So despite eating a huge curry and washing it down with a few glasses of wine last night, we dragged ourselves out of bed at a very reasonable time for a Sunday morning and headed off for a run. Fortunately the weather was kind to us and although it was cold, the wind wasn't cutting us in half and we soon got warmed through once we were on the move. We took it at a nice steady pace (probably our marathon pace) and managed to quite easily complete 10 miles. It feels strange to be writing that as having only ever trained for half marathons in the past, running 10 miles has always been a huge effort in training and felt insurmountable at times, yet bizarrely it was relatively comfortable and not too strenuous to do the 10 miles and I didn't need to collapse in a heap on the floor when we got back. Perhaps there's something psychological about knowing that it's only a fraction of the distance we're going to need to cover on race day but it was definitely comforting to be able to do the 10 miles without feeling like my legs were going to fall off or my lungs were going to burst! I love being able to chat to people when I run and it was a rare but lovely chance to do this with my bezzie as she lives so far away now we don't get to run together much anymore.
We finished the last couple of miles by returning to Saltburn along the beach. I'm always struck by how lovely and picturesque it can be running along there on a clear day and it makes me feel lucky to live so near the sea. Here's the view we had as we ran along the beach.....
The downside of running along the beach (apart from getting sand in your socks and increasing the chance of getting chased by an excitable dog) is that you have to somehow get from the beach back to the road, which in Saltburn leaves you with three choices: Walk up the (very steep) bank (to illustrate in a car you need to be in 2nd gear maximum to get up, usually 1st gear as you go around the bends!); run through the valley gardens and then go up an almost vertical path to the playground at the top; or run up 100 or so steps up the cliff edge. In summer you have the option of going up in the Victorian cliff lift but the shame of having to do this has always prevented me from queueing up and parting with my 20p! Having tried all of the aforementioned options and found all of them equally as impossible, I'm currently favouring the steps option and so we dragged ourselves up them without too much trouble I'm pleased to report and were able to enjoy the view from the top!.....
So productive weekends are the way forward I feel. Now I just need to keep this going for the next 4 months and keep adding on the miles - easy! Well, I hope so!
No comments:
Post a Comment