Last long run before Brighton

Here is today’s IDEAfit photo a day image to fit with the theme of ‘gratitude’.

I am so grateful that I’ve got the most amazing husband. We’ve lived together for almost 16 years and I still think he’s (almost) perfect. Plus he takes me on dates to the ice-cream parlour!

I’ve been a bit negative recently, but I’m trying to turn that around. Several bloggers have mentioned Gretchen Ruben’s book ‘The Happiness Project’, so I used my birthday amazon vouchers from my brother and nephew to buy a copy. It’s full of interesting ideas that I’m trying to incorporate into my life to make me happier. It’s very easy to be negative, but there are many things that I should be grateful for: I’ve got a fantastic husband, a job that I challenges me and gives me lots of opportunities, plenty of friends, a comfortable home and even if I’m not 100%, I’m still well enough to participate in lots of activities that I enjoy.

So, what have I been up to today? I was meant to be Run Directing at parkrun, but I also wanted to get in my last long run before Brighton Marathon (10 miles), so Stuart kindly agreed to look after parkrun for me. I left my house at 7:15am and ran to meet Teri at 7:30am. We then set off for a trip around The Common and the Sports Centre, as we wanted to get in 11-12km before the start of parkrun.

I was quite excited about going for a run as it was my first chance to wear my brand new Team SOAS running kit. It looked a little chilly outside, but the sun was shining and once I’d got moving, it wasn’t too bad. Once we were on The Common, Teri and I decided to take some selfies to commemorate our last long run together before our marathons (Teri is doing London Marathon, which is the week after my marathon).

We then carried on with our run, enjoying the chance to chat (and grateful that we had given ourselves plenty of time to cover the distance). We managed to time our run fairly well, so that we didn’t have to hang around for too long before the start of parkrun.

Teri sped off for parkrun (completing it in 24:49, which isn’t a PB for her, but is an excellent time for someone who has already run 7 miles!) I just wanted to complete the run in 30 minutes, so I teamed up with Becky who is just coming back from a bad ankle injury. She clearly hasn’t lost any of her fitness as she was quite happy to chat to me on the way up the hills (when I was not breathing easily), and we were happy to finish in just over 29 minutes.

After the results from parkrun had been processed, Stu and I decided to make the most of the sunshine, so we went out into our garden to clean our bikes. I have to admit that I’ve never cleaned my hybrid bike (sorry, bike!), so it took a little while to remove all of the mud and I reckon it now weighs significantly less. (I take much more care of my road bike!) I ran out of chain cleaner before I’d finished scrubbing it clean, but it is now a hundred times better and should be easier to ride!

After all of the scrubbing, Stu and I decided to go into town to search for a few items, and then we headed to Sprinkles. Stu chose a waffle with Nutella, crushed oreos and banana; I chose a sundae with coconut and pistachio ice-creams and chocolate sauce. It was delicious!

Tomorrow, we’re intending to go on a 60km bike ride, so I’ll have the chance to use some more of my new Team SOAS kit 😀