Group 10k: Week 3 15 minute soup run

[Yesletsgo]

Woke up this morning knowing I really ought to have a run, too many feeble excuses already this week but it was so damp and grey and uninviting....maybe it was a day for making soup.

I'm going away again next week. Having lost the contents of my freezer due to a power cut when we were away last time I'm going to be clever - use up as much as I can, the nicer things, so that if I do lose stuff again it'll just be the frozen peas.

Defrosted the meat and prepared the veg (if you prefer, I cleared the fridge's veg drawer ) and put an Irish stew to cook long and slow.

A while later came back to add some barley. Ah, I've run out. Never mind, we have 3 small supermarkets in town. I'll put some of my running gear on and start the Garmin off. If the first one has barley it's just a 5 minute walk. If not, I can do the 15 minute run.

Of course, One Stop doesn't have any barley, so start the timer and run 3 minutes to Tesco Express. Quinoa? Fine, but it's not what I need. This means a long slog up the hill to Co Op.

It was damp and drizzly but by now I was warmed up and didn't care if people were wondering why this old lady was running along the high street, fit to burst. Slowed down a little for the uphill section that goes on and on. Reached the halfway point for my 15 minutes just before the shop. Paused the run when I went in. By now I was worried they wouldn't have barley either but I found it. Put it in my jacket pocket and set off down the hill. Much easier despite the 500 grams of weight I gained .

Nearing home I checked NRC's timer. It told me I'd already run for 15 minutes. Decided this must include the time in the shops so carried on. I didn't want to walk the rest of the way, I wanted to get back as quickly as I could. When I did finally stop I found I'd been running for 20:01 minutes and covered 2.31 km. Definitely felt like a proper run.

I've now finished Week 3 of the Group 10k and suppose that this could count for the 20 minute Week 4 run (Magic Plan by time). Whatever, I'm so glad I got out there, if only because my soup is now on track for a lovely lunch!

I'd add a picture but just imagine a square of light grey and you'll get the idea 😂

[MissUnderstanding Administrator Graduate10]

Argh-defrosted freezer-what a pain!! Hope the soup was good. A top quality way to use up the contents!

Nice two for one deal on running and shopping!

[Yesletsgo Administrator Graduate10 in reply to MissUnderstanding]

Twice in the last year I've come home to a defrosted freezer, the power trips and that's it unless one of the kids can get home quick. Not likely to happen now that they live and work a long way away.

Soup was lovely. I added a lot of water so am going to -you guessed it - freeze the rest. The circle of life, eh?

The Co Op is the perfect distance for these short runs provided I only need something small enough to go in a pocket. It's just over a km each way, so around 15-20 minutes, provided I don't encounter that well known small town hazard, lovely neighbours who love to chat 😂

[MissUnderstanding Administrator Graduate10 in reply to Yesletsgo]

Ours packed up a few months ago and we had to buy a new one. We had some really weird meals bit I was determined to bin as little as possible. Oven chip and quorn meatball curry was probably the best random combo!!!

Hooray for your coop! I’ve got a nice garage/shop half an hour’s walk away…as long as there are no cows and the fields aren’t flooded!!

[Yesletsgo Administrator Graduate10 in reply to MissUnderstanding]

Oven chip and quorn meatball? I bet that was way better than it sounds.

My freezer was off for 3-4 days so even though a lot of the food looked frozen I didn't want to risk food poisoning. Just hope it doesn't happen again.