The Christmas PartyYou need to approach this with the same level of planning as you would a marathon. Get your fueling strategy right and you’ll be on the home straight before you know it. Get it wrong and you’ll be hitting the wall and having to relive yourself in a bush before you can say ding dong merrily on high.For a marathon I take gels every five miles, plus water and maybe a few Jelly babies in between – all backed up by a stomach lining bowl of porridge a few hours before. For a Christmas party this translates to a burrito for lunch, a few pints of Guinness for some slow-release alcohol followed by an energy burst of rum and coke around mile 18.Just like the marathon, hydration starts the day before the big event. Make sure you’re sufficiently watered and rested in the run up to the party.
The Hangover
This is where runners excel. Whatever you do post-race is exactly what you should be doing post-party. Reach for your electrolyte drink of choice – Nuun, coconut water or flat coke and enjoy. A post-party meal of carbs and protein is advisable – I suggest a fried egg sandwich with ketchup for breakfast.
The Photos
There’s a good chance that someone in your office was wandering around the Christmas party with a camera, and that the resulting portraits of you in your ironic jumper trying to dance with the Christmas tree are going to appear on Facebook. But you’re a runner – you’ve had worse race pics than this, you can shrug it off. The good news is that, unlike Marathon Photo, there’s unlikely to be a £30 charge for these images. And also, at least you’re not this guy.
Christmas Day
Your number one excuse for getting out of any commitments you’d rather wire yourself up to next door’s illuminations than take part in is ‘Sorry, I’ve got to go for a run’. Marathon training season starts now. A run on Christmas Day is one of the best of the year – there’s hardly any traffic or pedestrians to get in your way and you can wear a Santa hat and feel all festive.
Quality Streets, turkey and cheese boards
these are all yours for the taking – you’ve got runs to fuel. But do remember to run.
Excellent!
I’ll be using running as an excuse a lot over the next week. Surely I have to run every day now in preparation for a marathon next November…?!
Really loved this post!! Hilarious the similarities between surviving a big run and surviving a night of too much fun.
(side note, where do you get coconut water from??? I just moved here from America; I’ve been looking for it everywhere but can’t find it in England!)