Before and After

I went for a run yesterday to see if the worst bout of man flu in history had impacted my fitness. I was quite shocked when I finished my mile route with no real effort needed. The only difference I noticed was in my legs... it felt like I was running through soup! But that will get better.

I've been doing alot of thinking about the Janathon over the last couple of days:

• Will I finish it?
• How hard will it be?
• How will I feel at the end of it?

The final point made me think of before and after stats for the Janathon. I'm growing a beard at the moment and people want before and after pictures for that, so why shouldn't I provide stats for myself before and after the Janathon? So here are a few stats which I'll re-measure in the beginning of Feb to see if they've changed.

Height: 6ft 4.5in (not likely to change)
Weight: 13st 3lbs
Age: 25
Feeling after running 1 mile: OK
Motivation to go running: almost none
General fitness: If I had to run away from a bear, I wouldn't be slowest

I'm aware that some of these stats are rather subjective and measuring ones fitness against the pace at which one can run away from a bear isn't the most scientific method ever, but if I measure by the same scale at the end, it will work out. Won't it?

Is it over before its even begun??

Aswell as being the season to be jolly, its also the season to be ill. Is being ill for 2 weeks out of 4 in December going to make a dent in my Janathon efforts?
In winters past, I always wondered why the TV and radio were filled with adverts trying to convince people to get the flu jab, especially those with chronic conditions such as asthma (which I have). I found out why asthma sufferers should get the flu jab... terrible flu followed by a debilitating chest infection generally makes the Christmas season less festive. It also hinders ones efforts of running and generally exercising throughout winter.
I will still try to finish the Janathon and I have a feeling the first day is going to be the hardest, but is 3 weeks of no exercise (the first week off was due to xmas parties) going to make this even harder?? I think we all know the answer to that!

Introduction

Welcome to my Janathon site. For those of you who don't know what the Janathon is, please see here: Janathon

The basic premise is that I will be doing some kind of exercise for every day in the month of January 2011. It doesn't matter what that exercise is, it just has to be some form of exercise. My favoured form of exercise would be running because its good for me, however, I hate running and it normally means going out in the cold, so swimming and the gym will probably be the more popular forms of exercise I choose to do.

Check back nearer to January to find out how the preparations are going...