A Busy Weekend

It's been a very busy couple of days.

I started Saturday morning in the same way as many previous Saturdays this year - with a parkrun. It was a pretty horrible morning, with constant rain and very strong winds, but I was really in the mood for a run. When I arrived, there were predictably fewer runners than in the recent warmer and sunnier weeks. A lot of the run is on grass, so trainers were soon covered in mud and cut grass.

I felt ok during the run, and as I came to the last 500 metres or so, there were a couple of women in front of me who looked to be slowing. I gave it all my effort and managed to overtake both. I started to feel really sick, as though I was going to throw up, but I stayed ahead of them and crossed the line in 25m16s, which is my equal fastest time this year - yay!

My highest ever position among female runners at parkrun is 4th, and I had hoped that this might have been enough to get me into the top 3 this time. Sadly though, when I saw the results later, I was 4th again! I'll have to wait for a cold, wet winter day when hardly anyone else turns up.

After the run it was home for a quick shower and change, and then I went off to work. I was examining in English Language Tests. When I finished, we had been invited to a friend's barbecue, just round the corner from our house. By then the weather had improved slightly, although it was still windy. I got the train back, walked straight to the party where Pete and the kids had been for a couple of hours, and got stuck in.

It was a really nice evening as there were a lot of kids playing together while the grown-ups ate and drank. As it got late and dark, the kids showed no signs of slowing down, and I ended up having a few lagers. Eventually we got back at about 11.30pm, and everyone fell asleep.

Then this morning, I had a race! This was my first race since the marathon in April, and I only entered a few days ago on a whim. It was a local 10K, and I ended up driving there alone, as the kids were too late getting up!

The weather was dry and warm, and the course was very hilly, but good fun. I'll write a proper report about it later, but I had a good time there, and was only faintly aware of having had a late night and too much beer the night before.

Posing with medal in the garden

This afternoon we tried to relax, and after a supermarket shp, we went to a lovely cake shop for a delicious cream tea. This was a real treat which we haven't done for a long time, so it was really nice.

Now it's Sunday evening, and we're all exhausted - probably a sign of a weekend well spent!