I've managed to go for two short runs and a yoga class during the week and i'm never quite sure whether I've done 'enough.' I suppose since i'm currently injury free and have been able to successfully run the 5k each week then whatever i'm doing has been 'enough' so far, but I will need to take it up a notch with a proper plan if I want to seriously try to knock some time off my PB in future. For now i'm very happy to be well on my way to achieving goal number 1... to complete my 10 week challenge. It's going alright so far with 35 kilometers down, and only 15 kilometers more to reach my 50k goal! Woohoo!

Today I've officially tried my first post-run recovery drink. It was a very tasty banana flavored one that came free with my Runner's World magazine. I'll have to comment later on the effectiveness and/or after effects, but so far so good! I think the first test was definitely the flavor, and it passed that one with flying colors (phew!).

A good chunk of my weekend will now be spent baking treats for our big Comic Relief(aka: Red Nose Day) Bake Sale at work next Wednesday. The plan is to bake good ol' American-style corn muffins and Be-ro Coffee Kisses which can only attempt to live up to my colleague Emma's Coffee Kisses! I find baking to be very therapeutic & enjoyable, but only when the outcome is successfully tasty of course. My department is quite well known for our very charitable bake sales and it probably helps that our office as a whole has a wicked sweet tooth and absolutely loves snacking! We all muck in and bake or buy enough treats to feed a small village which we then provide as snackage throughout the day to our colleagues for a small monetary donation, all in the name of a great cause. The best way to sum it up is: Yum!

Speaking of charitable donations, THANK YOU VERY MUCH to everyone who has already donated to my Ten Week Challenge in aid of Save the Children!! With your help I have raised over £330 so far which is awesome!

And just in case you want to see the proof, here it is: www.justgiving.com/melissastenweekchallenge