Tag: 10k

Day 1645 a 10km run before 8am!

Wow I was on a roll this morning!

I woke at 4.30am.

I changed the bed last night and it was soooo lovely. I was in bed for just after 8.30pm! It’s funny when we’re kids we spend all our lives trying to stay up late, now I find that bed can be the best bit.

I managed to doze on and off until 6am when I jumped out of bed and got into my running gear, to take the dogs for a walk, before I met the running girls. There had been a hint of the run going a bit further than usual so I didn’t want the dogs to miss out.

It was very dark, but I had the three pupsketeers and my headtorch on.

When it came to it. I didn’t feel safe walking on the backroads so we walked the streets…. If you’ve been in our wee village you will know that takes all of 5 minutes!

So we headed out the main road which felt safer.

I love this photo I took of my friend’s house. She has Halloween decs up and the clouds looked amazing against the super moon.

Her spider webs are glistening in the light.

We carried on in the dark.

Everything looked so atmospheric with the way the moon shone on the clouds.

I love our wee cottage.

So 4 of us set off at 6.45am. It felt really good to start. I was buzzing to be back out running.

I love that we catch up on all the news while we run. Sometimes you don’t even realise you’re running for that distance.

When we were round about the 5k mark, Rachel suggested that we run a bit further so Lynsey, Rachel and I headed up the hill….

First a quick team 5k pic!

Then we’re off….

I found it hard going . I had to walk for a few minutes at times, just to get my breath back.

By the time we got back into the village we were close to 9kms and we ALL knew we had to run up the hill to the and hit the 10k!!

We did it!

It’s says it’s my third fastest 10k and to be fair it is only my third 10k….. 🫣😆 so it was my slowest but I need to stop looking at the times.

If you’d told me I’d have run 3 x 10k this year I’d never have believed you. Rachel and I were going to run “round the block” once a week, which is less that 3k…. I felt like that would be a struggle.

Look at us now.

I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved. What I’ve achieved….. and I can’t thank all of the girls enough, for being there to help me do it.

Sooooo… back in to the house to hang up the washing I’d put on before I went out 😆 I hear myself…. Who actually am I these days?!?!

Then after my shower it was down to the little gift shop for the morning.

The shop looks amazing!!!

The Christmas stuff is beautiful again this year. It was so busy this morning. Christmas things are flying it the door already. It was so lovely to get a catch up though not much time to chat!

It’s been a beautiful afternoon. There’s been a warmth to the sun.

I started putting clothes up for sale on Vinted as it was nice to take photos in the sun.

I lost my spark after about 3.30pm. I’m shattered now and it’s no wonder.

Craig and Khaleesi are still down south and the house is a dog short! I’m in my comfies and I’m going to light the candles and settle down for the evening.

And relax…. my friend Ruth sent me this… we should all look for glimmers.

I’ve had so many glimmers today.

Have a lovely Saturday and please be careful in tomorrow’s storm if you’re in the UK. It’s not looking great.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Day 1587 we did it! Despite hail-like rain and gale force winds… my first 10k race 🏃🏻‍♀️🏃🏻‍♀️

Wow.

What a night.

Quite possibly one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I ran my first 10k “race” in the most brutal weather imaginable.

We left the house at 5.40 in the pouring rain and driving winds, to head for Irvine Maritime Museum.

I’ve only ever run in a T-shirt on top and was reluctant to change the clothes set up that seemed to work for me. The weather had other ideas. I’d been freezing all day at work. We all decided to wear our running jackets and it was absolutely the right decision.

Here we all are before we start.

A lady asked why we had our number outside on the jacket… what if we get warm?!? Of course that sent me into a “should I put the number under my jacket, should I leave it” run up to the start….. we all decided that it was so cold outside that we’d need our jackets anyway.

This is us sheltering under the Irvine Railway Station bridges at the start line.

I cannot explain how bad the weather was.

It was the kind of night you would curl up in front of the tv, or with a good book. You most certainly wouldn’t have gone out for a run!

Lynsey and Gillian disappeared quickly after the start. They are fast runners.

I settled in with Rachel and Emma but I have to be honest and I say I never settled into the run at all.

I didn’t enjoy any minute of it.

My body fought it all the way.

My mind fought it all the way.

Rachel kept a good stride beside me, as we did in Tough Mudder. I kept telling her to leave me if she felt I was holding her back. Julie the burden showing her true colours… just so I could beat myself up for not finding it easy.

The first 1k felt like miles. The 2nd km felt about 4 or 5. Everything felt difficult in the wind and rain.

Our water station was at 4k and that felt like we still had so many miles to go.

Rachel really seemed to be in the zone. She had a spring to her step and a positivity in her head that I seemed to be lacking.

I honestly couldn’t have done it without her. I’m so grateful to her for pulling me round.

The last few kms were by far the worst.

If you know Irvine at all, we pulled into the lake behind the dunes, in Irvine Beach Park. We were fully exposed to the worst of the weather.

The rain felt like hail on our skin. The wind was so strong we were hardly moving.

It felt endless.

We laughed for some of it which is always a good thing.

The course seemed to keep turning away from the finish line but finally we turned along the home straight, from the main beach car park down past Gro Coffee.

I didn’t feel like I could go on.

Rachel kept me going.

We crossed the finish line!!

I burst into tears and couldn’t do anything for myself. I was exhausted 😆

I had beaten my previous 10k by almost 2.5 minutes…. And in that weather, that was pretty special.

I was 253rd out of 262 runners but it was a proper race and not a fun run. For once I don’t feel bad about that. Strava confirms my PB.

And what a way to do it. Lashed my all the west of Scotland weather had to offer.

A special shout out to Lynsey and Gillian. They managed a sub 1hour with 58 minutes. Incredible effort for Gillian’s first race.

They came out to meet us and ran the last few hundred metres with us, hand in hand. It was a really special moment.

I also want to say a special word for Emma who has never run 10kms before, at all…. And she did it all by herself in that weather. She lost her Gran a few days before and could have so easily got out of it. An inspiration.

And we are done!

We headed up to Vanilla Joes in Irvine for our free finishing ice cream. It was like nectar from the gods. I will definitely be back.

We then got changed and dried off in the pouring rain… appreciating the irony. We all stood in Asda’s car park in our sports bras…. My leggings wouldn’t go all the way up as they stuck to my legs but we were at least out of the soaking wet clothes and on our way home.

Thanks to Rachel for driving as the roads were all flooded.

What a night.

It didn’t end there.

I relived it for most of the night.

I tossed and turned.

I lay wide awake but exhausted.

I got up and went downstairs to read.

I took paracetamol and ibuprofen which calmed my legs. I felt them melt into the bed which was such a relief.

My head still thumped and the adrenaline flowed.

And then it was 6.40am and it was time to get ready for work again.

My legs have been fine.

I’ve drunk so much water and the headache is still there but lessened.

I did it.

I ran a 10k race.

On 1sr January this year, Rachel and I decided to start running once a week as we paced well together.

Who’d have thought we’d have been taking part in a 10k by August?!?

Who’d a thunk it?!

So proud of our wee running team in Gateside. A tiny village with a whole lot of runners, with a whole lot of wisdom to help each other through anything. ♥️

And finally thank you to Claire and the team at Irvine Running Club who made it all possible. Their support all the way really helped. They must have been freezing and soaked to the skin themselves.

I am not moving off the couch tonight 😆

Stay safe everyone 🏃🏻‍♀️🏃🏻‍♀️🏃🏻‍♀️