Midweek: Jesmond Metro and back

Another midweek run from the office, but I really sold myself short with the amount of time I allowed. With a series of meetings starting at 1pm, setting off from the office at 12:20 was just daft. 20 minutes for a run, then another 20 to gather my gear, get showered, dried and dressed and get back to my desk and into a Teams meeting. It's not enough to be either comfortable or productive (in terms of fitness). Had I given myself more time, I would've gone for a longer, slower run as prep for a faster, shorter parkrun. Never mind.

As often happens when I'm short on time, I didn't really plan a route. I fancied heading to Exhibition Park and back, but didn't really fancy being in the crowds up Northumberland Street. Instead, it was eastward out of the office before skirting the shoppers by going up John Dobson Street. That took me towards the Northumbria University campus though, which lured me away from Exhibition Park. So, I dodged through its pedestrianised area, past Sport Central and the library, in the direction of As You Like It and Jesmond Metro. After a brief tour of a car park (wherein I realised there was no exit other than its entrance 🤦) and a couple of pauses crossing busy roads, I got to the Metro station and turned back.

In terms of pace, I'd started out planning a gentle run and while I never pushed all out, it turned into a moderately comfortable but moderately quick one. As often happens in urban areas, I barely heard Google announce my splits, but the first one sounded decent; around 5:10/km, I think. I tried to keep that pace and, looking at my run afterwards, just about managed it. The slight drop-off was probably accounted for by the road crossings.

Once I reached the Robinson Library on the way back, I had the choice of a slight extension via the Devonshire Building, but seeing the time — just 25 minutes till my meetings — on the church by the Civic Centre, I knew I just had to get back ASAP. Despite my initial intentions, that meant weaving my way through the crowds on Northumberland Street. Hey ho. At least I don't feel self-conscious doing that these days. There was a time when I would've felt ridiculous doing it, but now I'm just watching people ahead of me, eagle-eyed, looking for gaps about to emerge that I can run into. Sod what they think of this 48-year old man who's barely even running and probably quite red in the face. 😂 (Forty-eight, man! Good grief. I'm actually quite proud that I'm running at this age. Even my dad might've been impressed.)

But enough navel-gazing! The final numbers for the run show that I did less than 4km and spent less than 20 minutes on the move. Feels like it's been a while since I did so little, which sucks a bit, but is probably also a good sign. I feel like I can and should be doing over 5km three times a week. For now though, if it's not tempting fate too much, it's back to the parkruns on Saturday. Number 25, no less. If only I could make my mind up about where it'll be. Somewhere flat, to go for a PB? Somewhere new, to add to my tally for 2023? Or maybe even back to my home run, the Rising Sun, to see what I can do on the run's original route (which I've done as a guide runner so far)? Who knows?