And now we have the long grind until Christmas… I kid, I kid. It’s just sad that it’s our last Bank Holiday for a good while.
But such is life. I’m actually quite happy tootling along right now. Work is good. Life is good. Running is good. SOMEONE TOUCH WOOD. I’ve got to get Zary parkrun planned at some point but it’s looking to be October now because I’m fairly busy during September now. It will be done by the end of the year though, 100%!
My Bank Holiday weekend was a really good one. On Saturday I was finally back to Netley parkrun. I took Kyle along so he could see what I’d been harping on about for ages. His home parkrun is Havant, which I’ve yet to do, but is apparently VERY tough. It’s always fun seeing your home parkrun through a tourist’s eyes.
Everyone, of course, was super friendly as normal. The sun was shining but it wasn’t too hot. I was going to run with Kyle and we were going to take it relatively easy because he was only just coming back from an annoying shin niggle. We started off nice and gentle and chatted as we ran round. My legs did feel quite heavy though. I’d run 11 miles on Thursday evening with my friend Kim and they weren’t feeling as rested and fresh as usual.
But my plan was to keep Kyle going a bit slower (we’re both bad at not going slow when we need to) which was ideal for my tired legs, but as we warmed up into the run this clearly didn’t pan out as we both increased our speed to the end.
I did advise Kyle not to do some crazy sprint finish though because that’s usually when terrible things happen like injuries. He resisted the temptation and just maintained the speed. My time was 23:21, which I was happy with! We helped clear away and then had a coffee. It’s still nice enough to sit outside and enjoy a drink, but soon we’ll be squirreled inside again with all our layers *shudders*.
For lunch we headed to The Rockstone pub in Southampton (by the time we’d had coffee and gotten sorted it was lunchtime!). I’ve been to The Rockstone before and loved the burger I’d had there last time. They’re renowned for their giant portions and crazy sounding burgers.
For starters I had the loaded nachos (still loving my nachos). Hands down, best nachos I’ve ever had. Pulled pork, guacamole, cheese, sour cream, black beans…it had the works.
It was giant! I probably should have shared them and I would assume most normal people would but ehhhh. Kyle had some insanely good chicken goujons as well.
For the main, this time I went for the Black and Blue burger, which was a beef patty, mushrooms, black pudding and blue cheese. I love black pudding and blue cheese so this was right up my street.
I wasn’t fussed about the chips but was keen to try the chicken wings (the nachos had won in the starter battle) so I ordered three chicken wings as a side (just three this time…). Kyle said he’d eat my chips.
Well the size of the burgers (and the size of my starter!) meant that neither of us touched my chips. I also decided to forgo most of the bun because honestly the burger was huge and the filling is the important part in my eyes. The bun was one of those floury baps as well which isn’t appealing to me at all (give me a brioche or a pretzel bun any day).
The burger itself was a little overdone but the blue cheese and TWO pieces of black pudding were delicious. The chicken wings however were plain and very boring. The main meal itself was just a little disappointing I must say. A lot of quantity but not much taste. We rated it 6/10… but the starters a solid 8.
I had every intention of suggesting a trip to Sprinkles afterwards but both of us were so stuffed we really didn’t fancy it. So instead we headed to Manor Farm Country Park for a nice long walk. The weather was still sunny but not too hot so it was perfect.
It was exactly what we needed to help the food baby situation going on! I forget how pretty Manor Farm Country Park is. I only ever run around it when I’m in that area (I used to run there a lot more when I lived in Hedge End).
The next day I had 17 miles planned. I was meeting my two friends, Martin and Mark, in Titchfield at the delightful time of 9.20am. Now that’s my kinda running time! Cheeky little lie-in, no stress. I ran two miles down to meet them and then we did my usual 10 mile route from Titchfield, to Lee-on-Solent, to Stubbington and back to Titchfield. It’s lovely and flat and goes along the sea front. It was a bit windy and rainy but thankfully nice and cool.
Martin only wanted 10 miles so we dropped him back to his car before heading off for another three with Mark. We did a little out-and-back and were both feeling the grind. The weather was turning and it was getting very overcast. After the three with Mark, I realised I could get my run to 18 miles if I ran slightly longer on the way back.
By this point the heavens had opened up and it was tipping it down. This helped quicken my pace! By the time I got home I was drenched through. But I was so happy to have gotten 18 miles because usually that’s quite a daunting run. But it honestly didn’t feel like 18. For the rest of the day I wasn’t overly tired and my legs felt good. Woohoo! Hopefully this means the training is going well and I’m running strong.
Monday was a far more chilled day. I felt good so went to the gym and did a Sweat class (basically circuits for 45 minutes) and then had a lovely pub lunch with Kyle.
Yes, yes more nachos. I can’t be stopped. A more manageable portion size this time! And Kyle catching me take awkward photos of my food 😉
This time we did have room for pudding! I had a delicious rocky road sundae. Kyle had a really tasty looking chocolate orange “crownie” (a cookie brownie) which looked amazing but as I hate chocolate orange I gave a miss.
We had another lovely walk and a chilled Bank Holiday Monday. Solid weekend!
How was your Bank Holiday weekend?
What food can’t you get enough of at the moment?
Are there any popular food flavour combos you don’t like?
I got to meet my friend Mike’s ADORABLE new puppy as well, Luna. Oh my god she was cute. Her fur is so so soft. It was her first time at parkrun (not running, supporting) and she’s only just been allowed outside for walks, so as you can imagine she was quite excited. I look forward to Alfie meeting her! I only managed to snap this photo of her… 
Anyway, it was nice to see lots of my running friends and catch up briefly. My friend, Mark, had recently had a knee operation so was easing slowly and sensibly back into running. His plan was to run 15 minutes and then walk the rest. He’s also one of the casualties of the change in GFA times for London, having got 3:04 at Chester in order to do London next year. I’m gutted for him.
The legendary Carlo (who raises so much money for charity running as the Cookie Monster and just being a general legend above next to James)
My legs felt good post marathon (SOMEONE TOUCH WOOD IMMEDIATELY). Just a bit tired and heavy, but no niggles and no issues. Jesus, who even am I? It felt tough though running at a less than comfortable pace and I wondered just how the hell I managed the time I did at Brighton. Mark, precisely to the minute, stopped to walk and I carried on. I managed to get faster as the run continued and finished in 21:35 and second female.
James smashed it and came first (18:24). His first ever first position so he was chuffed. Six days after a marathon PB, not too shabby eh.
New Brighton Marathon t-shirt – an actual female small that looks good and fits nicely. Happy days.
It was hard though to choose just one piece of cake. The lure of chocolate won me over and I had a chunk of rocky road. Omg it was good. Big chunks of biscuit, cherries, marshmallows. Gooey, sticky, melty… heavenly. James had a slice of crunchy chocolate cake which was apparently delicious too (we rarely share food. This is a rule I’m very happy with).
The towering many-layered lemon cake looked immense though so we both got a slice of that to take home of course. We decided though that as it was pretty much summer (let’s ignore the bit of rain we had on our walk…*cough*), ice cream had to be done too. I got a scoop of white chocolate brownie and a scoop of rocky road (obviously the chunk I’d just eaten wasn’t enough). Ahh exceptional.
I’m such a sucker for anything white chocolate really. To think I used to not like it. I mean, what!?
Daaaaamn it was good. I mean, yeah probably horrendously bad for you blah blah blah but I don’t do this every day (God I just couldn’t. I’d die). *Cough* we then headed to Sprinkles. In retrospect, this was unnecessary.
I got the “Sticky Situation”, which is essentially a whole lot of cookie dough, ice cream, white chocolate and cream. I couldn’t finish it. WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME. It was just too much sweetness. My body rebelled and said no. I enjoyed what I ate (which was probably 75%) but it really pushed me over the edge and I needed a little lie down and a quiet word with myself. Why do I do this to myself? No regrets though because I’d been craving one of these for ages. I think I’ve had my fun though… time to get a bit less piggy. At the weekend I do enjoy my treats but this weekend was a little bit overboard.
Happily for us we didn’t get too hot. My legs felt good, still a little heavy and tired, but no niggles. In fact it was a nice run to just zone out and enjoy. We followed the Stubbington 10k route for about five miles and then ran along the coast from Hill Head to Lee-On-Solent and back round to Stubbington again. It was a nice quiet run.
Then it was action stations to shower, have breakfast and watch the London Marathon. It was a good watch but I truly felt for the mass runners who had to endure such hot temperatures and sunshine. What troopers. We were so lucky with Brighton and how cool we had it. I’m almost certain I wouldn’t have done as well as I had if it had been as hot as London was.
So another solid weekend with a bit less running but lots of food. And time to think about some new running goals I think…
I was in my biggest coat and scarf, but yes shorts. My hands were cold despite their gloves. It was a rather miserable setting up process indeed. Despite the weather, it was nice to be back and see everyone again. There were several jokes made about who I was because I hadn’t been there in so long, but it was all in good fun.
After we set-up I decided to be very anti-social and sit back in my car. I was just so cold. Eventually Mike pulled me out and we went for a quick warm-up (me still in my coat) and neither of us felt any warmer afterwards. Ah well. We then headed to the start.
I was a little sad that the run director didn’t actually mention that it was Netley’s 6th birthday (or at least I certainly didn’t hear a mention). It was a shame considering I’d been to such a good 6th birthday the week before…ah well. There was still lots of cake afterwards. Avtually it was probably a good thing not to have a lengthy pre-run brief because it was so bloody cold!
Photo Credit: Ken Grist
I finished, grabbed a cake and a photo and then it was quick time to put my coat and scarf back on! Brrr!
I had a slice of rocky road which was delicious. Rocky road has to be up there with one of my absolute favourites. Not technically a cake I guess but just SO good. I could eat an obscene amount of it quite easily. After we packed up the course (how quickly you get back to being cold despite having run a 5k) we headed to the cafe for a hot drink. It was so nice to be back chatting away to the usual gang with a hot peppermint tea. But parkrun tourism is still a big priority for me right now! Gotta get those letters 😉
It was lovely to catch up with my sister, who I don’t get to see that often due to our working schedules and just life. But it was nice to swap gossip and have some serious girl talk… nothing beats girl talk like it does talking to your big sis 😉
I actually thought she’d struggle with the afternoon tea. She doesn’t have a crazy appetite like me, but she polished the lot off! I was genuinely disappointed as I thought I might get half her cake…but alas, she hoovered it all up. I was very proud indeed. 
That evening I set my alarm for 7am… the plan was for my dad and I to leave for Reading for the half marathon at 7.30am ish. We were to be parked in a car park about 3 miles from the start. I was going to run a gentle warm up to the start so I wouldn’t be so cold at the start (the temperature was looking to be very chilly) and then my dad would see me at mile 5 and mile 11. Despite so many other races around the country being cancelled Reading Half was still saying they were going ahead…and then later that evening that they’d update us closer to the time.
They were getting a lot of stick from people saying that they needed to know earlier to know whether they should travel there or not as they were coming from a far distance away (quite understandable). I checked my phone several times during the night and then when my alarm went off at 7am I saw they’d Tweeted that it was cancelled because of the heavy snowfall during the night. I checked my dad had seen it too and then promptly headed back to bed for another two hours sleep. I was disappointed yes but at the same time it made sense to cancel it.
It was very snowy outside here in Fareham so it would have been unsafe for us to have tried to have traveled. I still needed to get my long run done so I walked Alfie to check the temperature and the ground… snowy but not slippy, very very cold with an icy wind. I forwent my original choice of shorts and decided to be sensible and wear leggings. Not only to keep my legs warm but also if I did slip over to save my skin. I don’t need more ugly scratches over my legs!
I went out with the ambition to run at least 13 miles. It was tough underfoot to begin with but otherwise I felt good. My legs didn’t feel that tired. I had a podcast on and just zoned out, stopping a couple of times to take some photos because everywhere looked so pretty. It was tough going though mentally… I’ve become used to running with other people so running solo for so long was a bit tough. But to be honest, I needed to do this as I won’t be running the marathon with anyone so.
As the run continued I felt better and decided to go with 14-16 miles. I had a good long run route where I could add or take away miles as I went so I didn’t stress. Along with it being mentally hard work, I found the icy wind hard work as it pushed against me all along the sea front – where quite a chunk of my run was and also cold. My hands, despite the gloves, were cold. As I got to about 9 miles I decided to make it 17 miles so added on another loop and then headed on the road back. I felt good, though cold. Imagine if I’d have worn my shorts eh!
As I got to 13 miles I decided to speed up. I wanted the run to be done and the road I was on was a good one to get the legs turning over. I amazed myself by hitting 7.29min/mile and then 7.22…and even 7mins! But then I turned the corner and hit the wind. But my effort level remained the same so I felt strong finishing despite my pace creeping back up to 7.19. 
I was certainly glad to finish though. I know had I run Reading I’d have probably run the 13 miles at a faster pace but I was happy to have added some solid tempo miles at the end of this run. 
I got home and decided immediately I needed a hot bath. My lovely mum made me a cup of tea and enjoyed a glorious hot and relaxing bubble bath. I massively overheated but after being cold for so long it felt like BLISS. I haven’t had a hot bath in so long. In fact, I made it so hot that when I stepped into it I immediately had to jump out as it was the temperature of lava. I’m clearly very rusty at running baths. I must have stayed in there for a solid 40 minutes. I was a bit light-headed as I got out though and suddenly ravenous. A hot bowl of porridge was exactly what I needed 😉
It was sad to not have run Reading but it was just unfortunately one of those things. I was excited about running a slightly different course and seeing where my fitness was at but at the end of the day it wasn’t meant to be. I feel for the organisers as it must have been such a stressful time and they now have 15,000 medals that are essentially worthless. What a shame. But, for me, I managed another solid long run! Mentally and physically tough with the conditions.
I also emailed 
Rave: Running at lunchtime (runching if you will). It’s so much nicer to run at lunch than it is after work. I’m so much more motivated to run when it’s not as cold and definitely not as dark. It also means I can toddle off home quicker after work.
Don’t get me wrong, I find I do ‘fear’ these workouts and begin them with some trepidation. I know it’s going to feel hard and the temptation to sack it off and do a standard 8min/mile run is SO tempting. But I know this is good for me and the feeling I get when I finish is fantastic. I just need to make sure I stay motivated. I need to mix things up as well so if anyone has any good marathon-focused speed workouts for around 6 miles I’d be grateful for the inspiration…
This giant Next bag and the big blue IKEA bags were my saviour. As everything was to fit into cars, rather than a van, it was all about squashability. Plus I didn’t actually have that many boxes. I’m also going through the very freeing process of becoming more minimalist. There’s nothing like packing to make you consider whether you want to actually move something or not. I’ve gotten rid of (well, donated to charity) a lot of old trainers, shoes, clothes, books, DVDs and random items.
I’ve sold more expensive handbags on eBay and given away other stuff to friends (ahh smoothie maker, it’s been quite a while since I used you). So Friday, Saturday afternoon and Sunday were spent packing the last bits. As I had a busy day (mainly eating, it must be said) Saturday and then a half marathon on Sunday, it was quite exhausting getting everything done.
My flat was scrubbed clean; the fridge, the balcony glass panes, the windows (inside and out!), the oven, cupboards, bathroom, skirting boards…everything!
It’s funny because I keep forgetting that it’s still going to be my flat. I can still move back there at some point in the future. I’m not selling it. So the level of sadness is minimal. I will of course miss it and I will miss my lovely cushty lifestyle there but I know this is the right thing to do. But jeeeesus was it tiring getting it all done. My parents helped where they could but they too were busy at the weekend and couldn’t have the time off of work. But I am an INDEPENDENT WOMAN, yes indeed. There is nothing like walking up and down two flights of stairs carrying heavy bags and boxes on your own to drill that into you.
Running
And Saturday is parkrun of couse. Speaking of adulting fails… I somehow managed to register myself TWICE. So when I’ve been scanning my barcodes recently I’ve been scanning a different Anna (it’s still me, but not my usual account, just one I created YEARS ago when I was just starting running outside). I only realised this when I went to see how many parkruns I’ve done and found I’d only done about five, which is wrong! Stupid me. I’ve sent an email to the lovely parkrun chaps but they said it was too time-consuming to change it. It’s fair enough, of course. This is my own error, but I’m still SO annoyed (at myself). This means I’ll be out of count for milestones… OK my next milestone is 250 which is over 100 parkruns away but STILL. And now I don’t have Brighton & Hove on my tourism list. ARGH.
Photo Credit: Glenn Tyreman
Photo Credit: Glenn Tyreman
I think we’ll be moving onto the dreaded winter course soon (which feels so much harder). I had to dash off quickly after finishing as I needed to get a bit more packing done before meeting my friend for lunch. I did get a cheeky photo though with our new sign. Very fancy shmancy indeed! My friend, Joe, decided to photobomb it which was quite amusing.
I’ll do a recap of the Solent Half Marathon that I ran on Sunday in another post…