Running On Empty

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...

So, I caught the bus out into the countryside for the start of today's run: Totally outside the city... right? Nah, just kidding. That's just a shot from Walker looking down the hill towards Walker Riverside Park (and an equivalent on the far side of the Tyne). Anyway, last time I was in this area, I didn't quite make it out this far, but still put in 8km. This time, I took the #12 bus to ALDI in Walker, so that I only needed to run back to the office. Consequently, I did a mere 5.25km today. The weather was good today — by which I mean hotter than I'd like and full sun — but the nice view that greeted me at the start was a genuine surprise. It was nice to pretend I was outside the city, but sadly, Walker Riverside Park is really little more than a thin, undeveloped and slightly unkempt strip of trees along the bank of the Tyne. I'm starting to spot a theme with the words "Riverside Park" as the thin strip of trees that is Gateshead Riverside Park is simil...

My 3rd run in 4 days and it's another 7.5+ kilometre run to give me another purple dot on my running calendar. All 3 runs have been pretty dull this week, but the point has simply been to keep myself in the habit. After today, I'll not get out for another run for a whole week. After that though, holidays are over till Christmas, so I should be able to improve my consistency. So yeah, pace wasn't a concern today. That said, I still had to remind myself of that on a couple of occasions when I didn't like the pace being reported by Google and was tempted into speeding up. Probably a good job I slowed down again as I was barely able to keep the run going towards the end. It was one of those days where you feel you might accidentally start walking at any moment, unable to maintain the bounce for a jog. So, after saying pace didn't matter, what was my pace? 😉 5:30/km, over a distance of 8.3km. So again that's about my 10K pace. And for 5K, that would tra...

Staying true to my word for once, I got back out at lunch today. Not as far as Monday's run — 5.15km today — but important to just get out there at all. After popping into the City Library, I passed Civic Centre, Exhibition Park and Leazes Park ponds After a depressing morning at work where I learned of 2 good friends being made redundant, at least the run put something else in my head for a few minutes. Pace today was hard to judge. Google reported a sub-5-minute-per-kilometre pace for the first 5 minutes, which was a pleasant surprise. Then after 10 minutes, it was up to 5:05/km. And then after another 5 minutes, it reckoned I'd done just another 400m or so. GPS was having a bad day and I couldn't trust anything after that. When I finally mapped the route on onthegomap, it seems I did 5.15km in 28:23, which is less than brilliant for me as it translates to 5:31/km. I felt like I'd gone faster than that. Granted, it's better than Monday's 5:50ish/km, but still ...

Ok, so where's the Penrhyn parkrun blog post?! In short, the fates conspired against it. First, I forgot to take my trainers to Wales. 🤦‍♂️ Then the car got a cracked windscreen the day before it that worsened with every trip. Then Storm Betty arrived and the parkrun was cancelled for fear of falling trees. Sigh. 6 months I'd been looking forward to that. SIX MONTHS. 😞 The lack of decent trainers on holiday also meant I didn't get any other runs in during my time in Wales, as I wanted to protect my feet ahead of the parkrun. So it's nearly two weeks since my last run. This is ruining my goal to be consistent. The lack of parkruns — I'll be doing none at all in August now — is also jeopardising my goal of 30 this year. But... back to today. Seeing that I had no real meetings booked for today, I slapped a blocker on 90 minutes over lunch for a slightly longer than usual run. Being content to just run and not caring where I went for once, I ended up ru...

Today was just about cramming in another run, even if it wasn't a full 5K. In fact, it was only just 4K, but I did aim to make it a decent pace. Ultimately, the pace was around 5:20/km, which isn't going to set the world alight, but that included a few occasions where I had to walk due to pedestrian traffic and an ascent of Stepney Bank. On the whole, it felt quick. I swore I would take a photo of the recent(?) mural at Bonello Auto Services (an Alfa Romeo specialist), but in the end I was too concentrated on not breaking my rhythm going up the hill. Instead, have this one that I’ve nicked from their website. I thought the mural was on both sides of the shutters, but if so, I can only find photos of the right hand side. Anyway, it’s truly lovely for the car enthusiast in me. But as I say, as lovely as it was seeing that on the way up the hill, my bigger concern at that moment was simply getting up the hill without dying. Somewhat surprisingly though, it wasn’t actually that h...

What a difference two days make: Saturday : continuing miserable weather, long-running sinus headache, wimped out of parkrun, thoroughly down and wondering whether this was the beginning of the end for my running habit Monday : sun's out and it's warmed up, headache's finally gone, back out at lunchtime for a thoroughly enjoyable 6.4K run, loving the running buzz again So yeah, parkrun on Saturday didn't happen. I needed to do a local one (because $kids) but didn't want to break my tourist streak, so Jesmond Dene was on the cards. Knowing that that would be a tough and most-likely demoralising parkrun if done with a pounding headache, I chose not to bother, even though it would hurt my "30 parkruns in 2023" goal. In hindsight, it was probably the right choice, for both my mental health and for the headache. Even if my next parkrun's not till the 19th August (Penrhyn 🤞), I'll still be on target for 32 by the end of the year. Enough of that though....

It's getting hard to get excited about going for a midweek run at the moment. I'm almost out of new directions to take and a month of almost non-stop rain isn't helping. According to the Grauniad: "The UK had an average of 140.1mm of rain last month, the sixth highest total for July since records began in 1836." Awesome. And it looks set to continue for weeks yet. Meanwhile, continental Europe is on fire. Thanks, climate change. 😞 Anyway, back to today's (wet) run. I'd half intended to run due south from the office on Monday, seeking green areas in the direction of Shipley Art Gallery, Saltwell Park and Low Fell, but ended up getting back to Dunston instead. Today, I stuck to the half-plan. But what a dreary route. 😩 It wasn't really until I got to Shipley Art Gallery itself that I started seeing any little bits of park. Mostly, it was a trek past low-rent shopping areas and traffic. One spot of note was the Gateshead Registry Office where my brothe...

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 ...

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...

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 ...

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...

With a meeting-free day, there was time for another longer run at lunch today. Still desperate to find new patches of greenery, I headed out eastwards towards Cycle Route 72, which would take me to Walker Riverside Park. You'd be forgiven for thinking the Tyne Valley were some lush green paradise looking at this! Must admit, it was a bit of a boring, well-trodden route out along the quayside and past the Cycle Hub to St Peter's Basin. Really wasn't feeling it today, but it would have felt wrong to not do anything over 5K in the week before Sunday's Great North 10K. I'd planned to maybe go as far as Pottery Bank and then just turn around, but by the time the cycle path crossed a bridge over a road about 24 minutes into the run, I figured I just didn't have time for it; I still couldn't see Pottery Bank ahead. Pausing the run, I checked my distance so far and it was about 4.5K. If I doubled that with the return leg, then even without going any further, that wo...

Indulge me for a moment. There was a time, back in my early-to-mid 20s, that I spent a very large chunk of my spare time on the computer, playing and making mods (and modding tools) for the Geoff Crammond Grand Prix games. While I had practically  zero social life (at least, in meatspace), I still look back on that time fondly as the most intensely creative period of my life. Turns out I even made car livery textures. Pleased with the rear wing of the Viz car! 😂 The thing I most enjoyed doing was imagining and creating 'fantasy' tracks. That is, purely imaginary circuits that you could then race. Which brings me onto this post and run. In recent weeks, I've been playing around with the idea of "If I could create my own parkrun course, where would I do it?" . Firing up onthegomap.com , finding local parks, and mapping out a 5K course has given me a feeling a bit like making F1 tracks back in the day. And tonight was my first run on one of the courses I've pu...

Two runs in two days! This is me doing my best to really get back into the rhythm of at least 3 runs a week. And, at the same time, trying to get over my frustration at how hard I'm finding the 5K distance in the current heat. Basically, I've figured I simply need to up my game and today that came in the form of a longer distance run (7.5km), running home from work. I'd like to say it felt as easy as the time I ran into work, but it really didn't. And this time, I wasn't even carrying a rucksack. But from the word go, I just felt tired . Not sure whether it was the time of day, the heat (20°C), the fact I'd run yesterday, general lack of fitness, the fact I've had a lot of late nights recently, or some other plausible excuse. The feeling I had was also reflected in my pace, with an average of 5:49/km according to Google Fit. Slightly depressing, but at least if I maintained that for 10K, I'd be under an hour; 58:06, to be precise. I'd definitely lik...

For the first time in what feels like quite a while, it was a midweek lunchtime run from the house today. Once again looking for a route that would have a fair bit of shade, I headed for the trees of Gosforth Park, running up to the northern edge of the Parklands golf course before cutting back through the middle of it and back home via the Triangle. According to onthegomap, it was exactly 5K, even if my phone's GPS struggled through the trees and recorded less than that due to apparent shortcuts. On the whole, it was an okay run in terms of how it felt, but the heat was draining again, with the temperature at 22°C. The pace was... actually, I've just looked at overall time for the first time in the context of knowing the true distance and the pace was actually really good considering the weather. The overall time for the 5K was 25:49, translating to 5:10/km. Go me! 😁 Anyway, most importantly, it was a second run of the week after a couple of weeks with very littl...

Barely scraping two runs in two weeks is definitely not the way to prepare for your first 10K event. But even just putting my training gear on to go to work this morning felt magnificent . It seems weird to miss the discomfort of exertion, but miss it I have done. Let's hope I'm able to keep it up this time. So yeah, last week was written off after Monday's run, as I caught some kind of bug that ruined me for a few days (mainly via the gift of a prolonged, intense headache plus general fatigue) and then another weekend away happened (no parkrun). So today it was awesome just to get out. I didn't care where I ran — I just wanted to run. In the end, I did just 4.5K before the combination of my pace (5:15/km) and the heat (21°C) saw me cave at the bottom of Side and seek the shadows. Despite my route being mostly flat with a short stretch of downhill, it was exhausting. I ran from work, through the railway tunnel to the Telegraph, around Central Square South(?) and the Boi...

After an awesome weekend away in the Yorkshire Dales (albeit with no running), it was back to work today... and back to trying to regain the running rhythm. Over the weekend, summer arrived with a vengeance, temperatures hitting 30°C in Yorkshire. Newcastle today was a bit cooler, but I still ended up running in an energy-sapping 24°C and midday sun. 🥵 Brimham Rocks in the Yorkshire Dales, this last weekend Mercifully — though it wasn't really the goal at the outset — I ended up running in a fair bit of shade. My route took me across the High Level Bridge (shaded) and then immediately right, looking for a way down to quayside level through the trees that I normally see on my left when running upriver. As I'd suspected, there was such a path (shaded), but it was a pretty steep descent and I was down to river level in no time. From there, I tried to stay in the green and found a gently sloping path back in. A few more such stretches (shaded) and I found myself arriving at the d...

Blah, Chinatown, blah, science buildings, blah, Fenham, blah, Nuns Moor, blah, BBC, blah, Leazes Park, blah, back to work. Yep, that really is my write-up; at least, in draft form. The arch at the entrance to Stowell Street aka Chinatown   I wasn't expecting to run today. I didn't really have anywhere to go in mind (yet again). And as I left the office, the grey skies and cool temperatures did little to lift my mood or provide motivation. I definitely couldn't be bothered to put in a hard run, so I figured I'd just wander a bit at a slower pace, but get more distance under my belt. Even as I started, I wasn't sure where that would take me, but on heading past Monument, I suddenly fancied checking out Stowell Street, passing all the Chinese and Korean restaurants I've not been in for years, and seeing whether Hanahana is still going. (Turns out it is.) Continuing to totally make it up, I then doubled back and ran alongside the city walls (part of whi...