parkrun and friends

After having a solid eight days off of running to let my running mojo reignite and my calf chill the hell out, I’m back to running. This was good timing as a few guys from work were heading to Lakeside parkrun (actually located next to where we work) and I was glad not to miss out.

It was Trystan’s first time at parkrun so I was really chuffed for him (being the parkrun nut I am). He’d only recently gotten into running so this was a step in the right direction. My friends Ed and Kyle were also coming so there was a nice bunch of us. It was a warm morning and none of us were planning on any crazy PB attempts but we decided to all just run separately to keep the pressure down and let us all just run however we liked.

I’d had some acupuncture and massage from a really good local physio on Wednesday. I’ve mentioned him before (check out his website HERE – I fully recommend him!) and after that my calf was feeling good. I’d tested it out with a gentle 3.5 mile (a little niggly but much better) and then a 10k run with two guys from work, also fairly easy. So I was confident I would be OK. The calf felt on the mend! Hurrah.I had every ambition of taking parkrun easy. My mistake was wedging myself forward in the start line-up because as we got going I found myself getting carried away with the people around me and running 7 min/miles pace. Slow. Down. Anna. Unfortunately the brain didn’t quite compute that and I continued on. My calf felt even less niggly than previous runs… if it had gotten worse I would have slowed down (I mean, in retrospect, you can really say anything can’t you? I hope I would have slowed down). I saw some familiar faces as I ran and we exchanged cheers and hellos. parkrun is always so friendly and of course this is quite a local one so you see lots of the same people about.

From the Facebook page

With Lakeside, there’s a lovely chunk where you’re running past the lake under the shade of the trees. Though as people were running along the sandy track it was lifting dust into the air which was a little disconcerting to breathe in. Though the annoying part about this parkrun is the final out and back bit where you run out into the sunlight again and then under an underpass – so two mini hills – before heading back the way you came to finish on a long straight. It can be a bit wearisome.

From the Facebook page

Anyway, I managed to gain on the first female and this only made me keep my speedy pace rather than be more sensible and slow down. But I still felt OK.

Kyle wasn’t too far behind me – apparently trying to catch me (spoiler he was just 14 seconds behind – though to be fair to him, he’d started behind loads of people. His watch time was very similar to my watch time). Ed wasn’t far behind either and Trystan smashed it with just over 27 minutes. My time was 21:30 which I was both happy about and annoyed at myself for. I should have taken it easy. But the calf felt OK at the end…fingers crossed.

Trystan’s sprint finish was honestly amazing. I mean look at that determination!
We all had a great run. Trystan was pleased with his first parkrun and seemed keen to do another (yessssss parkrun convertee).It’s just so nice to have a beautiful morning and a great run with lovely people. Can’t beat that on a Saturday morning! I also got to catch up with the ever friendly Paul (check out his parkrun-full blog HERE). He’s a lovely guy and gave me some good parkrun tourism ideas. The guys and I then headed for a nice coffee in the Starbucks nearby. Good start to the weekend!

As for once I had no major plans, I enjoyed a nice dog walk with Alfie in the sunshine and watched the Germany vs. Switzerland match in the evening with my dad. I’ve actually been really loving the World Cup. I don’t usually watch football and know next to nothing about it but I do enjoy the World Cup time. I like how people get involved, talking about it and getting excited. Obviously I’d love England to do well but to be honest it’s just fun to be involved. Luckily at work we have a television which is showing all the matches so we can keep up with the games through the day.

On Sunday I played it safe with going to a Les Mills RPM spin class (currently on 78) which properly kicked my butt. Who knew you could sweat from your elbow creases and shins? Obviously I’d much rather be running but these Les Mills spin classes are actually really good. The “virtual” instructors on the screen are so full of enthusiastic beans and the workouts are so tough you do feel properly worked out. My calf felt OK in the morning but I wanted to give it another day. I’m going to the Marathon Talk Austria Run Camp in a week so I wanted to be fighting fit for that. Fingers crossed.

After the gym I had a nice (albeit HOT) walk round Queen Elizabeth Country Park.It was very sunny and the trails around QECP are quite hilly. But it was a good walk nonetheless. A refuel was definitely needed afterwards. That came in the shape of a lamb and feta burger (done on the BBQ) with some very crispy chips at the Hampshire Hog nearby.

Followed by a VERY tasty brownie.The brownie was SO good. It was so gooey, warm and fudgie. It rocked my world.

So a good weekend with a bit of running, a lot of sunshine, good food and fun times.

What did you get up to this weekend?

Have you introduced someone new to parkrun?

Have you tried any of the Les Mills classes before?

Lakeside parkrun – PB’s for friends

As much as I desperately want to avoid the obvious… It was rather hot this weekend, eh!

On Saturday morning I headed to where I always head Monday to Friday, Lakeside North Habour where Wiggle is based. But this time it was for the Lakeside parkrun that’s based there. It goes around the lake in an out and back style affair which is super flat and scenic. My friend, Kyle, wanted to get a quicker time (his current PB was 21:35 and he wanted closer to 21 minutes) and I offered to try and help him.

I got to Lakeside at 8.15, a good 15 minutes before I was meeting Kyle, as I forgot that the drive would be so much quicker as it was Saturday. So I decided to do a bit of a warm-up. My aim was to run about a mile but as I got to 0.8 miles I got to a gate that was usually open but was now locked. I did try shaking the gate a bit – as you do, in the most ineffectual way possible, as if it’s going to change the fact that there’s a large padlock on it. I also managed to get grease on my hand and then onto my face. I only realised this when I got to the toilet just before parkrun and realised I looked like I was attempting some sort of tribal face paint.

Anyway, the locked gate meant I had to run back the way I came. This was slightly pushing my time but luckily I wasn’t late and soon met up with Kyle.

Kyle and I then went and did a warm-up together. I said to Kyle that it was probably best we warmed up if he wanted to go guns blazing for the 5k. From experience I know that it usually takes half a mile to get into the groove. Ha, listen to me thinking I know what I’m talking about!After the warm-up we loitered under the trees to keep out of the sun, which was really beaming down now. We saw a camera crew and I asked them what they were up to. They said they were filming the volunteers to help spread the word. Very cool.

We lined up and then we were off. I’d said to Kyle it was his run and if I was holding him back then just to go because he wanted the time. I wasn’t sure how my legs would feel (they’ve been feeling quite heavy and tired lately) and I’d hate to stop him getting a good time. Anyway, as we begun he did peel off from me and I shouted at him to keep going as I couldn’t’ catch up. I seem to have a reoccurring trend of guys ditching me mid-parkrun, eh 😉 Something about me I guess.

The run felt really hard actually. It’s funny because I thought since getting my PB things would feel easier, but what lies! Trying to run sub-7 minutes still feels just as hard, let alone going sub 6.30s. After the first mile I managed to catch back up to Kyle. We were both on the struggle bus but at least we were struggling together.

Photo Credit: Lakeside parkrun Facebook page

I found myself as the second female – the first female flying ahead! The sun was beating down and felt very hot but we were now on the way back. I didn’t want to be that annoying person continually telling someone to keep pushing and as I peeled slightly ahead of Kyle I hoped it would be good motivation to keep going.

The final straight along the tarmac path is a nice way to finish and a normal running area where Kyle and I finish our runches. I was also certain Kyle would be fine at the end as he has a great sprint finish so I didn’t feel too bad being slightly ahead.In the end I got 21:05, second female, and Kyle got 21:24 – smashing his PB by 11 seconds. We both found it a tough run. Super warm and just very draining. But we got it done.
We asked a guy to take our photo to commemorate the PB and fun run (fun? Ehhh) and hilariously the guy took two selfies of himself before taking our photo. I didn’t realise until later and wondered if he had done it on purpose or not.

We then headed to the Starbucks, literally a thirty second walk away, and had a a nice chilled out coffee enjoying the lovely air conditioning, both trying not to sweat too much on the furniture.Lakeside is not my favourite parkrun but it is a nice one. Flat and pretty with the lake and the trees, but with three complete turnarounds it’s a tough one to keep your memento going. It’s nice that it has proper toilets and a Starbucks though. Very handy.

Later after a quick shower I headed to go shopping with my mum. I needed to take back a bikini to Victoria’s Secret which honest to god would never see the light of day. Awful. Never, ever buy anything you see on Instagram! It worked out really well in my favour though in the end. Because I bought it online this is apparently to do with the US store and not the UK store. So when it was put through as a refund, despite paying £16 for it I actually got £24.50 for it! It was store credit but that’s fine because I love that shop so didn’t struggle to find anything. Happy days.

That evening I went to Nando’s (a basic but firm favourite of mine) and saw Deadpool 2. The story-line can only be described as chaotic but it was quite funny.

Not as good as Deadpool but still worth a watch if you like that kind of thing. It was a good evening 🙂 I certainly feel like I’m getting up to date on my cinema visits now. Next up Jurassic World!

How was your weekend?

What have you see at the cinema recently?

Have you ever helped anyone to get a PB? To be honest, Kyle would have managed fine on his own I think!