Running On Empty

The 2023 stretch goals I made for myself back at the end of July have been looking like a bit much of a stretch recently. The 'new parkruns' goal is being scuppered by the distances I now need to travel. The 3-times-a-week goal has been set back massively by two or three weeks of very little running in holiday season. Pulling it back from that deficit is going to take some doing, especially given that I very rarely manage more than 3 runs a week. But at least the fortnightly 7.5km runs goal is feeling achievable. In fact, longer runs are becoming more of a focus for me, full-stop. 7.5km runs don't take that much longer than a 5km run when you factor in the fixed cost of warm-up, warm-down and shower time. They also mean that when I come to do parkruns, they feel a bit shorter than they used to; and I'm hoping that means I'll feel able to run them faster. Beyond that, I'm also itching to get myself signed up for another 10K race — specifically the North Tyneside...

I'm always in two minds about how I feel when I have a training run that's slower than intended. Or slower than it feels for the effort I put in. On the one hand, it's good that's it's not on a parkrun day, as that would be depressing. But on the other hand, I'm always left thinking "I should be getting past this kind of thing". As in, even my bad days should be what I used to think of as quick. Burradon Pond, which I looped around. Photo courtesy of Burradon Farm House & Cottages Today was one such run. Feeling that I'd set off at about a 5:20/km pace, the first kilometre announcement from Google was about 5:45. And the second kilometre just started to feel hard as my lungs actually had to start working. In fact, the whole run just felt a bit underwhelming, even though my pace trended in the right direction. That may, in part, be down to the fact it was in the middle of a work day and work itself has been a bit depressing lately. But at least...

No sooner so I write a post about how it's been ages since I last did any orienteering, and I only go and do a spot of orienteering the next day. Not your traditional orienteering with white and orange kites, mind you; Shaun the Sheep orienteering. 😂 There's one! Shaun the Sheep outside St Nick's. For the past month or two, 115 Shaun the Sheep sculptures have been dotted around Newcastle, each with a unique code on its base. The idea was that kiddies and their parents would wander the city, collecting all the codes on an app on their phone and getting various "rewards" as they go. All for charity (and marketing), of course. On Saturday, while killing time with Daughter the Second, I finally decided to get the app and join in. We followed it up with a bit more on Sunday and got ourselves up to 22 out of 115 collected. I suggested to the girls that I could collect more for them on my lunchtime runs from the office and so that's how I came to be doing wh...

It's been a looong time since I last posted about anything orienteering-related and there's a good reason for that: I've not done any for AGES. Daughter the 1st has given up on it and we've even handed back the club top she was borrowing (that was very cringe). I've also been putting all of my efforts into parkrunning instead, as those events are typically closer to home, start and end earlier, and so consume less of a weekend for me (and the family). So... yeah... no orienteering. 😢 No offence meant to this guy, but it's impossible to look cool while orienteering, isn't it? While I suspect this means I won't renew my club or BOF membership for 2024, I do still miss getting out for it occasionally. Maybe next year, I'll try to run once or twice as an independent. Also, 2023 isn't over yet and, looking ahead on the NATO future events page , I see that there's another urban event happening in Cramlington at the start of November. Let's...

Feels like a bit of a miracle that I even got out to a parkrun today. This is the first week in a long, long time that I've felt like I could quite happily get by without running at all. I suspect that's down to various things occupying my mind, both at work and at home, but I really wasn't in the mood for getting up and out early(ish) on a Saturday morning. I just knew that if I didn't, the self-loathing would come later and it was a downward spiral from there. I couldn't afford to spend too long away from home with the car today — not least because it was in for a new windscreen at 11am — so instead of going for a new venue, I instead consulted my post-it note listing the venues that would extend my tourist streak. And Leazes Park won. A gloomy Leazes Park before the start, with the finish funnel in the foreground. Last time I visited, I came away really down about how slowly I'd run it, clocking up a 27:38. Given my first visit, on only my second ever parkru...

Today's route in pink; well, the Gateshead half of it anyway. Seems a bit OTT to call this a training run, but I popped out for a quick 5-ish kilometre run at lunch, creating a loop that would see me wind up at Central Station to pick up train tickets for a work trip tomorrow. By that point, having crossed the High Level bridge and returned via the Redheugh Bridge, I'd racked up a little over 4K, with the final bit towards 5K coming on the run back to the office from the station. GPS botched the start, but I'd guess my average pace was about 5:15 to 5:20/km. This was also a brilliant display of how not to run. I ate lunch immediately before going out, didn't go to the loo before running, and didn't do any stretches at all. Never mind, though; I got away with it. Next run is likely to be Friday at the earliest, as I'm away on a work trip midweek.

Last time I attended Jesmond Dene parkrun , it was in the knowledge that it was the last remaining venue I'd been to where my PB was over 28 minutes. Consequently, the goal was to get under 28 minutes, something I definitely felt I was capable of. But I failed. 😞 To say I was disappointed would be to put it mildly. Funnily enough, ever since then — just as with Newbiggin and its disappointment — I'd been reluctant to return. Fear of failure strikes again. However, circumstances conspired today to see me return to Jesmond Dene. Of course, I went with the same goal to get under 28 minutes, but this time I had a bit more of a focused plan: I would start much nearer the front; closer to the front than my pace warranted, as it turned out. The Jesmond Dene run gets pretty congested at the start, so I didn't want to get stuck behind anyone. I would focus on the section in Paddy Freeman Park i.e. after the punishing hill. Knowing how I've been able to push myself on the flat e...

Still in Bedlington, though the blue sky has gone again. The evening was still pretty pleasant though, so out for a second run in two days. Yesterday was a bit disappointing in terms of pace, but despite the temptation to make up for that with a quick run today, really, I just needed to get more distance in. After messing about on onthegomap.com for too long (as ever), I set off for a potentially sketchy run around the streets. I say sketchy because some of the paths I'd chosen might not be well lit. Sure enough, as soon as I started, I was struck by how poorly lit Bedlington is compared to the streets back home. And that was on the streets themselves never mind the paths I'd chosen down the sides of housing estates. So the planned route changed a bit. Ultimately, I followed the edge of the housing estate nearest the River Blyth (though I got view of the river) down towards Bedlington Station before doubling back up to Aldi in the town centre. From there it was past the Police ...

Short one today; just 4.5km. And yet I found it surprisingly hard to maintain any kind of pace, with three consecutive 6-minute-plus kilometre times. Which is a shame, as it was beautiful weather for a run: cool but sunny. The River Blyth approaching Bedlington So, not sure what happened to my pace, but at least the surroundings were a pleasant change from either Newcastle city centre or the streets back home. Yes, there was the odd pause (for photographs, or for dogs blocking the path), but that was just a few seconds each time. I need to buy get fixated on the odd bad day though. I had a bad day last week and then smashed my Newbiggin parkrun PB two days later. Consistency of running is probably way more important. So, I'll need another run before the weekend... though hopefully it'll be faster than today.

Another good parkrun day today. 😊 Earlier this year, I had a couple of really demoralising runs here at Newbiggin and I suspect I've been avoiding the place ever since, to avoid further disappointment. Today though, Newbiggin served two purposes — visiting my mum and extending my tourist streak — and I laid the ghosts of January to rest with a 25:27. 💪 The reason January's runs had been depressing was twofold: first, they'd been significantly slower than my overall parkrun PB of that time (26:07), which I'd set at this venue a couple of months earlier; and secondly, the second of the two runs was marginally slower than the first. I suspect it was around that time that I recognised I needed to up my game and put some real effort into getting back to my best. It's where the long journey to my next PB really started. Today, I tried to focus on my good performance last weekend (the negative splits) and forget all about my chest trouble on Thursday. I want...

BTW, yes, I've dropped the whole "Midweek" thing as some of my non-parkrun runs aren't midweek. And while "training" sounds all kinds of serious, like I've got a plan, or there's an event I'm in training for, I've decided it's the only term that really makes sense for these keeping-me-going runs. They are, after all, intended to make me a better runner... gradually. 😉 Oh, and the post labels will change from this point on too. I may even retrofit "training" to the earlier "midweek" posts. ANYWAY... this week, the kids went back to school and today was my first solo drop-off of the new school year. It was also warm and dry, so I took the chance to have a short-ish run on the way home. The route wasn't particularly inspiring, but did try to avoid the need to cross too many busy roads. I was still in a fairly positive frame of mind following the negative splits run and the first kilometre today passed in 5:07, which ...

With the week ahead looking like one in which I’ll struggle to find the time for many runs, I headed out tonight around sunset for what I’d hoped would be a long run; somewhere between 7.5 and 10K. I’d intended to explore an area of parkland between Great Park and Fawdon, but when I finally got over there, it was so dark that it was against my better judgement that I went into it at all. My first steps were so full of hesitation that it was no surprise when Google told me the first kilometre had been just under 6 minutes (it's since revised its estimate downwards, mind). By that time, I’d decided to back out of the poorly lit greenery and had just got back into the housing estate where I’d parked the car. And given that I’d already seen some radge bombing around on a noisy, motorised (but not electric) scooter looking like he’d just TWOC’d something, plus another suspicious-looking yoof on a BMX in an underpass, I figured it was probably for the best that I stayed closer to the car...

Ever since stumbling upon Rosie’s North East Parkrun Challenge, wherein she attempted to do all parkruns in the NE of England in one year, I’ve wondered where exactly I can find out what constitutes the NE of England for that list. I never did find it on the parkrun website but a recent update to the 5K app has added a filter by region. Huzzah! And that means I can see that there are THIRTY-SIX parkruns in the North East.😫 Well then. I would love to be able to say I’ve done all parkruns in my region, but some of these are a long drive for me. The one in Saltburn by the Sea is well over an hour away; I’d definitely need a good chunk of goodwill from the family to disappear for that long on a Saturday morning. I did well to get away with Sedgefield recently. Still, I’m up for making this a longer term goal. Of course, by the time I even get close to achieving it, there’ll no doubt be a few more added to the list. Hopefully they’ll be closer to home though.

Finally back to parkrunning today. And just in the nick of time to rekindle my hopes of achieving 30 parkruns this year. During June and July, I'd attended 6 on the trot to give me a projected total for the year of 33 and felt like I'd actually got on top of the goal at last. After a barren August, however, today's run now shows a projected total of 30 runs for the year. Squeaky bum time. So, given the recent lack of running, today's aim was just to get another run under my belt. Blackhill, my first choice, was discounted as my brother (whom I would've met up with) was off golfing somewhere. Instead, still wanting to attend a new venue to make up for the failure to do Penrhyn, I went for Ashington Community Woodland , a relatively new event and my current NENDY . So that puts me up to 19 different locations in total, 7 this year, and on a tourist streak of 13 (which I'm loathe to break!). The lane heading to the start of the Ashington run. A warm-feeling 16 °C ...