Running - AnnaTheApple

July 16, 2015

Hill running, Nike gear and keeping things interesting

I can’t quite believe what I’ve signed up to this weekend…camping and running at Ultra 12.

I’m not a great camper. And it’s not because I’m particularly high maintenance and “omg dirt” but it’s because I like my creature comforts and routine. A good night’s sleep, feeling warm and having a somewhat unlimited kitchen full of food. And not only this but I’m heading to Bristol Friday night to visit friends and have a BBQ before leaving for Ultra 12 on Saturday afternoon. So I have a lot to think about when packing, especially as I plan on doing the Bristol Little Stoke parkrun Saturday morning as well. Hmmm. In true Anna style, let’s make things really complicated and as difficult as possible!

On the plus side though, Little Stoke parkrun is apparently super flat and only a mile from my friends’ house. Thankfully my friends know what I’m like and don’t think I’m weird for dashing out in the morning to go to parkrun (these are the friends I went to Orlando with).

I’m not sure really how Ultra12 is going to go though. Running multiple laps throughout the night with gaps in between…I’m nervous to say the least. I recovered really well after my half on Sunday and felt good running Tuesday evening.

Right pic: Stretching my calves on the stairs at work post-run

The run went really well. It’s my usual hilly 5.3 miles round where I work.

It includes one really nasty hill (12% incline for 0.2 miles) that I do twice, once at the beginning and once at the end. There’s a Strava segment for it and my last PB for running that segment was back in April so I was really chuffed to find I finally beat it (only by 2 seconds mind you)!

I’m a Strava stats geek and proud!

It was tough, but I do love my hill runs. I’ve found it’s really good at improving my form, building strength in my legs and strength in my mind. The lactic acid build-up is quite intense but keeping your mind focused on powering up and keeping your form good (high knees, pushing off strong through your glutes and your eye line ahead not down) helps keep your mind off the pain…sort of.

I was able to test drive my new running gear that I bought as well. I’m a self-confessed Nike addict so I couldn’t help but indulge in some sales a bit on sportshoes.com (not an affiliated link, I just like their website and they have good deals).

I always trust Nike to be of good quality and long-lasting. The shorts are very comfortable, don’t ride up and have an inner lining. Also there’s a small zipped pocket at the back which is handy. The yellow top is also nice fitting and feels very dry when wearing it, despite the recent humidity. The other items I haven’t tried yet (though the black top is exactly the same as the yellow).

I’ve still been maintaining my 2-3 times a week gym visits as well. The new gym renovation has made the gym a slightly more exciting place (OK less dull) with a lot more weights, space and the stepper machine (apparently called “Jacob’s ladder”, thanks Autumn).

There’s the face of someone really happy to be there 😉

I’ve also been playing around with the self-timer camera on my phone because gym selfies can be a bit samey! Plus I think it’s cool 😉 I can also see when my form is appalling (bottom left photo my arm is far from underneath my shoulder, not good!).

I suppose it’s quite lucky I’m at the gym so early as I guess self-timing photo taking is not normal gym behaviour…but then these days, what is?? I’ve seem some very funny things at the gym.

I do my harder gym routine either Thursday morning or Friday morning now rather than Monday, like I used to, as I’ve been finding by doing it Monday it ruins my legs for my hill session Tuesday. My Thursday night run is now with the running club so it’s far more social and less about a specific pace so it doesn’t matter if my legs ache a bit. My harder strength routine usually includes deadlifts and squats which I’ve been consistently upping the weights on and I always, always ache the next day. I also hate it but it’s a necessary evil for me to avoid injury (*touch wood*).

But I find it sooo dull and hard to get excited about. In efforts to make things more interesting I’ve been listening to the Game of Thrones unofficial podcast (Cast of Kings) while I’m there after Chelsea recommended it and I’m addicted. I read the GoT books but a couple of years ago so my memory is fuzzy (and the books are unbelievably dense with a zillion characters – you think the programme is hard to keep track of all the different people, ha!) so the podcast is great for inside knowledge and analysis of what’s going on. I’m a self-confessed geek, I won’t deny it. So listening to it alongside working my way through season five is great (I’ve got two episodes left – how scary was that seen with the white walkers!? I watched that before I went to sleep and it freaked me out).

Anyway, if anyone has any great tips for making things exciting at the gym…let me know! 😉 Or running an all-night event…good grief.

What podcasts, if any, do you listen to?

Are you a Game of Thrones fan?

Where do you buy your gym/running gear and what’s your preferred brand?

July 15, 2015July 15, 2015

Stansted Slog Half Marathon 2015

As I said in my last post I was very much ill-prepared for this race. Entering it was last minute as I didn’t think I’d get back from Dorset in time so I was really pleased to find out I could do it. I did it last year and it was fantastic. Tough terrain and hills but the atmosphere and scenery was lovely (and we were given a platter of cakes at the end…).

Sadly this year I was the only one from my club there as quite a few were marshalling at the Wyvern 10k. I felt bad for not helping out but at the same time this race was absolutely perfect for judging how I was doing in the lead up to an off-road marathon.

I already knew what I was in for in terms of how tough it was going to be but I wasn’t prepared for the weather to be so miserable. Because I was staying at my parents’ I only had what I’d packed…and what I’d packed was suited more for a summer’s day (how silly of me to presume we’d have one of those in July).

Not only did I wake up feeling fairly rough, tired and delicate (with the excesses of the wedding the day before and having being sick in the middle of the night) but the weather was against me too. Part of me thought of jacking it in but I knew I’d have to go out for a long run anyway if I wanted to take this upcoming marathon seriously and I’d much prefer to run a scenic race with other people than pounding the pavements on my own.

The face of someone wanting to go back to bed

My parents drove us down there and the atmosphere in the car was somewhat subdued. None of us wanted to go really. It was wet, a bit chilly and just grey and miserable. I’d already pre-warned them that this was a training race so not to expect anything exciting. Well they were just overjoyed to be coming I can tell you 😉

The race begins at Stansted House. Last year it was lovely and sunny…this year, not so much. We all huddled under the marquees. My dad was planning to see me at two different points in the course so wished me luck and headed off. The nice thing about this race is it’s very relaxed and well organised with bib collection and bag drop-off. It’s a small race, which I like.

Flip-flops are also weather appropriate…

My mum had planned to see me off then head to the cafe for a hot drink and pop out a bit later around my finishing time. She’s still got a poorly back so she can’t do great amounts of walking. It was nice to have her at the start and she was able to take my bag for me…which meant peeling off my lovely layers.

It wasn’t actually that cold. It felt quite muggy and damp. I did get some looks though as everyone else was covered up! In actual fact though within 4 minutes of running I was HOT. It was that horrible clammy rain that just covers you in moisture.

Because I was so unenthusiastic about this race I wasn’t nervous at all, or even thinking about the miles ahead. I was just indifferent to what was going to happen. As I stood ready at the start I suddenly realised I hadn’t even found satellites on my Garmin!! I was that blasé about the run I’d forgotten. I had a mini-panic as I realised it’d never find it in time. But actually it really didn’t matter because pace wasn’t really anything to worry about on a hilly off-road course and I wanted to keep things easy anyway.

I remember last year I went off like a shot, trying to overtake as many females as I could and felt demoralised by being overtaken. This year I just popped a podcast on and found a nice comfy pace. I felt so relaxed! Don’t get me wrong though, I didn’t feel particularly well though. Photo credit: Alan Dunks

The miles seemed to tick by quite nicely and I just enjoyed zoning out and following the trail, through forests, across fields, up dirt tracks and over stiles. It’s a great course and keeps you interested the whole time. The only thing was that it was overgrown in certain areas so there were lots of brambles and stinging nettles whipping at you. My legs got savaged and my tummy got scratched as well.

As I knew what was coming in the course I was fully prepared for the huge hill around mile five. I had pre-planned to walk it rather than expend energy in trying to run up it. I power walked up and found it wasn’t too bad. Adjusting your expectation is key! I did have to shout to one poor bloke who was carrying on up (this is a big hill) rather than turning left, meaning he had gone up that hill further than necessary. Oops.

Photo credit: Alan Dunks

Then things became really pants. I suddenly felt a crippling stitch in my side. I tried to breathe differently and stretch my arms out (which has worked previously) but it stubbornly stayed. I felt really sick and the stitch was very painful. I had to stop. I bent over and just tried to breathe deeply. A guy ran past and asked if I was OK, I said I was, “just stitch”! I felt really disheartened and just pants. Even though it was just a training run I had been enjoying it. But this was not something to enjoy. For the next half a mile or so I had to run-walk to try and manage it. I even considering ringing my dad to say I’d had enough. But I thought I’d just keep trying and pushing forward. Time didn’t matter, but my ego did – I didn’t want a DNF!

A lovely man saw I was struggling and gave me some good advice while encouraging me forward. He told me to put my hands on my hips and keep breathing. This actually really helped (opening up my lungs?), as did the water stop that was around mile six. I fully stopped and made sure I drank enough – perhaps it was dehydration?

Then it was like I had a second wind – I felt good to go again! I caught up with the nice man and thanked him (though I did feel bad overtaking him) and eventually managed to see in the distance the guy that had originally overtaken me and asked if I was OK. Things were going well again!

The miles seemed to fly by and my legs felt strong. I didn’t feel like it was tough, it just felt like a nice run. I saw my dad at the mile 10 water stop which was nice. He looked a bit soggy but, as always, very pleased to see me and cheered me on.

A blip in the horizon!

I stopped again for water and told my dad I felt a bit sick but he just said “keep going” and I did.

I switched the podcast to music and pushed on. I felt myself speeding up and I went with it. The last three miles felt fantastic. Though on the last mile I finally caught up with the man and two others. We were going along a single file in the forest and I felt my speed dropping as I couldn’t get past. I was a bit frustrated as I was really into my flow. There was just about enough space to overtake if they moved over…so I shouted out as politely as I could, “Er fellas, is it OK to pass you guys?”

This didn’t seem to go down too well as they just grunted at me…but when a wider part appeared they did move over and I thanked them. Before I sound like a bit of a cow they were going significantly slower than me and there would have been enough space for me to pass…and, well, it is a race. I asked very politely and was nice about it. Anyway I said they’d probably catch me later anyway as it was likely I’d crash and burn.

^^Funny stats due to my Garmin satellite issues 🙁

Incidentally the man who originally asked if I was OK did catch up and sprinted past me to the finish. What was nice though was that at the finish he and the other two men I overtook each shook my hand and there seemed no hard feelings. Perhaps I misread the situation earlier?

My official time was 1:44:20. I genuinely couldn’t believe the time I’d finished as last year I did it in around 1:53 and was certain all my stopping and stitch issues would have slowed my time down significantly and I wasn’t racing. Because my Garmin hadn’t found satellites at the beginning my mile markers were out and I really had no idea how I was doing. I was over the moon! And I finished feeling strong, like I could have gone further. In fact, around mile 11 I asked myself if I could carry on to 26 miles and it didn’t seem impossible or daunting (yes OK probably wouldn’t have said that at mile 18!).

My mum was at the finish and she thought I was within top three females, which shocked me further. We had to wait for my dad for a bit to walk back so we were in no rush to head off. I grabbed a hot coffee and tried to keep warm in the drizzle (while obviously doing the standard post-race selfie…).

It was lovely having my mum there to chat about the race to and hear about what she’d been up to. She said she hadn’t been prepared for me to finish so quickly which is why when I ran past her on the final 100m she looked really shocked.

My dad arrived a short while later. We were all cold and decided to forgo any afternoon tea at the cafe (our original plan). Plus I felt incredibly sick and the mere sight of cake made me want to heave. I know, WHO AM I?!

As we wanted to head off I had to do a very awkward thing of finding out if I had won anything. It was such a horrible question to ask… I tried vaguely asking a marshal if she knew the results and got the standard reply “we’ll post them later” and then had to be a bit more specific and sound like a right arrogant so-and-so, “erm, no I mean, I wanted to know if I came any significant position? It’s just we’re a bit cold and need to know if we need to hang around for any prize givings…”. She took my bib number and disappeared. She returned shortly and told me yes I was due a prize. Ooooh!

I came second female! Two minutes behind first so there wasn’t any chance of getting first female! I won £25 vouchers for running gear, £10 off next year’s entry (it’s £13 to enter!) and a lovely glass diamond-shaped trophy. Not too shabby, eh!

On a slightly more negative note, I felt really sick afterwards. I couldn’t eat anything until 4pm. Though I did OK running when not feeling my best, it really impacted me in a nasty way afterwards. I don’t recommend it at all!

And my legs…oh my legs. So painful and itchy.

Have you ever surprised yourself with a performance you weren’t expecting?

Have you ever worked out/ran a race feeling hung-over?

What do you prefer: trail or road races? Hilly or flat?

July 13, 2015

Too much of a good thing

I think I need another day off…this weekend was so rammed, I’m not sure I’ve recovered.

It was my friend’s wedding on Saturday in Dorset. I live in Southampton so that’s about an hour and a half away. Originally I was going to camp there overnight as that’s what the invitation stipulated guests to do as they had an entire field booked for the wedding where the marquee was set up. Then I (thankfully) found out my couple friend and their one year old son were driving up and back. So I scored a lift with them, hurrah!

I sadly couldn’t make parkrun (breaking my 18 week streak *sob*) but I got up early to get in a four mile tempo run. I warmed up on the first mile and then aimed for 7min/miles for three miles and I was meant to cool down on the final 0.75 but I was really pushing for time and needed to get home quickly. Standard Anna procedure: only give yourself the very bare minimum of time and end up rushing like a madwoman.

The run went well though and I felt strong. I did miss parkrun but it was an OK alternative, even if I was running in the opposite direction to those running to the local parkrun 🙁

It was so warm and then having to have a shower and blow dry my hair was just a nightmare. Nothing like feeling super hot and sticky while trying to get into a nice dress.

Like I said previously, I went for a very simple dress so I could jazz it up with accessorises. My mum has lots of lovely fascinators so I went for a cream one and added pretty statement necklace.

For the first time in ages I wore heels! I sensibly took a pair of flip flops with me as well for after the ceremony when we got to the field – there’s only so much heel wearing I do.

The ceremony was gorgeous, set in a beautiful courtyard on the grounds of a castle.

It was fairly windy though which was slightly problematic for my skater skirt! It was a beautiful ceremony with Sarah, the bride, arriving on her horse (seated on it in the traditional side-on way ladies used to back in the day) and I felt a bit emotional – which is so unlike me! It was such a lovely touch as Sarah is very into her horse riding and the couple are both very outdoorsy (they were camping that evening too!).

Her dress was beautiful too. Nicely fitted with lots of lace detailing – she looked stunning. Afterwards we had the usual photo session and there was homemade elderflower champagne – oooh er!! Delicious.

We then left for the field for the wedding breakfast. My best friend (and lift), Louise, looked lovely in a white and blue dress with matching blue heels. Yummy mummy indeed!

We both enjoyed a glass (*cough* or three) of Pimms and I felt far more relaxed in my flip flops. Unfortunately I’d applied my suntan lotion a little too late and could already feel the slight sun burn tingling. Gargh!

The marquee was fantastic. They’d done everything themselves in terms of arranging furniture, catering, doing all the decorations and flowers. Honestly, Pinterest would have exploded.

Outside there were hay bales to sit on and space hoppers, giant Jenga, balls…it was brilliant.

They had handmade jam favours that had labels saying “Spread the love”. I mean, wow! Such great attention to detail.

The food was BBQ food which was very tasty indeed. The sausages were really good quality and the beef burger handmade.

Lots of salad and BBQ sauce as well, of course 😉

The pudding was Eton mess, very light and tasty.

Ohh another glass of champagne, a sneaky gin and tonic…I was quite on my merry way. We played with the balls and space hoppers outside, danced lots and basically just enjoyed ourselves.

Then the fish and chip van turned up as the evening guests arrived. Now I don’t even like fish and chips and somehow there I was in the queue waiting my turn for a battered cod and greasy chips.

The portion was huge. Though that didn’t stop me from consuming all but three chips. Honestly, I have no idea what happened! But it tasted good and I enjoyed it. The chips weren’t those horrible soggy ones, they were nice and crispy. Not quite content with consuming a ridiculous amount of stodge I then proceeded to eat three (albeit small!) slices of wedding cake. I can only blame the good atmosphere, my lack of self-control and the alcohol. But you know what, it was bloody fantastic. I did feel sick though and far too full. And massively regretted wearing a belt 😉

As I headed outside to walk to the nearby toilet facilities an elderly man was staggering back. He stopped in front of me and said (quite politely) “Excuse me, but you have lovely legs”. I sort of laughed and said thank you and he continued saying “you made an old man feel young earlier in the courtyard when your skirt blew up. My pacemaker went wild”. I’m pretty sure I just stood there laughing awkwardly. What do you say to something like that?? It was somewhat flattering I suppose…

I have to say, there’s nothing like a wonderful wedding to make you feel quite significantly alone. I wouldn’t say I’m lonely at all right now, being newly single, but being at a wedding where there are lots of couples and love-themed things…well it does sort of salt the wounds a bit. I tried not to dwell on it and just enjoy myself.

Eventually though it was time to head off home around 10pm. I had nicely sobered up by this point (well, I had been drinking since 12) and felt very tired. When I got home and collapsed into bed I fell asleep immediately. Only to wake up at 1.30am to be sick several times (sorry if this is TMI). Not my finest hour. Especially considering I had a half marathon the next day, though thankfully it was at 10.45am and not far away so I would get a lie-in at least. But honestly, I felt so ill. Being sick did help but I also felt very cold and shaky. I reckon being in the sun all day and not hydrating properly along with the alcohol and stupid amounts of food really did a number on me. But hey ho, life is meant for living right??

Not the best way to prepare for a half marathon for definite, but I wasn’t planning on going for it anyway. It was just a nice catered training run on hilly and off-road terrain. PBs were certainly not on my mind! I’ll leave it there for now and recap the race in another post!

Do you enjoy weddings? What’s your favourite part? There’s a lot of standing around…but there is also cake 😉

What handmade touches have you noticed at weddings before?

Have you ever gone to a race hungover and feeling delicate?

July 9, 2015

So what’s next?

My main goal for this year was to successfully complete marathon training and run strong at the Liverpool marathon. Against my wildest dreams I managed both of these things without issue (apart from a minor shin blip that I probably blew way out of proportion in my maranoia).

So what now? Well, I didn’t really know how I’d feel after the marathon, whether I’d be injured, ruined, exhausted or raring to go again so I didn’t plan anything in concrete. As it turns out my good training meant I was in pretty good shape afterwards (can I get a HALLELUIGH!) so really the door was open to whatever I fancied, in reason obviously.

Even though my DNAFit results told me my body’s apparently good (relatively speaking) with both short and longer distances I know which I prefer and which feels better. I adore marathons. There’s just something so special about them. And so far they’ve been enjoyable rather than painful. There’s no OMG I CAN’T BREATHE OH THE LACTIC ACID BURNS pain of the shorter distances. Marathons are hard in other ways though: mentally fatiguing as well as physically tiring with the dull aches of continuously running over so many hours.

When I finish a marathon I instantly want to do another one. When I finish a fast 5k I want to be sick and never run again. I constantly think “why am I doing this?”, whereas during a marathon I’m thinking “I can’t believe I’m doing something this amazing”.

There are some pretty incredible runners in my running club and in the blogging world that are striving to hit certain shorter distance goals. My friend Karen, my blogging friend Autumn and my fellow Brighton half marathon buddy Cathy (over a year ago now??) are all striving for (and likely to hit) the elusive and indeed very impressive sub-40 10k goal. That’s eye wateringly fast. That’s insane. But it’s not for me. Don’t get me wrong I’d love that PB on my roster but I just don’t have the drive to put the effort in to get it. Because it would require a lot of effort for me…speed drills, intervals, bleurrghh! And to be honest, I’m not sure I’d ever achieve it.

So again, what’s next for me? Well another marathon obviously. I’ve signed up to Bournemouth marathon and I’m very excited.

Loads of my club are doing it, it’s within driving distance so I can actually sleep in my own bed the night before, my parents can easily watch and I can join my cub for loads of the Sunday long runs leading up to it. At the moment I don’t really have a goal time-wise as I’m so pleased with Liverpool…but a little part of me wonders because it’s flatter what I could do. But that’s food for thought right now.

There’s also another marathon I’m considering. Now I know it sounds greedy, maybe stupid and reckless given my past issues…but hear me out. It’s the Cheddar Gorge marathon. Yes OK that sounds even more mental. It’s hilly and completely off-road.

I’ve done the half marathon and absolutely hands-down loved it. It felt like an adventure the entire time and I’ve been meaning to get back there to relive the experience. Only this time I want to do the two laps – the marathon distance.

If I did do this then it’ll be without a care in the world for pace or time. I’m well aware it will take over four hours to do (my half time was almost two hours, so I’m pretty sure I’m looking at around 4.5 hours if I have a good day!). I’ll walk the hills, stroll through the aid stations and stop to chat…I won’t be thundering along pushing the pace. I’ll be stopping to smell the flowers 😉

Anyway it’s just over six weeks away…I have the Stansted Slog Half Marathon (which I did last year) this weekend which will be a good indicator as that’s a very hilly off-road half. Another good test will be the the Ultra12 event I have coming up the weekend after. This is a 12 hour event where I’ll be part of a five person team running 5 miles laps all night on an off-road course…a bit like Endure, but in half the time. I hope to do three laps so that’ll be a nice lot of mileage to play with.

Then I’ll just take each week as it comes. If things get too hard, too tiring, or niggles start appearing I’m going to drop to the half distance and focus on Bournemouth, which is ultimately more important to me.

So that’s me! Who knows if I’ll do the Cheddar Gorge marathon or not. I won’t be too sad, but I would like to do it as a change from the road marathons…but we’ll see.

What are your current running/fitness goals at the moment?

Have you done multiple marathons in a year? Or back-to-back?

Am I risking it by doing another marathon so soon?

July 6, 2015July 6, 2015

Sweaty long runs and Running Heroes

Monday morning, hello again!

My weekend was nice and relaxed, which was lovely. Geoff, one of Netley Abbey parkrun’s event organisers, had given me the honour of being responsible for the keys for the Saturday run as he was going on holiday. I’m a regular member of the set-up and clear down crew so I felt very touched he picked me to look after the keys. With great power… 😉

This meant I needed to make sure I got there dead on time (8am) to help set-up. The keys opened the store cupboard with all the parkrun kit in it (cones, signs, etc.) and it also opened two of the gates that we run through as part of the course.

I’d decided a bit last minute to have breakfast before I left (usually I’ll wait until after, but I was meeting my mum later to go shopping and needed to eat lunch a bit earlier). I was rushing about so much and just before I was about to put my oats and milk in the microwave I knocked it over with quite some force accidentally. The oats and milk went everywhere. All up my legs, all up the walls, the kitchen cabinets, the floor, and even Alfie’s bowls! Argghhhh! I just stared at the carnage around me and could have screamed in frustration – so much mess. But with limited time I had to just get on and clean it up as quickly as I could (and as thoroughly as I could – milk is not a smell you want hanging around in the heat!). Bloody chia seeds are the most stickiest things in the world, I tell you. And those little suckers got everywhere. Alfie sadly missed his walk as I just didn’t have time but I promised to make it up to him later as I dashed out the door.

The set-up went fine and though the morning had begun quite cool it was now heating up. We were on the three lap course but I wanted to see how fast I could do it, having had breakfast. I felt quite confident…

Photo credit: Chris Stapleford – Ahh the face of a happy runner

I actually felt really speedy and like I was gliding along at the start. Then I looked at my watch and saw this wasn’t computing into actual fast times. I was pushing so hard but wasn’t getting better than 6.45min/miles. Though these times are still fast for me, I was bewildered that the previous weekend I was running around 6.50s with no apparent issue for six miles. Surely I could run faster for just three?

Photo credit: Chris Stapleford

I felt stupidly hot and it was a tough slog at the end. I managed second female with 20:48. Not too shabby at all but, I won’t lie, I was a little disappointed. I know in reality if I want to be speedier at 5ks I need to put some real work in to it, like sharp short intervals, but I just don’t have that desire, so I’ll take that time and be happy with it!

The clear down went smoothly and I was pleased to have successfully done my temporary job well. Netley had actually been very busy with our highest attendance yet at 314! Southampton parkrun has been cancelled so we got a lot of runners from there I believe.

Later on I met my mum for a shopping trip to find an outfit for a wedding I’m going to next weekend. Oh the pressure of finding an outfit…but I found a very simple but very chic black dress in H&M which I can jazz up with a statement necklace and a fascinator. I’m all about the accessories! I got two other summery dresses as well and in total paid under £30!! I mean come on, that’s such a bargain!

Sunday I’d planned a long run but didn’t know what distance to run. I have a dream trail race (*cough* marathon) I’d love to do in August but I’m not sure if it’s sensible or if my body will handle it so I’m judging things as I go for the next couple of weeks…

I stayed at my parents and decided to go a different route to incorporate a few hills and some off-road trail, but still get to run alongside the sea for part of it. As I headed out I knew I felt good. No niggles and no mental exhaustion like before…just plain sailing, relaxed running.

As I was on my second mile I passed a man with a young boy (probably about nine years old? I’m rubbish at judging small people’s ages). The boy started to run with me and at first it was funny. Then it was annoying. He just stayed with me. I got a bit worried because he was running further from his dad (I assume it was his dad). I said to him “you do know I’m running 10 miles, right?” hoping to scare him off but he replied “well my dad ran a half marathon”. Oh alright then! Cheeky bugger, I felt like replying “well I’ve run a marathon so there” but stopped myself as I remembered he was a small child and I’m an adult. Anyway he dropped off thankfully a few moments later.

The run went well. I really enjoyed it. Though I was drenched in sweat. I don’t normally sweat a great deal – that I notice anyway. But I was coated and my arms were chaffing because the sweat just wasn’t evaporating off me because of the high humidity. There was absolutely no wind either which was lovely as normally it can get quite windy along the seafront.

(Ave. pace 7:51 min/miles)

In the end I did 12 miles and felt good. I felt like I could have gone further which is great because this shows me I’ve still got a lot of endurance left over in my legs from the marathon. Just need to make sure I don’t over-train or injure myself.

The rest of the day was all about enjoying the wonderful weather. Meaning, it was time for a BBQ!

All those ribs were mine

My dad multi-tasked with setting the BBQ up and cooking while watching the Grand Prix on his iPad that was propped up on the table. Quite impressive really that nothing got burnt or under-done.

I went for ribs (soooooooo good), a kangaroo burger and a garlic chicken skewer. With lots of salad of course. Delicious! I felt well topped up after the run.

And away from the weekend…

I’ve recently found out about a company called Running Heroes that went live in the UK a few weeks ago. Running Heroes are basically trying to encourage people to run by rewarding them.

They’ve built the largest running community in France with more than 150,000 members. The company have a lot of well known partners as well, such asNike, Spotify, Uber, Birchbox and many more. In the UK they already have 5,000 users and were named a “Cool Vendor” by Gartner (like Dropbox, Evernote, Instagram or BlaBlaCar before) in April 2015.

The way they reward runners is very simple:

Runners connect their running app / watch to the website (Nike+, Runtastic, Garmin, Strava, Runkeeper, Polar, MapMyRun or Endomondo);
The more they run, the more they gather points;
With their points, they get access to exclusive discounts and gifts offered by our partners on our website.

It rewards your effort based on your profile meaning that it’s a fair distribution of rewards. So women gets 20% more points for the same effort as men, as studies have shown that they have to make 20% more effort for the same performance. There’s also a forum to exchange tips and experiences.

Just a snap shot of the rewards you could get

They’ve set me up with a code for my readers and I to start off with 100 free bonus points, just go to « activate a bonus code » et type in “RunAnnaRun” if you want to join!

How was your weekend?

What do you think about Running Heroes? I’m quite intrigued by it and am giving it a go!

What do you like on a BBQ?

**Full disclosure: The company contacted me and asked if I would spread the word and in return received the code to use for myself and you guys.**