After a lovely morning at the coast in Tynemouth to celebrate my birthday (how did 49 happen???) with a fantastic breakfast followed by a long dog walk I waved goodbye to wife and pooch and set off up the coast for a long run.
The aim was to do 20k as a final preparation run for the Sunderland HM next weekend.
As I set off it was overcast and although yesterday's strong gusty wind had dropped there was still a steady northerly breeze in my face.
From Tynemouth I headed north following the route of the N Tyneside 10k a couple of weeks back.
Through Cullercoats where there were loads of surfers in the sea, past Whitley Bay where I dropped right down to run by the choppy sea and on to St Mary's Island.
At this point, about 8k I was trotting along very well and feeling comfortable but a 1k section mostly uphill and over shingle as I headed towards Seaton Sluice took a lot out of me.
I reached halfway in a good time (67 minutes) and turned to head back to Tynemouth but it was the same story I get on many of most of my long runs, the legs became heavier step by step and my pace slowed and slowed.
As I approached where I had left the car each step was an effort but I decided to carry on and do the full HM distance, my final time was 2 hours 35, still much work to do if I want to break 2hrs 25 which is my aim.
Still a lovely run and always a joy to see that coastline. Will have a final slow midweek run and see if I can crack 2.30 next Sunday.
Run happy, run safe guys.
Written by
ChrisAllen1
Graduate10
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Oh wow Chris, what a fabulous run you had. But running on shingle? 😳 That must have been tough going. Well done on your great time though. You certainly put the work in, so sub 2:30 will soon be yours! 👊🏃
Hopefully you won’t have to cope with shingle next week. Sounds like a good prep run - I sent hubby out to walk the dog without me to save my legs when I did my 10k! Happy birthday 🥳🥂🎉
Best of luck for next week. You've done the distance now, so you just have to bring it all together for next week. I'm sure the atmosphere and crowds will help you meet your goal.
That's some serious running and what a beautiful area of the coast to be doing it! I love Tynemouth - I have an Art Deco style tourist poster of it on my study wall.
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