We’ve had a few challenges lately. When I say we, I mean mostly poor CC, my other half. Two cataract operations and then a fall on the way to volunteering at parkrun. She twisted her ankle quite badly and was out of action for a little while. Which means she hasn’t run for quite a while now. However, she was determined not to let it get the best of her. We walked Itchen Valley parkrun at the start of the month as we wanted to make sure that she would complete her 50^th parkrun at a special location. It made me realise how long it takes to complete a 5k when not running. It seems like a very long way! It was a lovely day though and great to chat and see the sights in detail.

            

             On the 9^th of May, CC drove us to Haverhill in Suffolk. It’s right on the Essex border if you didn’t know. I had never been to Suffolk before and when I ask people if they’ve been, the majority say they don’t think they have either. It’s very green with lots of motorbikes and flies. It’s a been worrying when you get to the A1307 when the sign mentions the high fatality rate. The road is known as “The road of death” or “Death road”.

Luckily we made it there alive and CC surprised me that evening with a lovely Vegan meal in Sudbury at a place called “Cradle”. I would highly recommend this place. The food was out of this world.

            The next day happened to be very special. It was CC’s birthday and we were in Suffolk to complete Clare castle parkrun. CC would still be walking with the swollen and bruised ankle but it would be her 50^th parkrun nonetheless. Well done CC, I know how hard it was for you.

Last year we did Blaise castle in Bristol for CC’s birthday. I wonder where we’ll end up next year? Another Castle location I guess!

 We had a lovely long weekend in Suffolk with a great walk from Melford to Sudbury where we ended up back to “Cradle” for some delicious pastries and coffee. Of course we got lost a few times and didn’t take the right paths but we got there eventually. The weather was so good! On the way home we stopped off at my favourite Vegan food place too. “The Greenhouse” in Fleet.

     The weekend after would see me running the Netley 10k. There was to be a new course too, which got me excited. I had been running laps around the country park on this race since 2011.

It definitely wasn’t a fast course but very much improved. A couple of nice climbs but some great downhill too. It was great to get the support of the locals and to see them outside of their houses cheering us on. I absolutely loved it. I was also happy with my time of 38.37 on this course. Another A-team placing for me at Lordshill this year. To be fair, the turn out of the faster runners has been pretty lame this year in the league for our club, which is a bit disappointing. Anyway, I won’t go in that one…

 

A week later on the 24^th of May saw me turn up at Whitely parkrun. I hadn’t done it for a few years, so was hopeful of a course PB at least. CC was there to support me as always as I ran 3-4 laps around the course. I was aiming for around 18.30 but finished in a time of 18.40. Happy enough and my first sub 19 there.

  The day before I went skateboarding after work with a fellow workmate. We are now both 50 and neither of us had skated in about a year. We were both pleasantly surprised how well we both performed. And we didn’t do too much damage to ourselves either, which is always a bonus.

     27^th of May marked mine and CC’s 2 year anniversary. We didn’t do much on the actual day but the next day we went climbing together for the first time in ages. I was again surprised how well CC climbed considering her time out. It made me so happy to see. It was such a great session together. I look forward to more of those in the future. I have been climbing most Wednesdays now on my day off. I love it and hope to climb more but marathon training isn't too far off now I guess! 

   That’s almost it for May. On the 31^st we headed to Yeovil via train where I took CC to Ninesprings country park to show her the wonderful sights. We were here because of my up and coming race, the Crewkerne 10k. I won’t write about that now though as it happened in June. Thanks for reading if you got this far.

      More fun times ahead hopefully. We have had some tough times lately. Hopefully things will improve for us. Always staying positive and loving <3 Stay rad people :)