Why is it weekends fly by so quickly? I was quite busy so this is probably why I guess!
Saturday morning saw me back at parkrun at Netley Abbey after a couple of weeks off of running. I hadn’t seen Mike, or any of the Netley parkrun crew, in ages so it was nice to catch up with everyone. I basically chatted the entire way round parkrun! I wasn’t interested in a fast time and just wanted to have a nice enjoyable run. I also got to showcase my Chester Marathon long-sleeved technical tee and my parkrun cow cowl.
This photo made me laugh so much as I literally had no idea that Jim, the photo bomber, was behind me doing that. It was only when I looked at the photo I saw. Hehe.
I bought my cow cowl after I had successful done 20 different parkrun courses and am now on the Most Events table. It’s not a freebie thing like the milestone t-shirts or directly associated with parkrun, you do have to buy it yourself (but it’s like £7 so very cheap), but it’s a great way of identifying with other Most Event parkrunners.
The cowl (or buff) was actually really nice to wear as it was quite nippy at parkrun. Winter is definitely on it’s way 🙁 I’m really not looking forward to the cold morning’s of parkrun set-up and then running in the nasty weather. Hey ho.
My pacing at parkrun was all over the place as I was too busy chatting… 
Not particularly consistent really and fairly slow in comparison to previous runs (25:39). But my legs felt alright post marathon (well, they would do I guess after almost two weeks off!) andI’m still trying to take things nice and slow. I want to be really motivated when I get back into proper training so I don’t want to ramp things up too quickly now. I probably won’t run a huge amount in the next few weeks if I’m honest as I also have my eye laser surgery coming up this month. (I will blog about that experience.)
Later on I had a date… we’d “met” through internet dating (Plenty of Fish – just that one tiny step above Tinder I think as I’m not ready to pay actual money yet) and after he cancelled on me the other week we finally rearranged another date. He lives 45 minutes away which, if I’m honest, annoyed me more than it should. After lots of nice reassurance from the Twittersphere that that wasn’t that bad I decided to go more positive than I was initially.
From my Instagram Story
We met at a pub for lunch. It went OK, he seemed nice and we chatted a lot but then it all fell apart when he said he was too full for pudding. Game over.
No, I’m joking (well, there was no pudding which was somewhat devastating after seeing the table next to me get chocolate fudge cake and millionaire shortbread cheesecake). In truth, as nice as he was I didn’t feel a huge connection and there were things that were fundamental no-no’s (who doesn’t like Harry Potter?? <– OK that is sort of a joke but it was one of a few things I found that didn’t work for me).
*Sighs* so much effort wasted. I don’t think I’m going to continue with the Internet dating at the moment as, in my opinion, the effort involved finding, messaging, working out if they’re not a psycho, meeting up, etc. is just not worth it. I’d rather pootle along as I am right now.
That evening I met up with friends for a house warming party and we had a lovely chilled evening of chilling and chatting. The host provided an amazing spread of Slimming World approved snacks (as she’s trying to lose a bit of weight). There were sweet chilli chicken bites, bacon wrapped asparagus, fruit, crudites and dips. It was fantastic!
I’m definitely starting to warm more to Slimming World – not that I’m going to start obviously but what I mean is that it’s not quite the product-pushing fad diet system I thought it was. It’s working so well for my parents (they’ve both lost over a stone each!!) and it seems to have some sound and sensible guidelines and support system.
Then the next day I headed to London to meet with my uni friends for lunch and catch-up. (Side note: I watched Money Monster on the train and it was really good – very tense. I thoroughly enjoyed it! The train journey flew by).
My friend, Charlotte, took us to an AMAZING spot for lunch called My Old Dutch and WOW. Basically the menu was just pancakes – both sweet and savoury. As I had to catch the train fairly early that morning (damn Sunday trains) I’d forgone a proper breakfast as I wanted a bit longer to sleep in the morning and I knew we were going to this pancake place so wanted to be adequately hungry. I had a banana and a couple of apples but by the time we got there I was starving.
Originally I thought I was going to go for sweet pancakes as I’d already checked them out on Instagram and the pancakes looked i.n.c.r.e.d.i.b.l.e. But because I was just so hungry I thought it would make me feel a bit ill. Bit of a mistake I think but I REALLY enjoyed the savoury pancake I had.
It was full of halloumi, feta, olives and aubergine.
Perfection. I did get enormous food envy though as one of my friends ordered the Willy Wonka Kinda special.
I mean WOW. It looked amazing. She found it got very sickly (as you can imagine) so I was able to help her out at the end 😉 But yes, it was ridiculously sweet. She was in a sugar coma afterwards which was quite amusing (seen as how it’s usually me who ends up that way!).
Apart from a downpour we got caught in, the meet-up was lovely. Though it sucked it was a Sunday and not a Saturday like we normally do as it meant getting home at 6pm and still having chores and food prep to do… worth it though!
What would you choose: savoury pancakes or sweet?
What would be deal-breakers for you for relationships?
Do you judge people on what they order at restaurants? 😉
The pancakes look amazing – in the past I’d have definitely said sweet but I’m more of a savoury girl these days. I’ve been dabbling in internet dating recently but also think I’m going to give up for a bit – it seems like so much effort to even get to the point of meeting someone and then really disappointing when there’s no connection. My deal breaker is reading – they don’t have to be into the same books as me but I couldn’t date someone who “doesn’t read”! x
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I always tell my husband that I would be straight up screwed if something ever happened to him because there is NO WAY another man would ever want to date me haha. I’m straight up crazy [sports obsessed, opinionated, ED recoverer, stubborn, home-body] so yeah, I feel what you are saying here. But don’t give up!! I know there is a perfect match for you out there 🙂 And kudos for you for being brave enough to try!
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I think if you’re happy as you are, then give the internet dating a rest. If you fancy it again in a few months or whatever, it will still be there. You never know what will happen in the mean time though.
Nice work on the cowl! I met someone with one of those, although she had done something like 100 different venues- pretty amazing!
Those pancakes look so good- I think it depends on the time of day- for brunch I would more likely choose a sweet one, but for dinner I might go for a more savoury option.
Maria @ runningcupcake recently posted…Herts 10K 2016
I’m GOING to get on that parkrun tourist table! I’m up to eleven events now so working my way towards it. It’s just frustrating that I’ve done all the ones close by now. Time to book some weekends away I think…! I didn’t realise there was a product for getting onto the Most Events table. That’s pretty cool.
I think I would struggle to head out on a date with someone I’d never met before. I’d feel too awkward. :S Out of interest, was he a runner/gym goer?
Those pancakes look amazing! I would have ordered a savoury pancake and persuaded someone to order a sweet one so that we could split the two and have the best of both worlds. I agree, that sweet pancake would have put me into a sugar coma too! 😉
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Awesome job on the parkrun tourism! I’m up to..3 but hoping to check off another 2 from my list before the new year that are close by.
The pancake looks amazing. I’m definitely a sweet person.. not much of a savoury person and I actually find that when I’ve had something savoury, I have to have a little of something sweet or I don’t feel 100% satisfied! I wish it wasn’t that way though! haha!
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