Inspiring runners and lots of food

Good morning! Well I’m nice and recovered from Sunday’s half marathon and feeling strong thankfully.

This past weekend was all of a bit of a whirlwind. I do love weekends where lots goes on, but it can be a bit stressful because you have to cram everything you need to do around everything you want to do.

On the Saturday Ben and me got up less early than usual as we weren’t helping set up Parkrun. My plan for the run was to just run a nice easy run without pushing it so I would be fresh for Sunday. Because it was the five laps around the cricket pitch again, they’d decided to do it in reverse to mix things up a bit. This blew my mind a bit 😉

Anyway it was nice to just take it easy and not worry about paces and times. Though I did get a little bored with the five laps. But I was running near one of the younger guys at our running club who was desperate for a PB so we were all encouraging him and pushing him on as we ran so that was nice. He got his PB in the end which was brilliant – and with such a great sprint finish.

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A few posts ago I mentioned that my lovely pregnant running friend (Karen) was still running. She really is an inspiration.

IMG_6025Twenty-six weeks pregnant (I think – I’m not very good at remembering these sorts of things, sorry Karen if I’m wrong!!) and smashing out very respectable times.

I was very cheeky and got her to stand sideways because in the above photo (^^) she doesn’t look pregnant at all!

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Honestly, when I’m pregnant (not for a few years) then I really hope I can follow her example. She has a very healthy attitude towards running as well in that she is listening to her body and will only continue running if she feels she can without causing herself or her baby issues.

After getting home and doing the boring housework bits and pieces I then headed off to see another pregnant friend. It was her baby shower. She had no idea about it and we were all at her sister’s house ready to surprise her. Her sister got her over and honestly her face was a picture. She was so shocked.

We played lots of games (like guess how many sweets in the bottle) and ate lots of cake. I really wish I hadn’t but you know what my will power is like around cake. In retrospect I probably shouldn’t have eaten two cupcakes, a slice of lemon meringue and a lot of chocolate fondue. I don’t think this helped particularly well for the next day’s race. Duly noted for Paris 😉

Then I had to eat a pizza in the evening before the race. Jeeze I did not fancy it.

Pre-half marathon pizza

Hey ho. I ate it regardless.

Anyway so the race happened on Sunday. Check my recap out HERE.

After running the half marathon, Ben, my parents, Ben’s mum and me stumbled back to car in that ‘post-race walk’ (the parents were stiff themselves from walking out a few miles and then standing in the cold). After getting changed we headed off to Jamie’s Italian – exactly the same thing we did last year.

Jamie's Italian post-half marathon

It was a little bit of a nightmare as I have a Gold members card for Jamie’s (I go there so often…) and as a Gold member I get certain benefits. I once got £10 off the bill! However, I’d left my card in the car and the waitress needed the number on it in order for us to qualify for the perks.

So I had to trek back to the car to get it. To be fair, everyone did offer to go for me but it was my fault I left it so I felt I was the one to retrieve it. The multi-storey car park was very close but the car was on floor three and I optimistically took the stairs. After getting to the first level I then waited for the lift. My legs basically just said “no, Anna. Just no”.

Finally after getting back to Jamie’s I fully enjoyed my peppermint tea as I was so cold and tired by this point. For my Gold membership, we each got a free little courgette thing that had been rolled in some tasty breadcrumb thing with a zesty dip (top right-hand picture).

We also got a cocktail each – Prosecco and some berry fizz thing. I opted for a non-alcoholic one as my stomach wasn’t feeling great.Post-half Jamie's Italian Obviously I got my Turkey Milanese meal which was HUGE. I swear it was never that big before. And I got a side of cabbage with prosciutto and parmesan breadcrumbs. Like I said, my stomach didn’t feel good though. I ate the turkey but Ben got my egg and I took the cabbage home with me.

I think the cakes the day before really didn’t do good things to me. I felt rough when we got home. I was fine the next day thankfully. I just think sometimes a race can hit you badly and mess things up a bit.

But there we go, apart from the dodgy tummy, it was a great weekend! Next race for me is the Paris marathon…

Have you ever felt a bit ‘off’ after a race?

Do you know any inspiring runners?

If you’re female and considering (or have had) children, will you/did you exercise during pregnancy?

28 Replies to “Inspiring runners and lots of food”

  1. I will definitely be running throughout pregnancy (again, not for a while yet!) Dan and I were actually talking about this the other week as there’s a very pregnant Parkrunner at our run at the moment. Dan said I would be unbearable if I didn’t run and he would have no choice but to let me! Clearly being grumpy in my times of injury this Winter has done me a favour for the future!
    Not sure I could cope with five times round the same field…Does it not get confusing with who is on which lap? The Parkrun in Northampton is one and a half laps, but probably only one or two runners ever get lapped by the lead runners.
    Whenever I need some inspiration I play our club Runner of the Year videos on Youtube – filled with fantastic people having done fantastic things last year and I’m always buzzing afterwards!

    1. Haha exactly – pregnancy hormones AND not running…hell hath no fury!!
      Yep it is really confusing (at least for me) – I have to keep count of my laps on my hands. The marshals have to trust the runners to count for themselves and not cheat. No one has on purpose I don’t think. It is funny because people always shout at the marshals “what lap am I on?” and the marshals have no idea because can you imagine them trying to keep track of every runner!?

  2. Awwwwww your friend is so tiny! I think its great she is continuing to run and stay healthy throughout her pregnancy, it can actually be worse if you are very active to stop when you fall pregnant as long as you don’t push yourself too far its great to keep up the workouts! Loving all the food : )

  3. Sounds like a fabulous weekend of good entertainment, company and FOOOD!!! Your pizza looks pretty tasty. I just had pizza myself. You know Pizza Express’s pizza w/ the middle cut out & stuffed w/ a salad? Yes you do? Well I decided to recreate it for lunch. Holy Moly it’s delicious!!

  4. Not that pregnancy is on the cards for a hefty while, but Mr PoP and I often joke how I will need a ‘pregnancy bike’ as I would never fit a bump on a road bike – it would get squashed! I would definitely want to exercise as much as was possible, safe and practical 🙂

    1. I think as long as you’ve been exercising before your pregnancy and it doesn’t cause any issues then it’s the best thing to do to continue. But going by effort level rather than speed I think.

  5. p.s. your food looks amazing! I’ve never been to Jamie’s Italian but may have to check it out!

  6. Well done for the race Anna! And props to your Parkrun buddy too, she looks amazing and is such an inspiration.
    I love Jamie’s Italian, though I haven’t been there for a while. We went after my first half marathon and I was sooo flipping hungry – then they accidentally sprinkled cheese on everything so I had to wait until a new meal could be made. Torture!

  7. Hahaha aww your poor legs on those stairs- hilar. Also your friend has the cutest littlest bump on the planet. Is it weird of me to be envious of that? I’m totally gonna blow up like a balloooooon (not for a LONG time though! haha). Also that turkey milanese looks like this meal my gramma makes and I eat soooooo muuuuch of it. Yuuuum.

  8. Your friend is the cutest pregnant lady ever – she is still so athletic looking with a perfect little bump! An inspiration for sure 🙂

    Sadly I always feel ‘off’ the day of a race, both before and after. My nerves are shredded every single race I run and it never gets any easier (if anything it’s become worse…), so my stomach is in bits on race day and usually it’s a bit squiffy for a few days afterwards as well.

    xxx

    1. I think finishing a hard race and not experiencing any slight ill effects is an achievement. It always takes me a while to feel ‘normal’ again. It’s a hard thing to put your body through. You’re spot on with the nerves as well! And that meal was huge and different to what I’d normally eat (and cakes the day before definitely didn’t help!)

  9. Aw thanks Anna and thanks everyone for the comments – helping today as I feel like a whale!!! And you got the weeks spot on Anna 🙂 x

    1. I’m glad I got it right! :). You are a very dinky pregnant lady. I hope to be just the same…though knowing my luck I’ll get huge!!

  10. That is great that your friend is still running- I am sure Liz Yelling did a marathon talk interview about running during pregnancy and it was really interesting. If you are a runner already then it should be fine and I am sure babies are healthier if their mums are active.
    Poor you with the stairs too! At the spa I felt fine in the water and thought I was amazingly recovered, then when I had to walk up the stairs out of the water- well that was a shock as suddenly my body wasn’t supported by the water any more!

    1. Oh dear – I can imagine feeling great in a lovely bath and then suddenly getting out and realising “whoops, just ran 13.1 miles…maybe not so great!” But such a lovely thing to do after a hard race.

  11. Well done on the half again. Your friend looks amazing. I once felt really sick after a half as I had run with a bad viral infection and my body just did not handle it well, I felt terrible afterwards, and it took a long time to recover from it.

  12. PS I always get a dicky tummy after anything over 10k if I am racing it… Always have done!:-( to the point where I started putting Imodium in my race bag 🙁

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