Company on a long run

But first, Saturday. In the week I had received an email saying they were short of volunteers over the next few weeks. I wasn’t sure of my plans for later in February, but I saw they needed someone to do the new runner’s briefing this week, and as I was planning on running it anyway, I said I would do it. Back in the summer when I did this for the first time I was so nervous that my legs were actually shaking (I really hate speaking to adults that I don’t know, or speaking in front of groups of people)- but I have done it a few times now (I think maybe 4) and each time it has been easier. This week as I asked who was a tourist and who was new to parkrun, one guy told me neither, that he was doing the briefing in a few weeks and wanted to see how to do it! I did joke that I hope I would get it right, but that is the good thing about parkrun really- it’s all volunteers, and everyone is in it with you really. A few people came late to the briefing, so I just had time to tell them what they had missed before taking my place in the crowd for the main briefing- I forgot to tuck my laces into the special pockets!

The start can be a bit congested, so I started a little further up and this worked well as I didn’t get stuck behind anyone. I did have to take off my jacket after about a mile as I was getting hot, but I felt like I kept going (although my long run was in the back of my mind for the next day). It was not too muddy which meant the running was easier, and I enjoyed it, which is the main thing- the wind wasn’t too bad (blowing at me as I ran down the hill, and behind on the way up), and I managed 9.32, 8.59 (this has a big downhill bit) and 9.12 for a time of 28.24. My fastest time of 27.44 is getting within reach again.

Afterwards I had a load of work to plough through before we had a house viewing booked. Then I had to get my car tyres pumped up (the pressure light keeps coming on, and despite my best efforts visiting the air station twice on Thursday I managed to deflate my front tyre completely- then Andy had to use the foot pump- it’s been a pain), and then as a treat I got my car washed and we had a drink in Costa while we waited. No longer do I get filthy hands when loading work into the boot!

Later I made caramel shortcake (but didn’t take any pictures!) and some peanut butter stuffed dates, covered in a little of the chocolate left over from the caramel shortcake.

Sunday was long run day, and I had planned with a couple of other girls from the club to do an out and back route along an old railway line. In the end it was only two of us, and it was great. We wanted to do 12 miles, so headed out until our watches beeped, and then turned around. Although my friend had run to the meeting point, and had her watch on km rather than miles. It was lovely to have company and for most of the run it was cold but dry (it rained a bit in the last few miles, but not too heavily luckily), and as we were along a path we were fairly sheltered from the wind. We did have to clamber around a fallen tree that was blocking the path at one point. I had taken a bear yo-yo with me, as I liked those on long runs last year, but actually felt fine the whole time. I much prefer half marathon training in that respect as I do hate having to eat before I run.

As we got back to the start, my watch said 11.5 miles, and so we went for a little extra bit, and ended up running around a little town square to get it up to 12. We could not work out how it had happened, as we had run in a straight line and didn’t even have the option for any short cuts or corner-cutting.

I got home and had some water and a pb stuffed date (they are so good) and the yo-yo’s from my pocket, before having a shower. Then I made some French toast with left over panettone, and then I plugged my Garmin in….

Strava popped up right away, telling me I had a PR (which annoys me because I call it a pb…) for fastest mile- in 5.44. Er, no, that can’t be right! I then looked on the map and realised that it thought I started in a different place, which is why the out and back didn’t match up properly. So, actually we only ran 11.5 miles. Still good half marathon training, and by the time I had noticed I was full of breakfast and not going back out for the extra half a mile!

I suppose normally I would have mapped out a route and just run it, so perhaps I should have looked on the map to see where the 6 mile point was, but at the end of the day it was a good solid run, and still a good amount of miles to put in.

I did some foam rolling later in the day, and we had a little walk which helped, but I felt pretty good. I think that sort of distance is what I enjoy in training- long enough to make me feel tired, but not so long that I spend half my day running and are shattered afterwards.

So you like running with others or on your own? I do like listening to a podcast and zoning out a bit, but I also do love a chat on a run.

Why is house buying so stressful? I know it’s the same everywhere, but having to make the biggest decision on a 15 minute look around is very hard indeed!