Running On Empty

Another weekend visiting relatives in Leeds meant there was no 5K parkrun for me this weekend, but a less-busy-than-usual schedule did mean that we had time for a junior parkrun. And luckily we tend to stay less than 5 minutes' drive from the Temple Newsam parkrun, which has a junior version. This was Daughter the First's 21st junior parkrun, which means she's now completed a full marathon distance and will be awarded with a wristband for that at her next run. That'll be a second milestone she's got before me! 😂 Anyway, it was a beautiful day in Leeds, with the sun shining more than you can tell in my photos. The setting was wonderful too, far more attractive than the Town Moor or the Whitley Bay promenade. It was also noticeably more hilly than either of those two, which meant we knew we were heading for a slower than usual time. Still, to come away with a time of 15:01 was actually quite pleasing; better than I'd expected. More importa

Another lunchtime where I work too long into it and end up with a shortened run. Less than 4km today, as I finished in 20 minutes flat. I aimed for the green vistas of Exhibition Park and just made it before turning round and heading back to the office. How bloomin' depressing. Maybe next week I'll work — and run — from home instead. Or maybe I'll sort my life out and get a bus to start the run. Anyway, nothing noteworthy about the run today except for negative splits. None of them under 5:00/km pace mind. Pe curand!

A proper run at last, but only if your definition of proper means over 5K. And this was only just over 5K. My ennui with the choice of routes from work is probably starting to affect how long I want to run for now. At least, I'm so uninspired that I'm leaving it too late to get a longer run in at lunchtime. Whatever. This one saw me cross the Tyne Bridge then head along Askew Road, under the Redheugh Bridge and along the Gateshead Riverside 'Park' to Dunston Staiths. And then back down the riverside path and over the Swing Bridge to the Guildhall. Almost every metre was a metre I'd run before. If I'd just got ready 10 minutes earlier I could've caught the X63 and run through Jesmond Dene, which is at least nicer, even if I've done that before too. With it being primarily flat and net downhill, I tried to push the pace a little, but still only managed... an average of 5:06/km. Hang on. That's not actually that bad for me. But still, it was

I've been a bit lax lately, both in getting out for exercise and in blogging about it when I do, so here's a quick round-up: Fri 15 March : the day after the Blue House run, I was out again for another lunchtime jaunt, this time just scraping the edges of Heaton Park and Jesmond Vale. It was a 6K run, but it's always a little frustrating as a destination, as time constraints mean I have to turn back almost as soon as I've got somewhere nice. I need to do the X63 to South Gosforth run again sometime; at least then I'd get to do the full length of Jesmond Dene and Jesmond Vale. Sat 16 March : no parkrun again. 🙁 The girls were being parents for the day and they ruled it out. Sun 17 March : A long-awaited return to Junior Parkrun for Daughter the Elder. 🥰 Not only that, she did herself proud, getting a time of 13:14, which is her 3rd best time ever. Not bad for having had zero practice for 6 months. I even got a sweat on myself keeping up with her, but then I hadn

After 72 hours of headaches that prevented both parkrunning and an office-based lunchtime run, I finally got out again today and put in a 7km run that pushed the boundaries of an acceptable lunchtime (I started at 1:15pm). Still, I was back at my desk, showered and working again in under an hour, so I reckon that's... okay? The goal today was just to get to a patch of green that I'd not previously explored. I mean, given that the patch of green was just some grass next to my route into work, there wasn't much exploring happening, but still... it relieved my itch to avoid repetition. Oh, and the grass in question was Little Moor, a tiny corner of the Town Moor, isolated on the far side of the Blue House Roundabout . Blue House Roundabout (not today) looking remarkably traffic-free Before setting off, I'd not checked the map to see how far my target was from the office, so I figured I'd just get as far as I could in 20 minutes and then turn back. If I had extra time,

It's been a bit of a wait to get this week's first run in, but at least when the time came, I already had a plan for where to go. Miracles do happen. Good job, really, cos it was another day when I really didn't feel like going for a run. How much of that was down to boredom with the routes available to me and how much was down to my tiredness, I'm not sure. Anyway, off I went to tour the various murals that I knew in the city centre and to its eastern side, primarily Ouseburn. Mural #1, painted recently, replacing an earlier mural based on Teardrops by Womack & Womack With the sheer number of photos I ended up stopping to take, it's hard to say what kind of pace I had. But apart from the short slog to haul myself out of the Ouseburn valley, I generally felt pretty good. That's "good" in inverted commas, I guess, as I never really feel good as such, but at the end, I did feel that the only thing stopping me going for longer (than the 6km it turned

Holy moly, I'm back. 😳 My first parkrun in over 2 months was meant to be at Gateshead so that I could bump into the husband of a work colleague, but as usual even when I was regular, I was late getting out of the house. Luckily, on the way to Saltwell Park, I would pass the Town Moor, so I bailed out and took that option instead — despite the fact that I'm really not a fan of it. As well as being just 1°C, it was a bit misty out on the moor first thing As for why I'm not a fan, it's partly down to the stony tracks that make up half of the course and partly down to the sheer number of people taking part, which means that the start inevitably involves a lot of finding yourself boxed in. Mind, you could argue the latter reason is just sour grapes on my part, reflecting my failure to get a time under 26 minutes despite it being a very flat course. Choosing your starting position to avoid the worst of the crowds also requires a bit of... well, dishonesty. The last time I wa