Running On Empty

What a contrast to Monday's run. My body definitely wasn't up for it today, with my knees lacking spring but my lungs feeling it most. Good job I was out for a longer run and not focused on the times I was getting for each kilometre. Part of the Byker Wall in the distance as I started to cross the Byker Bridge. That lack of focus on speed also meant I felt free to stop for a few photos (and not pause Google Fit), which was nice. Lately, I've been reading and watching a fair bit about the Byker Estate — of which the Wall is the most visible part — trying to understand what makes it so different to the much-lauded Barbican Centre in London ; what's good about it and what's not so good. Today, I went out to see the reality for myself. And to take a few pictures when I didn't feel awkward doing so. After all, there I was as a privileged homeowner living in a nice area but taking photos of an estate that replaced slums and reportedly still has more than its ...

After a decidedly slow wander through the woods yesterday, I figured it wouldn't hurt to get a run in at lunch today. And for once I'd go for a flat route on the quayside. Almost as soon as I'd started, I had to wait for traffic before I could cross Mosley Street and again when I wanted to cross to the quayside itself. I was stood limply on a traffic island for a good 20 seconds at the latter, as I'd badly misjudged my timing. 🤦‍♂️ So it was with some amazement that I heard the first 5 minutes being called out at a pace of only just over 5:00/km. Wow. Was my body willing and able to go for a quick run? I continued upriver trying to just maintain my natural pace and after the next 5 minutes, I was up to 1.99km covered. I turned back downriver shortly after that and slowly started to catch another runner who'd been going the opposite direction a moment earlier. He became my pacer, though I swear he was gradually speeding up himself. After 15 minutes, I'd hit 2.9...

Scott Bakula can't quite believe it either. Well, let's notch that one up to experience. I think it's fair to say that my first ever score event was a disaster. 🙁 With 60 minutes to get as many controls as I could and return to the finish, Google counted past the 5-minute intervals at an alarming rate. But let's rewind. I'd already slightly panicked at the start, fearing that I was taking too long to plan my route (even though I knew I'd feel this way). So I ended up running off, having only really looked at about a quarter of the map. 🤦‍♂️ And despite my preparation being better than ever — I'd actually memorized the map scale for once, calculating 2cm = 200m = 90s — I seemed to reach attack points faster than expected, which dented my confidence in my navigation and distance estimation. One thing led to another and, despite finding the first few controls with relative ease (despite the odd poor choice of route), it came to a head when I wasted almost 10...

Another very short run today as I had a limited lunchtime. Just over 4K, staying close to the office to allow me to cut it short at any moment. The start of my run opposite Manors Multi Storey. Photo: Mark Pinder, The Guardian Continuing my recent theme of, and interest in, Newcastle's short-lived but long-felt embrace of brutalism, I opted to take in every bit of the remaining network of skywalks that I could think of. The one in the picture above used to go further to the right before the demolition of the old Bank of England building saw it curtailed. Regardless, that's where I started, following its curve past the Manors Multi-storey car park towards the building site that used to be the Technopole  (where I had my first job). From there, it was up and onto the pedestrian bridge leading over the central motorway in the direction of the Laing art gallery. Rather than going the full way over the bridge, I descended the ramps to take me down to Market Street, then...

Following my failure to get into the Great North Run via the ballot, it looks like I'd need to guarantee to raise at least £350 for charity if I were to do it that way. And that's not an amount I can promise. So the GNR will have to wait till 2025 at the earliest. And I need a new goal to replace it this year. I've thought about looking for an alternative half marathon, but the Great North Run is about more than just the 13 miles. It's... simply about being the Great North Run. I might be better off just looking at alternative events that interest me. The Allendale Challenge is that kind of thing, but it's already its own goal. The night-time 10K events are too, but same issue again. Maybe if I looked for something that was happening somewhere special to me. Maybe an event (of any type) in the Lake District? That could be nice — and would give me an excuse to visit the Lakes. Time to hit the Googles...

How prophetic! The last few words of my previous post were these: "parkrun isn't a very solid fixture these days" And lo! So it came to pass that I missed parkrun again . Given it was my noisy sleeping that gave my wife a terrible night's sleep and guilt-tripped me into giving her more time in bed, maybe I should sleep on the sofa prior to parkruns in the future. That should set me up splendidly! 😐 Anyway, after a weekend of IKEA wardrobe building, I finally got the chance for a run on Sunday evening. As has often been the case lately, it was an uninspired route, aimed at merely ticking the "5K" box. This time, it was a case of heading from West Moor to Forest Hall and back, mainly along Great Lime Road, Glebe Road, Briar Edge and Forest Hall Road, plus the odd little deviation into housing estates to bump up the distance. Looking back to West Moor from Forest Hall. Image nicked from Google Earth. As soon as I got moving, I could tell it wasn't going to...

That's the last time I get the #30 bus to start a run; it stopped at a bus stop every 50 yards! So slow. Nonetheless it got me up to Elswick before I gave up on it and started my route. I was expecting Fenham, but it was taking too long. Anyway, I had no specific route planned; it could've taken me anywhere and I just would've got off when I felt it was time to get back to the office. The mosque, with an awesome minaret, near where I got off the #30 Figuring I was still too close to the office to make the return a 5K, I headed further into Elswick. That took me to the entrance to Elswick Crematorium, where I've run before. Being allergic to repetition, I turned away from it and ran towards West Road. Which was uphill. Frankly, I'd had enough uphill yesterday, but such is my need to explore. 🤷 When Google called out the first 5 minutes (I've changed from distance splits to time, in prep for the orienteering score event on the 25th), it reckoned I was...

Despite grumbling to myself that "I can't be bothered" as I trudged down the stairs out of the office, I did get out for another run today. Go me. While I'd asked the random pointer for a direction today, I ignored it as it told me to go the same way that I went last time. Boring! Instead, I zigzagged this way and that until I finally settled into a stretch of straight-line running: I genuinely had no idea where I was going to go, but avoided the worst of the gradients In the end, Cruddas Park was the furthest point of my run. It's an area I've run through a couple of times before and it's not the most affluent, but like pretty much anywhere, it's got an interesting history. The tower blocks there even housed T. Dan Smith , the Newcastle councillor responsible for a lot of the regeneration in the 60s — including the tower blocks of Cruddas Park, in fact. These days, you're more likely to hear of him being reviled for destroying the city's arch...

Yup, just a quick post to say that I was unsuccessful in my attempt to enter the Great North Run via the ballot. Yeah, not that unexpected, but disappointing nonetheless. 🙁 Now to find out whether there's a charity whose fundraising requirement I reckon I can meet... 😐

As another run-free weekend approaches, it was time to squeeze in one more midweek run. The weather today was pretty grim — 6°C, rainy and windy — but once I'd warmed up a bit and was out of the worst of the wind, this was a really pleasant run. Albeit a very wet one that I struggled to see through raindrops and condensation on my glasses. 😂 As has often been the case recently, I wasn't aiming for anything fast given my lack of practice. And yet I still managed what looks like ridiculously choreographed negative splits, with a handful of kilometres under the 5:10/km mark. That was a nice surprise. So yeah, while the route I took was mostly flat, it's made me even keener to see what I can do at a parkrun again. My next one is planned for 17th Feb at Denton Dene, so I can pick something up from the MetroCentre afterwards. It won't be a staggering time as it's got some climbs in it, but it'll still be interesting. Bring it!

After this last weekend's failure to attend a parkrun, I'm now into my longest ever absence from it since I began parkrunning. I've now missed the last 6 (SIX) Saturdays. 🙁 The majority of these were missed out of compassion for the family. Me disappearing shortly after 8am on a Saturday morning means someone (who's not me) has to give up their much needed lie-in to keep an eye on the kids. Of course, this has always been the case since I started parkrun, but now that I'm no longer pushing for a parkrun attendance-related goal, I see how much of an impact I was having previously. And how selfish I'd been. Sooo... maybe parkruns just aren't for me right now. The timing's just not convenient. As much as I miss the impetus it gave me to get up and the focus it gave my midweek runs, I might have to look for that challenge elsewhere. At which point it'll be a lot more on me to be disciplined, which is something I'm a bit rubbish at. But at least I am...

Keen to get out today, but without a planned route, I headed towards and beyond the railway station. There aren't many bits of Newcastle (in the vicinity of the office) that I've not seen now, but I did manage to stumble upon a part of the city walls that was new to me: Town walls behind Central Station, extending towards the Tyne Gorge behind me After that, I headed down a road I'd never followed before — one that had a blaze on it a few years back — and then it was back to familiarity. Up to the Life Centre then past the Arena and on along towards the Newcastle Business Park. That was my furthest point, making a futile detour into a dead-end on the industrial estate, before heading back along the riverside path. Pace-wise, I had no specific target; just getting out for a run was the key today. In fact, I was more intent on just enjoying myself, which meant a fairly gentle pace. But as it happens, it was another negative splits 5K (though only just), with each kilometre f...

Another random spinner-inspired lunchtime run from the office; south-eastward today, which took me towards Gateshead College. And looking at the map for the area, I spotted an interesting-looking, almost circular loop that I could use, the loop itself being a little over 2km. A little bit of onthegomap.com and I figured I'd better only do 1½ laps before the run was going longer than I wanted. So that was it planned and off I went. Are these funky buildings part of Gateshead College? I dunno. They're near it, at least. 🤷‍♂️ Over the Millennium Bridge today, there was no high-five-guy (booo!) and I was soon onto the start of the loop, just past the Baltic art gallery. (Too long since I've been in there. Must get back one lunchtime when I'm not running.) And that meant it was straight into a climb. Well, straight into a climb after the mile or so of mostly downhill warm-up, but still... I was instantly finding it hard. I'd known that this part of the loop would be a ...