Before I jump into a January ‘New Year’ type post, I wanted to write a quick round-up of the Christmas period, which has been especially heavenly.

After two blissful weeks away from the office, jam-packed with family and friends, good food, lots of sleep, running and relaxing, I now feel (almost) ready for the year ahead.

And this Christmas has shown that festivities and fitness don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

Regularly getting more than 6 hours of sleep a night has proven that the dark circles under my eyes aren’t a permanent fixture and will disappear without oodles of concealer, if only I get to bed on time. For the last few weeks I’ve been hitting my 8 hour sleep targets regularly, much to the approval of my Jawbone Up and my body, which does actually seem to function without coffee, who knew?

My Christmas gifts – from people who clearly know me all too well – included, a NutriBullet (which has already had lots of use!), three new vegan cookbooks, a new steamer, a beautiful wooden salad bowl and an enormous new teapot. These are all very welcome additions to our household, which is currently surviving on a diet dominated by green gloop, as I’m still enjoying the novelty of NutriBullet-ing pretty much everything!

I had some very funky new running leggings, which I took out for a spin on Boxing Day, and marathon entry for the 2016 Potteries Marathon from my brother-in-law: I’m not yet sure if he loves me or hates me!

I also had some delicious Nakd bars and some Booja-booja truffles to fuel me though all of this wholesomeness.

While Christmas of course means more tasty tempting treats, and I did indulge in plenty of nuts (my ultimate downfall), a delicious vegan mince pie and a few glasses of mulled wine, being a vegan I think I escaped too much seasonal spread, as the bulk of our meals were based around vegetables, comforting jacket potatoes, salads and soups.

We also tried out some delicious vegetarian restaurants, visiting HanSas Gujarati in Leeds and Prashad in Drighlington, both well worth a visit if you are in West Yorkshire looking for some really indulgent, vegetarian Indian fare.

Training for the Brighton marathon provided me with the motivation I needed to get out and run over the festive period, when snuggling up in front of old movies in my parent’s all-too-cosy house seemed like a very tempting alternative.

Despite the flooding, rainy days and a horrid cold, I just about managed to stay on top of my programme, with a little help from my running buddies!

So now I’m almost ready to get back to work and jump into 2016. This coming year has some new sporting challenges – 2 marathons, learning to ski, a yoga retreat and a coast-to-coast walk are all on my to do list, and somewhere among them I will also be getting married!

Lots more marathon motivation, exercise tips, recipes, reading recommendations and (hopefully) some ‘shredding for the wedding’ secrets to follow.

But for now I’ll leave you with the most delicious breakfast smoothie recipe, adapted from Deliciously Ella, which I blitzed up in my NutriBullet after my long run this morning:

4 Brazil nuts
3 Dates (or 2 Medjool dates)
1 Banana (peeled and sliced)
40g Oats (Ella uses more, but I think this is plenty)
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Honey/Agave
1 tsp Spirulina powder

• Place all ingredients into your blender cup.
• Add a couple of ice cubes and top up with cold water to the max point on the cup.
• Blitz for 40 seconds or until the mixture is totally smooth.

Happy blending!