Race - AnnaTheApple

October 28, 2015

Rants and Raves #22

I can’t believe how quickly October is flying by! It’s almost Halloween – I thought that was ages away until I realised I had a Halloween party this weekend and didn’t have a costume… Anyway, here are my latest rants and raves.

Rave: I forgot to mention in my post about my trip to Wales that I got ID’ed for entering one of the beer tents at the Food Festival!! This made my day. I’m only 27 so really this ins’t that big a feat but in my head I believe she thought I was under 18 😉 Bahaha!

Rant: Since realising how close Halloween actually is I’ve just bought a costume for parkrun. I have no idea if I will be able to actually wear it to run in though and I’m thinking it will be too cold to stand and marshal in. *Sighs* Well it’ll do for the Halloween party anyway on Saturday night so it’s not a complete waste… I also bought a (very cheap) costume for Alfie as well. “Costume” sounds quite elaborate, but it’s really more of a jumper. If I can’t run and wear my outfit then Alfie will be coming to parkrun again and will be wearing his. He doesn’t know it yet 😉 I reeeeeaaaalllllly wanted this one but they didn’t do his small doggie size.

Plus I’m pretty sure he’d pack his little bags and leave if I attempted to put him in that (but how cute, seriously??).

Rave: These little chocolate cupcakes are so scrummy!

I wish I’d bought more from the sweet shop in Wales. The salted caramel one was to die for.

Rant: DNS’ing the same races I’ve DNS’ed for the past two years. How weird is that? I’ve now been injured at this point in the year three years in a row. It’s getting a little silly now. I wouldn’t have signed up so far in advance but these are really popular local (and cheap) races. Who was I to know Bournemouth would cause me such an issue? (Probably every other sensible runner in the world who suspected I was running too many marathons too close together…).

I’m desperate to run the Gosport Half marathon (in a few weeks time) as it’s literally where my parents live and where I’ve done so many long runs before. It goes along the coast and has the view of the Isle of Wight, which is rather nice. But it seems this one, as with the Lordshill 10 mile this weekend, it’s not meant to be.

Rave: I’ve entered the Chester marathon for next autumn. I know, I know. So far away but it was cheaper to enter now than to wait and I like having things down in the diary.

I was tempted to do Bournemouth again as it was such a disaster for me this year, but marathons aren’t like 5ks or 10ks that can just do at a drop of a hat and I want to do lots of different ones rather than revisit the same ones. Chester was voted as the UK’s number one road marathon by Runners’ World in 2012 and 2013 so should be good. I can also time it nicely with a trip to Shropshire with my grandparents and parents (that also means more parkrun tourism, wheee!).

But next year I will not cluster marathons together either and ensure I have proper breaks afterwards. Oh the wise words of an injured runner…

Rave: I signed up to Tribe Pack to test out their snack boxes.

The concept is like graze where you get a box of snacks delivered weekly/monthly/etc. and it’s a surprise what you get. The range of snacks include things like seeds, dried fruit, cereal/protein bars, etc. all made by Tribe. In a box you get two bars, two trail mixes, a ‘discover’ snack and a Tribe Life magazine. My box contained Tamari Seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, hulled hemp and chia seeds and tamari), Tumba trail mix (pumpkin seeds, almonds, organic goji, toasted coconut), Organic Mountain Berries (sour cherry, raisin, goldenberry, goji, aronia, barberry & wild blueberry) and a Baobab bar (superfruit energy bar) and a Wild Apricot, Pecan & Lucuma bar.

Use the referral code TRIBE42383 which will get you a pack like I got for £1 (I would also get my next Tribe Pack for free).

Rant: Still no running. I could go on and on (as you can imagine). I had an extremely deep and painful massage on Monday though which I’m still feeling the effects of so I really can’t judge. The person I saw said try in a week but I won’t unless it feels absolutely fine walking, which at the moment it (intermittently) doesn’t.

Rave: I’m hoping to see Spectre tonight. And I have six free cinema tickets from my bank as part of the bonuses I get with my account. I foresee lots of film trips happening… I’m actually not a huge James Bond fan but the film does look good and I feel like I need to see it because I’ve seen so many of the others. Plus, Daniel Craig. And Nandos.

Rave: When I was in Wales I bought myself a pack of four pastry forks.

Basically they’re little forks with a sharp edge that you use to eat cake. As a regular cake eater I thought it would be nice to have the proper utensils to fully enjoy the experience. I’ll be keeping one in my handbag at all times of course.

What are your rants and raves of late?

James Bond: yes or no? Who was the best Bond? I like Daniel Craig. Less cheese but still a lot of smooth moves.

Are you doing anything for Halloween? Any costumes?

October 14, 2015September 17, 2020

Rants and Raves #21

I’m still being sensible and not running. I have another Physio appointment on Friday (ahh the joys of working from home and having a disposable income that I spend only on myself…). I’m hoping I can run on Saturday for parkrun but I’m not sure. It does feel better but I don’t want to have a period of stop-start running and prolonging the issue. Anyway, onto some rants and raves!

Rant: The new Disney Paris Half Marathon opened for entries yesterday. It sounds really cool and it’s obviously an easier option for us Brits than the Orlando ones across the pond…BUT they’re being rather cheeky about it. At the moment you can only enter it if you also book their Disney resort hotel, which makes it over £300. They’re only releasing the non-hotel entries in January. I mean come on, that’s ridiculous. They’re might not even be places left at that point.

I’m not tempted by the race I must say (I would be by a marathon but not for a half. I want to do the Orlando Disney marathon at some point), but I do think this is really sneaky and a bit unfair. It’s forcing people to purchase a bundle and spending a lot more. Not very ‘fairy tail racing’ if you ask me.

Rave: (This is just my opinion – no affiliation!) I’m signed up to Fabletics (yes, I’m a sucker), which means I need to ‘Skip the Month’ if I don’t want to pay the 40 quid every month that my ‘VIP status’ requires. However, I always have a little mosey before I do this…just in case.

Though I kind of disagree with this system of potentially forcing you to pay money every month (though it does go towards clothes, it’s not like it just disappears and you get good discounts on all the items) I’m a big fan of the Fabletics gear. I’ve not had a single item from there that hasn’t fit me or I’ve regretted buying. I’ve had a pair of capris, hair bands, a hat, sports bras, shorts, tops…all of really good quality. I can’t fault them. And I love the styles they have.

I recently bought the Fenway Vest (which I’d been lusting over since Claire showed hers off).

It’s really lightweight but lovely and warm. It’s nice and casual so perfect for going to parkrun in or popping down the shops. Or wearing around the house when I’m slobbing about a bit.

I also bought the Katana Longsleeve Tee which is perfect for running when the weather gets colder. It has little ventilation holes in the arms and back.

The Kemi Bra which is a ‘low impact’ sports bra so perfect for the gym (it’s so comfortable and has removable cups for that added extra). I adore the bright colour and pattern.

And finally the Orchard Tank which is great for the gym but also running (in summer anyway) as it’s got all the holes in it. I’m really pleased, and to be honest it wasn’t that expensive. Considering the prices of Nike or Adidas…or Lululemon (jeeze, remortgage the house why don’t I) I think I did well!

Rant: On the subject of workout clothes…it always amuses and confuses me what guys think is appropriate gym wear (I say “guys” because invariably it is the men, but women are not guiltless either). OK it is stupidly early in the morning when I go and, let’s be honest, who the hell cares what other people wear? But a guy was literally wearing a full-on painters/decorating outfit. It was like he’d come straight from work (which would be odd considering the time). He had paint all over his white overalls and was just casually lifting weights. As you do.

Another guy was wearing an entire velour tracksuit in lime green – I’m not making this up I promise you. Though you can always spot the runners…with their specialised kit on, as if they got lost on their run and ended up in the gym instead.

Rave: I spotted this in Tesco and decided to give it a go. I’m always concerned that my running and gym gear never gets the proper wash it probably needs and this was quite cheap.

I’m not saying I stink, but it’s nice to have a washing liquid (supposedly) aimed for sports kit. Plus they say you shouldn’t wash your sports stuff with your normal stuff…sweat transference or something 😉 I’ve never had an issue (though saying that, who’s going to tell me I smell? Now I’m panicking…) but I’ll give this a go.

Rant: I still haven’t moved. And I’m still sitting on a beanbag trying to eat dinner each night. What a sad image, eh! I’m too cool for school (just by saying that sentence eliminates me from the Cool Group). Anyway, Alfie has been a bit unsettled by the lack of sofas and furniture. He’s been lying on his blanket on the floor…despite having a bed!! A bed he has never used in the three years we’ve had the house. I think he then overheard me telling my mum I was going to get rid of it before I moved because he suddenly decided to start using it. Or it might be because I moved it closer to my beanbag…

Ahh what a mummy’s boy.

Rave: I’m still really enjoying listening to audio books on my walks with Alfie and when I make dinner. I’m currently listening to Me Before You and it’s really good. I wasn’t certain I’d enjoy it as it’s a tough subject matter, but it’s honestly such a lovely and realistic story. I fully recommend. I’ve just Googled it and, unsurprisingly it’s going to become a film. I just hope it doesn’t lose it’s very British charm and become Americanised. Absolutely nothing against Americans or American movies, it’s just this has so much Britishness in it it would spoil it to lose that.

Rant: The night before I left for Iceland I was casually watching TV when a GIANT spider ran over to me – I swear it ran AT me (with menace in its many eyes).

I’ve never moved so fast in my life I can tell you. I evacuated the lounge ASAP. Alfie, my resident spider-eater, wasn’t there because he was at my parent’s house as I was flying the next morning. So I barricaded the door as I was genuinely scared it would come and find me.

When I came back from Iceland I waited until Alfie was back before venturing into the lounge (yes, really). But I haven’t seen the spider since. I sit on my little beanbag every night in genuine fear that the spider is going to reappear and come for me. If I stop blogging…you know why.

What book are you reading currently?

Will you watch a film of a book you enjoyed?

Spiders: fear and flee, leave be, or find and kill?

October 6, 2015October 28, 2016

Bournemouth marathon

This was my fifth marathon and safe to say my worst. I think I’ve been very lucky so far to have had some truly great marathon experiences. I’ve felt strong, without injury and run past all those poor people at the end who were stopping, stretching and limping. Spoiler alert: I was one of those people at Bournemouth. I suppose my streak of good marathons had to end at some point and having a bad one only makes me want another good one so much more. I finished, thankfully, but it was through a lot of pain and determination.

**All photos are from various friends: Gary Trendel, Louise Larkum Bond, Karen’s family, my dad, Debbie Hampton – I’m very grateful, thank you!**

I got up at 6.30am, got dressed and ready, made my porridge and coffee and hit the road with my dad. We picked up my running club friend, Mike, and headed on our merry way. Parking wasn’t free but not extoritionate and was close to the main race HQ so it was fairly easy-going at the start (there were portable loos and proper loos without majorly long queues). So many people from my club were there, either supporting or running one of the many races Bournemouth Marathon Festival put on (5k, 10k, half, marathon). My previous marathons have all been pretty much on my own, without a lot of people from the club, so it felt lovely to have so many people to chat to, talk about goals with and just mill about with.

I was glad to have my dad there as well. He’s now seen all but one of my marathons and still loves to support.

I had no real time goals for this marathon. I’m happy enough with Liverpool’s PB to leave that be and knew my training hadn’t been as good, so I was vaguely aiming for a 3:45-3:30 time, closer 3:30 if I felt strong at the end. Quite a few of us were aiming for those times so we started together.

My friend Karen was running her first ever marathon and her training hadn’t been ideal due to illnesses and generally being a busy mum, but she was aiming for sub 3:45 for a GFA (she’s a sub 19 5k runner so it wasn’t unrealistic).

We took the start nice and easy and got into a good rhythm. The course is great because you come back on yourself quite a few times which means you can see lots of people lots of times, either in front of you or behind – and it’s a great one for supporters. With a lot of the club doing the marathon it meant a lot of cheers and support. I was feeling comfortable and we chatted away (to the point that one of the marshals on the bike kept laughing at us as we were apparently always talking when he saw us – and a fellow runner also said he wanted to stick with us our conversations were so entertaining!!).

Bournemouth is not a flat marathon. It has gentle long inclines and if there’s a wind it can be quite brutal as it’s along the seafront. However, the gentle breeze was a welcome relief from the hot sun that was beating down.

We were keeping a consistent pace and the miles seemed to fly by. At mile 6 I had a MuleBar gel (salted caramel flavour – I did a review HERE). This flavour absolutely rocked my world. Possibly the best thing I ate all day. It literally tasted like liquid caramel. I would gladly have that as a snack!

But around mile 7 or 8 my left leg (vague knee area) started to twinge ever so slightly. I ignored it because it wasn’t painful, just an awareness. As the miles ticked away though it started to niggle more. I tried not to panic and continued on.

As we got to mile 12 we both started to struggle: Karen with the heat and me with my knee. Around mile 12 there was a steep hill and we both agreed to walk it. My knee had progressed to a definite niggle. I stopped and stretched to see if that helped. My quads had been tight all week, I put it down to that.

I kept smiling for the cameras, waving to supporters, saying thank you to marshals, but the whole time a raging panic and debate was happening in my head. Karen had a quick loo stop and I stopped and stretched again – and got caught on camera by a friend in the club and I thought I’d have a moment of fun…

I tried to stay positive. I ran on, knowing Karen would catch me up as I could foresee more stopping and stretching ahead. I started to wonder how much this marathon meant to me. I could pull out and have a DNF and not make this niggle into a full-blown injury, or I could struggle on and get another marathon ticked off with the knowledge that I had no other big races until next year.

I pushed on. I saw my dad at mile 14 and collected a gel from him (Clif Double Expresso – very nice, but quite thick and sticky; definitely need water with this one). I quickly told him my knee was bad and I was having a tough time. His face fell and he wished me luck. Chatting with Karen helped us both take our minds off our own personal hell. What frustrated me most was that I felt strong and capable, it was simply my leg that was in pain.

At mile 18 we got to the next significant hill and we walked again. We were both rather demoralised. We kept doing the maths to see how badly this would affect Karen’s 3:45 aim (though her maths was significantly better than mine! I was useless).

I imagine this photo is probably before half-way

For the next few miles we were run-walking. I was too far away now to quit – as in, I’d have to walk back anyway so I might as well carry on. A lovely girl randomly called to me hello and said she was a blog reader. I can’t tell you how much that meant to me in my dark marathon moment. She was steaming along nicely and it brightened me up significantly. Thank you, Jenn! 🙂 She did very well I believe.

My pattern became: stop and stretch (which was absolutely pointless, as you can probably tell) and then run to catch Karen up. I suddenly found running at a brisk pace helped my leg and the pain wasn’t so bad. I decided to try running faster to see if that helped. I said to Karen that it was highly likely I’d break and she’d catch me up. Being lovely, she told me to go on. For a brief mile I was suddenly OK. This is going to sound bonkers but I started to sing to myself to keep me going (quietly, though a few people noticed and I said I had to do something to keep me going and they chuckled knowingly). The pain was still there, but less so. I suddenly had a bit of confidence spark inside me.

But then that moment ended (that was mile 22) and I was walking again. Stretching was making things worse. Karen caught me up. I tried to keep with her but it wasn’t happening. I told her to go on (oh how the tables change so quickly in a marathon!) and I started the long walk to the finish.

(Side note: Karen finished in a fantastic time of 3:53ish which is amazing considering her training and her struggles).

Those miles took bloody ages. You forget how far a mile really is when you’re running. I walked with some other injured souls and we lamented at our failed attempts. One guy had attempted to break 3 hours and his hamstring tear had returned it seemed. He said he thought he’d be OK as the bruising had gone down a week ago (!!). Jeeze, there’s always someone worse I suppose! He made a brief comment about how he was despairing not finishing in under 4 hours. I shrugged. At this point, I just wanted to finish it. Timing was now irrelevant.

Despite my dark time the support around me was fantastic. People could see I was in pain and cheered me on gently, in that “it’ll be over soon” kind of way. Marshals checked I was OK and consoled me a bit as I walked past. I couldn’t run any more. The pain was too much. Someone cheered me right up by yelling “come on, Miss Abs!”. Take the compliments when you can!! I sat down briefly on the wall and had a quiet word with myself, willing myself not to cry.

My FlipBelt was amazing by the way. Definitely using that again – no bouncing, held everything in place, no rubbing – two gels and a phone snuggly fit in there nicely. But my phone was dead. I have no idea how as I didn’t use it at all during the marathon! I must have left something on I suppose. Consequently I couldn’t ring my dad. As the time ticked past 3:45, 3:50, 4 hours I knew my dad would be worried. But there was nothing I could do but keep on walking. It’s a long stretch, the last few miles, and you can see the finish area the whole time. I just kept it in my sight and kept on walking, determined to get my medal.

As I got (finally) to mile 26 there became a lot more support and either side of the course people were cheering and lined up.

I felt myself welling up as people saw my pain and cheered me on. I grimly tried to smile at them and felt the tears just keep coming. This only made them cheer me on more. I saw my club ahead, put on a brave face, wiped the tears away and thought “sod this melodrama, just bloody finish”.

I barely registered crossing the line because, to be honest, I still had to keep walking. It wasn’t like I was running to stop. I still had to walk to find my dad. I felt like a fraud. But at the same time, I did it. I finished. Thank god.

The medal is amazing. It’s huge! My official time was 4:11:19, which isn’t bad at all I know. Yes it’s 30-40 minutes slower than I intended but these things happen. When people talk about awful marathons I can be fully part of that club now.

And, what absolutely made my day, was meeting Martin Yelling (again)! I was that annoying fan girl though, gushing “I’m a Marathon Talk listener!”. He did a sort of nervous “yay” but really meaning “please don’t be a stalker”. He was lovely, and can I just say, quite dishy in the flesh.

Anyway despite it being a terrible marathon, I don’t regret it. The race was fantastic, the support amazing, the course…challenging, and the marshals brilliant. My one regret is not being able to enjoy those last few miles and run strong through that fantastic support.

Great goodie bag afterwards. Fantastic technical t-shirt and snacks (and an iron supplement thing).

I think I made the right decision to carry on. Yes I’ve buggered myself now and I’m officially an injured runner again, but I have nothing else to prove or achieve for this year. I know I can rest up and come back strong for Boston (finger’s crossed). I just need to be patient.

Plus, it’s an ideal time to take a break for my own personal health and the busyness of my impending (though still date-less) move.

What’s been your worst ever race?

What would make you DNF at a race? Would you have continued on if you were me?

If you use them, what’s your favourite gel?

September 24, 2015

Bath Two Tunnels Half Marathon

There’s nothing quite as good as using a race as a training run, especially for a long run. You’re running with others, there’s a set course so you don’t need to worry about where to go, it’s catered and you get a medal.

With three weeks until Bournemouth a few of us decided to sign up to the Bath Two Tunnels Railway race series. One of my friends wanted to race it because he’s in great shape and PB’d in a training run for his current half marathon time but wanted to see if he could make it ‘official’. His pace was around my long run speed and I didn’t feel up to racing the half so decided to run with him and try to help him.

Another one of my friends, Kate, decided to race the 10k and a few more from the club were doing the half and one the marathon (her first marathon!). Kate, Mike and me travelled down to Bath on the day which meant me being picked up at 6.30am on the Sunday (ouch). It would take about 2 hours to get there and Kate’s race started an hour before ours. I had a banana bread Trek bar and an Americano for pre-race fuel to keep things simple and we arrived at the park and ride in good time. It was all very smooth and easy to get to, though it didn’t feel like we went that far on the park and ride bus to be honest!

We met up with the other club mates and then milled around on the large grassy expanse. Relish Running are the race organisers and I’ve done quite a few races with them now (Cheddar Gorge being one of them). I would say that while they do put on good races, there are some rough edges…Their website isn’t that clear for finding information out and you don’t find out crucial race information (like start times) until much closer to the time. We had more emails about them needing marshals than the race itself. That said, the races are always very scenic and personal-feeling because they’re quite small.

The race area for the short colour race

There were several races going on and different waves and start times which was a bit confusing! We got to cheer off the marathon-runner, Lisa-Lou, and then cheer off Kate.

Then we had just less than an hour to hang about…we watched some very strange warm-up routine going on while which was somewhat amusing.

Just as Kate finished (she came second female and PB’d – whoop whoop!) we got ready to start.

The start was on grass which was a bit annoying. Anyway we headed off at a comfortable pace. Straight away it was clear this wasn’t going to be an easy race for me, or an easy PB-achieving race for Mike. It seemed to go uphill straight away and just felt tough from the outset.

We got to the first tunnel fairly quickly. It was about 400m long. It was nice and cool inside and fairly dark. We were slightly behind our target pace but due to the uphills at the beginning we weren’t stressing about it because we believed we could pick it up later.

The next tunnel came around quickly afterwards. It was about a mile long, very dark (with cat’s eye lights), narrow and very chilly. It was novel at first but then it got to be a bit wearing. It felt like you were on a treadmill as there was nothing really to look at. As none of the roads were closed quite a few cyclists had to navigate past us (runners going both ways as a 10k wave were coming back) which made things a bit tricky. There was a radio playing classical music which was nice and atmospheric so that’s something.

The tunnels, as expected, buggered up our Garmins. My watch was completely out from the mile markers so I just used the stopwatch and try and do the maths as we ran. The mile markers though seemed to be out as well. We got to five miles far too soon (it would have been close to my PB, which we definitely weren’t!) and this meant we were left running blind, just going on feel.

Race selfie required

The race had been advertised as fast and flat but it clearly wasn’t either. There were some nasty steep inclines, steep steps to navigate down and twisty turns. I found the course quite challenging and I know Mike was struggling too. I think we were both tired from marathon mileage and a bit misled by what we thought would be a PB-potential course. As we chugged up a really steep hill I asked a marshal (or gasped), “I thought this was supposed to be flat?” and he laughed and replied with an evil grin “Yes, compared to our other races”…having run a few of their other races I could agree. But they shouldn’t mislead people by saying it’s flat!

The course was beautifully scenic though, as you can expect with running in the rural parts of Bath. We ran a very long stretch down a canal and it was lovely. Though again we were constantly moving out of the way for cyclists, and some who were rather impatient and I’m sure expected us to jump in the canal to move out of the way!

Our pace had dropped and Mike decided that a PB was never going to happen. Mentally, physically and the course just went against us. I felt fatigued as well despite the pace being “easy”. So we settled in to a slightly more comfortable pace (though we really had no idea how well or badly we were doing with our watches being funny) and I yabbered away about fluff and nonsense to keep Mike’s mind off the race. It’s tough pacing someone in a race because you don’t know how much to talk and how much to push.

At least I could take lots of photos and selfies 😉

And also finding conversations that didn’t require much from the other person so they could just listen. I’m sure I bored Mike to tears about my house moving problems! 😉

In true Relish Running style, the feed stations were very good. Lots of sweet and savoury options and electrolytes, flat Coke/lemonade and plain water. And gluten-free options! The marshals were very helpful and friendly as well.

As we got closer to the finish, with two miles to go, Mike started struggling more. I tried to encourage him without annoying him. We had a moment of respite at a set of traffic lights that we had to push the button and wait until it was red to go (yes, this is a legitimate part of the route and you can get disqualified for not waiting for the light). It was warm and the undulations still kept going. Right to the end (through a residential area) there just seemed to be incline after incline.

The final straight before the grass finish (thank you Kate for the photo!)

We finally finished and both agreed it was a tough race and not one we’d do again. The course was pretty but there was a lot of running along canals which got a bit tiresome, and the hills we just weren’t prepared for. And without knowing your pace and miles it made it mentally quite tricky. I don’t blame Mike at all for giving up on his PB-attempt. I absolutely couldn’t have got a PB on that course! Especially not at the moment.

My time was 1:56:11 (Mike was just after me) which I’m a little disappointed with I must say considering we were aiming for 1:45-48. But these things happen. The race organisers also said afterwards that they measured the course as 13.4 miles. We got some good miles in and we came out uninjured so that is a good race result three out from a marathon!

Afterwards Kate, Mike and I headed back to the park and ride bus and then drove to find something to eat. We found a lovely pub, called the Red Lion, where the menu was amazing and we all found a few things we could easily have had. I went for the butcher’s board which had chicken wings, pulled pork, chorizo, chicken liver pate, sour cream, chutney and bread.

It was fantastic! So, so good. Kate had the pulled pork pizza and that looked amazing too. The perfect end to a rather tough training run!

Do you like to know a race elevation profile before running it? If I’m not bothered about times (for me or pacing someone) then I don’t mind.

Do you prefer a city or a rural race?

What do you like to find on a feed station in a race?

September 21, 2015

Stress, friends and dessert

Firstly, thanks for the lovely comments for my last post. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so stressed as I do right now. Usually I’m quite a calm person and let things wash over me but when everything is in my hands and my responsibility for big ‘Adult Things’ I get panicked.

But the weekend was a nice escape from it all. My university friends popped down for the day on Saturday and it was so lovely to see them and have a rant, a moan and a good old chat. I managed to squeeze in parkrun quickly before they arrived too, which is always good 😉

I had a terrible run though. I thought I’d try and use it as a tempo run but my legs felt heavy and drained straight from the start and my pace just slipped slower and slower. What annoyed me at the start as well was that when the whistle blew these four lads – and I say “lads” because they were very much laddy teenagers – pushed past me and several other people yelling “urgh this is ridiculous, we needed to be at the front” as they bolted off. It was just not very parkrun-y, you know?

Anyway as my pace dropped, I consoled myself with just doing a ‘t-shirt run’ (just getting the parkrun point rather than aiming for a time). My friend, Mark, who was running a long-run and doing parkrun in the middle ran up next to me and I moaned to him a bit about how rubbish I was feeling and he chatted away to me and kept my mind off it, which I was grateful for. On the second lap we over-took the lads who were run-walking by this point which was somewhat of a silver-lining… 😉

I sort of pulled it back on the final lap (with Mark’s help) but it still felt awful. I’m putting it down to having run 20 miles the week before and a tough week mentally!

My friends arrived shortly after I was showered and breakfasted and, as normal, it was lovely to catch up. We try and see each other for everyone’s birthdays ad events and sometime around Christmas. So five or six times a year? They all live in different parts of the UK which always makes it a bit tricky

We went to an old favourite pub right on the seafront for lunch, The Osborne View.

We shared two mezze boards between the four of us which is always a winner in my eyes (and I’m glad we got two as I’m such a greedy eater!). I had feta and Mediterranean salad (with added chicken) for main and chocolate brownie and ice cream for pudding. Perfection!

The sign on the right is very apt to me right now!

The pub is lovely and I’ve never had a bad experience there yet. And it’s so handy being close to the beach that we could come out and do a long walk next to the sea in the sunshine. It’s near to where I do my long runs if I stay with my parents so it feels very homey with good memories surrounding it.

I had an early night that evening because I just felt shattered. Though annoyingly my mind started to catalogue all the packing I still needed to do and I struggled to get to sleep. My alarm was set for the delightful time of 5.50am as I was going to Bath the next day for a race with some running club friends so this was stressing me out more. Grrr.

I’ll recap the race proper in another post but the race has made me really think about how I need to approach the Bournemouth marathon. I’m someone who needs a game plan. I can’t just rock up and do whatever on the day. I need a structured plan, with some sort of back-up as well just in case. But I’ve not really made a plan as I don’t have any real goals.

The Bath Two Tunnels half marathon was meant to be a training run as I was running with my friend, Mike, who was aiming for a PB, which handily was around my marathon/long run pace. But the race didn’t go to plan really for either of us as we both felt exhausted and the supposedly “fast and flat” course was anything but that (I suppose the give-away is that it was in Bath…). I know I’m not in the same shape as I was before Liverpool marathon so to aim for anything close to that time would be unwise. Yes I could risk it and power through but mentally that sounds awful to me and I don’t want to push the pace. So after thinking about it…My goal is to aim for sub-4 definitely, but around 3:45-40 would be nice and if I fancy anything better towards the end I can give it a go but I don’t want to ruin myself over it. Liverpool was a perfect race with perfect (for me) training, it would be foolish to recreate that! I just want another tick in the box enjoyable marathon.

Plus, I see the marathon as the end point to my major stresses. Whether I go to Iceland or not will have already happened and I’ll have moved house. Finishing Bournemouth will just be like one massive sigh of relief. I might just go into hibernation after that! 😉

Do you always like to have a game-plan for a race? I mess up when I don’t have a plan! Plus for every marathon I’ve always had a plan and it’s always worked well for me.

Do you meet up with old friends often?

How does stress affect you?