Running On Empty

In recent weeks, our garage has started looking like a second-hand bike shop as we've bought three bikes for our two girls (to go alongside the comically small ones they already had. To be fair, the first of those turned out to be too big for Daughter the 1st, hence the purchase of 2 more, but it was too much of a bargain to pass up, so she'll get it when she grows a bit. Anyway, this has brought an unanticipated benefit for me, as it turns out that Daughter the 1st cycles at roughly the same speed that I jog; she's clearly no thrill-seeker. 😂 We've now twice been out for a ride/run together, but today's session was over an hour long . While there were moments in that when I was waiting for her to catch up and maybe a 20-second break when we initially stopped at 8K, that must be the longest 'continuous' run I've ever done. Part of today's circular route, but this photo was taken in winter, not today How did it feel? Totally fine up to around 7K, but...

Don't want to leave it too long before I get a 10K in, not least so that I can add a stretch goal of another 10K. So, it's time to get looking again — and to stop hoping I'll get into the North Tyneside 10K somehow. Searching on findarace.com, one in Hamsterley Forest in March came up. I figure the 4 weeks from that to the Allendale Challenge gives me enough time to recover from the inevitable injury. (After last weekend's heather running, I'm pretty much assuming I'll come away with some kind of issue from a run in hilly forests. 😂) Hamsterley Forest looks uncharacteristically flat here Switching to searching on SiEntries.com, the following two intriguing options came up: Chopwell Moon Runner , 19th Oct Blanchland Moon Runner , 14th Dec Basic idea here is that it's night-time trail running, using a head torch. Once upon a time, I actually owned a head torch (lord knows why), but I suspect it's no longer in my possession/loft. Regardless, runn...

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...

In my last post, I talked about how I'd signed up for a 10K event in July. And while my last run was partly an attempt to start getting me used to longer runs, I honestly expected the day of the Great North 10K to be the first time I would actually complete a 10K distance. Well, I've gone and blown that plan out of the water. 🙄 Route and stats for my first ever 10K run, showing an average pace of 5:40/km The last few days, I've been getting all agitated (internally) about how little real opportunity I get to go  for a run when the kids are off school. By the time I get the chance, it's pushing 9pm and I'm feeling too tired to contemplate exercise. The frustration's been exacerbated by missing parkrun to take the younger daughter climbing and even missing the chance to run with the elder daughter at junior parkrun. And then I realised that I'll have to miss next week's parkrun too as we're visiting relatives again. So, despite really not feeling ...

Committing myself to another of my targets for 2023, I've now entered the Great North 10K . Was a bit pricier than many 10K events I've seen, but I like the sound of the route and, crucially, it wasn't already fully booked up or closed to entries (unlike the Blyth 10K or the North Tyneside one). It should be fun running through the centre of Newcastle and actually having the right of way for once. No having to wait for cars and buses at pedestrian crossings, no having to dodge the shoppers, none of that crap. At least, I'm hoping there'll be none of that. I've never seen the run itself on the day, so I can only assume there won't be randoms crossing my path all the time. 😂 The first 3K is also run on the same route as the Great North Run, which will be nice. No doubt it'll tempt me to do the real thing one day, but right now, that feels a long way off. For now, signing up just gives me the impetus to focus more on my longer runs. And hopefully that...