A fortnight off training

M wanted to volunteer at junior parkrun on 19th January as well as running. We asked the Run Director to add M to the roster doing the warm-up. Unfortunately, on Sunday morning M seemed reluctant to go to parkrun. I said to her that as she had agreed to volunteer, she shouldn’t let people down, so she agreed to go. M was reluctant to run and when I saw her halfway round, she was jog-walking. M’s friend had arrived late, so agreed to do the second lap with her.

M spent the rest of the day lying on the sofa looking pretty sorry for herself. I got out the pulse oximeter which showed that M’s oxygen level was far below where it should be. I suggested visiting A&E, but M begged me to let her stay at home, so I gave her some of her inhalers and a Montelukast tablet.

Unfortunately, M’s oxygen level was not what it should be on Monday, so we went to see the asthma nurse. She said M had to go to hospital. M spent the day there but was allowed home at 9pm as her oxygen level had reached 94%.

The next morning, M’s oxygen level was in the 80s, so we went to see the asthma nurse again and M got sent back to hospital in an ambulance. Whilst there she had a chest x-ray done and was swabbed for various illnesses. She didn’t have Covid or the ‘flu but was told that she had both a bacterial and a viral chest infection. This necessitated staying in hospital. At this point, M kindly shared some of her illness with me, so I felt rough and didn’t go back to work for the rest of the week.

Volunteering at parkrun

By Friday, M was allowed to return to school, but she over-did it and was too tired to volunteer at parkrun on Saturday. (She had wanted to be a barcode scanner). I went to parkrun without M and was a funnel manager. Participant numbers have increased again recently and are back to pre-Covid levels, which means that we regularly need to use multiple finish funnels.

Double whammy!

M went to school on Monday, but on Tuesday she was struck down again. She had got herself dressed for school, but when we saw her we knew she wouldn’t be going as she was covered in a rash.

We visited the GP surgery again, where we saw a nurse and a GP. They didn’t know whether M’s rash was a reaction to the chest virus or an allergic response to antibiotics. They didn’t believe it was anything contagious but said that she’d get sent home from school, so we should keep her at home. Unfortunately, the rash worsened the next day, so it was back to the GP again. M was given extra strong antihistamines and so her rash has almost gone now.

First parkrun in a fortnight

By Saturday, M felt well enough to return to parkrun. My training schedule said that I was meant to be running down to parkrun, but after not running for a fortnight, I was worried that I wouldn’t have enough energy to run that far.

We arrived early as parking had been horrendous the previous week. I parked so far away that I only arrived as Matt, the Run Director, was giving his briefing.

There was a large crowd of visitors in orange t-shirts as part of the Jog-On running crew. The attendance was over 1300 people, which is the highest attendance figure we’ve had at Southampton post-Covid. This meant that the paths were quite congested. I knew I had to take the run easy, but I wanted to run at a pace of my choosing. I got stuck behind two buggies on the path up towards the crossroads and was unable to overtake which was frustrating.

On the way round, I had a nice chat with Lynne, and also saw my former training partner, Irene, who was completing her 150th parkrun.

Despite feeling very sluggish and getting trapped in the crowd, I was pleasantly surprised to finish in just over 31 minutes.

Sunday Runday

I’d signed up for Sunday Runday, which is a training run for Southampton Half/Marathon. Stu and M were going to junior parkrun, so I ran down to the Common. It was a sunnier day than I was expecting and I was slightly dazzled by the light. I could see a large group congregating near the Cowherds, and I wondered whether the group had planned to meet somewhere new. As I got closer, I realised that I didn’t recognise anyone. Most of the runners were dressed all in black and were in their 20s or 30s. I decided to continue down to the car park… luckily, the group was there. (I guessed the group was one that’s affiliated with Maurie’s sandwich shop and was right – they’re the Social Sunday Run Club. Maybe I’ll join them for a run one week, although I’m usually at junior parkrun).

Rob organised everyone with run leaders. There were quite a few fast-paced groups, but I wasn’t sure how well I’d do after being ill, so I was looking for an 11-minute/mile group. Unfortunately, the slowest group was 10:00-10:30 minute/mile. I agreed to run with some others who were also slower.

I ended up running with a lovely Taiwanese student called Chia. We were quite happy to chat and bring up the rear of the group. Chia also took some photos along the way. We stopped to look at the black swans in the Itchen by Riverside Park.

The second half of the run

When we got to Woodmill the group split up. Chia wanted to get some water and I knew Woodmill would be open, so we popped in there and said hello to Stu, Fraser and the girls who had done junior parkrun.

We then carried on towards Burgess Road, where we were passed by fast Dan. We had a few walk breaks, but were continuing on the race route. After going down Church Lane, we saw Pete walking up Highfield Lane. We caught up with him on The Common and agreed to run back down to the Cowherds together. As we got there, we saw Chris out on a run.

We had a chat with Rob when we got to the finish point and Stu was there with the car. I persuaded Chia that we could do a walk-jog back to Glen Eyre, so we set off towards home. I was feeling tired, but having a training partner makes the time pass more quickly.

We were passed again by fast Dan on Lovers Walk, and then we did a walk-jog up Glen Eyre Road. At the halls, we swapped details so that we could go out running together again. Then I ran back home. My total distance was 18.25km, which is the longest run I’ve done since I did the Smugglers’ Scuttler in 2024. That was the only run I did last year that was over 18km, and then the previous time I ran this far was when I did London Marathon! I’m now feeling more confident that I’ll be able to complete the half marathon in a fortnight, even if it’s not at the pace I was hoping for.

What I’ve been reading/watching this week

• Fastest & Slowest UK parkruns – 2025 update (Southampton is 34/835)