Mum and Dad sent me this one, which they’d been hunting for a while.
(Coordinates 55°60’72.3″N, 1°71’57.5″W.)
No phone inside and at risk of removal according to the notice 🙁 We’ll keep an eye on what happens with this one.
I wasn’t really sure what to expect performance-wise from this one. While there’s been plenty of speedwork in my current half marathon plan, I’ve not done much short fast stuff recently – my parkruns have almost all been easyish efforts or part of longer runs for probably the last eight or nine months – and this wasn’t an A-race, just a sharpener en route to the Edinburgh half in a couple of weeks. I had no idea what kind of 10k shape I was in. It was also forecast to be a hot day.
In sum, it was pretty unlikely that I would be able to keep my streak of Sunderland PBs following my 48:59 last year. But I had to try and give it the best go I could.
In recent years there’s been a good number of Benchies doing this race and so it’s always a fun morning out. Friends are a good distraction from starting line nerves!
I started too fast (knew that would happen, it always does), settled by about mile three, resolved early on not to look at my watch until the end as I knew it would just wind me up, was suffering in the heat by the second half and felt tempted just to give up and jog it in so many times… but I stayed steady and never let the effort level drop. Couldn’t manage a sprint at the end so I know I couldn’t have done any better on the day (at least not without risking collapse). 50:22. In the ballpark of last year’s summer efforts so I’ll take it.
Might do another 10k around November or so in the hope that I can still get a PB in the distance this year once I’ve recovered from my autumn marathon. In two minds about that, though. It’s not my favourite distance!
Here’s another one that Dad found while driving.
(Coordinates 55°90’73.1″N, 3°25’89.1″W.)
This phone box is in Colinton, on the outskirts of Edinburgh. It’s been reused as an information exchange, presumably for flyers relating to the local area.
Another parkrun sandwich this morning to sweeten another long run with fast bits in. I did the first fast bit round the Moor as signs etc. were starting to appear for the parkrun, and the second fast bit during the parkrun itself (though not quite as fast as the first bit, because I was pacing – I could have asked for a faster time slot but decided not to complicate the run any further by pacing a time I’d not paced before!).
Proud of myself that 30 minutes still felt easy after all that – there was a time not too long ago when it wasn’t even possible for me. Ended up pacing someone who’s doing a local half tomorrow and wanted some practice at his goal pace 🙂
Lots of chat with friends and then home. Such a good morning I forgot to take a photo!
Some non-run volunteering next week – it’s been a while.
Clare sent in a picture of the Felton ‘info box’ phone box!
It looks so much smarter now they’ve given it a coat of paint – it was very tatty last time we saw it! Still in good use, it appears.
Back to Scotland next week.
Still doing a new-to-me parkrun event once per month!
Ashington Community Woodland was lovely this morning. It’s traily but very runnable, especially in the dry conditions we’ve had recently, and a nice small parkrun community (50 runners today). I will be back in the eventual future for p-index purposes!
It made me feel summery to be running on trails in nice weather. Excited for the months ahead.
Most likely back on the Moor next week!
For this weekend’s long run, the training plan mandated a 14-miler with a fast bit in the middle. I absolutely loathe long runs with fast bits in the middle, so I decided to make it more bearable by doing a parkrun sandwich. Denton Dene provided the requisite distance there and back.
It was a fortuitous choice as they’d gone all out for the Easter weekend! There was an Easter egg hunt (I did not partake as I was concentrating on my steady pace, but all the kids clearly enjoyed it), bunny ears all over the place, and chocolate treats at the end (which I really appreciated as it provided a bit of extra fuel for the rest of my run).
New-to-me parkrun next week 🙂
Here’s the final phone box from World Showcase at Epcot!
(Coordinates 28°37’06.9″N, 81°55’16.5″W.)
With more bonus Christmas decorations! (And lots of people in the background in winter running gear. It was unusually cold for Florida, even for a Florida winter.)
I did go to see all of these phone boxes in a more leisurely context a few days later, but I’m glad I took the photos in the dark while running the 5k. It was an important part of the race.
One more Disney-related item of interest next week!
