Running On Empty

Making good on my promise to myself, it was straight back out on a run today to get back to some kind of consistency. I also opted for a spot of self-flagellation, immediately dropping down into the Tyne Gorge (love that phrase), over the Swing Bridge and immediately back out again, heading all the way up to the top of Bensham Bank in Gateshead. That, I can report, was definitely punishing — as you can see in my pace trace: The first part of the climb from the quayside was up steps, which really affected my pace. In fact, steps do that whether you're going up or down, but there must've been a fair few to give me a 2nd kilometre pace of 6:37. Anyway, nothing wrong with a bit of hill training. Speed wasn't the goal today. On the way to to Bensham Bank, there was a point at which there was a really nice view up the Tyne. But I wasn't stopping for photos today; I had the phone slotted in the Armband of Greater Photography Scuppering and had no desire to waste a

A week since my PB of 24:27 at Blyth, today was my first run since then and it showed. While I was happy to have a slower parkrun, I didn't intend for it to be this much slower, registering a 26:56 in the end. That's pretty much 2½ minutes slower. And even that felt hard. I honestly don't know whether it was down to the lack of midweek running, general tiredness from a few days away to London (that would feel like a very weak excuse), or something else. Whatever it was, this wasn't easy. The start area by the visitor centre, with the gothic ruin folly in the background As for the venue, Sedgefield was chosen mainly for the facts that: it would be another new one for me, heading towards my 10 new venues stretch goal there was no major pressure to get home quickly We've actually been here once before as a family, but it was a relatively brief, rainy visit that time. Today, it was much nicer weather and, truly, a lovely place to hold a parkrun. If this were closer to

Earlier this week in the office, I was telling Lorraine how chuffed I was with my time at Herrington Country Park last weekend. I even dared to suggest that if I could do a 25:16 there, with its hills, I could be on for a sub-25 minute time at Blyth this weekend, where it's really flat. I quickly followed that by saying I shouldn't jinx myself, but... did I manage it? YES. YES I DID. 😁 And I didn't just scrape it; I absolutely smashed it. 24:27, baby. GET IN THERE, LEWIS! You know, I'd normally stick one of my photos in here, but I was a bit too focused on my time today to even think about taking any. Instead, have someone else's photo of the beach huts on the prom: Sky looks about right for today's rainy weather, even if it looks doctored for this photo Anyway, yeah. Let that time sink in. 24:27. It's not that long since I was feeling glum about my PB having been set in October and standing for over 6 months at 26:07. I was doubting that I'd get close

Well, that was probably the wettest run I've done to date. Properly soaked. 😁 The route today was another last minute decision. It struck me I'd not headed downstream on the Gateshead side of the river for a long time, and probably not since I'd started increasing the length of my runs. That meant that the bit of greenery I'd previously only just been able to reach on a 5K was now well within reach — assuming I was happy to do a longer run, that is. And with no meetings between 12:30 and 2:00, I was. The intent was really just to go as far as getting level with Gateshead Stadium, maybe climbing the hill up to it if I felt good, or just doubling back along the river if not. As I set off in torrential rain, the weather felt like it might be the deciding factor. That said, while I got soaked to the skin almost instantly, it wasn't a problem once I'd warmed up a bit. In fact, it was just warm enough to enjoy the very wet conditions, with the water stopping me overh

Well, this was a tonic; I'll explain why in a moment. But first, let's just bask in the glory of having set my second fastest parkrun time ever today, with a 25:16. at Herrington Country Park . That's given me a much-needed mental lift, so... hurrah! 😌 So yeah, I've been starting to feel a bit glum about my pace again recently. Ever since I hit the high of a 25:04 at the Riverside  a couple of months ago, I feel like I've been on a slide backwards. And both in training and at parkruns. Thursday's difficult run in Newcastle did nothing to help my mood either. Today, on the way south, I had to fight off the urge to just turn around and go home several times. I'd actually set out with Silksworth in the satnav, but cancelled that around the Tyne Tunnel. I just didn't fancy it; the course sounds uninspiring and hilly enough to give me another morale-killing slow time. Reflecting on the risk of a poor time, I began to wonder whether I'm such a tourist m

Another uninspired/uninspiring run today, and only just over 4K. I would've loved to do another 7+K run, but didn't have the time. Anyway, this was hard enough. Slooooooow start, though it looks like I got some reasonable pace in the downhill return leg For some reason, I felt absolutely exhausted pretty much the minute I started running today. It wasn't the hottest I've run in (it was 19°C) and nor was it a hilly route. I really have no idea why it was so hard (and correspondingly slow), but it's the kind of run I need to have occasionally to give myself a kick up the pants and a reminder that good times don't come without effort. Last thing I want to do is find myself on a slide away from the form that got me my parkrun PB a few weeks back. I'll keep this post brief, as I think I've said everything of note. Time to focus on the weekend's parkrun and knuckle down. 😩 Till next time...

Perfunctory's a good word, isn't it? Perfunctory, adj.  (of an action) carried out without real interest, feeling, or effort. So yeah, this was an evening run, attempting to make up for my poor lunchtime planning; I thought I had a meeting-free lunch, but by the time I realised I was wrong, it was too late to squeeze in a run. In fact, I even left this decision late, starting the run just 5 minutes before sunset. So, no real time to drive somewhere interesting for a run; I just had to get out there. So I opted for a 5K-ish route I'd considered but not done before. Basic route was a direct trot to, and past, the entrance to Quorum business park before turning left and following the edge of the housing estate past Longbenton High School. That then took me across Benton Village Green — possibly the saddest-looking "village green" I've ever seen —before heading north up Station Road and over the railway line via the footbridge to The Flying Scotsman . That's

Today, Daughter the First and I ran the Newcastle Race for Life, 3K distance, in honour of my mother-in-law. Sadly, neither I nor the daughter ever got to meet her, but I'm immensely proud of the daughter for having the sensitivity to run in her memory. And not only that, she did it despite having been poorly for the last few weeks and still not over it. I would've been happy for her to walk the whole thing, but in fact, she ran nearly all of it. Very, very proud of her dedication and, to be honest, I was a bit emotional at the end. Before the start and right at the end. Much more impressed with the daughter's leg lift than mine! So, another goal for the year has been accomplished. This one, of course, want so much about my own personal development as about bonding and sharing my interest and activity with my daughter. While I obviously had an influence, it wasn't really down to me ultimately, so thank you to the daughter. That's 4 of the original 6 goals for the ye

Another new parkrun venue! Huzzah! Oh, wait. Time for a goal update: Attend 5 new parkrun locations: ✅ Goals achieved in 2023: 3 out of 6 🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜ In the end, I was getting frustrated at holding out on the parkrun locations goal simply for the sake of achieving it on holiday in Wales. The longer I held out, the less opportunity I gave myself to make a stretch goal out of it. So, let's make goal #7 here and now. But which of these should it be? Complete the Tourist achievement in the 5K app (which would mean a total of 8 new parkrun locations in 2023) ...and probably design myself a t-shirt listing them 😁 OR Attend 10 new parkrun locations The latter's obviously harder. If doing that, I need to think about which I can realistically attend. Let's see... Penrhyn (on holiday in Wales) Blackhill, in Consett (35 mins' drive) Silksworth, in Sunderland (25 mins' drive) Durham (35 mins' drive) Tyne Green, in Hexham (30 mins' drive) The Pastures, in Alnwick (40 min

Four full rest days after the 10K and I finally got back to running today. And after 4 days of moderately cool weather, I chose one hell of a day to do it; running at lunchtime in 23°C heat. Anyway, having achieved a major goal, I felt the pressure was off regarding pace or any other measure or achievement, so just went out to enjoy the run. Again, it was a run from the office and I actually had a sense of what I wanted to do today; or rather, where I wanted to go: Jesmond Vale. It feels like quite a while since I last went that way (turns out the last time was the end of March) and I remember it being beautiful in the sunshine . And even just generally a pretty nice part of Newcastle to run in. This time though, I wanted to go further into the vale, up to the point where it becomes Jesmond Dene . (When is a vale not a vale? When it's a ...dene?) So, a longer run than the 6K runs I did back in March, but after doing a 10K, really, how long is 7K? Not that long. So, despite the heat

Ever since my achievements in May, I've been looking forward to this post. So let's get straight into it: Attend 30 parkruns : on target... just  😮 I've done 15 so far in 6 months and a day. (Which was actually day 182 of the year, so just under halfway.) That means I'll just scrape 30 by the end of the year. But... I tend to get streaks of non-attendance that risk hobbling this goal. Perhaps the most avoidable of those non-attendances are caused by injury, accounting for 4 missed parkruns this year. If I can cut that out, this goal should be fairly comfortable. I'd love to get well ahead of target by the time 9 months comes around.  Attend 5 new parkrun locations : ahead of schedule 😀 Windy Nook, Druridge Bay, Chopwell Wood and Riverside are all ticked off. 80% done after just 40% of the year gone. With Penrhyn lined up for August, this one's pretty much in the bag, right? Plus, there's the new Denton Dene parkrun that I'm itching to attend, and the

Well, I did it. I finally bagged last year's only failed goal: to finish a 10K event. Finished 10K: ✅ Ran the whole way: ✅ Got under an hour: ✅ Beat my time from April: ✅ My official time was 55:07 in the end, which is frankly crackers. I've done plenty of five kilometre parkruns where I've not even managed that pace. Steve Harper and Brendan Foster getting ready to release the green wave. There's so much I could write about today, but it's already quarter to eleven at night and I don't want to be sat here when today becomes tomorrow. So let's just bullet a few items: The warm-up . I surprised myself by really enjoying and appreciating the orchestrated warm-up. I normally hate being manipulated (that's how I see it), but the guy leading it made it clear it was the best way to avoid injury, so I just went with it today. Being overtaken. Lots . I started very close to the front of my wave, as we were all people who'd said we'd take an hour or more

Another guide-running parkrun today, and a time that was a full 7 (SEVEN) minutes faster than the first time we ran together. I can't take the credit for that though; my guidee was ready to call this her graduation run for Couch to 5K, as she'd already done two of the three runs in the final week of the programme. Alas, we didn't manage a continuous 30 minutes today, as her knees were complaining; she's still just 6 months after having a little boy and bones aren't what they once were. For me though, it made for a nice, relaxed 5K with a lot of chatting, which was a pleasant change. It was perfect for the day before a 10K and meant that I kept myself on target for 30 parkruns this year... just . I also got a surprise (and slightly random) achievement in the 5K app today, getting the "Palindrome" achievement with a time of 44:44. I feel like there should be a second achievement for that, given that it's ALL the same number, but whatever. 🤷‍♂️ So, as is