June 2026

 

            As Clare and I went to the Romsey 5 mile Beer race, I knew that I wasn’t in PB shape. I also knew that this year has not been great in terms of running for me. I wasn’t quite getting back to speed and there are a few underlying injury issues to resolve yet. Still, here we are, at the Beer Race.

This was my first ever race back in 2011 and I was so happy to finish in a time of 42.12. Today I was hoping to knock at least 10 minutes off of that!

I did a warm up with my friend Helen from Totton running club. Clare was there to support us. It sure felt like a hot day.

There were lots of other familiar faces around. This race had a nice feel to it. A local event set up by Romsey road runners with beer and cake at the finish. What I hadn’t recalled, was how hilly the course was. We did a lap out of the field and then we climbed and turned right onto the main road, later turning left onto Newport lane. There was also some nice downhill sections too though. My aim today was to try and run around in a time of roughly 31.30.

            It was so good to see my girlfriend Clare cheering me on as I completed a lap and ran onto my second one. It always gives me a boost of energy. I was running ok but it sure was a struggle and was slowing a bit on the last mile. Three runners overtook me at the end and V60 legend Alan Graham wasn’t far behind me, so I needed a good sprint finish, which I just about managed. I finished in a time of 31.49. Sub 32 at least and not far off of target. Happy enough with the time on that course. Third V50 in the end though.

It was time to catch up and chat to other runners in the sunshine and eat some cake. It sure was a lovely day. You can see why this race sells out so quickly. It was off to Lemon and Jinga for lunch for Clare and myself soon after.

             13^th of June saw me head to Southampton parkrun. My friend Lin from my Vegan Running Club had her sights on beating the VW60 course record today. I think the record stood at 21.05? See wanted to run sub 21 today. I thought I would pace her, so took the bib for the 21 minute pacer and got a volunteer credit too, as I was still aiming to get 10 (adult)  volunteering credits this year. Also Lin wanted me to run behind her for the first kilometre as her last attempt ended up with her being tripped at the start line and her breaking her elbow which still hasn’t fully recovered. She sure is a brave lady! Although, I knew she still had some fear coming into this.

It went pretty well and even on the uphill section, Lin’s breathing was relaxed and she was able to talk. On the last kilometre, I had to let her go as she was ahead on the 21 minutes that I was pacing. Her V65 husband Martin took over the pacing duties from here (another speedy Vegan Running club Vet!).

I had a few runners telling me that I was going too fast. I wanted to tell them to F*%k off, as I had run this parkrun over 120 times and knew the course so well. Anyways, I did have to slow a little bit and saw Lin flying in well under 21 minutes as I looked at my watch. I ran in around 20.55 on my watch but I got an official time of 20.46? Ok, maybe a little too quick. A couple of runners thanked me though and said I’d paced them very well, so job done. Lin smashed the VW60 record and ran 20.23 which gave her an age grading of 96.57%. Well done Lin. Incredible! Obviously, we had to celebrate by going to Cafe Thrive for breakfast. 

             Work has been stupidly busy and I’ve been doing a fair bit of overtime. Clare has been busy sorting out her old rental property and dealing with all our bills, sorting all the adult stuff and fixing our new place up. I do feel a bit useless sometimes with all her skills and abilities. Sorry Clare. We are saving some money to get some repairs on the new house. Windows, roof, electrics etc.. It’s never ending! So nice to have our own house now. We have both been quite stressed and busy though, not much time for ourselves… apart from the football world cup of course :)

I am hoping that we get to visit a few people in the autumn and do some parkrun tourism together.

             A week later, I decided that I needed a quicker parkrun time. Wouldn’t it be good to run sub 19 again? I thought about Wickham but chose Lee-on-the-solent over it due to it being a wider course and less crowded. I got up very early, Clare dropped me off at the railway station and I got the train to Fareham. Carlo the cookie monster was on the train with his son. They were heading to Fareham parkrun where he was time keeping. I had to run to Lee-on-the-solent. I wasn’t quite sure of the route and got a bit lost despite doing some research prior to me getting off the train. I ended up doing extra mileage and then came the concern that I wouldn’t even make the parkrun in time. I was enjoying the change of scenery in a brand new pair of Pro 4’s though. So, told myself that it didn’t matter if I missed the parkrun but at the same time there was a touch of panic inside me.

            I got to the start line at 8.58. Threw my jacket down and took some deep breaths as I listened to the briefing. A little bit of rest at least. A pretty quick course with not much to see but I was so happy to go sub 19 for the first time in 3 months running an 18.56. I ran a pretty speedy 5 miler to get there too. I had a nice coffee in a local cafe and jogged a shorter way back, making it only 4 miles. I was very dizzy though and my vision was distorted as I hadn’t yet eaten that day and probably didn’t take on enough water. It sure was a warm one. I was okay in the end though as I got the train back and ran another 5k to my Dad’s house from Soton station.

                 27^th of June, I got invited back to Southwick parkrun by John Pelligrini. It was VR (Vegan Runner) Christine’s 100^th parkrun location and her 250^th parkrun! I had run this course 6 times before as it was quite popular for us to run this before the Bratton Hilly race that started at 11am on the Saturday afterwards. Such a great race if you haven’t done it. I would really recommend it. The course is as hilly as described and a strange distance of 11.4k! A views are stunning though. Sadly they have moved the event to April now though instead of May and it got taken over from the Avon Valley runners by Redfish events who didn’t give my mate Fast Kev his V40 prize. Anyways..

            Back to Southwich. It was so nice to be back. Today was to be their 700^th event and weirdly, the last time I came here it was their 300^th event! It sure had been a while. The course is still the same and the marshalls are some of the best/friendliest and encouraging that I have ever met. I really can’t thank or praise them enough. A nice downhill finish meant that I was able to put in a good sprint again to come in as first V50. It was a very hot day again and was happy enough with a time of 19.32 finishing in P3.

After the parkrun, we went in Trowbridge for the Vegan market, where I ate some yummy quiche and a pastry. We also met up with some other Vegan runners. I really should visit more of these markets and support them. Some really great independent companies out there trying to get by with their wonderful products. 

             That was pretty much my June. It was nice to do some parkrun tourism and hopefully I’ll do some more soon. Thanks for reading. Can’t believe its taken me 2 weeks to write this before work at 5.30am. Have a great weekend. Xx

 

P.S I have just finished proof reading before my parkun marshalling duties today. I for got to mention how well Bee Bee the cat is settling in now. Maybe the photo below will help….