Afternoon peeps, hope you are all having a lovely weekend.
Yesterday after work we went into London for a picnic concert! What a great idea! It was at Kenwood house, which is somewhere in London (we parked at a tube station and then there were free buses to take us to the park), and we sat in the park on a picnic blanket, while an orchestra (I think it was the London philharmonic but am not sure) played music from films- we had Star Wars, The Great Escape, Psycho, Jaws, and loads of others. It was a brilliant way to spend an evening.
Today it was time for a run, and I was a little nervous because of cutting short my Monday run. I did try to take a “before” picture, but this was my most successful attempt. The flash kept going off and I have no idea how to turn it off, and Andy was out running so he could not take it for me.
Anyway it was supposed to show that I was giving my marathon t shirt it’s first outing 🙂 And also my tennis visor as it was gently raining at that point, and that is meant to keep the rain off my glasses.
Well, the run started out just fine. It was raining but my legs were feeling good and I was running consistently, and not feeling too tired or anything like that. I passed the poor regiment fitness people crawling under nets in the muddy grass, and went through Welwyn town centre, and was even contemplating running for longer. Then, 5 miles in the rain changed from gentle/hard rain, to bucketing down. I was drenched in less than a minute- I could feel my socks soaking up water, I could hear my trainers squelching with every step, my t-shirt and capris were heavy and dragging because of the water. To top that off an orange van drove past and caused a tidal wave of muddy disgusting road water to smack into me. I was no longer a happy bunny. I was basically furthest from home there- no chance of a short cut, so I just had to get my head down and try to get home as fast as possible. I did wave thanks to the nice drivers who either let me cross the road when I was waiting (there were so many that just drove on- come on people you are warm and dry in your cars) or who pulled out to avoid splashing me. But there were several more drivers who drenched me. Well, I think I was at saturation point already but you get my point. I mean, just because I am out running in the rain, does not mean I want to get any wetter!
Not sure if you can see how wet I am but I was dripping all over the place (I had to take them off after this and put them in a bag so avoid soaking the carpet etc!)- and my t-shirt was stuck to me with all the water! (Andy took this picture having got home right after I left and missed all the rain basically! If only I could run that far before breakfast). Andy had even put his phone off silent in case I rang him (although I did not take mine with me oops!).
I jumped straight in the shower (very unusual for me as normally I have some drink and food first) and my hair was so wet I could have just put on the shampoo straight away. I was so cold!
Anyway, after that I had another treat from my bloggie swap box;
Another delicious Clif bar (chocolate almond fudge), and some Kara coconut milk and nesquick.
Yum look how dark and chocolatey it is 🙂 Sorry it is a bit blurred!
Right, for the rest of the weekend I have a fudge making extravaganza planned (as gifts for people at work)- I am thinking dark chocolate mint, and some kind of coconut one (would white chocolate go with coconut?). And maybe those tofu brownies that Katie made and Rachel has converted into UK weight measurements. Oh, and hopefully get to see Bridesmaids as this weather is perfect cinema going weather in my opinion!
So, running in the rain- yay or nay? Do you get rain rage?
And exciting weekend plans?
Well as you know I didn’t mind running in gentle rain a few weeks ago but I have the Great North 10k tomorrow and I’m really hoping that its not bucketing down! Your baking a thon sounds like good fun!
Any run beats no run for me, no matter what the weather.
I do indeed get rain rage though, particularly with buses and lorries. Once I actually got hit with such a tidal wave that I ended up swallowing mucky road water, as the wave washed straight over my head. It was an absolute monsoon at the time and the drains were overflowing. Lovely…I got a stomach bug about two days later and I still wonder if the road tsunami was responsible.
This weekend I shall be living vicariously though Laura (Keeping Healthy) running the GN 10K…
xxx
Oh dear – poor you! It’s the most horrible feeling to get absolutely soaked by a passing car.
Despite starting to run 4 months ago, I’ve only ever ran in light rain. It was pouring down just before my 10k, but stopped when I got to the start line. Having said that thunder storms are forecast for tomorrow for my long run – I’m still going to go for it!
I’m not a rain runner (not at that point yet) but I imagine I would only run in the rain if it were hot (African stylie), I always let people cross roads (runner or not) just to help them get to where they are going quicker and possibly dryer 🙂
I LOVE running in the rain, especially absolutely torrential rain. Like this:
http://doasyourdadsays.blogspot.com/2010/10/drowned-rat-but-happy.html
Some drivers are so inconsiderate! No running in the rain for me, I draw the line at neccessary walking trips.
The picnic concert sounds like such a good idea, I love sitting outside on nice evenings.
Have fun fudge making, can’t wait to see the pics! We made some in uni this year (food experiments) and it failed so badly.
Laura- fingers crossed for the weather for you today- down here it is cloudy and overcast but not raining, but I am much further south!
Jessica-I actually had a panic about that as I got splashed with the muddy water and I thought that even though my mouth was shut it might have got on my lips, and I started thinking about stuff like dog poo that might have been on the pavements and stuff- did not drink any more water after that in case I swallowed some by accident!
Sarah- hope it stays dry for your long run today.
Lara- yeah if it is hot then the rain is lovely and cooling.
Rob- I think you may call me a southern softie (or worse) after reading your race report!
Leigh-the picnic concert was fab- I will be looking out for more next year/
Argh! I can’t imagine anything worse than running in the rain so i commend you, you amazing woman!
That clif bar looks very tasty too 😀
I’ve ran in light drizzle before which was refreshing, but I’ve been sat here all day looking at the torrential ain wondering if I should attempt a run- I don’t think it would be worth it!
I really feel for you! I was cycling and that was bad enough but I did think how much more horrible it would be for runners, especially if you had the same howling gale we’ve had all weekend… hope you got to eat some of the fudge to make up for it 🙂
Thank you so much for the Body Pump tips too!
Urgh. Sounds like you had a bit of a nightmare on the rain running. I don’t mind a short run in lightish rain but nothing torrential. I hate that your earphone get soaked through and your trainers end up smelling a bit like a pond afterwards. My worst experience was when it started snowing heavily during a run… I was so unimpressed! 😉
Have a great week!
Oh dear Jessica- snow does not sound good! I did get hailed on once and that was bad.
Eleanor- glad they helped 🙂 I do love body pump!
Ffion- if it was bad at the start I would do a DVD instead!
Sarah- thanks! And yes the clif bar was yummy!
Oh Gosh it really did pour down on you didn’t it? I hate being soaked to the skin like that but it is the BEST feeling to get those wet clothes off and step into a warm shower… delightful!!!!