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17 mile parkrun sandwich

So marathon training for Rotterdam is still going well.

I mean it could all be for nothing if it gets cancelled though. Races and events are dropping all over the place. Europe doesn’t feel a particularly stable place right now – and who would have thought the problem would be a virus and not Brexit eh.

And not only this but FlyBe went bust which scuppered our plans a little. We were heading out from Southampton Airport which is so easy for us being local. It meant we could go after work on the Friday rather than take that day off. Alas, we’re now flying from Gatwick.

We managed to save some money so that’s something! And we will get our money back apparently (after the legal dust has settled) so it’s not a terrible outcome (for us at least).

Anyway, with all that in mind, we’ve decided we’ll still go to Rotterdam even if the marathon is cancelled. It’ll be a nice trip as we’ve both never been to The Netherlands and though perhaps crazy for me, it might be nice to go on holiday for holiday’s sake rather than a run 😉

That said… amazingly there’s now a Z parkrun nearby too! Well, I say “nearby”, it’d be about an hour’s journey I think but if the marathon isn’t on we’ll definitely do that on the Saturday instead of doing the much closer parkrun to where we’re staying. Either way, a parkrun will happen! This is very exciting. They only just started up in The Netherlands so I am STOKED.

So the training. Kyle and I had a 17 miler in the plan for Saturday. We decided to combine it with parkrun to break it up a bit, at least mentally. While I don’t mind the long runs (in fact, I really do love them most of the time) it was something Kyle wasn’t looking forward to. And 15 miles to 17 miles is a large step.

So to help ease us into it we planned a 10 mile route to Lee-On-Solent parkrun, then we’d do the parkrun, then run four miles back. By chunking it like this it was easier to digest.

We started off running at around 7.30am (ish… we were a tad late) and in our heads it was just “let’s run 10 miles”, which is a far more manageable distance. Unfortunately due to my very “fine-tuned” planning (ahem…) we got to about 8.5 miles and it was almost 8.50am. Right, we needed to pick it up a bit.

We started discussing strategies. If we got close (and happily because we were running along the coast we would eventually be able to see parkrun in the distance) we could make the decision about whether to do parkrun or just run on and find some more miles as we headed back to mine.

Very luckily it started about five minutes late and by the time we arrived they had literally just started. So we ran to the start line, turned around and began the parkrun course (basically back to where we’d come from).

The only snag in the plan was that because Lee-On-Solent parkrun is quite narrow it meant that we had to navigate our way through runners who were running a bit slower than us. This was easier for me as I’m a little person whereas Kyle is a bigger person so the gaps I could meander through, he could not.

Kyle mentioned it was somewhat frustrating (our own fault though of course) but actually it probably helped keep his pace consistent. I increased my pace a bit more as I wanted to get a bit of a tempo on and it worked nicely for us both in what we wanted from the  long run.

It was hardwork and I felt like I was putting in a lot of effort for a pace that wasn’t, when all said and done, *that* fast (relatively speaking). A bit like when you “sprint” the final 0.2 of a marathon when realistically you’re crawling along.

But it was good to get the legs working hard. All good training.

After we finished we scanned our barcodes quickly then immediately carried on with the run. It was so nice to know we just had to run home. We picked up the pace on the final two miles and we felt like we cruised home. 17 miles, done and dusted.

A real confidence boosting run for us both. And really helps bolster Kyle for the coming 18 miles we have planned for this weekend…

To celebrate of course we needed something epic. So we headed to 7Bone Burger in Portsmouth that afternoon (after a proper refuel of porridge for me and scrambled egg on toast for Kyle of course #health). It did not disappoint!

I had a chicken burger with an added halloumi patty (ABSOLUTELY A MUST IF YOU GO THERE), with a side of halloumi fries and a portion of chicken wings. I mean, it was truly magical.

#health

Do you like to celebrate long runs?

Do you like a parkrun sandwich long run?

Have you ever been late to a parkrun? I was once 10 minutes late to Eastleigh which was a bit stressful!

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Our trip to London and all the food

I’m so behind on my posts. I have so much to talk about as well!

I’ll start first with an incredible weekend I had with Kyle that as just SO good. Kyle and I were super excited about it. It was literally all our favourite things, but sadly without any running.

We planned to go to London for my Christmas present, which Kyle had gotten me. A chicken wings tour! I mean, this was a perfect gift and a perfect excuse for us to spend a night in London and enjoy ourselves.

Originally we’d planned to do the tour on the Friday, stay over and then do parkrun and brunch Saturday. However it turned out that the chicken wings thing was only available Wednesday or Sunday… ehhh. So no parkrun for us sadly as we’d be travelling up Sunday morning to get there for the wings at lunch, then head home Monday after brunch.

It’s funny because after we got there we wondered why we hadn’t brought our running kit so we could do a cheeky run Monday morning. It was a bit of a lost opportunity but I think we were both just too focused on the food.

We did Lee-On-Solent parkrun on Saturday though and ran 1.5 miles there and 1.5 miles back to the car so we could get in a “long run” of just over 6 miles. Obviously 6 miles isn’t that long in comparison to previous runs I’ve done but I’m being super sensible about this comeback and I don’t want to just jump into a 10 miler and bugger everything up.

Anyway, parkrun was good. I saw a few people I knew, which is always nice and had a nice run with Kyle. We took it relatively easy and had a very enjoyable run. We made sure not to stand too close to the back as we have done in the past as it gets crazy busy at Lee and it’s a fairly narrow start.

Sunday we woke up early without an alarm – which is always nice. We got into a bad habit of sleeping very late a few weeks ago which made us feel terrible. I say late, it was about 9am, but this is late for us. We just felt so groggy and like we’d had too much sleep. As lovely as lie-ins are I’d rather naturally wake up earlier and feel refreshed. We relaxed in bed for a while as our train wasn’t until 10 and I decided to go for another short run.

I wanted to be running two days in a row again and adding another 3 mile run to the weekend would help me gently transition into this. The run went really well. No issues and it felt OK (asides from it being around Clanfield which is so fricking hilly!).

It was a fantastic Airbnb!

After the run we got ready and headed to London on the train. It was very tight on timings to get to Shoreditch, check in at our Airbnb (we love an Airbnb) and then meet our tour guide for the wings experience. But we made it bang on time!

It was just us on the tour which was really nice (the tour can have up to 15 people I think). The woman who was our guide (I’m embarrassed to say that while we did get her name I don’t think I’d be able to spell it correctly) was SO lovely. She was friendly, knew so much about the local area and just the right amount of involved. (If you’re interested it’s THIS experience).

She took us to Orange Buffalo to begin with an we got to try two different heat levels. Both flavours were fantastic and it came with a thick blue cheese dip. Honest to God, I could bathe in this stuff. One of my absolute favourite things in the entire world is a buffalo chicken wing with a thick cold blue cheese dip. NOTHING beats that texture and flavour combo for me. I am a simple creature I know.

She showed us around the local area (an area I’d heard about but never been myself), with all the street art, the food market, Banksy artwork… it was fascinating. It was hustling and bustling and busy with electrically (and far cooler) dressed people. It felt very “hip” (and by saying hip I have now fully separated myself from any form of coolness, I do realise this). She had fantastic tid-bits of information and interesting local knowledge.

Cool street art and a tree with lots of trainers hanging from it

The second stop was in the Boxpark in Shoreditch called Coqfighter. It was very exciting for me because I’d heard about these places on social media (follow my Instagram @AnnaTheCake88 for my foodie loving) and now I was getting to actually go there.

The wings were so different from this location because they were of the fried chicken variety so had a crispy Vodka and sesame coating and came with a soy sauce and chilli dip. Damn they were SO good. So different to what I’ve usually had before. The soy sauce dip, dear lord, was good. And the crispiness of the chicken just rocked my world. I was in heaven.

Then we headed, somewhat sadly, to our last location called the Blue Kitchen. We had double fried buffalo wings and Szechuan wings (pictured above). I didn’t think anything could top what we’d had so far but these were FRICKING AMAZING. Double fried? Yes please. In my excitement I sadly didn’t get a picture of the buffalo…but they were fantastic I assure you.

I think I amused our guide a bit because I was clearly VERY into my wings and did a good job of polishing everything off. She was amazed that we ran as much as we did as well – all the marathons and parkruns. It was fun talking to her about it. I felt like we just bamboozled her with our weird lives of eating and running haha.

After the wings tour, we headed to Doughnut Time for some pudding. I mean I was pretty full to be honest but we wanted to get some of these oh so Instagrammable doughnuts. Kyle was VERY excited. We’ve both had them before and had decided as a treat to get a box (and take a couple home for Kyle’s parents – my parents declined as they’re both on Slimming World).

We got over-excited and bought NINE. I mean, Jesus, they’re not exactly cheap either. I think they are a little over-priced and over-hyped for what they are, but it was good fun choosing and enjoying the moment.

We took a big box back with us to the Airbnb and enjoyed a few there. The ones I’d chosen (Sia Later, Ice Ice Bae and Caramacklemore) were delicious. The Sia Later (red velvet) was the best, Ice Ice Bae (with cookie dough and brownie bites) was VERY sweet but tasty and the Caramacklemore (white chocolate) was somewhat disappointing, but possibly because I was quite sugared out by that point. Yes, I was that greedy and ate three. I fully enjoyed them 🙂

Caramacklemore

The next morning, after a lovely little lie-in, we walked to Covent Garden with a little stop in Starbucks for a coffee. We had brunch booked for 12 at the Big Easy (blows my mind that this was the earlier we could book – surely this is now lunch?). We’ve had brunch here before and it’s all you can eat and it’s just fantastic. I mean, if you’re a big meat-eater of course.

We did have a little stop in ANOTHER Doughnut Time, but this time the Doughtnut Time “World”. You can really tell how much they bank on social media for their notoriety.

The shop was set up specifically for taking photos and promoting to Instagram. While it was good fun and quite quirky, it felt a little odd and, well, clinical.

I imagine when they have events it’s a bit better but just Kyle and I in the shop meant it was a bit weird. And the posters around the shop saying that the props were for photos only furthered this. I obviously fully enjoy social media and taking photos, but it was a tad overkill (tho tbf, it had worked for us right?).

Anyway, Kyle bought another of the OG doughnuts because he enjoyed it so much the day before and wanted to take one home. I refrained – I’d eaten three the day before and had one to take home, so I was happy.

Then we got to the Big Easy in Covent Garden and enjoyed even more excess of food. BBQ ribs, smoked sausage, BBQ chicken, pulled pork, chips, cornbread, coleslaw and beans.

It was fantastic and we left very full! The staff are very attentive and brought out more of what we asked and we enjoyed ourselves a lot, but we were now dunzo’ed on food haha.

So a whole lot of eating and a little bit of running!

Do you like all you can eat experiences?

Are you a doughnut fan?

Do you like social media? Do you use it a lot?

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Learning lessons again

Another week gone by and another week closer to the Chicago Marathon.

I had a solid week of running, totalling up to 32 miles by Sunday. I am beyond chuffed!

The run I did on Tuesday was a real confidence booster of a run. I ran with Kyle and unfortunately Kyle wasn’t feeling that well but I was feeling like a spring ready to be released.

After to’ing and fro’ing and feeling guilty, I decided to run ahead of Kyle so I could embrace this new found energy and get in a solid tempo workout. Minus girlfriend points I know, but he did reassure me it was OK for me to go ahead. Every run is important right now and if I can make some minor gains where I can, I need to take that opportunity.

I found myself getting faster and faster as the run continued and in the end sprinted to a 7 minute mile finish feeling strong and in control. My hamstring was only slightly uncomfortable and generally fine afterwards. Whew! Though of course I won’t be doing this every run, it was nice to be able to turn my legs over a bit faster just to see how things felt and to push myself a bit more. Five solid tempo miles complete!

Thursday was the Wiggle Run for the month and we headed out for a seven mile relatively easy paced run.

It was nice to chat to people, run a different route and basically get out of the office. Actually the route ran some of the Portsmouth Coastal Marathon so brought back good memories for me.

My hamstring did feel a bit more uncomfortable towards the end and concerned me a little, but afterwards felt fine and the next day was absolutely fine again. Clearly Tuesdays session was not entirely risk-free, but thankfully nothing to set me back.

On Saturday Kyle and I headed down to the exceptionally windy Lee-On-Solent parkrun to meet up with our friends Ben and Caroline.

Jeeze it was so gusty! As Lee parkrun is literally straight along the front we really felt the brunt of that wind. Luckily the wind was coming off from the sea rather than directly against us but it was still tough with wind blowing directly into your ear for half the run.

The start was a little stressful too. The run director explained the course, did the thank yous and then straight away counted down to begin the run. No one was in position ready! And as there were over 400 runners it was quite chaotic.

It took us about half a mile to find a position where we weren’t jostling into people or trying to overtake slower runners. Kyle and I ran together and then at the end he sprinted off (payback time eh ;-)).

I managed 24:27 which I’m happy with and at the end I met a lovely blog reader too (who zipped past me super fast in the final sprint!). Turns out she was an old friend I used to know back in the day, so it was nice to see her again.

Then Kyle, Ben, Caroline and I headed to The Penguin Café for brunch.

This is your proper greasy spoon standard British café. We love it here. It’s definitely quantity over quality to some degree but it’s always so friendly, the service is fantastic and the whole café is full of penguin pictures and artwork. Love it!

We all had the Emperor Breakfast, which is basically the biggest breakfast on the menu: three bits of bacon, two sausages, two eggs, beans, mushrooms, hash browns, black pudding, tomatoes, toast and a cup of tea (for under a tenner!). It definitely fills a hole.

The rest of the day was about chilling and doing some chores. We briefly considered going out for another run that afternoon to make up our long run (so for me this would be about 13-14 miles, 9 for Kyle). We could see the forecast for the next day looked even windier and potentially downpouring. The idea of that sort of run really didn’t appeal so doing it on Saturday instead seemed tempting.

But in the end we decided to just do it the next day as we weren’t in the right mindset. Plus I don’t think I’d have felt like it was a proper long run. Like yes the miles would be there and ordinarily on any other marathon lead-up I wouldn’t have minded but with having so few quality long runs due to my injury, I really needed to make sure each one I did manage was of quality.

Unfortunately this meant that during the night I slept terribly due to the howling wind, lashing rain and foreboding run. I woke up at 8.30am and looked out the window at the trees being thrashed around and wished so much I’d have done the run the day before.

I got myself together and took Alfie for a walk so I could wake my body up and also see how bad the weather really was. It was warm outside, slightly wet with spitting rain but generally just super windy. And the wind was coming off the seafront, like the day before, so actually we would only be fully against it for a few miles throughout the run. Not too bad!

We both got ourselves together and headed out. Within the first few miles it became clear that the run wasn’t nearly as bad as I’d feared.

And we saw the pumpkins!

It was a little warm and of course super windy, but actually it was very pleasant. We kept the pace sensible and found ourselves feeling good and enjoying it.

When we got to eight miles, Kyle headed off back home to finish his 12 miles and I carried on. My plan was to follow the same 15 mile route I’d used the previous two weeks but at 10 miles, providing I was feeling good, I could add an extra mile. And right at the end I could add another loop for a further mile if I was still feeling good.

Very windy along the seafront

Happily when I got to mile 10 I was feeling somewhat strong and added the first extra loop. As I got to about 12 miles though I started to flag. The wind was now against me and I could feel my energy sapping.

I know I’m very lucky in my running that I rarely “hit the wall” but I definitely felt like I was. I got to a set of complicated traffic lights (about three different traffic light points to get across a big crossroad) and I stood there grateful for the moment’s rest. I wasn’t out of breath or hurting, I was just tired. I felt a wave of mental and physical exhaustion… Five miles was a long way to go!

But as I set off again I felt a new lease of life, a second wind, and popped some music on and embraced this new energy. I was back on it again!

It became a struggle again on the final mile, but at this point the end was in sight. I was on my way to stopping and sitting down. What a relief!

I finished strong, but exhausted and very thirsty. The humid temperature and the salty spray from the sea had made my mouth very dry. I guzzled down a pint of water as soon as I got in.

Kyle’s run had gone well too and we were both chuffed we’d gotten out and done it despite our initial reservations.

As I’m dog-sitting at the moment for my parents (three dogs plus my Alfie), I ended up having to do a lot of walking throughout the day as I can’t walk them all at once. And I also met my lovely friend, Kim, for a coffee which involved about three miles round walk in total too.

In the end I walked over 45,000 steps and was SHATTERED. I didn’t feel hungry (even by 5pm and having just had porridge to eat all day), I had a terrible headache and just felt so drained.

I should have rested more but I felt guilty about not walking the dogs. My parents usually take them for a big walk down the beach but I just can’t do that on my own. So I kept taking them out for little walks to keep them entertained and happy.

Though my hamstring felt absolutely fine I just felt terrible. 17 miles is a big step-up in the great scheme of my lack of training and the wind definitely didn’t help. Though my mind is like “Pft! 17 miles, I’ve done that loads of times”, I need to remember that actually it’s been a while. I need to be sensible. Lesson very much learnt!

But I’m chuffed I had a solid long run!

How do you recover after a long run?

Do you dread runs sometimes?

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Good runs and bad runs

So Friday was another one of my work’s “Run and Ride Outs” at Wiggle. I love these days because it just means everyone in the office is buzzing about what activity they’re going to do.

There are usually a couple of cycles planned (a long one and a short one) and a few runs (beginner, short run and longer run). There’s also a scavenger hunt and a swim. So it’s very inclusive. Of course you don’t have to do it, but realistically most people get involved because the alternative is carrying on working… Originally I was going to do the longer run, which was 9k. But I wanted an easier run and I knew some of the people in the 9k group were quite speedy. I didn’t want my ego to take over and for me to try and keep up at the front.

The shorter run was 5k and the group was a good mix of abilities and loads of people I get on with well. A fun group of people up for a laugh, which is exactly what I wanted from the run. Nothing serious, nice and chilled. Happily we also had Garmin and High 5 in to show off some of their new products and for us to try out. I didn’t get involved with the Garmin products because I’m more than happy with my Fenix 3 and don’t want to be tempted by anything else. I actually don’t think I could be tempted though because I really love my Fenix. I did get a cheeky photo with the Garmin car though…I did pick up some cool High 5 freebies though. I love their electrolyte tablets and gels so I made sure to grab some of those to keep stocked up. They’ve rebranded so the designs are all different which is cool. They had a tent set up with all their products set up and water dispenser thing with cups so we could try the electrolyte flavours. Also very handy for after the run and ride!

Photo stolen from friend, Kyle

So the run got started and it was very relaxed and chilled, heading towards the nearby Hillsea Lines which is a pretty trail next to a river and off the road. It was lovely. We stopped a few times to wait for people – the leading girl, Chloe, and I would run back to collect people as well, which was nice because you’d hate people to feel forgotten or left behind.Kyle did a good job of taking lots of photos. A fellow fan of the on run selfie. He’s gotten quite good at it. So basically all the photos are from Kyle.

It’s so nice on these runs as you get to chat to people you wouldn’t ordinarily get to chat to on a daily basis. And let’s be honest, anything that includes running is always going to be a winner for me. It was very warm though! As we got into our stride a few of us stretched out ahead a bit which was nice and meant I got more of a negative split on my run. I got a bit further than 5k as I would run back for the last guys as well, so I was happy!Actually towards the end it was Kyle, Gavin and me seeming to run off quite fast. I think it was a case that none of us wanted to be the slow one and that just caused us to get faster and faster. It was a nice leg stretcher at the end but it did poop me out considering I was just after an easy run! I ran back to run with the others and Kyle caught some cool end photos.Ah such good fun with a nice group of people 🙂It was a great Friday because I was also off to Nando’s and the cinema with my friend Mike that evening as well. So I got to leave work early and meet up with him without rushing. I did have a quick shower at work though! Mike is a running friend so he’s seen me sweaty and a mess before but still 😉We had a nice catch up and chicken (obviously) and then headed to watch Han Solo. Asides from Mike accidentally (though hilariously) throwing popcorn all over me, it was a brilliant movie. Quite funny and good characters. I like a film where a female character’s strengths aren’t her boobs. I think that’s why I love the new Star Wars films so much (and the old ones I guess), strong female characters. We need more of them!The next morning I headed to Lee-On-Solent parkrun. I did my usual 1.5 mile warm-up jog and decided the legs weren’t up for a speedy run. I felt sluggish and tired. I got to parkrun just in time for a quick chat with the lovely Rebecca. She was having a rather stressful morning as run director with lots of different things going wrong. But from the outside, it all seemed like a normal and well-run parkrun! I had originally geared myself up to try going for it again as Lee is such a flat course, but in reality it wasn’t meant to be. Obviously though my brain forgot this realisation as we set off… I started running, getting carried away. It felt tough though. I hit the first mile in 6.36 and as we turned around and felt the wind against me (not massively, but enough) I knew I was on a downward decline to a rather miserable parkrun.

Photo Credit: Peter Stoddard (for the next two too)

I mean, I should have just given up and gone straight to a nice 8 mini/mile and enjoyed the other two miles but I didn’t do that. I just attempted to hold on to any semblance of speed that I could while the whole time just not enjoying it and feeling like it was the hardest thing in the world.As I clawed back to the finish, all the time wondering how I managed to get 19:40 the last time I was there. Mental.I finished with a time of 21:15 which really felt like such hard work. I sat on the wall after finishing and chatted to some other parkrunners. I mean, it does make sense that my body is feeling tired. Getting used to speedwork, running five times a week rather than my previously usual four. It all adds up. I’m happy where I’m at though. Uninjured and running consistently. I can’t argue with that! I don’t want to focus on times and try and beat my parkrun time every parkrun as that would suck the fun out for me. I think I lost sight of that a bit on Saturday. It’s easy to get a bit carried away with getting fast times and wanting to see them more. But that won’t happen every week. That would probably get me injured! It’s just such a contrast to how good my Wiggle run felt compared to this run. Like the Wiggle run was so chilled and relaxed, whereas this parkrun wasn’t. I should have just chilled and Lee and enjoyed the run at a gentler pace. The brain is funny thing though, eh!

I ran back to my car and was happy with almost 7 miles for the day. And a cheeky bit of cake later on. I mean, who doesn’t love a hot sticky sunny day than a fat slice of chocolate cake, eh? 😉Yummy Crunchie chocolate cake from the ever lovely Penguin Cafe. Delicious.

Do you ever do any non-work activities with colleagues?

Do you use any High 5 products?

What did you get up to over the weekend?

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Now a member of the sub-20 5k club!

Leading up to the Brighton Marathon and the weeks after I’ve had a lot of solid, good running. I’ve felt strong, injury-free and I’m gaining some good speed. So on Saturday I decided to test out what I could do at parkrun.

I went to bed knowing I was going to go for it. I got a good night’s sleep and woke up at 7.50am… a lie in! I’d had a horrible dream about failing miserably at parkrun, not being able to run and just feeling like I was stuck in porridge. So I woke up feeling a bit apprehensive. I walked Alfie and then had an SIS Go Caffeine Shot (150mg of caffeine). I didn’t want a coffee because I didn’t want a lot of liquid inside me. I then drove five minutes down the road to park my car by the beach where I then ran 1.5 miles to the Lee-On-Solent parkrun start. The weather was perfect. Cool and still.

During my warm-up my legs felt good. I had a quick wee and then did some dynamic stretches in the 10 minutes I had to spare. To be honest, I was just nervous and needed something to do. My lovely friend Rebecca spotted me and we chatted for a bit. I hadn’t told I was coming as it was a bit last minute. I also spotted the lovely Kerry, who I know through social media. So it was nice to have a natter beforehand to some friendly faces.

Then we lined up. I got close to the front, knowing how busy Lee can be at the start. I felt very close to the front speedy guys but I knew I needed to give myself as good a chance as I could. If I failed at my time I wanted it to be down to me and not something external. I had my Bluetooth Jaybird headphones in and I was ready. As soon as we started my legs just went for it. I was scarily close to the front (I say front, I mean that there weren’t masses of people in front of me, but rather 15-20 people).

I looked at my watch and saw 5:45min/miles which made me panic. Jeeeeeeeze that’s fast for me. I knew though I just had to give everything straight from the go. Running a 5k is nothing like running a marathon. You only have three miles to play with so you can’t waste one of them warming up or building yourself into a sprint. It has to be bat out of hell fast and then hanging on for dear life for the rest of it before you crash.

Inevitably, obviously, my pace slowed to a more manageable pace – but still ridiculously fast for what I’d run previously (6:17!). I felt comfortable though, my breathing easy, my legs smooth. I smiled at the marshals and thanked them as I raced past. We came to the first hairpin turn to head back the way we’d come and I felt the wind slightly against me. That meant a tiny bit more effort was required. I knew I just needed to just get to the next turnaround and it would feel a bit easier (in theory). But that was ages away.

I still had to go over the slight mini slope up the promenade (but then the lovely down section after that) and then the God-awful shingles you have to run across for about 100m. It really takes it out of your legs running over pebbles, trying to find your footing and getting no real grip on the ground. But then I wasn’t far from the turnaround bit. Two females were ahead of me; the first way ahead and the second was ahead but not within a distance I could reel in unless she faded dramatically. But it helped me focus on something to keep her in my sights.

We turned and then the wind was off us (I say wind, it really wasn’t windy but it was that slight bit of extra energy I needed to maintain my pace). On the second mile my pace had dropped to 6:27. I knew I was OK though because I needed 6:26 per mile for a sub-20 and I had some time in the bank from the first mile. I also knew at this point after the turnaround I was safe. I could maintain the pace and I was heading back to the finish. Just keep running forward. No turns, just the pebbles and the slope again. The pebbles hugely sucked. It killed my pace momentarily but I kept pushing.

At this point I was gasping and spluttering. No waves, no smiles, just head down, keep running. As I got over the slope I could see the finish ahead. Nice mini downhill and then just a stretch to the funnel. I was literally making all the noises now. I remember someone cheering me and me replying “I hope this is what a PB sounds like!” and he laughed.

And then I got to the finish. I looked at my watch and squealed. 19:39! I jumped about and cheered, telling the funnel marshals that I’d just got a PB and my first ever sub-20. One of the ladies said “and most definitely sub-20!”. I was so chuffed. I was also dead on my feet and so grateful I was no longer running. I sat down and stared at my watch. I did it! And my watch said “Fastest 5k record” and had 3.1 miles recorded. No short course! An actual 5k. I was beyond chuffed.

At the same time, it did feel a bit empty. I was there on my own. No one to celebrate with. It was what it was though. I ran back the 1.5 miles to my car. I saw Rebecca on the way back and cheered her on and mentioned about my PB. She was very pleased for me which was nice 🙂 She had a good run too. I got back to my car and decided to just chill for a bit looking at the sea and cooling down. It was very peaceful watching the gentle waves on the shore. I do love being so close to the sea.I spent some time trying to take a photo of my watch with the PB on it but because my main camera has broken (don’t even ask…) I was trying to use the selfie camera to do it. By the way this is a NIGHTMARE to take a normal photo with. As I was fumbling around an elderly couple walked past me. The man jokingly asked me if I’d won. I smiled and said, “yes I have…well, my own race anyway”. He asked me what I’d done and I explained about parkrun down the road and how I’d gotten a good time that morning. They both said congratulations. It was a nice moment.

A not so nice moment was almost losing my car keys due to an Anna’ism. So… I tend to leave my keys on the tire of my car (FYI, I won’t be anymore!) as I don’t want to run with them. Yes I know. Not safe. Stupidly risky, yadda yadda yadda. But remember, I’m Idiot Anna. So I went to grab the keys from the tire and I knocked them off. They fell behind the tire under the car. I bent to grab them and saw they were LITERALLY an inch away from a grate. Now had they fallen down the grate I’d have been actually screwed. Not only would they have fallen into the murky depths of a disgusting watery filled hole but as my car was on top of said grate my chances of retrieving them would have been slim to impossible. I do believe my PB glory was giving me a slight saving grace (this is lies, it was pure chance). I’ve never felt so lucky in my life. Lesson very much learnt. I mean, had my car ever gotten stolen I’d have probably learnt that lesson there as well. Hey ho.

Back to my run. Everything that morning had conspired to help me get my time. The weather, the course, how my legs had felt, a solid night’s sleep… it just worked out. My training has been good and people around me having confidence in me certainly helped. I feel like I’ve ticked off a significant goal that I’ve had going for ages. Since getting 20:06 (my previous PB) four years ago it’s been something out of reach for me. That said, I never put the effort in to get there again so I can really only blame myself.

The next day I had another glorious lie-in and then headed out for a 15 mile run. I didn’t feel to excited about it if I’m honest. I was dreading it a little. It’s a long way to go and I was going solo. Originally my friend Martin was going to run with me but he called in sick on Saturday… so it was me, myself and I. I lined up a podcast and set off on a familiar long run route. It annoyingly includes quite a big hill that goes on and on at mile 3 but otherwise it’s fairly flat and goes along the seafront.

It was sunny but not overly warm so I didn’t take water. I knew I had my dodgy tap at the half-way point so I wasn’t too worried. The miles seemed to crawl until I got to 6 miles and then I was into the run and enjoying it. Weird how it takes so long for me! Classic long distance runner I guess. I got to the tap, drank and splashed the water on myself before heading off. I decided to do my 13 miles route and then add on miles at the end. Mentally it felt easier heading back towards home then heading further out. The mental games we play, eh.It did mean the final two miles were a bit windy and looping but it was nice to be so close to home (and it did mean I could swing past the dodgy tap again), so mentally I knew if I fancied just stopping I could. But of course I didn’t. 15 miles done!So this week I managed to hit 40 miles. I don’t usually do such high mileage. I’ll normally be around 30. But since adding in another run I’ve managed to climb it up gradually over the weeks. I’m really happy with where I am right now. I’m not going to increase it any higher for now. Hopefully leaving around 35-40 miles will allow my body to adjust and adapt. I desperately want to avoid getting injured. So far everything feels good but I know from a wealth of experience this is not a good indicator of what’s lurking round the corner! I just need to be sensible. But long may my strong running continue. I won’t let it go to my head though. I know I’m not invincible. I’ll have another post soon on my current running and my goals going forward…

How was your weekend?

How do you celebrate a PB?

What mental games do you sometimes play to get through runs?