Category: Running

So yesterday afternoon I had to wait in as I was expecting a delivery (in the morning, but of course it didn’t come until gone 3pm).

I got a few bits for work and then could not resist these baking books (the babycakes book topped it up for free delivery, so it was basically free, right?). After that I had to go to the allotment to plant out some rhubarb crowns that came this week (not allowed to go there after dusk so I didn’t have long) and then I popped out to the shops. I even braved TK Max after hearing good things about it. I am not much of a shopper anyway (in that I don’t have the patience for more than an hour of shopping) but I just really want to tidy it up. I hate the way it is organised- all the coats on one rack were all different colours and sizes- like the Next sale I just cannot be bothered to sift through it all. I found the food section and was impressed with some of the lovely things on offer- I got some Christmas coffee to go in hampers, and some tea for us (vanilla chai, and peach and passionfruit which is gorgeous).

I also popped to Boots and as things were 3 for 2 I got some nail varnish, a sort of pearly top coat, and some conditioner.

Then I made some gingerbread- I used a recipe from the British Bake off book, although I simplified the recipe. Basically you had to heat treacle, butter and syrup in a pan. In a bowl you had flour, sugar, spices and bicarb- you added milk and an egg, and then whisked in the cooled treacle mixture- it all frothed and bubbled up- I imagine how honeycomb is supposed to- before baking it in the oven.

Today I added some lemon icing (just zest and juice of one lemon mixed with icing sugar)- the sunlight was so bright but the picture has not come out that well.

Anyway we had it with our Sunday tea and it went down very well indeed- really moist and sticky like a good gingerbread should be.

This morning I woke up early, and the weather was gorgeous so I went out for a run. I decided on 10K- so I did an out and back route so I could get it just right. I was keeping a close eye on my watch- I knew I had to be under 10 minute miles, although I need to actually work out my pace properly for next week. Mostly I was doing 9.25 ish, at one point it crept over to 10.02 but that prompted me to speed up, and I even kept up a good pace going back up the hill on the way home.

I was very pleased to see that even with crossing roads I had managed sub 60 minute! I might manage my target next weekend! More on that another day I think. Plus, good news, I wore my new trainers- I laced them up much tighter, and put a plaster over the cut, but they were much better so hopefully I will keep them.

Even though I wore a long sleeved top, a jacket, tights and gloves I was pretty cold, so after a shower I went back to bed to warm up. I am reading the new John Grisham book at the moment so read a few more chapters.

Later in the morning we realised that we had run out of a few things (annoying seeing as I only went to the shops yesterday) so we parked a bit away from the town and then walked in. We got to Starbucks at just after 2pm, so decided to take advantage of the festive drinks offer. I had a gingerbread steamer (so no coffee, just steamed milk and gingerbread syrup)- very delicious.

Plus my new nail varnish nearly matches the cups! It was so nice to sit outside- even though it was pretty chilly we were wrapped up warm from our walk anyway.

Are you a good shopper? I find that if I go somewhere new, whether this country or another, I can shop for a bit longer, but if I go to my local shops I can only stand about an hour before I get fed up and want to go home. Although saying that often if we are away somewhere we spend most of our time in coffee shops/ tearooms!

A while ago I ordered myself a “proper” Parkrun barcode- you can just print a paper one off the website, but they do get a bit wrinkled in your pocket while you run. I decided they would be good presents for my Dad and brother too, so I got my Mum to sneakily email me their numbers, and they all came in the post a few weeks ago. I got them from the official place, here, if anyone else is interested.

Please excuse the awful chipped nail varnish that needs to come off asap!

The last time I went I couldn’t use it as my brother came with me, but today I was all on my own so I took it along to give it a try (with my paper one as backup!). The weather predicted rain, but luckily it held off until much later (around 11 am I think). The start was jam packed- I tried to stay on the path as the grass was quite long and very muddy- it looked very slippery. It started as the bells went off at the local church, and I spent the first section going pretty slowly. I overtook a few people in the end, but had decided to use the first bit to warm up as it was freezing! I kept my long sleeved top on the whole time, and wished I had worn tights instead of capris. It was such a good morning for a run, although the air was so cold so it was tougher breathing. I thought that for some miracle I would get around the first loop of the lake without being lapped, but alas a speedy person came past me right at the turn! Another speedy runner nearly pushed me over as he shoved past- how rude.

I had glanced at my Garmin a couple of times- I knew my first mile was slower due to the crowding, but the second mile was much quicker, so again I flipped my watch around so I could not look at it for the final bit. This seems to help a lot. There is a tiny hill (slope? It is steep but only for a few steps) before you run back along the path again, and this often seems to sap all the energy from my legs, but today I was feeling OK in my legs- it was my breathing that could not keep up (I think the cold air made my throat dry, and then I had a few bits of saliva in my throat which I could feel moving when I was breathing if that makes sense- felt like I might choke). The finish chute is on the grass, and annoyingly someone overtook me on the mud (I felt very unstable) and then stopped right before he got to the chute- at least the volunteer asked him to keep moving but I nearly smacked right into him! (And I just checked on the results and it was not even his first one!)

The queue for chip scanning was huge (but no wonder- I was number 171- the same as 2 weeks ago)- I was very glad of my top then as I was getting very cold indeed. One problem with turning my watch around is that I forget to stop it when I finish- I noticed it was still going on 28 something, so I knew I had gone quite fast, but no idea of my time. It meant that the text message was a lovely surprise- 27.16 so not bad- only 26 seconds off my pb- and my third fastest time. I am sure I run better in the cold.

What was weird was that in my final lap I wasn’t by many people, so it felt like I was near the back. But as I was in the queue loads more people came in, and a total of 274 people completed it, so there were just over 100 people who came in after me- it didn’t feel like that!

My race number for the Brighton 10K arrived this week too- exciting stuff!

Once I got home I had a lovely hot shower and some porridge before getting on with the housework- I think I cleaned the house in record time!

Then I made some tea in my infuser- love it! Along with a little chocolate- I was going to use this in baking but wanted to see what it tasted like on its own first.

Also marathon talk released their 200th episode this week. You guys all know how much I love it, and I could ramble on, but this post sums it up really well. So have a read.

Have a lovely weekend 🙂

I love the word blustery, first of all. I think it conveys what autumnal weather can be like, and also reminds me of Winnie The Pooh stories from when I was little. And boy have we had some blustery days recently!

On Sunday I woke up early, (just after 8am)- I was quite pleased with that time but then I realised that the clocks had gone back so it was just past 7am. The weather was windy but sunny, so I decided to head out for a 10K, as I was expecting torrential rain and gales later. The run was great, although it was tough because of the wind. I decided on an out and back (and very specifically out for 3.1 miles) as then I got to repeat my favourite parts of the run. The wind was behind me on the way out, which meant the hill coming home was even tougher than usual with the wind trying to push me back down.

I was home before 9am, so I had a delicious Rude Health pumpkin bar, had a shower and then got back into bed to read. It was bliss.

Later on I had some porridge- I treated myself to some Dorset cereals Gingerbread porridge (I have made my own using molasses and spices, but this is a treat) topped with some apple (my final garden apple) cooked in coconut oil and sugar. So comforting and warming.

I spent some of Sunday afternoon baking in the kitchen (more on that later this week) before we went for dinner at Andy’s parents. We were considering the cinema late on Sunday night but the cold windy weather put us off- we came home and had the heating on instead!

On Monday I woke up super early due to all the wind. Thankfully we have only had a tiny bit of damage (a fence fallen down, although it is down to our neighbours to fix/ replace it). I had planned a rest day, so pottered about before walking to the post office.

There was a bit of damage to see on the way.

A few telegraph wires had been pulled down too.

At least the weather stayed good for my walk (it is just over a mile away)- it poured with rain just after I was back home!

Then I did some baking- I was going to a friends house for afternoon tea and I had offered to make macaroons- they seemed afternoon-tea-like. I made up one batch, then divided it in half. I added yellow colouring and lemon extract to half, and green colouring and mint extract to the other half. For some reason the yellow ones came so easily off the paper, but the mint ones stuck. I sandwiched the lemon ones with lemon curd, and the mint once with dark chocolate spread. I think I should have used more green colouring too, as once they were cooked they lost the colour quite a bit.

I was quite pleased with how they turned out anyway, and I liked these more than when I tried them before- they seemed to have a better chewy texture and a nicer flavour.

This morning the sun was again shining so for my run I headed to the fields, as now it is dark in the evenings so it is not an option then. It was wonderful, but hard work as it was muddy and the grass was slippery. Maybe I need to look into some trail shoes? Would they be OK for the pavement sections too I wonder? Although I need new normal ones too (maybe that will be done on Thursday).

I had a lot of work to do so tried to get on and power through, and included a lovely tea break, using some of the Marie Antoinette tea I bought at the Cake and Bake show- it looked so pretty. It is black tea with roses, other petals, vanilla and cardamom (and some other bits I think).

Also, I am very excited because I got an email from Popchips this week saying that they are going to bring the sweet potato flavour to the UK! No time line yet, but that makes me happy!

Runners- do you have separate shoes for road and trail? 

How did you spend the blustery weekend?