Double bubble!
Hello long standing followers. 👋
I'm sorry for the radio silence last week. I will be honest I ran once last week, so felt like I would be wasting a blog post if I posted about it, so I thought I would do a double whammy this week.
So, why was there limited runs the week before?
I had tickets to see Sam Fender, someone who I absolutely idolise so I was very VERY excited to spend a Wednesday evening screaming, dancing and singing to Seventeen going Under, and of course, Hypersonic Missiles.
Naturally, I missed my lions, but.. we all need a break don't we!
I then also ended up with Elbow tickets for Lytham Festival on the Thursday, so a VERY busy week indeed! I do like Elbow, but I have never been fortunate to see them on a festival line up, back in my festival days. I know a few songs, but actually seeing them live (What a great live band!) I know a lot more than I thought!
So, feeling a bit lost without my Wednesday run what happened to Parkrun?
Parkrun Saturdays - Lions on tour! 🦁
We went on tour! This week's Parkrun we packed up our cars and headed for the bright lights of Morcambe. We certainly chose a good week for this. The sun was shining, we were by the coast it was a perfect morning. So much; it felt like we were on holiday! Unfortuntely, no sign of the Gypsy King (Tyson) but, we were here on tour, not to celeb spot!
JG raised a very good point when we arrived.
Morcambe Parkrun is run along the front, so, why is it classed as a Parkrun because it's not run in a park? (Answers on the back of a postcard please!) It did then mean that every time we walked past a play park I replied 'look, a park'
We took our standard pre Parkrun team photo and got a warm welcome at the first timers briefing, and before long we were off.
It is a much different course to Preston. Straight out (no hills!) along the stone jetty and back again. When we set off, we were flying. Little old me was flying with the big boys (Stu, JG, Andy & Shelby) There was no way I could sustain this pace. I reached my first mile at 9.08. My fastest ever mile! Could today be the day I break sub 30?
I started to drop back. "Shelby I can't keep this up."
"Yes you can." - Always my voice of reason.
"Go on without me"
"I'm not leaving you!" (It's like the start of a romantic film 😂) I finally snapped [I didn't mean to - honest]
"I'm happy with my pace!" I was running sub 10 minute miles. Something I never thought I'd be able to achieve.
All I was bothered about was that I was in front of the 30 minute pacer. If I could keep in front of him, I would be happy.
The finish seemed so far away, I tried jumping from shaded part, to shaded part. I know we moan that parkrun is super early, but when the weather is getting as warm as it is, I think it is something to be really grateful for!
I crossed the line at 29.35. My response "I'm going to be sick." After a few deep breaths, I was able to celebrate. I'd run my first EVER sub 30. AM.AZ.ING.
We waited for the rest of the Lions to finish, cheering them in and then we had our post Parkrun selfie by the coast. What beautiful views we had on such a clear morning. It was definitely good for the soul!
We all clambered into our cars and made a convoy over to Heysham for a lovely well deserved breakfast. We also went for a walk on the cliffs before parting ways. It had really set me up for my holidays. Happy, relaxed and full of sausage butty & coffee, I set off back to the busy-ness of Preston. Back to reality.
Sunday long run -
No Sunday long run this week either! What on earth was I going to do with myself?! - Jess appeared to have this sorted for me.
9.30 Unity Gym class session.
I love that I have someone who pushes me out of my comfort zone, and having someone like Jess to get me to go to the gym is thing number 2 that I am grateful for in this blog this week.
Wednesday lions run
Yaaay! We were back! Well, I was back. I really needed this one this week. I go away next week (yes, 2 weeks without a blog!) and I kind of, hadn't done my visa. One thing led to the other and a lot of swearing, a lot of slamming and banging applying for said visa had put me in a foul mood. "I'm going for my run." I was in a terrible mood on the drive to Whins Lane. I walked down to The Lion, and slowly, I could feel the bad mood lifting. Familiar faces started to appear. The run started, and I was in my happy place again
(albeit, very sweaty)
Nose nuzzles
This week's run saw Jess and I getting nettled, (Running definitely numbs the pain) becoming a horse whisperer (They were adorable) and absolutely dying pretended to be Kate Bush running up ANOTHER hill. (NEVER gets easier) It was a very, very sweaty one, but we slowed the pace and it was enjoyable all the same.
Parkrun
Parkrun was a quiet affair this week. I wasn't sure who was going to be there, but then Ginny appeared, Jess arrived and we had the start of a mini pride. 🦁
Ginny was on with her road back to running and she was doing 13 minutes run and 1 minute walk this week. Jess and I decided to join her. I much preferred this to 5 minutes running and 1 minute walking. I was able to get into more of a rhythm.
It is always so nice to have a team to run with. We laughed, we chatted, and we got each other around. In 33 minutes. We were very very happy!
Today was a very special day however, which is why we were low on numbers. Our Lioness, the mother of our pride, Shelby was one of the Preston torch bearers for the 2022 commonwealth games. I had a series of unfortunate events which led to me missing Shelby's segment, but there was lots of support from other pride members, and, we were all very very proud. What an amazing honour.
You will notice, dotted through this blog this week, I have started to list things that I am grateful for. And the third thing I am grateful for is, my body.
I was in a stretch class this morning, and I suddenly had time to really think about how far I have come since January. My body is moving in ways I never felt was possible, I am achieving things I only ever dreamt of, and my body confidence is slowly growing.
Today, I wore the shortest shorts I have for the gym, which I only ever wear around the house. Yes, my legs jiggled in places I would prefer them not to, but without this jiggling my legs wouldn't be able to carry me 13.1 miles, or allow me to deadlift 40kg.
What a journey it has been.. and I feel I'm only just getting started. I'm in a good routine
(though, contrary to belief some people think I'm doing too much...mother.)
And, I'm surrounded by some amazing people. I bang on about this week on week, but I honestly am starting to feel part of something special. Something I suppose I feel I've never had before.
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