So this weekend was quite the busy one! Lots of running, eating and sleeping. Though I could have done with a lot more sleep it must be said.
Saturday started off with a 6am alarm and me getting out for a solo three miles. I was meeting my friend Mike to run to Whiteley parkrun at 7.15am but I wanted to get a few more miles because my next few weeks are a bit all over the place and I’m not sure when I’ll get a decent long run in. I did 15 miles last weekend so the plan was to get 16 miles in total.
My three miles went by without a hitch and probably a bit faster than I was planning. I never give myself enough time for anything (incidentally, I’m writing this on the train up to London today and I had to run the last bit to catch it on time, case and point). I basically leave no wiggle room for if things go wrong. So the last mile I started panicking I’d be late and sped up a bit.
Happily I got to Mike just on time and we started our run. Mike had thankfully provided the route (another thing I’m not great at…navigation). We aimed to go a bit faster than his planned marathon pace and the miles flew by as we put the world to right talking about dating, work and life in general. I enjoy running with Mike as he’s such a good friend and he’s always willing to listen to my randomness. These runs are like therapy sometimes!
The last mile or so of the run was uphill and I was feeling fairly tired by this point. It was a struggle. However the final stretch was a lovely downhill. We arrived at Whiteley though with enough time for a quick loo visit and a chat with our friend, Geoff, who’s recently moved from Netley to Whiteley as his regular parkrun. I don’t get to see him as much as I used to so it was nice to catch up with him again.
The first two miles of the parkrun were tough. Though Whiteley isn’t hilly there is a sneaky incline at the beginning that just sucks your soul. And then as you get more into the wooded parts it becomes quite twisty turny. You do three laps so it’s not a fast course but there is potential if you’re in good shape. I was in no shape really to do anything other than count down the 0.1 miles.
By mile three I got a second wind and decided to push on a bit faster – mainly just to finish quicker really! I finished with a time of 23:39 which I’m very pleased with. And 16.5 miles in the bag. We helped Geoff pack away parkrun after he guilt-tripped us into it saying he had a low number of marshals 😉
At this point I was desperate for a drink, specifically an ice cold Diet Coke. Mike and I were going to celebrate the long run by having breakfast at Coast to Coast which was in the Whiteley shopping area just a short walk away. But we helped him pack away and it was nice to carry on chatting with him.
Mike, Billy (another running friend) and I
We finally go to Coast to Coast and I had to stop myself downing my Diet Coke within 10 seconds.
I ordered a fry-up, though I swapped the breakfast potatoes that would normally come with it for black pudding (I love black pudding) and ordered sourdough toast to go with it. I was quite surprised the fry-up didn’t come with toast to be honest.
It was a good fry-up but not up there with the best (the fry-up connoisseur that I’ve now become…). I appreciated them segregating my beans from my meal as I hate a big puddle of beans contaminating everything and the black pudding was delicious. It came with a sweet potato fritter which was OK but a bit soggy and not that crispy (also quite random). But the meal was tasty and did the job. I actually didn’t need to eat again until 6.30pm!
Mike had pancakes, bacon and maple syrup which he enjoyed. I’m personally not a big pancake fan (or a sweet breakfast fan in general) so this didn’t appeal to me. But it was a lovely breakfast and a great way to celebrate some solid mileage. It was also fairly cheap as they had a “two breakfast for £10” offer going on.
My dad picked us up, which was really nice of him. Originally he was going to come and do parkrun but we had a busy day planned for Sunday with lots of walking round London so he decided to save himself – but still offered to bring us home as we were a bit stranded otherwise!
The rest of the day I was very tired. The run had really drained me. I met my mum for coffee and we did a bit of shopping and then I had a cheeky afternoon nap. I needed my energy as I was heading out that evening for drinks with my friends to celebrate a number of our recent birthdays.
The evening was great. It was so nice to see my friends and de-stress. This past week has been horrendously stressful and I haven’t felt quite my happy normal self. I definitely needed to see my friends to help me relax and feel better.
Unfortunately I had another 6am alarm the next morning to catch a 7am train to London with my dad so I didn’t get quite as much sleep as I would have liked. But we had a fun day planned of the Great Newham 10k (my dad really enjoys spectating and supporting my races) and then some tasty food afterwards as a delayed Father’s Day and birthday celebration. But more on that in another post!
How was your weekend?
Do you like to run to parkrun?
What’s your ideal post run breakfast at a restaurant?
Nice work on the long run- plus a speedy parkrun at the end! I love that your dad picked you up after- my parents would do that sort of thing too and it’s so lovely. I like running to parkrun but they are both a little too far really (4 or 5 miles) so with running the parkrun and then home it’s a half marathon- good if I need a long run but not ideal for every week. I should really sort my bike out as I think I could fairly easily cycle to one without needing to go on many roads, but at the moment the brakes are sort of stuck to on, so that’s no good really.
I went for breakfast in a Coast to Coast once and it was not good- I had French toast but it was basically fried bread with a few berries. We were meant to get the deal but there was only one waiter and he could not work out how to do it, they didn’t bring our drinks- many things went wrong so we haven’t been back. My total favourite would be French toast (Bill’s used to do it) or pancakes and fruit, with a big pot of tea.
Maria @ Maria runs recently posted…Womble-spotting (tourism to Wimbledon parkrun)
Yeah Coast to Coast isn’t my favourite restaurant. When it first arrived in Whiteley it was really good, but then they changed the menu and it’s basically a slightly better TGIF. The breakfast as nice but not top of my best breakfasts! The fact that I had to order toast as extra was a bit bizarre to me as I thought that was generally part of a full English breakfast.
AnnaTheApple recently posted…Life Update
I went to Whiteley recently for breakfast on a Saturday morning and saw lots of runners parking up and walking over. I didn’t realise it was that close to the shops
I know, very handy! Though my parents had breakfast at Montague’s the other day and it sounded so much better than Coast to Coast.
AnnaTheApple recently posted…Life Update
Wow- lots of running. Congrats on such a speedy park run after having run a long run at a nice pace. I was in London for 2 days last week, but didn’t have any time to myself.
Elizabeth C. recently posted…Firecracker 5K: Testing My Limits
It’s always tough though trying to pick up the pace after running a number of miles, but good training I guess.
AnnaTheApple recently posted…Life Update
Great time Anna and a well deserved breakfast, ha!
Thank you, Amy! Breakfast always taste so much better after a run 🙂
AnnaTheApple recently posted…Life Update