When the daily diet will hardly stave off 
scurvy, when all around you are tempting you with yet another newly-opened box of chockies, when the family have a seemingly bottomless appetite for sausage rolls, leftovers + chips, and it seems ungrateful not to indulge in all the alcoholic miscellany that you never normally touch in the course of the year... what about a nice run in the snow on Christmas Day morning to do some bloat-offsetting?
With this thought in mind, the family Brown set off at 8.20 am on Christmas morning, our two cheerful elves in tow, to Basingstoke Parkrun. Kindly volunteers led by Rachel Elliott had agreed to set up and run the regular 5km course (using coloured route markers instead of white, to stand out against the snow). There was a wonderful turnout of people dressed for the occasion - about 50 in total including Santas, Rudolph, a turkey and a Christmas pudding, and elves.
It was jolly chilly, and the snow had compacted to ice with a slush layer on top, making running (especially corners) pretty treacherous going. I set off at a waddle - eventually toddling into the finish in 43rd position, and agreeing with everyone that it had been 'pretty horrible'. But we then set about some mutual congratulation and celebration with some rum and Baileys brought by us, and some panettone, crunchy mince pies and chocolate crunchy tiffin brought along by others. And so it was the perfect start to a festive interlude of gluttony and sloth.
OK - so I have lapsed back into idleness for a few days now - but with Frimley Lakeside 8 mile looming in 4 weeks and the Reading Half-Marathon in March 2010, I need to swiftly get back into some long-distance waddling. Starting tomorrow.
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