First " little bit" of off road run on my own!! (not at parkrun!)

[aliboo70]

it was lovely and sunny here today, started my day with a walk along a footpath with George dog, its pretty with lots of trees and an amazing sound of lots of birds all chirping cheerfully in the morning-lovely! So after enjoying the birdsong i thought why not try and run along here later minus the earphones and enjoy the sounds of nature! got back from the walk thinking i would head out shortly after,but a change of events involving a guinea pig with a sore eye saw me heading to the vets instead-poor Fig hes better now that hay is out of his eyelid!

Decided just before 5pm i would take George back down the seafront and enjoy the rest of the sunshine before back to work in hot kitchen tomorrow , armed myself with the garmin to see how far(its about a hrs round trip)- had a lovely time and 4.7 km covered plus 90 odd steep steps(going down) and steep slope (plodding up)!

Now couldn't decide whether to still run, it was now 6.15 pm, decided as i was nicely warmed up in the leg department from the walking to give it a go! went down the main rd (lots of traffic) trying not to worry too much about my VPL showing with my short t-shirt(my only short sleeved one at mo!), my long sleeved top covers most of my bum but this one doesn't!! ! Oh well, onwards to the footpath, bit muddy still in places and dodge the puddles but surprisingly ok! down to the trees and tweety birds, afraid not as tweety as this morning but still the odd chirp to keep me happy! its was weird having no headphones(only done that once before and that was because pf MP3 disaster!-though don't have them on parkrun ) End of the footpath brought me out at the local holiday camp, i've only walked through it once so tried to follow the path and hope i came out the other end on the main rd! Not TOO many tourists luckily, i was puffing well by then! and then...BOO! a steep bit of hill- i don't do hills very well, and certainly not RUNNING ! got to the top and had to walk as was knackered and a bit lost! More or less my first walk during a run since graduation but it'll give me something to work on next time i guess! .......... but then saw a part of the camp i recognised and started to run again back to the main rd, joined up to my old faithful c25k practice route and on to the homeward stretch! felt quite speedy on the way back, my breathing compared to the 2/3rd k improved massively on the 4th k -came in at my 3rd fastest on the stats! total run was 4.6 k so the George walk and this run came to 9.3K! Was determined to get to 10k total so after shower and vague return to normal colour in my cheeks , armed with my Garmin set off to My Slimming World weigh in! Yay! lost 2lb ( though last weighed in 4 weeks ago) so only 1lb off getting back to my target weight! think the exercise is helping though its only kicking in recently- didn't lose any during the first 9 weeks-weird! .... I digress, another 1.9 km with trip to shop afterward so grand total since 5pm...........11.2km! now thats got to deserve a little treat!

Happy running everyone!

[mustgetthin Graduate]

Wow what a day!!! You are amazing. Bet you and George will sleep tonight!! Congrats on the distance and on the weight loss!!!

S X

[no-excuse Graduate]

You've put in the leg work today then Aliboo, well done! Them hills are nasty I don't like them either, I think I am going for my flat riverside run tomorrow, and will try and increase the 5k. We shall see what happens! I have new trainers so I can blame them if it goes horribly wrong, haha. Glad Fig is ok now- I love the name. Well done on the weight loss too- did the shop stock Baileys per chance? x

[aliboo70 in reply to no-excuse]

Hope you have a nice run tomorrow, flat riverside sounds good, i might have to try that along one of our cycle routes with a river alongside , hadn't thought of that one! Fig-pig came with the name, we adopted him a year ago, think he quite old , but hes the funniest pig i've ever owned , a real personality and endless appetite! he did like to come in and curl up on my lap , my old dog would sit on the sofa with him quite happily but George just wants to get in their hutches and eat them! Still they have a nice life and i'm going to section off a bit of garden so he can't get to them! Forgot the Baileys! the last lot was Xmas present and don't always buy it cos a bit cash strapped, but do have mini bottle of Rose in fridge!!

[Alaiyo Graduate]

Sounds like a really eventful day, AND over 10K! Well done.

It can be really different to run without the headphones, and I am glad it went so well for you. As for getting a little lost, that has happened to me before. I think of these side-trips as "adventures". It can keep things interesting.

Enjoy your treat!

[aliboo70 in reply to Alaiyo]

Thankyou! feel better now i know my way round a bit better, it would be a nice route for an early morning! Felt quite "free" without the headphones for a change! got some wine to try in a minute!

[aliboo70]

You should see him hes flat out!!! we did the same walk last night too! i did have a restful afternoon so it sounds more manic than it was!! it was nice to get to that 10k though a long way off running that yet!! how are you doing? My weight loss has been very slow this year, yet i've done way more exercise- strange! wanted to get back in my target zone as you don't have to pay then!!

[misswobble Graduate]

Well done ali. George will really appreciate the miles you do together and it will make you firm pals. I did miles with the dog today too then running too. It goes really quickly though doesn't it, when the scenery is interesting

[aliboo70 in reply to misswobble]

he was a good boy and enjoyed the beach, though lost his treat tub somewhere enroute, only realised when he got into porch and sat nicely for his treat! it was good to try a new route for the running, hope you are getting on well this week , sure you are!

[misswobble Graduate]

Oh poor lad! I dont treat the dog til we get home, when he has to be dried off a bit before he gets a chew.

[aliboo70]

will find him a new tub for tomorrow, i keep it in my pocket and rattle it when i need him to come back and hes wavering!! he knows when he gets in the porch he gets dried off and a treat for standing still and not minding me rubbing his muddy legs!

[carole01 Graduate]

Well done Ali and you don't look as if you need to go to a weight loss class. Your doggie will be svelte too! My 3 are getting fatter as they distract me whilst running. Lovely post, good luck, and I bet you love the riverside run x

[aliboo70 in reply to carole01]

aah you are too kind! lost 2 stone in 2012, moreor less stayed there since but still chasing the elusive disappearance to jelly belly ! hoping to get there- ish! by the summer... the running isdef helping tone up !

[Hidden]

Sounds like a wonderful run and well done on the distance. It's nice to run off-road sometimes but I prefer to stick to the tried and tested for practice runs. Good luck and best wishes.

[aliboo70 in reply to Hidden]

thanks fitmo it was nice to trysomething different !

[LSBeech75 Graduate]

Goodness - that's quite a day! Does sound lovely though. Glad that Fig the Guinea is feeling better

[aliboo70 in reply to LSBeech75]

yes hes getting happier and nothing puts him off his food!! worse thing isthought i would sleep well after thatbut didn't.....

[thinlizzyIwish123 Graduate]

I pondered on doing a bit of off road today...so took my tot on a little stroll with the stroller through a field route to see if it may be OK to run and thought "ooh it's not too wet" thought I'd carry on walking it. Then it gradually turned boggy. Cos I'd walked far and was quite a way home to turn back we had to carry on through the boggy field.s Shoes got soaked, poor tot her shoes got soaked and wet. She kind of enjoyed squelching through the mud though. I know not to go that way for a good while until it's drier.

[aliboo70 in reply to thinlizzyIwish123]

oh dear hope you both got dried out ok! somtimes it fun to get squelchy tho ! at least you know now! i went up a footpath a bit like that with the dog earlier !

[danzargo Graduate]

You little beauty! That's just great - well done.

[aliboo70 in reply to danzargo]

thanks SuperDan ! just in from work, having that wine now ! no muffins as yet....!