Week 6

New Year’s Day

It was a lovely day for a run in the park. It was cool but dry for a change and even the sun came out now and then. There was one thing for sure; after having gone to bed just before 4 am, I wasn’t going to sprint it and neither was Kath. I ran to the park and back so that I could make up my required 5 miles without going on the treadmill. Still, to get 64 runners on New Year’s Day was excellent!

Thursday

Kath was working nights so I arranged to do my 5 miles with Alison instead.  However, on the day 5 of us went in Al’s car but we all ended up running different routes.  I (foolishly) decided to run with Charlotte, Bobbie and the two Liz’ because they were running 4 miles which was closest to the 5 I needed. The first mile went fine; we headed off towards Baddeley Green and there were no problems.  Then we turned back and I was told we were doing 2 miles faster towards Limekiln that’s when it got tough.  I only had a coolish t-shirt under my lightest jacket which was not too bad but for some reason I had my winter thick running bottoms on and it didn’t take long before I was too hot.  I just about managed to keep up with the pace for a mile and then I started trailing so far behind that I caused Liz T to keep running back and forth between me and the others, who I no longer could see.  She told me the pace was at 9.50 min/mile, no wonder I couldn’t keep up.  After a rough mile and half I turned back at an extra slow pace. I made up the other half along Birches Head Road and I knew I could catch up the 5^th mile on Saturday.

Saturday

I had an awful night; just tossing and turning as it was way too hot for some reason.  This is extremely unusual as the bedroom is the coldest room in the house, so I guess it was just me.  Anyway, it was fantastic to open the curtains be greeted by a very bright sun.  That makes a lovely change to parkrun just lately J  I ran to the park to make up that mile I had lost on Thursday and when I got there I was pleased to see Anne who was there for the first time.  She was concerned about getting lost so I promised I would run with her and I really enjoyed our leisurely run and chat.  Sadly Kath couldn’t make it as she had worked a 12-hour night-shift and was tired.  I think she was entitled LOL. Anne said she enjoyed the run and would come back next week.  We will all be pleased to see her again.

Sunday

I woke up to a grey but fairly mild day for our 1^st long-run of 2013 and as I closed the front door I noticed to my dismay that it was spitting ever so slightly.  We decided to shelve the route that I had drawn for our 9-mile run and thought it was safer to stay reasonably close to the car in case the heavens opened.  Plan B was to run a 3-mile route around Hanley, 3 times but the first lap was 4 miles and we guessed that second lap was going to be also 4 miles, leaving us with a mile to make up on Festival Park.  On the second lap we ran up Greyhound Way and I was very pleased that I managed to get up reasonably easy really considering that I’ve struggled with Union Street.  The last mile was the toughest, it was flat but because we had to make up two miles on Festival Park; it just felt like we’ve had enough and the only thing that kept us going was that we had already decided to go for a cuppa at Morrisons after the run.  The rain stayed off and looking back to the run we decided that, apart from the last mile, we had enjoyed it.