Saturday's parkrun was the first running I'd done since the 2.7 miles with John the Saturday before, so to say I wasn't feeling up to much was a wee bit of an understatement - added to which, a tough gym session with deadlifts on Thursday had left my hamstrings somewhat in DOMS-y soreness when I woke up on Saturday morning. However, I'd arranged to meet Angela at Strathclyde parkrun, so no question about it, I was off out for a 5km...
Angela was clearly a woman on a mission, when I met her in the carpark; that mission being 'get Sarah around without walking'. lol.... I HAVE ran 5km without walking maybe 7 or 8 times, granted usually my brain kicks in around the 2 mile mark and I put some walk breaks in, but I know I'm physically capable of running 5km. Mentally, is another subject, but hey - Angela wasn't accepting anything but a steady run today, and that's what we got. My hamstrings weren't happy, at all, but I plodded round the course at a fairly steady pace (well, it slowed slightly as I went on, but not hugely noticeably) which Angela chattered away to keep me distracted from what my brain (and legs) were telling me. :) I crossed the finish line in 35:10, I think might be a year's best, but only 6 seconds slower than Strathclyde parkrun 3 weeks ago when I walked 10 times! :) I'm sure that says a lot about my pacing, etc, but I'll figure that out another day.
Sunday was another Sunday Social trail run at Chatelherault, on the 4.7 mile loop. It had been fairly dry, so once again the trail was runnable in my road shoes - but I think in poorer weather my lack of trail shoes might cause problems, I'll have to figure this one out one day, because at the moment there appear to be NO trail shoes at all to suit my feet, gait, and weight. *shrugs* In the meantime, my road shoes work fine.
The usual happy-smiley big crowd of runners were here this week, it's great to catch up with folk I only ever seem to see at these socials - and this time we'd got Julie C (another confirmed non-runner, like me, lol) along for her first time. So when we set off, Julie and I let everyone else run off at their own pace, while we settled into ours. I think she's a similar level to me at the moment, in terms of speed - when we ran a parkrun together 5 or 6 months ago, she was a couple of minutes faster than me, and then a couple of months ago we ran in the Glasgow 10k and I was a couple of minutes faster than her, so i was generally content that we could hold a steady pace together that was still a challenging run. Sadly, Julie's lungs disagreed, as her lack of asthma inhaler decided to become an issue in the colder air as we ran. After a couple of stops, we agreed she would head back to the car after about 0.7 miles, and I would carry on, now accompanied by t'other Julie who'd come back to join us.
The Julie who I was now running with is the friend I'm crewing for at the Clyde Stride in a couple of weeks, and it's always good to get a catch-up with her. We ran together with a wee bit of chat, but I was struggling before we reached the descent to the river bed - I'm not sure, I think it was a combination of having not ran very much recently, having ran the 5km the day before with f*cked hamstrings, and - I suspect (though have yet to verify) - a faster running pace than the last couple of times I've ran there. Whatever reason, I managed the second half of the run on a run/walk pattern, with a lot more walking than I'd have liked, feeling a wee bit grumpy with myself. Thankfully, Julie came back again to stick with me, and we blethered our way through the walking bits, and she kept me moving forwards. My overall time for the 4.7 mile loop was only about 2 minutes slower than the last two times I've done it, at approx 67 minutes, and that includes the fact I didn't pause my watch when I stopped a couple of times with Julie C in the first mile. So, all in all, I guess I can't complain about that. With a wee bit more fitness, and a lot more focussed training, I'm determined to go sub-60 minutes on that loop before the end of the year. *nods* Just don't tell any of the Sunday Social gang... I can't handle the pressure, lmao!!!!
A new month now, and it's time to seriously get my head in the game, and feet moving towards my Southside Six goals. I am so far beyond nervous about this race, I can't even begin to tell you - so hopefully I can get some proper focussed training underway, to ease some of the nerves. Ehhhh, that's the theory, anyways..... x
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