October can truly begin

I am still processing yesterday’s marathon and have so much to say about it. However, I am still fairly tired at the moment (especially after travelling back to Newcastle today), so I will leave the race review for at least one more day.

At least I have the energy to post a picture tonight…

Pumpkin biscuit
Geth found me this pumpkin biscuit in the Costa at King’s Cross this morning. Hallowe’en is coming!

I have not been allowing myself to get truly excited about Hallowe’en until after the marathon (though I did give a nod to it during the race by wearing my new spiderweb Locket leggings), because Hallowe’en generally involves being cosy on the sofa, watching scary films, eating sweets and doing a lot of other sedentary things that aren’t running. The marathon is done now, and so it’s time to curl up and get spooky. Lots of guilt-free sofa time this week while I recover!

I did it!

Very short post today – I’ll update properly tomorrow. Just to say that I DID IT, I ran the marathon and I got my desired time and I am really, really happy.

So much to tell you when it’s not late and I’m not sleepy!

parkrunday: Southwark #342

I had expected to do Highbury Fields again as my pre-marathon shakeout parkrun, but Geth and I were moved from our usual hotel to a different one due to the first hotel being closed this week. There were a range of parkruns we could have done, but Southwark was the closest, and it looked nice and flat for a gentle trundle round.

It’s a leafy three-lapper with a lake, meaning it was reminiscent of both South Manchester and Gateshead for me, as well as last week’s location, Leazes, to a smaller extent. There’s a good out-and-back section for keeping track of how other runners are getting on, and a short extra loop that you only do on the first lap.

I can tell that it’s a fast course, so if I’m in London some weekend when I’m not doing a marathon the day afterwards, I’ll maybe give it another go and get some speed up!

Southwark parkrun
With Ed, who was also down from Newcastle for the marathon!

Next week I’ll be back home at Town Moor, hopefully wearing a very special T-shirt…

Phone Box Thursday: A68, Pathhead

Another phone box from Mum and Dad’s adventures in southeast Scotland!

Red phone box
Red phone box, A68, Pathhead, 5th September 2021.

(Coordinates 55°86’80.0″N, 2°96’84.6″W.)

This is a much more well-kept box than last week’s example and appears to be being used as a drop-off / pick-up point for local swaps and donations. Lots of books and school clothes! Another good modern-day use for the box.

A different part of the UK next week…

Being careful

I have finished work for the week and am all packed up for London this weekend! I am very excited and very nervous. I wonder if marathons will always feel like this. (Last time I did this, I was certain it would be my only marathon. I now feel very differently!)

I’m panicking about lots of things I don’t really need to panic about, but one of the main things is that I obviously don’t want to pick up a last-minute injury or illness! I’ve been doing my short runs on the treadmill for the last couple of weeks as it’s gentler on my legs; I’m doing lots of yoga stretches and foam rolling after every run to try and get rid of all the niggles from training; and I’m being very careful every time I go up and down the stairs and get in and out of the shower. So paranoid I’m going to injure myself! Only a few days left to worry about it, thankfully…

Foam roller and spiky ball
Implements of torture / miracle tools that will get me to the start line in one piece.

Preparing for October

While it feels like everything has been leading to the marathon for the last few months, there is a whole big chunk of October after the 3rd that I am very excited about and getting everything organised for already!

October is all about Hallowe’en for me – my favourite time of the year. I’m making a Hallowe’en game (already planned out), getting my decorations sorted early (need to order some more polystyrene pumpkins) and wearing lots of Hallowe’en leggings for both running and general life (already arrived!).

Spooky season sort of starts in London for me (and not just because the marathon’s scary). I will be wearing all the seasonal gear and looking out for more Hallowe’en sweeties for post-marathon munching!

I do need to spend at least part of this week prepping logistics as well as prepping spiderweb leggings…

London Marathon kitbag
Packing my kitbag, for instance! I need to drop this off at the marathon expo…

Maranoia

It was absolutely right for me in this marathon training block to take a five-week taper rather than the standard three-week one, but it has certainly given me a lot more time to worry about the race. I’m worried about various issues with my legs and feet and how they’ll hold up on the day; I’m worried about various logistics around the weekend; I’m worried I’ll have blown my stamina by tapering too early… Objectively I know it’s likely to be absolutely fine (though of course it will be tough), but I can’t stop thinking about all the things that could go wrong. One of the things that I am most looking forward to in October is NOT worrying about all this stuff anymore. I’ll be taking three months to enjoy running a bit more aimlessly before the next marathon training block starts in January. (In the future I am only going to do one marathon training block at most within a twelve-month period, but pandemic rescheduling has meant that I’ll be doing Edinburgh Marathon about eight months after London. I’ll be glad to settle into a more regular schedule of exploring different spring marathons going forward!)

With one week to go, it is also getting so close now that I am quite excited about the non-scary parts of our trip to London. Geth and I have identified a nice Italian restaurant for carb-loading, are planning some interesting routes for short runs, and will be choosing a non-challenging new parkrun to visit the day before the race. It’s all coming together… I just hope that the marathon itself will be (at least mostly) a good experience!

London Marathon medals
My London Marathon medals from 2019 and 2020. In just over a week’s time I will have a third… and it may be the most precious one of all, because it will mark the end of a London Marathon saga that started for me in 2016.

parkrunday: Leazes #37

It’s been a while since I was at Leazes parkrun!

It’s one of the three parkruns actually within the bounds of Newcastle upon Tyne (which is a surprisingly small part of the Tyneside metropolitan area), but I tend to forget about it a lot of the time as Town Moor and Jesmond Dene are what I consider my joint home parkruns. I did event #2 back in summer 2019, while Geth had never done Leazes until today. He was a bit concerned there’d be a lot of students there as it’s Freshers’ Week (and Leazes is the closest parkrun to the university campus), but it was fine – just over a hundred participants, and it felt fairly quiet.

I am getting slower and slower with my parkruns as my legs refuse to do anything except marathon plod pace at the moment. Post-marathon I am really excited about getting some speed up… eventually!

parkrunday
Nearly got it lined up! The sun was too bright for me to see what I was doing with my phone camera.

Next week, though, there’ll be one final pre-marathon parkrun…