As we were away on Sunday morning, I did my long run on Monday instead.
I wanted it to be my longest run before the Brighton half in 2 weeks, and decided that I should run 13 miles. Last year I had run 15 miles before, but I was aiming for under 2 hours. This year I am going to enjoy it, and not worry about the time (I am in the 2-2.15 pen this time) so I thought that 13 would be far enough. I knew that from the start of Ellenbrook parkrun to home was 5 miles, so I went a slightly roundabout way of getting there. I had a bit of a rest here (after 8 miles)- took some pictures and replied to some messages before heading home again. It was cold, but the sun had come out and I was very thirsty by the end. I had taken off my jacket, but then as I turned the wind was very cold and I ended up wearing it for the way home.
I had packed a cereal bar in my belt (a lovely pumpkin one from Rude Health) but I didn’t fancy it. A mile from home I ran through the town centre, and so Starbucks tempted me in- the thought of a nice cold drink was enough to get me to have a little break.
I went for an iced drink and then bought a cinnamon swirl for later (it is sort of a tradition after running a half marathon now)- running the mile home with the ice cold drink was not good though, and even though I kept swapping hands, I ended up with numb fingers!
On Monday afternoon I was visiting a friend- we had a lovely walk along a canal and had tea and cake in a cafe, before walking back along the canal- the perfect way to stop my legs from getting stiff, although there was a lot of traffic on my drive home so I was a bit stiff by the end of the drive.
On Tuesday I did a lot of pottering around at home, cleaning, washing, sorting, and walked into town. In Holland and Barrett I spied this huge tub of peanut butter- I love the Pip and Nut stuff but the little jars are fairly expensive- this is more more economical, and easier to dip dates into as well.
Later I met Andy in town as Starbucks were doing buy one get one free on hot chocolates (he went for a Frappacino which was a much better option in hindsight as my hot choc was really quite disappointing compared to their normal one), and I made him some cookies. We don’t do Valentine’s day (I would much rather celebrate our birthdays than a “Hallmark holiday”) but as I was home it was good to be able to meet up, as if I was at work I wouldn’t be able to.
Annoyingly, the water pipes in our road are being replaced. There was a sign up at the end of the road and we got a letter through last week saying it was due to start on Monday, but then the sign went away. Sadly (I mean, it will be good in the long run, but it is so annoying right now) the diggers came and blocked our cars in our driveway on Wednesday afternoon.
I’d been out visiting friends, and had a lot of fun doing a many point turn to inch past the red fence and squeeze on to the driveway. Not sure how I am going to get my car back out again though…
It is slight chaos because the whole end of the road is coned off, and the road is on a bend, and so when you start to go you can’t see if any cars are coming. Lots of people usually park in the street too, so they have all had to park elsewhere (or like in the photo, just park on the pavement).
Do you have set routes for running or do you make them up as you go along? Since moving I still have not quite sorted my routes yet, and sometimes what I think will be 4 miles will be more like 2.5, and at other times they are much longer! Have you bought any bargains recently? Do you do anything for Valentine’s day? I did like all the posts about Galentine’s Day (taken from the excellent show Parks and Rec), although I didn’t manage a brunch on that day, I have had some lovely catch ups with friends this week.
