The last day of September! How did that happen? I’d promised myself I’d do another run before the end of the month so it was today or never.
The last couple of days were busy. My brother played a gig in London on Wednesday so we ventured to the capital from the wilds of Essex to see him and had (for us) a very late night. My student son reckons we are wimps, a late night for him is noon next day. Oh to be young (?)
Anyway, from London we headed south to the coast on Thursday morning to meet up with student son who seemed quite pleased to see us. Last night I made sure to have a relatively early night and slept like a log for the best part of 9 hours which meant that by the time we’d had coffee this morning we didn’t get out until gone 10 o’ clock. I asked my husband if it was maybe a bit late. ‘For what?’ was the answer.
We decided to take it easy and run 3km along the Coastal Path, but when we got outside it was a glorious morning, warm and sunny. Part of the reason for the shorter run was that I was wearing my old running shoes which have sort of had it and I didn’t want to push my luck. Also, I forgot my running socks so had to wear some frilly things from Primark. Neither of these seemed to have any detrimental effect but I wouldn’t want to risk it for a longer run.
I led the way, starting very slowly, and by the halfway point at 1.5km realised I wanted to carry on. I spotted a banner advertising the Rise 8k, a women-only run along the coastal path which seemed like a perfect step towards the 10k I’ve been trying to do for the last year. Unfortunately, I’ll be away when it takes place so can’t do it, never mind.
At 2km I turned back and took it gently back to the starting point. NRC tells me that it was slower than my recent runs but quicker than at the start of the month. It all felt pretty effortless which is always good. My husband prefers to run at a constant pace but a slower start suits me better. I managed negative splits again which is kind of satisfying too.
The weather now seems to have taken a turn for the worse so, having run today, I have an excuse to lie in tomorrow. My next Parkrun can wait until next week when I have the right shoes.