All the food and 18 miles

And now we have the long grind until Christmas… I kid, I kid. It’s just sad that it’s our last Bank Holiday for a good while.

But such is life. I’m actually quite happy tootling along right now. Work is good. Life is good. Running is good. SOMEONE TOUCH WOOD. I’ve got to get Zary parkrun planned at some point but it’s looking to be October now because I’m fairly busy during September now. It will be done by the end of the year though, 100%!

My Bank Holiday weekend was a really good one. On Saturday I was finally back to Netley parkrun. I took Kyle along so he could see what I’d been harping on about for ages. His home parkrun is Havant, which I’ve yet to do, but is apparently VERY tough. It’s always fun seeing your home parkrun through a tourist’s eyes.Everyone, of course, was super friendly as normal. The sun was shining but it wasn’t too hot. I was going to run with Kyle and we were going to take it relatively easy because he was only just coming back from an annoying shin niggle. We started off nice and gentle and chatted as we ran round. My legs did feel quite heavy though. I’d run 11 miles on Thursday evening with my friend Kim and they weren’t feeling as rested and fresh as usual.But my plan was to keep Kyle going a bit slower (we’re both bad at not going slow when we need to) which was ideal for my tired legs, but as we warmed up into the run this clearly didn’t pan out as we both increased our speed to the end.I did advise Kyle not to do some crazy sprint finish though because that’s usually when terrible things happen like injuries. He resisted the temptation and just maintained the speed. My time was 23:21, which I was happy with! We helped clear away and then had a coffee. It’s still nice enough to sit outside and enjoy a drink, but soon we’ll be squirreled inside again with all our layers *shudders*.

For lunch we headed to The Rockstone pub in Southampton (by the time we’d had coffee and gotten sorted it was lunchtime!). I’ve been to The Rockstone before and loved the burger I’d had there last time. They’re renowned for their giant portions and crazy sounding burgers.

For starters I had the loaded nachos (still loving my nachos). Hands down, best nachos I’ve ever had. Pulled pork, guacamole, cheese, sour cream, black beans…it had the works.It was giant! I probably should have shared them and I would assume most normal people would but ehhhh. Kyle had some insanely good chicken goujons as well.For the main, this time I went for the Black and Blue burger, which was a beef patty, mushrooms, black pudding and blue cheese. I love black pudding and blue cheese so this was right up my street.I wasn’t fussed about the chips but was keen to try the chicken wings (the nachos had won in the starter battle) so I ordered three chicken wings as a side (just three this time…). Kyle said he’d eat my chips.

Well the size of the burgers (and the size of my starter!) meant that neither of us touched my chips. I also decided to forgo most of the bun because honestly the burger was huge and the filling is the important part in my eyes. The bun was one of those floury baps as well which isn’t appealing to me at all (give me a brioche or a pretzel bun any day).

The burger itself was a little overdone but the blue cheese and TWO pieces of black pudding were delicious. The chicken wings however were plain and very boring. The main meal itself was just a little disappointing I must say. A lot of quantity but not much taste. We rated it 6/10… but the starters a solid 8.

I had every intention of suggesting a trip to Sprinkles afterwards but both of us were so stuffed we really didn’t fancy it. So instead we headed to Manor Farm Country Park for a nice long walk. The weather was still sunny but not too hot so it was perfect.It was exactly what we needed to help the food baby situation going on! I forget how pretty Manor Farm Country Park is. I only ever run around it when I’m in that area (I used to run there a lot more when I lived in Hedge End).The next day I had 17 miles planned. I was meeting my two friends, Martin and Mark, in Titchfield at the delightful time of 9.20am. Now that’s my kinda running time! Cheeky little lie-in, no stress. I ran two miles down to meet them and then we did my usual 10 mile route from Titchfield, to Lee-on-Solent, to Stubbington and back to Titchfield. It’s lovely and flat and goes along the sea front. It was a bit windy and rainy but thankfully nice and cool.Martin only wanted 10 miles so we dropped him back to his car before heading off for another three with Mark. We did a little out-and-back and were both feeling the grind. The weather was turning and it was getting very overcast. After the three with Mark, I realised I could get my run to 18 miles if I ran slightly longer on the way back.By this point the heavens had opened up and it was tipping it down. This helped quicken my pace! By the time I got home I was drenched through. But I was so happy to have gotten 18 miles because usually that’s quite a daunting run. But it honestly didn’t feel like 18. For the rest of the day I wasn’t overly tired and my legs felt good. Woohoo! Hopefully this means the training is going well and I’m running strong.Monday was a far more chilled day. I felt good so went to the gym and did a Sweat class (basically circuits for 45 minutes) and then had a lovely pub lunch with Kyle.Yes, yes more nachos. I can’t be stopped. A more manageable portion size this time! And Kyle catching me take awkward photos of my food 😉This time we did have room for pudding! I had a delicious rocky road sundae. Kyle had a really tasty looking chocolate orange “crownie” (a cookie brownie) which looked amazing but as I hate chocolate orange I gave a miss.We had another lovely walk and a chilled Bank Holiday Monday. Solid weekend!

How was your Bank Holiday weekend?

What food can’t you get enough of at the moment?

Are there any popular food flavour combos you don’t like?

2 Replies to “All the food and 18 miles”

  1. The trip to Zary sounds exciting!
    Make the most of the last few weeks of warmer weather- I like running in cooler weather but it does mean bringing a top with me for after which just adds to the faff- so much easier in the summer when you don’t need any extra layers for after.
    Nice work on the 18 miles- your training is going so well (touch wood for you).

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