Week 5

Monday

Since there is no club run tomorrow and we had decided to run the parkrun instead but that meant we were going to be 2 miles short of our 5 mile target.  Therefore I ran the two miles at the gym instead.  It was very tough, as usual.  Even though the treadmill has a 3-speed fan attached, it’s still way too hot.  That in turn drains my energy and makes the run even harder.  Still, it got done and then I did my usual Monday workout.  Because the gym was so empty, I was able to walk around and look at all the equipment and I found some that I haven’t been using.

 Christmas Day

Parkrun was short of volunteers so the equipment was kept to a minimum today.  No big flags just a couple of cones to mark the start and finish.  It was drizzling but quite surprisingly, the massive puddles from Saturday had almost dried out.  Due to the improved weather conditions we were able to speed up again and beat last week’s time. I was excited as I thought it won't be long now before we are back to normal parkrun pace.

 Thursday

I had to run today's 4 mile run on my own because I only had a window of one and half hours free between work and our pre-planned family meal.  I wasn’t able to plan a time for a run since I didn’t know what time I would be back from work so I decided to run to Joiners’ square and back.  It was drizzling again but not as bad as it had been earlier, so I guess I was lucky.  When I got to Joiners Square I found that I had only ran for just over 1 and a half miles, so I no choice but to continue up Lichfield street and around to Regent Rd.  Although it was tough running up the hill, it was also a lot nicer to run along there than Leek Road so I didn’t mind too much.  I continued along College Rd and back on to Glebe Street and into Stoke.  I was hoping that the 4 miles would be up before I got home so that I could have a cool-down walk but to my disappointment, Endomondo didn’t go off until 3 doors from my house.

 Saturday

I was horrified to see that not only was it was absolutely p*****g down; it was also quite windy.  I was not going to let the weather ruin my last parkrun for the year and decided that I would go regardless.  After all, we did survive the rain last Saturday, didn’t we? Well, by the time I got to the park, I didn’t need to worry about getting wet anymore.  I was as soaked as I could get and my shoes had at least a pint of water in each one.

It was amazing to see so many runners there and even a couple of first timers. We decided straight away that we would not be rushing today; the main thing was to get around the course safely without gaining a cold at the same time.  Yet again we loved running through those huge, deep puddles.  It took us back to childhood and of course that doesn’t happen too often these days 

Sunday

Well there was no rain this morning but instead we had a very bitterly cold wind which cut through our clothing and stung our faces as if we’d got burnt.  We met at Festival Park for this week’s long run which was for 8 miles.  We used the same route as last week but added a little detour to Stoke to give us the extra mile.  It was desperately cold for most of the run and we got a bit disheartened when it started to spit but luckily the rain stayed away until later.