Fittingly this week happened to be Race Week here in Gloucestershire and I thought that I would start the week off with a run. I intended to go much further than I did but got really hot really quickly and needed to drink my bottle of water I take out with me earlier than usual. It was a sunny day and my heart wasn’t in it – I was just too warm. I did manage 3.7 miles saying that though. Besides I was meeting an old school friend for lunch so did not want to be too tired. I did wonder if these were all excuses though as after my relaxing week I was just finding it hard to re-motivate myself.
Tuesday of course is running club and we did between 4-5 miles. The ladies on the beginners’ course got to the end of their 10 weeks so it was what’s known as “cake week” as they get to celebrate their achievements. This meant we weren’t out as long as usual. I don’t even remember Wednesday – which surely means I did some serious resting again! However by Thursday I had my new Garmin watch fully charged and ready to go. I managed 11.01 miles in 1:51:54. It was great running past all the people off to the Cheltenham Festival – first the ones waiting at the bus stops in the fine clothes, and then later their fancy cars, I did stop and walk a little too though so this is not continuous running but I still cannot believe that I, ME, actually covered that distance without mostly walking it! To think when I signed up for a Half Marathon I thought that I was going to walk probably about half of the course! It helps that I have decided to go on the Runners Club holiday – and kept telling myself that I am a runner. I can’t quite now or the holiday will be very awkward and I will never keep up with them! 
Friday I met a friend for lunch and a catch up at Elmbury Lodge. Saturday our 9-year-old went off to an all-day Sports Day with an out-of-school group. At Parkrun it was my turn to run on my own and I know I just went out too fast! I ended up telling myself I couldn’t do it (how stupid that I can do 11 miles and then convince myself I can’t do 5K!!!) and ended up walking bits. Kicking myself though as I ended up just 4 seconds over my personal best! If only I had just kept on going! My youngest, however, was sensational and got a new PB of 30 minutes and 30 seconds! We ended up going to Kaspas deserts to celebrate and my husband broke his sugar-free diet!
Sunday morning we took the youngest two boys to Parkrun Junior – one because we knew that the youngest had a Half Marathon Band to collect (and it was then I realised that if you break it down into 10 Parkrun Juniors it doesn’t sound so far!) and because the 9-year-old had not done Parkrun this week (and we both wanted to see the band collected so he couldn’t be left at home). Inspired by all this running my husband also decided to sign up to run the half marathon and so went out and ran just short of 9 miles. Both tired we ended up in Elmbury Lodge – which did result in puddings too!
Despite the fact that I have done ultra-badly all this eating out this week I had upped my water intake, added seeds to my breakfast and not snacked on junk/stolen Easter eggs from the cupboard. Now I just need to do that without all the trips to restaurants right!
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