friends - AnnaTheApple

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?

June 8, 2015October 28, 2016

Romsey 5 Mile Beer Race

This weekend was pretty awesome! (<—I really hope I can be saying a similar sentence next week after my marathon…).

My university friends came down to see me on Saturday for my birthday, which is on the 19th. One of them popped down on the Friday night because she was coming straight from work in London (that crazy girl commutes from London to Brighton in the week…that’s a lot of trains!) I picked her up from the station and we indulged in a lovely evening of Indian take-away and the film Pride. I heartily recommend Pride. It’s such a good film with some truly lovely moving moments and is very funny.

In an awkward state of events I needed to do my last long run on the Saturday morning rather than the Sunday as I had the Romsey 5 Mile Beer Race (more on that later). So I planned on driving to parkrun early and doing seven miles beforehand, doing parkrun and then zooming back home. The other girls were arriving around 10.30am which gave me just enough time. They all know how running mad I am so it was fine thankfully.

The pre-run felt alright but wasn’t amazing. I felt a bit “bleurgh” and *wshipers* my shin that I had issues with last year has ever so slightly started niggling a tiny bit during my runs that week. It would be ironic that an injury springs up literally the week before my marathon. BUT like I said, it was ever so slight and more of a tightness than anything. I was only worried because I was scared it was going to develop into something further. To be honest, it’s highly likely that the previous high mileage weeks I’ve done made it grumble and the fact that my shoes are getting older. So I swapped them for my new ones (exact same version) and foam rolled and stretched a lot.

Anyway I got to parkrun in good time and continued a similar pace, enjoying running with people and the lovely sunshine.

Photo credit: Kookie51

I literally had to grab a token, get it scanned and race back to the car and head home straight away.

Photo credit: Kookie51

I felt bad for leaving my friend at my house, but we’re very close and she knew to make herself at home.

I got showered, dressed and breakfasted all in time for the other two friends to arrive. It’s always nice seeing them as we just slot back into place like old times and have a good old giggle. They bought me some lovely birthday presents. One of my friends works at Superdry (as part of the audit/accounting bit…or something) and gets 50% off clothes or 70% off in the sample shop!! I got a very nice gilet (<— not an affiliated link!) and T-shirt. SOO chuffed as usually I avoid Superdry as it’s ridiculously expensive.

We decided to have afternoon tea for lunch. We did try my favourite tearoom, Elsie’s, but it was rammed so we went to my second favourite in Lee-On-Solent, The Tea Rooms.

It was delicious. I got roast chicken sandwiches, a fruit scone and a slice of red velvet cake. It does make me slightly concerned that I have absolutely no problem polishing off my afternoon tea while the other girls seemed to struggle…I guess my sweet tolerance has also enjoyed marathon training!

Later we enjoyed a nice walk through Manor Farm with Alfie.

It was a lovely, lovely day. And then we said farewell and I thoroughly depressed myself by watching The Lovely Bones. A good but morbid watch (the book is better though).

The next morning was time for one of my favourite local races of the year, the Romsey 5 Mile Beer Race. I’ve done this race twice before and I love it. The course is undulating and tough but it’s a pleasant route through country roads and the Romsey Road Runners, who organise the race, are so friendly and supportive. It’s always a good day. And you get a free beer and slice of cake afterwards. So yeah it’s pretty good!

My parents came to pick me up and my mum said why didn’t we take Alfie too as they could look after him and it was so sunny and lovely. What a great idea as otherwise Alfie would be home alone for the morning and it was lovely having his furriness there with us.

We arrived in good time and saw lots of people from my running club. The running club was fairly split that day as there was a popular 10k (flat and fast) going on as well somewhere else. I love the beer race even if the course is hard work and would much prefer to do that race than the flatter 10k which, let’s be honest, had no cake offering. Plus the pressures of a flat 10k are just not what I want right now before my marathon!

(Photo credit to Sheryl James)

I honestly had no idea what to do for this race. It’s a week before my marathon but it’s only five miles. My shin felt pretty alright after my foam rolling so I wasn’t too worried about that (but obviously I did worry because hi I’m Anna and always injured). The last time I did this race I wasn’t in great shape and was coming back from a hip niggle, and the time before that I did really well as I was right in a good phase of fast running and PB’ing.

I also knew if I did push it there could be a chance to place well. Previously I’ve achieved second and third place, respectively, out of the females. I took the pressure off by just wanting to enjoy it, seeing how I felt and not smashing myself to bits because Liverpool is the goal race.

Just before the start I needed another pee and the loos had a long queue. So as part of my warm-up run I ran down a country lane to see if there were any good bushes. I turned around a corner and found a lot of stinging nettles…hmm. There was a couple walking away from me a distance away but no one else around. I thought if I was super fast I could quickly just pee on the side of the verge, away from the nettles, but potentially in full view of anyone who appeared. Mid-pee I heard the sound of a man running up the road to my corner, I yelled out panicked “Stop!! Wait there!” and, as a fellow runner, he knew what was going on and yelled that he wouldn’t come round. When I’d finished and came round the corner I thanked him profusely. He laughed and said he was trying to find somewhere too.

We lined up and then off we went. I got into a good rhythm and found myself with the other lead ladies.

(Photo credit to Paul Hammond)

I honestly felt comfortable 95% of this race. I just seemed to find a good speed. There were several hills but also good down hills as well. I managed to overtake a lady at around mile two and pushed on. As I came up to some marshals a while later they shouted that I was the first lady. I didn’t realise! I thought there was at least another lady ahead. This resolved me to maintain the lead. I think maintaining a lead is harder than gaining one as you have no real control and can’t see where the others are or know if they’re going to suddenly out-sprint you later. It’s mentally tough.

My pace was really good for me but I didn’t feel flat-out. I remember how I felt in the previous years where it was a pain train the entire time. Last year I almost considered just pretending I was sick so I could stop running (pathetic, yes) as I found it so hard. It felt very good to know I was in better shape. A good confidence boost for the marathon!

I didn’t even miss not having music (it’s not allowed as the roads aren’t closed). I just focused on my running and gave myself milestones. It honestly just felt good.

(Photo credit to Paul Hammond)

At four miles I still felt good. I kept pushing and got to the end bit where you have to run around a cricket pitch before the finish (somewhat soul-destroying). With everyone cheering I pushed harder and that’s when I felt the pain train happen.

(Photo credit to Paul Hammond)

I somehow managed to smile for the camera and then got round the corner for the sprint finish.

(Photo credit to Paul Hammond)

My time was 33:43 (a PB by almost 40 seconds) and first lady. Finally I’d managed to get the first lady position on my third attempt!

(Bit of Strava geeking out…comparing my race to the other two)

I wasn’t completed destroyed after the race either which was great! Just a bit pooped.

Alfie had a great time as well, though he barely noticed me when I ran past him despite me shouting to him. That’s love for you! Obviously I got my cake ASAP (a slice of moist ginger cake) and got my dad his well-deserved beer.

My parents were fantastic supporters, as were the running club. It was just such a great day.

It’s definitely more of an overall love for the event than simply the race itself, you know?

I got two beer tankards as my prizes (first lady overall and first senior lady) and took a couple more slices of cake home for the freezer (gluten-free brownie and lemon sponge). You only get one cake token but if you donate money at the end (once everyone has had their slice) you can get more. And my mum was happy as I gave her a cake token someone else had given me…apparently I’m known as a cake monster or something…? My dad also got another beer as well. So everyone was pretty happy!

Overall I’m over the moon with this race. I felt good, my shin feels fine (though I’m considering just cross-training this week to be certain. Or am I being paranoid!?) and I feel like I’m back to where I was.

Romsey beer race, I’ll definitely aim to be there next year!

Three years of the beer race!

How was your weekend?

Do you have a race you always go back to?

Beer after a race, yes or no? I’m not a beer fan in general so it was a no for me (much to my dad’s delight).

May 27, 2015

150 parkruns and a glamping experience

The weekend gone was truly fantastic. It was non-stop amazingness. The pinnacle of which was the Cakeathon race I did on Monday (there was a Bank Holiday weekend for most people in the UK so I enjoyed a long weekend). I will do a full race recap on the Cakeathon in another post because honestly it was just plain AMAZING.

My weekend started, as usual, with a parkrun. Originally the plan was to go to Southsea parkrun again with some running club friends but we realised it was Geoff’s, another running club friend, 150th parkrun (yes, 150) and he was running at Netley Abbey. So we decided to go there instead to help celebrate with him. Southsea can wait for another week! Geoff is one of Netley’s ‘core’ parkrun people and he is fantastic in his volunteering and general support – top guy!

He also brought 100 cakes to celebrate. All baked by his nephew (who’s a chef!). Each cupcake had “150” on them and they looked (and tasted) fantastic.

After setting up, I warmed up with a few guys and we discussed what we hoped to get that day. One wanted a sub-22, another a sub-23 and I wanted sub-21. I was so close last week. Also, different to normal, I had had breakfast and a black coffee before coming to parkrun that morning and wondered if this was the go-go juice needed to push the pace. Normally I don’t eat beforehand but I was having an early lunch.

Porridge, chia seeds, almond milk and a black coffee

As soon as the race began I knew I felt good. My pace was exactly where it needed to be and I felt smooth, strong and speedy. The second lap got tougher. I always find the middle mile the worst as you’re basically holding on for dear life and there’s still a way to go. On the last lap I could see Iwan Thomas (the Olympic 400m runner who’s hilarious on Twitter) ahead and decided to just stay as much with him as I could (well, behind him anyway).

My only problem was feeling sick on the last lap – which I put down to effort level and the breakfast I had in my tummy. But overall I did feel better; I could feel the energy in my reserves (OK this might have been psychological). My time was 20:34 and I was over the moon!! Fastest for the three lap Netley course (by a second) and eight seconds from my overall Netley PB (done on the flat cricket pitch course in 2013). Yesssss! But I was flat on my back at the end, pooped.

I obviously celebrated with one of Geoff’s cupcakes and a nice sit down in the cafe afterwards with the guys. The other two almost managed their goals but were still relatively happy overall. It was a hot morning!

From the results it said I was 2nd female, but I know I was third as my speedy friend Karen was first and I was overtaken early on by another girl. But she didn’t scan her barcode. Apparently she’s done this a few times – for what reason I’m not sure. I think this is a bit ridiculous. Why wouldn’t you? It just seems a bit unsportsman-like and makes a mockery of the parkrun. Don’t use the other runners for your run and then not go through the parkrun motions. If she doesn’t want to be on the results, don’t run the course. Simple. It also mucks up the results for everyone else.

Anyway Geoff force fed me another cupcake (who am I kidding?? There was no forcing…) and then I dashed off home to prepare (mentally and physically) for a camping hen do adventure…

My friend, Sarah, is getting married in July and she loves camping. In fact, she’s requesting for everyone to camp for their wedding (yes, really). They themselves are camping on their wedding night and where they’re getting married there are not hotels nearby. Madness. It was therefore no surprise the hen do would involve camping. Thankfully, it was more ‘glamping’ than proper camping. Though there was still no electricity, running water or toilets except for ‘on site’ a short walk from our tents. I was pleasantly surprised at how nice the interiors of the tents were. Airbeds, carpet, duvets, pillows and a hamper full of utensils and cutlery. Very posh and swanky. And lovely fairy lights for the evening (battery-powered of course).

The hen do was going on until Monday but I couldn’t stay for the entire thing as I had the Cakeathon in Kent and was staying there on Sunday night. But I was able to do the Saturday activities at least. This involved hiring bikes and going for a nine mile cycle through the New Forest.

There were 15 of us for this activity and we got three tandems as well. Cycling a tandem with someone is not easy – especially up hills! Initially when I heard the distance I was like “pffft! This is easy, I’ve cycled so much further!”. But with a load of excitable and non-cyclist females and three tandems…well, we took a long time!! It was bloody hard work cycling the tandem up hills I can tell you! And a fairly frightening process at that, especially for the person on the back who can’t see what’s going on.

Thankfully we survived. That evening we got dressed up (as best as you can really on a campsite) and headed to a local pub for some dinner.

Initially everyone poo-pooed my chef salad selection…until they saw how massive it was and the size of the slices (wedges really) of brie I got as well. It was full of chicken, olives and the cheese. It was delicious. I also got someone’s unwanted goat’s cheese wedge. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten so much cheese before in one sitting! I also had a sneaky small bottle of Prosecco. The others were drinking, but not too heavily (that was Sunday’s plans I think) and I didn’t want a hangover so I stuck with one drink.

Pudding was a chocolate brownie with chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream. It was more a of crumbly cake…it let me down in the brownie department as I normally expect them to be dense and stodgy but I forced it down regardless… 😉 Tough times.

The evening involved just some girlie nattering and then falling asleep. It was cold though, but this is probably because in our tent we’d accidentally left a large air vent open which basically acted like an open window. The next morning we were woken by bright sunshine, children and birds. Nothing like being on a campsite!

Thankfully I could forgo the showers as I was leaving early and could shower at home. I also left having breakfast until home as well. They’d planned to go for brunch and I needed to get back to pack and get sorted for my next outing. But I did have a cup of tea using my friend’s camping kettle.

My mug of course

Quite a cool piece of equipment. I’ll have to invest in one of these if I intend to camp again…not sure when that’ll be though!! I’m a creature comforts kind of girl. Not high maintenance per se, just I like warmth and proper food.

After saying my good byes I headed home. I was able to shower, eat, pack, do washing and hoovering before being picked up by the lovely Laura, from my club, who was doing the Cakeathon too. And off to Kent we went! We live in Southampton so it was a good 2 hours 45 minutes away. Road trip!

Which obviously included a Costa stop to keep us going 😉

The Cakeathon (which I will recap properly soon) is a 3.2 mile lap race that you can complete as many times as you like within 6 hours. For every lap you complete you get a coloured wrist band.

One wrist band = one slice of cake

What a fantastic idea!! As soon as I heard about this race a few months ago I immediately went to sign up, but found it to be fully booked with a waiting list. I was devastated. But, due to high demand, they decided to run another event and those on the waiting list got first shot at applying, which I did immediately. I knew it was in Kent but, being the simple-minded geographically clueless idiot that I am, I thought that wasn’t too far away…Until I Google mapped it: almost three hours in the car! And it started at 8.30am. Riiiiiight. My friend had signed up too so we both decided to get a hotel for the night before. Hence the road trip!

And I shall leave it there…

How many parkruns have you done?

Do you enjoy camping?

If you run, what’s your motivation? Amongst many, many things, one of my reasons is cake. Simple!

May 20, 2015

Netley 10k (2015)

I hate 10ks. I’m sure I’ve said it many times, but I truly do. 5ks are somewhat bearable because they’re short. The pain can only go on for so long, whereas for a 10k it just seems never ending.

Going into a 10k race as part of a training run therefore makes things a whole lot more enjoyable. Well, at least psychologically anyway. My plan was to get 18ish miles done on Sunday as part of my marathon training. A lot of my club were doing the local Netley 10k race and I thought it would be so much nicer to combine the two so I wouldn’t have to run the entire 18 miles on my own. It also meant I could ‘enjoy’ the 10k rather than race it.

The sun that had been beating down on the first solo part of run (12.5 miles) but as we waited for the 10k to begin it suddenly disappeared and it became more overcast: perfect running conditions. I ran this race last year (as a proper race) and I remember how hot it was then, so I think everyone was quite grateful it wouldn’t be so bad this year.

Different to last year, the race this year was chip timed which was far better as last year there was so much crowding and pushing at the start with people desperate to start quickly with the gun. Though it was still crowded at the start there was far less panic and desperation to move forward when the gun (whistle I think) went.

I started with a bunch of my Hedgie team mates and felt very relaxed. My legs however felt like lead and suddenly it felt really hard to keep up with them, despite the pace being in my “easier” range. I honestly contemplated letting them go ahead without me as I plodded along but I stuck at it thinking my legs would wake up again soon.

Starting to get into it with Lauren

I got more into the race and started to enjoy it as the legs warmed up (again). There were two running club members taking photos so we had a bit of a giggle (thank you Richard Townsend and Gary Trendell!).

Clearly the miles are going to my head here 😉

The course, like last year, consisted of three large laps around Queen Victoria Country Park, where the Netley Abbey parkrun is held. Therefore in my head it was just a supersized parkrun. This meant that we had to do the dreaded parkrun hill (I say hill, it’s not a hill hill but a sharpish incline) three times and another long incline three times. It’s not an easy course but there’s lots of support most of the way round which helped.

Matt and I

Eventually the most of the Hedgies disappeared either in front or ahead and I stuck with Matt who was aiming for a PB and running at a pace that I was finding comfortable but tough with the miles already in my legs.

Matt might have regretted me running with him somewhat though as we passed a drinks station and grabbed a drink. They were in cups and I struggled to drink from it without soaking myself and in the process managed to knock Matt’s elbow as he was drinking his. Consequently he was covered with water. I’m pretty sure he was more annoyed than he made out but he’s a gentleman and only remarked “looks like I’ve wet myself now…least it’s cooled me down”. I couldn’t apologise enough (though I was also laughing…).

As we headed for our final lap I really started to feel tired. Matt was finding it tough too so we started encouraging each other. We figured out some milestones to head towards on our last lap: a Hedgie supporter doing some amazing encouraging shouting from a quieter section of the course, the drinks station, a pack of kids, the homestretch…Then Matt said he was close to his PB – now there’s a motivation!

The final straight

The last half mile of the race you can see the finish which is a bit soul destroying but there were loads of people shouting and cheering which helped.

I think my face says it all. This is pretty much my legs personified (does that even make sense??). Matt zoomed off on the last 100 or so metres and I let him go: my legs weren’t up for that kind of sprinting without significantly breaking! I did attempt to speed up though (as my face displays).

My official time was 47:41 which I’m happy with considering I wasn’t racing full-out and weirdly I managed an average speed of 7.47min/miles which is exactly the same as the previous 12.5 miles I ran. How funny! So overall I ran 18.6 miles at 7.47 min/miles. Not too shabby! And the best part is that Matt got his PB (47:36 – he wanted sub 48!) He was over the moon and so was I. He helped me as much as I helped him. There’s no medal for Netley 10k but we got another towel. Last year it was red, this year it was blue. Just need a white one now for our running club colours!

Happily I felt all in one piece afterwards (and the days after). I did feel exceptionally tired though. When I stopped I was just shattered and my legs felt exhausted. I was so happy to stop running! Then I found a queue forming for free massages. Now seriously that is a fantastic way to finish a long run!

So good but so bad. My calves, oh my calves! I also noticed that my right foot had bled a bit to the outside of my trainers.

Top right of side of my trainer

Nothing says a tough long run than a bit of blood, eh? Turns out one of my toes’ nail pushed against its neighbour so nothing serious thankfully.

After the race I headed home and wolfed down porridge as quickly as possible. It was now midday and I hadn’t eaten a thing, though I had a good amount of water during and afterwards. I also made sure to have a coffee as well. I’m happy to run all my long runs in a fasted state as I honestly think this will help me when I race non-fasted. But who knows?

Then off I dashed to my friend’s house for the birthday party of their one year old son, Jacob. A whole year has passed, this is crazy! My friend, Louise, is an exceptionally good baker so I was fully expecting some good cake. And cake there was!

I stress that the every (edible) thing you see on that table is home-made. EVERYTHING. Coffee and walnut cake, lemon drizzle, flapjacks, banana muffins, chocolate cupcakes, a chocolate cake on the far left I didn’t manage to get in the photo and the birthday cake itself. There were mini meringues and cream made by her mum as well (by popular demand because, seriously, they’re amazing). And it was dinosaur themed. I was in heaven.

I had a slice of chocolate cake, a meringue and a cupcake. Then followed that by a banana muffin. And later birthday cake. Top notch baking. I was sat in the sun, a plate full of cake, kids running all over the place and was so chilled. I also made sure I’d brought my 750ml bottle of water with my nuun tablet in. What a dork I looked like with my massive bottle but seriously I wanted to avoid the post-long run headache at all costs. Oh and looking cool in a party hat – yep.

Awkward birthday party hat selfie

The birthday cake itself was incredible. Louise had made it all, even the dinosaur on top. How cool!

There was a little debate though as to why there were four candles on it…apparently Lou decided that one looked a bit lonely. It’s a good job Jacob can’t count 😉

Blurry birthday cake

Simply divine!

At one point I was chatting to a two-time Irornman (Louise’s brother) and I mentioned I was training for marathon in June. His response: “Oh just a marathon?” That stumped me! Yes just a marathon – none of that swimming and cycling malarkey but still tough in its own right! He did backtrack a little when he realised what he’d said but the damage was already done 😉

Now as you might know I’m not a particularly child-friendly person (I’m clueless and blind with terror around them) but I knew what I was in for. Louise’s family is quite big so there just seemed to be babies, toddlers and teenagers everywhere! But it was a lovely afternoon despite the small children 😉 Cake helped dull the pain somewhat 😉 😉

I headed home to finish the chores that needed doing, walk Alfie and then relax. I was really hungry again (apparently cake isn’t the most filling of foods…) so decided to have dinner. Sadly a headache decided to make an appearance – damn I thought I’d escaped! I’m pretty sure this is down to nutrition as I hydrated really well the day before, during and afterwards. Clearly a lunch of sugary cakes it’s not conducive to a good recovery….hmm who’d have thought? I regret nothing though. In the end I went to bed at 8.30pm as I was so tired and the headache just wouldn’t go. Hey hum! But another 18 miler in the bag!

Children’s birthday parties – hell on earth or a delightful way to spend some time? I enjoyed the party, even with the sheer number of small people! 😉

Do you have any top tips for post-run nutrition?

What would you have had from the Cake Table?

May 18, 2015

A parkrun “almost” and a doggie day trip

The mood of a Monday morning couldn’t be more perfectly demonstrated than the current weather of where I am in the South of England: rain and wind. Well, at least the weekend was nice and sunny. It’s not like I could enjoy the weather anyway as I’m at work!

Saturday morning I went to parkrun as normal.

Setting up in the morning

It was lovely and sunny! I tried my best, though my legs were a little heavy from intervals on Thursday and the gym on Friday. I ran quite consistent miles (just under 7min/miles) and as I crossed the line I saw my watch said 20:58. I was really hoping I’d finally broken 21 minutes for that course, but the later results confirmed that I got exactly 21:00. Ahh damn!

Then I rushed back to get a bit of housework done before meeting my lovely friend, Bhuvana, for a walk and lunch in Winchester.

Winchester Cathedral

We decided to bring our dogs along for the outing too as we weren’t planning on going shopping but rather just chatting and walking. She has an adorable bichon frise called Rain.

The weather was lovely, so sunny and bright. As we walked along the river I let Alfie off his lead. He seemed to be looking longingly at the water but after a few stern words avoided it…until I wasn’t looking and he launched straight in! He clearly regretted it immediately as he swum to the edge and scampered out quickly. His legs looked so skinny with his fur flat against them, bless him.

For lunch we stopped in the same place we did the last time we went to Winchester, Cafe Monde.

We sat outside because of the dogs and I ordered the same as last time, Caesar Salad, as it was so tasty. I think it was a little smaller this time though with less toppings. I was a little disappointed.

We also made sure we had some treats for the dogs so they would settle down. It was a lovely lunch, despite the portion size.

Then we looked around some of the castle ruins.

We even attempted a dog selfie, which believe me was no easy feat!!

We had a hunt around for some cake as well – obviously! We stopped into a cafe called Ginger Two. We tagged-teamed with the dogs so we could both pop in a buy some cake to take-away. My Freezer Cake Stock was running low so I wanted to top it up…

The choice was amazing. And they all looked so good! I restrained myself (somewhat) by buying just two slices: a raspberry Victoria sponge on a brownie base (yes there is such a thing apparently!) and a slice of red velvet. Heaven! I’m sure I’ll be back here for a roper afternoon tea soon as the scones were like the size of my head!! It was a very pleasant and peaceful cafe so it definitely has my seal of approval.

In our quest for cake I also found myself a slice of lemon and blueberry in another tea room (I can’t remember the name though) just because…well…I have no rationale! I just love cake – don’t judge me! It was a lovely day out walking and chatting, and Alfie and Rain both got on very well. It was nice to know Alfie was with me rather than waiting at home, not enjoying the sunshine. It also meant we could just get home and chill rather than me then having to go out and walk him as soon as I got back.

I ate a quite random dinner of butter beans, pumpkin puree with cream cheese and loads of random veg (courgette, kale, etc.).

Hmm doesn’t look that appealing but it was delicious!

If you like pumpkin and you’ve never mixed pumpkin puree with cream cheese, it is a SO good. Gives a really thick creamy sauce. I pretty much was limited on what I had in my fridge, hence the randomness!

The next morning was my planned 18 miles. After having such a good run last weekend and enjoying running with the guys at Southampton half I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with the idea of running 18 miles on my own. I can do it but it’s just mentally a harder slog (which I know is good training in itself I suppose).

Many of my club mates were running the Netley 10k race on the Sunday, so earlier in the week I decided to sign up to it and combine it with my own long run. I planned to drive to the race area (it’s the same place as parkrun so very close by), park and then run 12 miles out and back. Then I’d quickly change into my HERC running vest, grab my bag and water and run to the start area where my friend, Karen, would already have kindly picked up my bib (as you had to pick them up on the day).

I wasn’t going to race Netley but I hoped to pick up a bit of speed. I’ll do a recap on the race in another post as this one is getting lengthy and it was a fun (albeit hard) race.

In the end I did 12.5 miles on my own and it went well. Mentally I broke it up into two 6 mile chunks, knowing when I hit the second 6 miles I was on my way back.

As you can see there was one gradual incline that went on for a fair way which I obviously had to do twice. My pace is all over the place despite trying to remain consistent and not go too fast.

(Average 7.47min/miles)

Not sure how a 7.20min/mile snuck in there but I’m pretty sure a downhill was involved!

I did panic a little thinking I wouldn’t I get back in time or I’d be too early. I had planned to arrive 15 minutes before the race began as it was quite a relaxed and small race. I arrived about 10 past but was able to pop to the loo and chat to the guys at my running club.

Thanks Gary Trendell for the photo!

My legs did start to get a little stiff and I was worried they were settling down thinking the running was over now. I drank lots of fluids beforehand as well which was good because it was quite a warm day. I didn’t feel nervous, like I’d normally do before a 10k, as I wasn’t racing. But I did feel tired and mentally had to perk myself up. Then we started heading over…

Sorry another ‘cliff hanger’!

What’s your preference: running with friends or running on your own with music/podcast/nothing? I love running with other people but you’re less in control of pace and distance which I find tough sometimes.

Do you combine races and training?

What’s your favourite breed of dog?