Wednesday 18 September 2.25pm. Sunny and warm, still air. 21°C
This was a "get a short run in whilst I'm between meetings".
It was on my usual Manchester two mile circular route. It coincided with one of the high schools letting out some of their pupils, but there was no crowding on the pavements.
The intention was to get round the slightly hilly (but mostly downhill) route at a reasonable pace, in contrast to Monday's run which was a slow and easy 10km.
I finished (as is my current habit) with a 200m dash between bus stops.
Stats:
Duration: 28'10" (18'03" running + 52" dash)
Distance: 4.23 km (3.22 km running + 200m dash)
Splits: 5'44", 5'32", 5'34", (last 220m) 5'30"/km + 200m@4'20"/km
Average running pace: 5'36"/km
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Friday 20 September 11.00am. Sunny and warm, still air. 21°C
I'm in Wales today, and taking a day off work.
There's no pressure, so I decide to do a run out to the beach (Traeth Porthor/Whistling Sands) with no target and as many photo stops as I wanted.
It's very hilly here, with the slope down to and back up from the beach being the hardest.
Trail shoes on today rather than road shoes, but still thin tee shirt and shorts.
Out the door, do five minute warm up walk whilst arranging the podcast playlist on my phone.
I'm just before the zig-zag bend when the watch beeps for the start of running.
The first hundred metres is slightly downhill, then it has a steep climb up to a tee junction with a triangle of grass in the middle. Normally on a 5km circuit I'd turn right here, but today I go straight on.
This leads to a zig-zagging downhill section ending with an unusually shaped tree (it has a bare trunk and an almost horizontal canopy) before crossing a bridge and climbing up again towards the turn to the National Trust car park.
Past the car park the lane suddenly dips down towards the beach café.
I reach the beach. The tide is in. (I hadn't even given thought to the state of the tide.)
There's still a good width of firm sand to run on. I pause half way along to snap some photos. The beach is nowhere near as busy as it was a few weeks ago before the schools went back.
At the end I use the path up to the coastal path, then go through a kissing gate (photo) to the public footpath that follows an old farm track climbing back up to the main road. Thankfully the path is mostly dry today.
Back on the main road, I run back to the tee junction and retrace my steps back to the start, stopping the run after an indicated 4km, but doing a 200m dash after a few minutes of recovery walk.
As I arrived back at the front door, the post van pulled up and the postman handed me a few letters with "Hello again." He must have been following me some of the route back!
Stats:
Duration: 35 minutes (26'52" running + 52" dash)
Distance: 4.81 km (4.00 km running + 210m dash)
Splits: 6'26", 6'50", 7'11", 6'24" + 210m @ 4'10"/km
Average running pace: 6'43"/km
Another good "no pressure" run, with plenty of stops for photos. The climbs did feel harder than they probably ought to have, but I did put some pauses into the hardest one (up from the beach).
I threw my sweaty kit straight in the washing machine then had a shower.
Later on in the day I dragged Dad out for a few short walks, finishing with a walk from the car park to the chippy and back.
Tomorrow I'll take as a rest day, hopefully getting Dad out again before the weather breaks in the late afternoon. Maybe a longer run on Sunday morning if it says dry.
Just a 3K Run 😊
Holiday runs
Holiday runs are the best!
