AnnaTheApple - The life of a girl who loves apples and running

May 16, 2016October 28, 2016

The worst race of my life?

[This was meant to go out last week but I had Blog issues annoyingly]

Alton 10 on Sunday was fairly horrendous, and sadly I wasn’t alone in that opinion. I hasten to add that this was nothing to do with its organisation, the lovely volunteers or the race itself.

I’ve done the Alton 10 before, two years ago, and it was pretty much the same course. Funnily enough when I went back to read how it went it was from a post where I also claimed to have experienced the “worst race of my life” (I’m nothing if not dramatic I suppose). Though the race I was talking about was one of our club league races, an RR10, and not actually Alton 10.

It’s handy having a blog where you document your training and races because you can go back and refresh your memory on what a race was like. From my memory and the post, it sounded like I quite enjoyed it, though I wasn’t racing it then either. No the thing that made this race hideously horrendous was the weather. Now don’t get me wrong, I loved how beautiful and sunny the weather was all weekend but for running a 10 mile race that began at 10.30am it was tough indeed. I’d also eaten a small farmyard the day before at that BBQ restaurant…

Because the Cakeathon is looming ahead (last Bank holiday in May), I’m trying to get my long runs up again so I can attempt to do a fair number of laps (it’s a three mile lapped race where you have 6 hours to do as many as you like; laps = cake as well). Last weekend I did 10.5 miles so this weekend I wanted to do 13 miles so I got up early and ran three(ish) miles before leaving for the race.

It was handy to have these three miles beforehand so I could a) test the weather out and b) test my stomach out. I’d slept awfully and that was probably mostly due to the excessive quantities of meat eaten the day before. I felt like a BBQ was happening in my tummy all night. Anyway, the three miles went well but I realised quickly it was going to be a very warm race.

I decided to don the old crop top on for the first time this year, though I was a bit apprehensive as I didn’t feel quite my best after my few weeks of greediness indulgence post-marathon [side note: no I’m not saying I’m fat, I’m jut saying that I personally felt a bit fluffy].

I thought I wouldn’t fancy any breakfast before we left but I was actually really hungry. HOW DOES THAT EVEN WORK? Bizarre. So I had a nice bowl of steaming porridge – perfect for the weather, I thought and my dad drove us to the race. I picked my bib up easily, went to the loo (an actual loo; hurrah for no portable toilets) and met up with some of the club while my dad headed off to a spot to spectate.

I chatted away to my friend, Sarah, on the start-line and realised I was thirsty already. She kindly gave me some of her water. And then we were off. My intentions were to use this simply as a long training run, aiming for a pace between 8-8.30min/miles. I knew the course was hilly so wasn’t going to stress if my pace edged closer to 9min/miles.

The first mile was pretty standard. I got into a nice groove and overtook a number of people. It was chip-timed but tricky to work out where to stand at the start so after a fair amount of overtaking I found a nice spot of people running a similar pace to me. The first mile is downhill so it was all very comfortable and la-di-dah.

(Photo credit: Alan DenmeadPhotos)

I saw my dad and he gave me a quiet “hello” which was slightly underwhelming, but given that the race was sparsely spectated and in the middle of some lovely, idyllic country roads on a Sunday morning I’m fairly glad he didn’t go mad with the cheering.

My dad actually made a GIF of me running – how cool is that?? I find GIF’s quite mesmerising…

Mile two hit and I was feeling HOT. There was limited shade and the sun was beating down hard. Urgh this was going to be a long old slog.

I managed to slowly crawl my way past a few people and tick along, but inside my head I was in my own personal hell. My face was hot, my quads were burning from the hills (not the sun thankfully) and I remember distinctly thinking “my legs never felt like this during the marathon”. And then later thought, as the sun seemed to sap every happy thought I’d ever had, “this is worse than the marathon”. I heard one girl really struggling saying to her friend, “I can run 10 miles no problem, just not in this temperature”. There were no happy vibes around.

My dad said even he noticed that the race felt very flat and people looked dejected. The heat was just making the race such hard work. The hills were relentless but that was to be expected. Downhills still sucked because of the sun. There were only three water stations which ordinarily in a 10 mile race wouldn’t be that bad, but in that temperature it wasn’t enough. Sensibly I stopped, literally stopped, at the water stations to drink a full cup of water and then take another to dump on my head. It revitalised me for a moment until I was hot and dry again.

I managed to get through the race by counting up the miles to mile five, and then counting back down again. The course goes out and comes back (albeit a different route) so you know when you’re heading back, which helped. I stared in wonder at a man running in a cotton t-shirt. Poor guy. Side note: I also saw a woman with four gels attached to her belt. Do you need four gels for a 10 mile race? I can sort of understand one if you really think you need it, but FOUR?

Not sure how I’m smiling…and the photographer was handily just after the water station, just after I’d poured water all over myself! (Photo credit: Alan DenmeadPhotos)

I didn’t push the pace, not that I could have done if I’d have tried! I felt comfortable with the pace but in terms of motivation and general happiness I was struggling. The last mile was horrendous. It was like someone had popped my balloon and I was slowly deflating. My legs were like blocks, which is odd because I hadn’t suddenly got faster or anything. I’d maintained a similar effort. I felt like I was crawling to the finish and the final hill right at the end all but ruined me. Then there’s a glorious little downhill and round the corner to the end.

Another GIF; a bit shaky and tricky to see me!

So yeah it was pretty tough. I couldn’t have imagined trying to race it. I think had I run at home I would have run slower and I’m chuffed with the effort levels involved because of the hills but realistically this race felt awful. My time was 1:20:20, with an average pace of 8min/miles. So not too shabby at all.

Everyone I spoke to found the race just as hard. There was a feeling of Post Traumatic Race Disorder floating among us as we all agreed it was the hardest race for a long while. It was nice to have people to share my pain with as sometimes in a race you have a bad one because of your own pacing or training, but to have everyone agree was nice – though obviously I’m not pleased everyone suffered like I did!

Kudos to the Scouts who were earnestly filling up people’s cups left, right and centre afterwards as well. You can see one behind me (IN A JUMPER AND FULL TROUSERS) in this photo. Bless him.

My hair is lovely and slick back due to the water I threw over myself during the race and obviously the sweat. Nice

But despite it probably being ridiculous hard, I’m glad I went. It was nice to be on the ‘racing scene’ again with my club mates. It made for a more interesting long run and would have been jut as hot at home anyway.

Nothing like getting a medal for a training run after all!

How do you stay cool during summer?

Have you ever suffered from ‘Post Traumatic Race Disorder’?

What races do you use gels in?

May 9, 2016

The best meal of my life?

This weekend was one of those weekends that was just great from start to finish. It probably helped that the weather was just fantastic. It felt like summer on the South Coast!

My mum was away so my dad and me decided to have some dad-daughter time and make the most my mum not being there. To that effect we went to a restaurant we knew she would hate and saw a film we knew she wouldn’t enjoy.

But first parkrun. The day before my local parkrun, Netley Abbey, had posted on their Facebook page that they needed someone to assist a partially sighted runner round the course. The runner was aiming for 8min/miles and they didn’t need someone with experience as a guide. I thought, why not? I wasn’t aiming on blasting a parkrun so 8 minute miles sounded good. I signed myself up. And then proceeded to feel ridiculously nervous. What if I was rubbish? What if I tripped him up? What if…what if…

The next morning I headed to help set parkrun up WITHOUT my coat (hurrah!). It was nice to be back at parkrun after three weeks off so there was lots of catching up to do. And the sunshine was an added bonus. We were on the cricket pitch course which I was quite happy about because it meant easier in terms of guiding, and you do five laps so it’s relatively simple.

Unfortunately though Southampton parkrun had been cancelled due to a race so a lot of people decided to come to Netley. This meant it was very busy. I met the partially sighted runner, a lovely guy named Khalid, and he briefed me what I should do. He had a short piece of string for us both to hold onto. Verbal cues were ideal but if something appeared in front of him suddenly then I should grab him and move him rather than waste time telling him.

I donned an enormous high-vis vest and got ready to go. He suggested we start right at the front as it would be easier for people to overtake us then us to try and navigate around people. I felt quite nervous stood right at the front with all the fast people but it made sense.

This was one of the hardest parkruns I’ve done. Physically it was absolutely fine, but mentally I was concentrating very hard. I had to look ahead the whole time to prepare for what was coming – any downhills, holes in the ground, twigs, turns – and also what was directly in front of us, such as people.

I would say things like, “a downhill approaching in 3, 2, 1” which worked well as it gave him time to prepare. There aren’t any big downhills on the cricket pitch course thankfully but there are small declines which you could lose your footing on. And obviously four turns as well as some veering on and off grass to paths.

Without a doubt the hardest part was people. I was surprised they didn’t mention about Khalid in the race briefing, but on reflection I don’t think that would be fair on him. He just wants a normal run after all, rather than be made to feel ‘special’ or centre of attention. However it was hard on the five laps because you’re doing a lot of overtaking of people all the time or being overtaken yourself. And it was very busy. I would do a lot of shouting ahead to people to say what side we were overtaking or in some cases, when people were oblivious or wearing headphones, I had to push past them or physically move them as there was just no time if they didn’t hear me yell. Many people were fine and very apologetic once they saw Khalid but some people gave me such boggy looks. They did later apologise but it was a bit hard to take initially and I was feeling very stressed. I don’t like to be rude or for people to think I’m rude but I didn’t want Khalid to bump into people or trip.

It made me realise how annoying headphones can be to other people. I too like to wear headphones when running. However I can’t remember the last time I wore them for parkrun. It made me feel very isolated. I love how social parkrun is and wearing headphones shuts you out from that. I’ve recently bought some Aftershokz headphones which don’t cover your ear but work on vibrating through your head (“bone technology”; yes it does sound weird!) so you can still hear regular external sounds because your ears are free. Obviously sound quality of the music/podcast isn’t as good but when I’m running on my own along roads it’s far safer and I feel far more aware of my surroundings (incidentally some races that previously banned headphones allow these headphones now). But anyway, I digress. Wearing headphones isn’t a cardinal sin or make you any less of a runner, but it did make me see it from another perspective.

We finished in one piece, me with a time of 23:48 and Khalid just before me. He seemed happy so I felt relieved it went well! I then enjoyed a nice cold slush puppy-style drink sitting outside the cafe with some running club friends. Perfection!

Later I met up with my dad and we headed to a new-to-me restaurant, Sadler’s in Southampton. I’d only heard about this place the day before from my friend’s Instagram picture. As soon as I saw his picture I was like, “I must go there IMMEDIATELY”. I knew it would be a place my dad would love but my mum wouldn’t. Basically it’s a BBQ restaurant (my favourite food). We had a table for 4pm as we had the cinema booked for early evening. It was quite quiet which was nice! And our waitress was just amazing.

Their menu is basically just BBQ food. There are no starters, just main meaty numbers. It does have a vegetarian section as well though. We decided to push the boat out and share a Bears’ Grill sharing platter. Let me just talk you through this. On the board you get: two smoked turkey breasts, four chicken wings, four chorizo pork sausages, four ribs tips, three smoked gammon pieces, a mound of pulled pork, two chunks of cornbread, more chips than you can believe, coleslaw and a side salad.

I had also cheekily asked the waitress if there was any chance to add a small portion of the St. Louis ribs to the platter as, you know me, I love ribs and I’d heard the ribs were the business. She said normally they don’t as they come as there own separate meal but she’d have a word with the chef. She came back and said she could add two for a fiver. SOLD.

That is the face of someone who has died and gone to heaven. It was absolutely delicious. Special mention goes to the turkey. Normally quite a dry meat but it was really moist and tasty. The ribs were obviously incredible – and MASSIVE. The wings were so good. I mean it was all good. I couldn’t touch the sausages though as by that point I was at risk of turning a very good experience into a very bad experience. I think I had one chip! My logic was to enjoy the main bits rather than fill up on something I could have anytime anywhere. Five star meal.

My dad enjoyed it too – we were both just in a bubble of happiness. Though I think if we went again he’d go for steak as he’s more of a beef man and it was all pork, turkey and chicken. For once I was defeated. We just couldn’t eat anymore. Filling up on protein is so different to carbs. After a while you can go back to carbs and nibble a bit more but with protein, when you’re full you are FULL.

I think we did a good job! I think we left most of the chips, cornbread, coleslaw, one and a half sausages, a piece of gammon and a whole load of pulled pork. I asked to take the leftover meat home and the waitress said she’d wrap it up in a “swan of shame”.

Oof! I was so full. We did a bit of walking before the cinema thankfully to let things go down. We had some time before the cinema so we walked around West Quay for a bit. I think my dad wanted a nap but I needed to move!!

We then saw Demolition, the new Jake Gyllenhaal film. I’d seen a trailer and it looked quite funny in a weird idiosyncratic way. It was that or Jungle Book and we didn’t really fancy it.

Source

The film was very strange but I really enjoyed it. The music was great and Jake Gyllenhaal was superb. Strange but good. The screening was completely empty as well until right before the film began when a couple joined us. They literally had seats next to us. Surely you’d choose seats somewhere else?

I enjoyed a HUGE diet coke – I was so thirsty after that meal – and just settled back in a nice comfortable state of contentment.

I had a rubbish night’s sleep though as I was still quite full and there was a garden party happening across the road that was so loud. It went on really late – and there’s something so awful about drunken girls ‘singing’. Moan over. It was also really warm. So not a great sleep! The next morning I had planned to run three miles, then run Alton 10 miles, which I did two years ago. More on that in another post!

What was the best meal of your life so far?

Do you prefer to fill up on protein or carbs?

What was the last film you saw?

May 5, 2016

Rants and Raves #30

Well I haven’t done one of these in a while! And boy do I have a lot to get off my chest No not really to be honest. If only my life was that interesting!

Rave: After a successful second year of half marathon and 10k fun, Southampton ABP are considering hosting a full marathon in the future, possibly even next year. They’re getting feedback and seeing what the interest is like to begin with. This is very exciting. To have a road marathon so close to where I live and through a city I know so well – I love this idea. Some people are unhappy that it might be a two lapped course, but realistically I can’t see it being a full 26.2 mile loop. The cost and mayhem of road closures would probably prevent this from happening. Personally I don’t mind lapped courses (to some degree) so I’m not too bothered, even if it does mean twice over the Itchen Bridge and up Burgess Road.

Source

Rant: I can understand that as a non-runner the thought of having the city being disrupted for even more races in the centre of Southampton may not sound that appealing, but it’s only one weekend. Why are people so bloody grumpy? This was a comment on one of the local newspapers online:

For goodness sake, there are more marathons than just London. Thank God, because the chance of getting into London through the ballot is almost impossible! (Has anyone entered??) This just reminds me of the idiots at Littlestoke parkrun trying to charge for the use of the park. Let’s not pour water over ways to encourage people to exercises and get healthy.

Rave: Sunshine! But of course. Finally good weather seems to have arrived. It’s glorious. I don’t even mind being woken up super early by the sun streaming through my windows (I tend to keep my blinds slightly open so I’m not in a total blackout).

This was on n early morning walk with Alfie. I didn’t even need a coat!

Rant: People in the gym being inconsiderate. I mean this is a post in itself but specifically people not putting weights back after using them.

Four 25kg plates (plus a 10kg) on both sides of the leg press machine! This is just so ridiculously rude. To use that machine, as I’m actually not the Hulk, I have to take each of those plates off to then put the weights I want to use on. It was a bloody workout in itself!! Why can’t people just put things back? It really isn’t that hard – especially if you can press over 160kg (the machine already has 46kg default before you add any weights).

Rave: My parents have a furry little friend living in their garden.

They’ve been spotting this rabbit on and off for a few weeks now. Apparently it’s not that bothered by the dogs – or it has a great hiding space. We can’t work out if it’s wild or lost. My parents checked with nearby neighbours for any lost rabbits but no one is. It seems quite content for now anyway.

Rave: When I was at my parents house on Saturday evening I really needed to do some foam rolling but I’d forgotten to bring my roller or tennis ball with me. I hunted around but the only thing I could find that might be useful was a ball-shaped candle. My mum said I could use it but not to make a mess (i.e. ruin the candle) so I covered it in foil.

It worked perfectly! It was more firm than my tennis ball – a bit like a cricket ball. It manage to survive my rolling as well so my mum happily received her candle back in tact.

Rave: When I was working from home the other day I decided to put the Boston Marathon TV coverage on in the background (you can find it online). It was fascinating to watch the elites, especially when one of the females picked up a water bottle from a supporter at the side and then passed it around the entire elite group. It was a really nice show of comradeship despite everyone competition.

It was also amusing to see the volunteers on bikes high-fiving the crowd.

Rave: How talented is my friend Lou? She painted the entire wall of her son, Jacob’s, room.

You can see Jacob photo bombing at the bottom right

His furniture and shelves are all pirate-themed too. She’s so creative! Jacob is very lucky. As will be her little one on the way

Rave: Game of Thrones. Enough said.

What are your rants and rave this week?

Are you watching Game of Thrones?

Would you be interested in the Southampton Marathon?

May 4, 2016

Post-Boston Marathon and Cape Cod

Just to follow-up my Boston posts, I’ll quick recap of post-marathon and the fun my mum and me had in Cape Cod (every time I type this I want to say Cape Town…not Africa, Anna, AMERICA).

After finishing the marathon and chilling for a bit in Starbucks we grabbed a bit of lunch…

The world’s biggest salad; it had everything in there from feta to chicken to beetroot to broccoli. It’s what I was absolutely craving. Big indulgences would come later when my stomach felt more up to it.

After this we made the long walk back to the harbour to catch the water taxi back to the hotel. My legs felt tired but generally OK which I was pleased with (though my hamstring was very tight). As we were walking so many random people congratulated me – and people who hadn’t even been near the race. From older people to teenagers, everyone had a kind word for me.

As I was only wrapped up in a foil blanket over my shorts and vest I was starting to get very cold. I had such a craving for a hot drink that we stopped in another Starbucks on the way back (a takeaway decaf, more just something warm for me to drink than anything). As I stood in line with my mum the woman behind leaned over us and said “this one’s on me” and handed the barista the money. I was shocked. She said “you’ve earnt it, amazing job”. It was such a nice thing to do!

As we continued on our way I was still clutching the goodie bag I’d received, which was packed full of really random food, like a bread roll, a protein drink, crisps and other snacks. I knew I wouldn’t need any of it and it felt like such a waste throwing it away. A homeless woman congratulated me and it made me think. I asked her if she wanted some of my snacks from my goodie bag and she was over the moon. I gave a few more items to another equally chuffed homeless person and my mum promptly burst into tears saying “I’ve raised a good’un!”. Bless her.

My finisher’s top and medal

That evening we ate in the hotel restaurant again because honestly the thought of going anywhere else just didn’t appeal. I once again had chicken wings, this time with a delicious blue cheese dip and a cheese sharing platter with my mum.

Yes I’m wearing my medal, and I wasn’t the only one!

The next morning we checked out of the hotel, picked up our rental car and drove down to Cape Cod. We stopped half-way at Plymouth to break the journey up a bit (it was about two hours). I knew there was Plymouth Rock to see so though it might be a nice place to have a look around. It was really windy and quite cold though.

We actually randomly stumbled upon the rock and were, well, a little disappointed as it was very small and not much to it. We moseyed about for a while and then decided we’d carry on. Plymouth was a little bit dull I must say (though we were in the off-season I hasten to add).

We arrived in Hyannis, Cape Cod, a it later and checked into our hotel.

The main street with restaurants, shops and also the harbour and beach were only a short walk away which was handy. At this point we were quite hungry. And lo and behold, a restaurant so perfectly fitting to my post-marathon runger… a Brazilian rodizio all-you-can-eat. Hello, heaven.

There was a huge salad bar which I used to load up my plates with salad and veggie – let’s not weigh myself down with unnecessary carbs after all! And the waiters came round with all different types of meat to carve for you. It was delicious. My mum even enjoyed herself (it’s not really her thing but she indulged me in my post-marathon haze). My only sadness was the lack of ribs *sobs*.

Needless to say dinner wasn’t necessary. But we did go out for a nice drink in a local bar. Originally I was just going to have a diet Coke but my mum ordered a margarita and I saw you could have it iced, like a Slush Puppy, so I decided to go for it.

I don’t usually drink that much at all. I don’t hugely enjoy it – though I do like the odd Prosecco or G&T. But it’s rare. Anyway the alcoholic Slush Puppy was delicious and went down a treat.

In fact, it went down a little too well. I found it very drinkable because of all the ice and found that over half-way through it I was feeling a little drunk. Seriously. How much of a light-weight am I! My mum found it ever so amusing. I was off in my own little tipsy world giggling over nothing. My mum couldn’t drink her non-iced margarita as it was too strong and though I had a few sips of hers (I think that’s it in the photo above) I declined to finish it otherwise she’d have been carrying me home! It was a fun evening though.

The rest of our time in Cape Cod was spent driving to different towns and places and basically just chilling. Things were a lot more relaxed than they were in Boston, especially with no longer having an impending marathon hanging over us. We went to Provincetown, the furthest point of Cape Cod, which had lots of quirky shops. We also spent some time in Chatham, which my mum adored (lots of linen clothing and home décor shops) where the only interesting shop I found for me was a chocolate shop (easily pleased). But it was very pretty and peaceful.

I unashamedly spent $10 on a bag of ‘misfit’ chocolates, which I then promptly munched through as my mum went in yet another linen shop.

One day we went to Falmouth where we had some delicious cake and tea in an American tea-room. Though it was delicious, it was a very odd setting. I think they were trying to get the whole British tea-room vibe going but it just seemed a little strange with the décor and it being almost a restaurant. I don’t think it translated well.

The cakes however did translate perfectly into being TASTY. I had lemon and my mum had carrot. All the about that icing (frosting!).

We then headed over to Martha’s Vineyard on the ferry.

It was such a beautiful sunny day we were very lucky! Martha’s Vineyard is a small island off of Cape Cod and for movie geeks like myself, the home to Jaws. Though sadly I didn’t get to see the famous Jaws bridge as it was just too far out. We had a lovely time regardless, going into the shops, having an iced coffee (Boston seems to go mad for iced coffees, they were everywhere) and seeing all the beautiful “gingerbread” houses.

It’s basically a large collection of summer houses that people can live in when they go on holiday. But as it was the off-season there was no one living there and it was very quiet and actually quite eerie. It was like a mini village of ghost houses. It kind of put us at unease! But pretty nonetheless.

Anyway, we had a fantastic time in Cape Cod. It was the perfect place to chill out after the busyness of the marathon and the hubbub of the city. I ate lots, walked lots and shopped lots. It was such a great holiday. Sadly I found no ribs at all, but I did eat chicken wings no less than FIVE times.

Not even all the chicken wings I ate

They were just so tasty. America definitely does them right! And I found more cake, of course and the biggest side of sweet potato fries I’ve ever seen at the Cheesecake Factory (our last meal before we flew back) – an entire large bowl of them! Even I couldn’t finish them.

I loved spending the time with my mum – neither of us wanted to kill the other one so that’s a bonus

And now life is back to reality…

Have you ever been to Cape Cod?

What food do you love to have on holiday?

Are you a beach or city lover?

May 3, 2016

Running in sunshine and jumping in lakes

I only actually realised we had a Bank holiday weekend on Wednesday, so as you can imagine it was such a lovely surprise to know we had a three day weekend coming up! I definitely needed it. Despite only just getting back from my holiday the other week I was still so tired from the jetlag that it was nice to know I had an extra day to catch up with life.

Saturday was pretty full-on as it was my friend’s hen do (bachelorette party). Thankfully it was a day thing rather than a night thing so didn’t involve going clubbing and excessive drinking, which I’m not a huge fan of. The activities were due to start before midday in Bournemouth. I could have gone to parkrun in the morning but it would have been rushed so I decided to give it a miss, which handily works out well for timing my 100th parkrun with my friend’s 250th (I’m three away!).

Instead I planned to run three miles on my own. The weather was lovely and sunny and I slightly regretted wearing long-sleeves (though it was my new Lululemon top which I adore). I ran alongside the beach and in the distance I could see the Lee-On-Solent parkrun going on, the runners running in the horizon like dots. I got my route wrong and it came to 3.7 as I got home so then had to run up and down the road to get 4 miles, as you do

The run felt really good. The day before I’d seen my physio and told him about my niggling hamstring. He did some very intense deep tissue massage on it and I woke up with it feeling a bit tender but so much better. He said I was OK to run the next day though he advised leaving it for a few days…but I just really wanted to run (famous last words? I hope not…). Anyway I finally felt like my running is back to normal post-marathon. All my runs previous seem to have felt quite tough and laboured, so I’ve kept the pace easier. I know this is to be expected post marathon! Saturday’s run felt a lot better though.

New Lululemon top

Then my friend, Lou, picked me up with some of the other girls and we headed to Bournemouth. We only vaguely knew that there would be some outdoor activities, quad biking and an obstacle course (which I was really excited about).

We got into some super sexy camouflage to begin with.

Thanks to Ashley for the photos

And then we got down to some quad biking. I’ve done quad biking before and loved it but this was a little different.

The quad biking I’ve done was over a relatively smooth track so you can get some speed up but this was really bumpy and off-roady. You couldn’t exactly zoom round it. It was still really good fun though, just required a bit more technical skill and more of a risk getting stuck or rolling!

Lou sadly couldn’t take part in all the activities as she’s pregnant but she took lots of photos and was able to join in on some of the welly throwing (yes really) and other fun less-strenuous activities.

The obstacle course was so much fun but also a little insane. We had the usual climb under, and jump over things, and monkey bars…

I was chuffed at getting over the wall myself! And then the last section was literally stepping into a shoulder deep lake and getting to a boat to pull the team across to the finish.

Let me tell you, that lake was bloody freezing. In the end we all had to swim because the lakebed was just sinking beneath our feet. I thankfully kept my head out of the water but it was still horrendously cold. As we huddled waiting for the rest of the team to swim across my friend goes “I have deep empathy for Kate now. I wouldn’t have shared my door either” which was a perfect summation of how it felt.

Though my friend had told me we needed a spare set of clothes because we might get wet I had no idea we’d get absolutely soaked. Some of the girls had sensibly brought towels but I had brought a tea towel at the last minute as I assumed I’d just need something to ‘dust off’ some dampness or mud. We all then huddled in an outdoor sheltered hut thing to get changed. It was horrifically cold but quite funny. My tea towel was somewhat useful!! Thankfully I did have a spare set of clothes with me.

And then it was time for refuelling…in the best possible way.

Afternoon tea! That first cup of tea was SO needed. Though I had nice warm and dry clothes on (not a warm and dry bra however…), I was still very cold. Lots of sandwiches, two scones with jam and cream, crisps and a cupcake helped though. Good grief. So much for eating a bit healthier post holiday! I had intended on eating my second scone instead of the cupcake but then there were cupcakes left-over and it looked to good to miss…

The hen do was such good fun and the hen had a great time

I stayed at my parent’s house that evening as it was easier. The next morning I wanted to run 8-10 miles, depending how I felt. As soon as I started running I knew I wanted to run 10 miles. I just felt strong, happy and relaxed. The sun was shining and it was a little *too* warm but it was just nice to be outside in a tank top for once (another new Boston-themed Nike top). I got to the beach at about seven miles and wondered if I’d see my parents. They often take their dogs down the beach when the weather’s nice. And funnily enough I saw them and the four dogs in the distance (Alfie was with them of course).

It was lovely to stop quickly and say hello to them and Alfie mid-run. Though they had to hold Alfie when I ran off as he wanted to join me, bless him!

The run, despite being very warm, went really well. I felt good speeding up so I kept a tempo pace towards the end. Apart from needing to some long runs for the Cakeathon at the end of May, I have no goals or direction for my running at the moment so it’s nice to go with the flow.

And then my parents and me went to Gunwharf Quays for a bit of shopping (hello Adidas outlet shop) and Jamie’s Italian for lunch.

I had the vegetable plank to start (so tasty, lots of roasted vegetables, cheese and hummus), followed by my usual turkey Milanese and then a white chocolate cheesecake. I’ve never had a bad meal at Jamie’s (though I do tend to order the same thing…).

I’ve had this meal so many times now

Monday was a rather chilled day of doing some chores, catching up with life (and Game of Thrones – the latest episode, OMG. SO much happened) and just generally chilling. Perfect bank holiday weekend!

What did you get up to?

Is there a meal you keep going back to?

What kind of hen dos/bachelorette parties do you enjoy?