Bristol girly fun and 7.53

Hey all!

Hope everyone has had a good few days. I had a lovely time in Bristol with some girly friends.

I had a run before we left, and then topped up on fruit by having a Moma pot with blueberries and strawberries. Yum.

We hired a little apartment which ended up being right in the city centre (although I was driving and finding it involved getting lost in the one way system several times and then seeing it but it being no right turn etc). It involved a meal out as ASK (I am getting over my mushroom issues and had a mushroom sandwich thing), Starbucks chai tea (and I was impressed as they did not try to make me a latte, as is what always happens here when I ask for a hot chai tea), carrot cake in a coffee shop, a trip to Wales, walks in a little welsh town (and up a very steep hill), shopping for pretty summer dresses, hunting for frozen yoghurt (failed at this), a trip to Highclere caste (and of course the tearoom there), playing games in the apartment late at night, early mornings (thanks to the seagulls and the fact the bedroom had no curtains) and so many laughs. It was such fun. I did not take any pics and one of my friends put some on facebook but I have no idea if I can get them off there?

Anyway, I was intending on going for a run when I got home yesterday, but we decided to go to Highclere castle (fans of Downton Abbey may be excited to hear that they film it there, and I was interested to know that it used to be home of the man who discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb) on the way home (kind of on the way) and when we came to drive from there the M4 was shut so we had to go up to Oxford. Anyway, my car does not have air conditioning so for the entire 3.5 hour journey I was baking, and had only had tea at the tearoom (no water in the car), and had a scone for lunch. I was so hot and sticky that I decided a run would probably make me ill, so I had a shower instead (and a walk to the allotments- you will be glad to hear that the lady has dug up her potatoes, but not the shed, and also took a little blackberry bush (I say bush, it has 3 leaves) which I found while digging up all the weeds and I do not believe she knew it was there- this annoyed me a little as I think if I had left all the weeds then she would not have known about it!). Gosh I am rambling today.

So, this morning it was magic mile time! I got up, changed and drank some water and headed out. It was raining hard. I had mapped out the route, which was a loop and a half, no road crossing needed which would make it more accurate. Anyway, I set off and after a few mins realised I was going too fast- I had to slow a little and then after that got into a bit of a rhythm. I could see the lampost that marked the end I sprinted towards it (imagining the crowd cheering me on) and I was SHOCKED to see that my time was 7.53. Crazy! My best 5k time is 28.10, so I was hoping for a little under a 9 min mile (as this is shorter I should run is faster), but I also feel like I have slowed down a bit recently, so I was not going to be upset if I was slower. But that was amazing! I had no idea I could run that fast! But then I had to walk home as I was gasping for breath.

I had my last Moma pot for breakfast after that, and it was much needed!

Now I have started packing for our holiday 🙂 Some of you may remember that at Christmas Andy and myself were supposed to be going to Florida and a few other places, but our plans were scuppered by the great British winter weather (see here). Anyway, we are off on Saturday for a slightly longer holiday (we added on a few more places as we can go for longer in the summer) so off to Miami, Key West, Orlando (and Discovery Cove- my surprise Christmas present), Savannah and Charleston 🙂 So our bed is now covered in neat piles of tops, cropped trousers, swim stuff etc. Pretty sure I won’t need jeans! I want to leave some space for some Old Navy, Gap and Skechers shopping.

But I will also be tempted by all the clif bars and peanut butter! So, I am after recommendations for stuff like that! What should I try to bring back with me??

And my last post had a lot of questions about the basil tofu! I get Taifun tofu, which comes in a 200g pack, in the chiller section (usually in the veggie section of that with all the cauldron stuff etc). It says on the pack you can eat it cold, so I usually have it in sandwiches and stuff. They also do almond and sesame flavour, which I tried but found a bit smokey for me. I think they do an olive one too, but I don’t like olives. I have bought it from Waitrose before, and from Ocado.  Hope that helps 🙂