Mum on the Run

Thursday – REST

Rest and a vino or two. Lovely .

Friday – S&C, Easy

Beginners Pilates class followed by an easy run in St.Anne’s trying to stick to grass and trail as much as possible.

• 3.3 miles including 8 x 15 sec strides (grass, trail, path)

Saturday – parkrun, S&C

Beautiful morning, headed to Malahide on the DART. Conditions were similar to the last time I did parkrun about 5 weeks ago: warm and sunny but there was a little breeze this time. Really wasn’t sure how this was going to go. Stomach felt a little dodgy, but better after my warm up so decided to go for it. This was going to be another naked run, so the watch screen was set to calories in case I decided to cheat and glance at it. Just as well really because the splits after the fact were all over the place (due to the tree cover more than likely) and probably would have affected the way I ran if I’d seen them. The time to beat was 21:17.

Got a reasonable start and passed quite a few people in the first 5 mins before settling down. There was a girl out in front who looked quite young (turned out to be a JW 11-14 with a winning time of sub-20 :eek:) and a woman just ahead of me who looked very strong and steady, who gradually eased away from me and I knew I couldn’t chase her. So I seemed to be third female and the aim was to hang on to that.

Worked hard the whole way around and had the usual ridiculous two-way conversation with myself:

‘You could just stop. No one knows you’re here’
‘C’mon keep going, it’s only 3 miles’
‘Oh this is so hard. Why am I doing this to myself?’
‘Dig in. Relax. Breathe’

And so on….:rolleyes:

The great thing about Malahide (and St.Anne’s! and the busier parkruns) is that there’s always someone running the same pace who’ll drag you along. This week I had yellow t-shirt guy, red t-shirt guy and blue t-shirt guy amongst others to work off (whether they knew it or not). Was really feeling it passing by the tennis courts for the second time, so about 800m to go maybe, but again not knowing how well (or badly) I was doing ensured I kept giving it my best all the way to the line. Pressed stop on the watch. Then start again by accident. Then stop again. Saw a number on the watch but it didn’t register and I’m half blind without my glasses anyway . Check again and watch said 21:01:04. What the……? That can’t be right, can it ? I heard the woman in 2nd say she got 20:24 so my time wasn’t completely out of the question. If it was right it would be a PB, not just a non-Jingle Bells but AN ACTUAL PB. I’d have to wait for the official time though. Went off and did my 200s on the grass. Felt good and the pace was a bit faster than it should be. These are hard to get bang on. Went for a coffee and the official text came through: 21:00 and 3rd F. Waaaahhhhooooo. Love a PB when you’re not expecting it. Hope now I can finally break 21:00 this year. Will give it a shot in another 6 weeks or so.

Headed to the gym before going home. It was more or less empty and I only realised why when I was on my way out the door. It’s possibly the only football free zone in the city. Oops .

• 5.3 miles incl. parkrun 5K (21:00) + 4 x 200m (paces 5:35, 5:13 5:19, 5:17)

Sunday – LSR

Junior parkrun duty first thing this morning in Albo. Great job by Murph_D in the hot seat, supported by a crew including Annapr, aquinn, kennyG, Mrs kennyG. Saw Mulberry briefly and other familiar faces from the grown up parkrun scene. Such a great event. Brilliant to see so many kids enjoying it.

Cross training continued at Bike Fest in St.Anne’s. Probably not the attendance they’d hoped for due to the rain but it was a brilliant event with a traffic school, off-road route and, my personal favourite, the ‘Spiral of Despair’. BG Jr. loved trying all the different activities and ended up soaked and covered in muck as did yours truly.

It was after 4pm by the time I got out. Legs were in ribbons after yesterday so took it easy up to St.Anne’s for a loop and then home.

• 8.2 miles @ 9:08 (path, grass, trail)

TOTAL WEEKLY MILES: 32.1

denis b wrote: »

Landmark run G. Hard graft pays. Delighted for you and that pb soinds very familiar. Have to completely endorse wubble's words.

Ha ha, when I saw the text I knew I'd seen that PB somewhere before. Race ya to the sub-21 ?

FBOT01 wrote: »

Nice going G. Nothing like a bit of below the radar naked running to get the best out of you. Well done!

Thanks FBOT, it would appear to be my m.o. now. Just as well I'm not superstitious or I'd never run in St.Anne's (or with a watch) again :rolleyes:

hillsiderunner wrote: »

True, it has flatness but there is also the paparazzi. Maybe BG will need to seek out another secret location

It's not flat anymore, Hilly. Did you hear the route changed ? It was announced on April Fool's day funnily enough :rolleyes:. Still a fast course though by all accounts. I haven't raced it yet. Might have to wear a disguise!

hillsiderunner wrote: »

The battle of Clontarf mountain?

Bet there is another flat course you can sneak off to! Great to have 21:00 anyway.

Not sure. Working title is Mt. Playground . It's the hill that goes up from the coast road under what I think is called a folly and flattens out at the back of the playground.

I think I'll stick with Malahide for the sub 21 attempt. The close proximity to 10 varieties of cake post run is an incentive to reach the finish line

laura_ac3 wrote: »

I've copyrighted that.

All credit to Laura, oops and sorry