I’m trying not to get ahead of myself just yet and go into full on holiday mode. I still have four days left. But that sounds pretty good to me!
This weekend was a busy one as we had a lot to get done, being the last weekend before we go to the States. Friday night I was a lonely spinster while Ben went off with some friends to our local pub for a ‘boy’s night’. I stayed in watching trashy telly and going to bed at 9pm. What a rock and roll lifestyle I have! I was just so tired. I’d been to the gym four times that week (getting up at 5am each time) so I was worn out.
Saturday morning, after a blissful night’s sleep, I was up ready to go help set up parkrun and also run it.
This wasn’t my first run back. I’ve been gently getting back into running with some Garmin-less runs, all kept nice and easy (well it felt easy, I have no idea of pace) and short. I’m not going to blog too much about this running as at the moment it’s all very relaxed, no pressures, no goals, just running when I fancy. And I fancied parkrun so decided to make an appearance.
It was very chilly setting up in the morning (about 8am) and we noticed some black ice on the course as we were putting the markers out so we diverted the route slightly onto the grass (which later turned into an absolute mud bath). And then it started to rain icy rain!! I didn’t mind the crisp, dry coldness but icy rain is awful. After setting everything up I did a warm up as I was just SO cold. I didn’t even take my ski jacket off until the last minute!
The run went fine. I won’t lie, I’ve lost a lot of endurance and speed since not running for so many weeks so my easy pace is not what my easy pace used to. But it was just nice to be out in the fresh air seeing familiar, friendly faces. Without any real running goals it means I’m not panicking about hitting paces or mileage. At the moment it’s purely supplementary to my gym goings. I finished in just under 24 minutes which I was happy with and managed to negative split the miles with a nice push of 7.38 on the last mile. I’ll take that!
After clearing everything away and catching up with people, I headed home to Ben. He was somewhat hung over bless him. We got the housework done and then he headed out for bike ride with a friend. The first bike ride since being told to stop all exercise (all OK’ed with the physio). I think it went well and he was happy to feel the rush of endorphins again.
In the evening we headed to Brasserie Blanc in Gunwharf Quays with Ben’s mum to have a superb meal. We were celebrating her birthday and decided to splash out on a rather posh meal. It’s not the most expensive restaurant in the world but it’s fairly pricy!
I had a selection of salads to start, a coquelet for my main and an amazing chocolate soufflé for pudding.
It was so good! Definitely a winner. The soufflé was unbelievably light (not as in less calories as hello it’s pudding, but as in the texture). It wasn’t a heavy chocolate pudding and the pistachio ice cream it came with balanced it perfectly.
Sunday was all about chilling for me. No gym, no running, just nice Alfie walks and a trip into Southampton to take back clothes that we’d ordered online that either looked awful or didn’t fit. I got annoyed in Top Shop as all the jeans that they were selling were either skinny, high-waisted skinny or ‘mom’ jeans. They had so many pairs of bloody skinny jeans. *sighs* So annoying as Top Shop is normally a perfect place for me to get jeans but skinny jeans are not my thing (wrong for my body shape and bloody uncomfortable). But we did managed to exchange a few items for both Ben and me so it was a success.
And now back to the grind. Got some gym visits planned for this week and perhaps a couple of runs. I’m considering running very early on Friday before we get picked up by the taxi at 6.30am as I know I’ll feel crazy antsy on the plane for ten hours otherwise! Am I mad???
Would you run really early when you’re going to fly on a plane later? It’s just such a long time to be sat not moving much…
Do you enjoy going to slightly more posh restaurants occasionally and spending a bit more on a meal that you might do normally?
Did you do any workouts this weekend? Any parkruns?