Well I don’t know what’s going on this morning .. I have typed 2 witty posts this morning, gone to scroll down to check for typos and lost them, lost the first one, cursed and then deep breath and typed it all again and then did the same thing ... no idea how!!
So fingers crossed and here we go again, I originally intended to only do 5.5k as part of week 2 of jujus plan and I had even planned my route but the best laid plans and all that ....
I set off to run along the Tarka Trail and towards the Tarka Inn ( Heanton Court it was in my youth) and then walk my cooldown towards Chivenor and catch the bus back. It was such a nice run this morning, no sun so no shades which was quite nice as the sweat pools in them near the end of a run (eeewww), and it was the right temperature for running, no rain either yet.
I ran down through the town, onto the track and off I went. I was listening to the Stepping Stones podcast, which I quite like but it’s not long enough now for me. I end up flipping it back to the end of the warmup a couple of times but I like the running beat of the tracks on it. If I was not such a procrastinator I would have made my new playlist and have it loaded on my iPhone by now..... anyway I digress.
It was nice and quiet on the track today although I did have a running partner, Peter, for a little while until he hopped into the grass at the side of the track and disappeared. I did try to take a pic but he was too fast for me but you might just be able to make him out in the circled pic.
There was more going on on the river this morning than on the track, a motorboat chugging up and down and he might have been something to do with the boatload of rowers who were also going up and down again.
So I had got into my stride and was about 3 miles in when I suddenly realised that although I was wearing my snazzy neon pink Flipbelt containing my iPhone, tissues and front door key, my buspass was still sitting on the coffee table where I’d put it while I did up my trainers. So I had a couple of choices now. I could
1, carry on running to Braunton - which is about 6 miles anyway, and see if my sister would let me have busfare home but the downside being I’d have to listen to “ you be careful on that track - you’re not getting any younger you know” and also I had a feeling she was going to her granddaughters this morning anyway.
2, try to run back and see how far I could go, about the same distance
So I turned round at just over 3 miles and headed back, had to flip the podcast again too so took the opportunity slow a bit to snap a pic of the rowers.
Then off I went again, now I don’t know about you but when I turn and go back it always seems longer going back. But this morning I don’t know if I slipped into an alternate world for a bit or just ‘zoned out’ but it seemed to go really quickly and suddenly I’m at the bit where I’d entered the Tarka Trail so I just carried on running alongside the river and through the town towards the park. Now Rock Park is where our local parkrun is held and I had talked myself out of doing that this morning as I’m not sure I’d like all those people around me but soon I started to encounter other runners either warming up gently jogging past or walking there and looking bewildered “ hi are you doing the ParkRun?” “ no but the Start is over the there “.
I was beginning to wish I HAD though... I’m on about 5.3 miles by now so I went down a couple of side streets as I wanted to finish running towards the old bridge. And then I saw an ex colleague from when I was working. One of the ones who collected for my Garmin watch “ still running then?” “ yeah just 10k this morning “ as I sailed past her. Of course I HAD to do it now didn’t I? Because I know as soon as she goes into work it will be “ Guess who I’ve just seen running this morning?” I’ve been quite careful not to run where people I know might see me until I could run without wheezing
And then there I was running back towards the bridge and it was 6.23 miles - it took me 1 hour and 22 minutes but I bloody loved it!!!!! Best run yet. I even felt like I could have carried on but best not.
So photos from top left clockwise, sweatyfaced me just after I had done it, the view downstream incorporating one of our fish based lampposts ( always loved them when I was a kid), Peter Rabbit hiding in the grass and then the rowers on the river. Lovely morning , lovely run. Runner’s high 🎉🎉🍌🍾👟👟😁😁
great post too . . . I've had a couple strange things happen when posting here, I now type in Word and then copy and paste, it also lets me check my awful spelling 
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Should I attempt a 10k race on a hot day?
My first 10k event - The Liverpool Spring 10k
First 10K race done! 
First 10k for 4 months!
