Happily Ever After

Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, three cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running

Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.

The Flapjack Challenge

by Russell Turner - 18:13 on 24 January 2021

Matchgirl is striving for fitness after her enforced lay-off, and doing well, but it seems I’m not much help.

Yesterday, as well as serving homemade lasagne for tea, I’d earlier made a trayful of gingerbread flapjack. Both were enjoyed (she had two pieces of flapjack, not half the tray) but today the pleasure was dampened a little when she converted her portions into calories.

The moderately cheesy lasagne had an acceptable calorie count, but she was horrified to calculate 350cals for a 2cm cube of flapjack: probably no great surprise when sugar, golden syrup, ginger syrup and huge amounts of butter are involved. I’d have thought it the perfect pre-training energy boost – all those slow-release oats – but it seems not. Her flapjack intake will be strictly controlled.

We were both out today, on roads only lightly affected by slipperiness, although not together; she had 80mins easy to complete, I had 6 miles steady, so our efforts were incompatible even if she wished for a running partner, which she doesn’t: an iPod is her preferred company.

However, we did both pass the ginger-bearded runner clad in shorts and T-shirt who trotted happily alongside snow-covered fields. That’s hard core. Whether he remained happy, when he turned around to face the icy breeze at his back, we’ll never know.

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