Independence day saw Clare and myself marshalling back at Itchen valley parkrun with the crew. We had a lovely day catching up with everyone too.
It was also a relief for Clare to say goodbye to her rental property after 8 years. We could now fully focus on our own home back in Rownhams.
Clare is very good at D.I.Y …and me, not so much. We seem to be that couple who go to B&Q at the weekends nowadays and look at fixings and various other things that I didn’t know existed. The house is awesome though and Clare has made some fantastic changes already as well as an electrician and a window repair guy already doing some work for us. We also have a fireman who cleans our windows once a month for a small fee. Anyway…
The following day I had a race. Either Joshy or fast Kev had talked me into entering Goodwood 10k. Toni drove us there and the temperature was hot, hot hot! I was already carrying an injury. The glute and hamstring problems had returned in my right leg. I thought I’d give it a go anyway. The aim was for sub 39 in my current condition. There was also a half marathon and a 5k going on to. I think it was just 2 laps of the race circuit, unlike the race in February here which goes out onto the country lanes. Which I did back in 2020 in a time of 40.25. That was a PB then too.
Not long after starting the race, we had to do a 180 around a cone which I thought was weird on a race track. An unnecessary slowing down. We then joined the other runners of various distances. Did I mention how hot it was? It was also quite windy on one side of the course.
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After a couple of miles, I was already in trouble. The leg wasn’t firing up properly and I was off the pace already. I would now try and hang on for a sub 40 but even that was proving to be a struggle. I battled on thinking how tough this was, but I got it done. My official time was 39.58. I was 15th over all and surprisingly 1st V50. I emailed the organisers and they said, Well done and that they send me a prize out in 3 weeks. I still haven’t heard a thing though of course.
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I probably wouldn’t do the race again as it was quite congested really. Sadly Toni and Josh pulled out with the heat. Kev was a good couple of minutes ahead of me though but I don’t think even he had a great race. It was a nice catch up though. Sadly, I would be properly injured now, as if I wasn’t beforehand.
My last two 10ks, I have won my age category but have been injured and felt crap throughout the run. I have also been scraping the sub 40 barrel and just about sneaking under. The plan was to dip under 37 minutes this year for the 10k but it just hasn’t happened with the injuries and not getting back to full fitness. Maybe 2027 will be my year? Or am I just past it now at 51 years young?
I decided to take 10 days off running, which is about 2 years for a runner. I took a Friday off work and went Climbing at Golden Gecko in Romsey which I have really missed now that I work full-time. I then caught the train to Winchester. Did a long loop (walking) on the water meadows and Itchen navigation before meeting up with Cos, Josh and Kev at Piecaramba for food. We went to a gig at the Railway Inn afterwards. It was a band called “Ghosts of Seattle” who only played 90’s Grunge. It was bloody brilliant. They played for 2 hours! I was never bored. Songs from Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and Cos’ favourite, Stone Temple Pilots. They also did a Mudhoney song and I got a bit of interaction with the band for wearing a Mudhoney t-shirt. Kev also knew one of the guitarists that he hadn’t seen for about 20 years. It was a great night and I haven’t stopped listening to Alice in Chains since.
I was very tired the next day and did very little, even avoiding parkrun. My hearing did eventually return though!
The week after, saw Clare and myself back on Marshalling duties at Itchen Valley. This would be my 7th volunteer for the year and it equals my most in a year. I am aiming for 10 (adult) parkrun volunteers for the year. It’s good to give something back to a thing that has supported me for the last 15 years. It was my 37 volunteering credit in 53 roles. I am aiming for the 50 volunteers of course!
With my time out from running, I did a few other things. I bought some more weights and have been doing them in the garden in the mornings. Just 20-30 minutes, 3-4 times a week. It feels good and I’m hoping to get rid of my sugar tummy and gain a six pack..lol.
We’ve had a pigeon in our garden that was sat on a nest. It had been there for a couple of weeks. Sitting on an egg maybe? We have been on Pigeon watch as the naughty Magpies have been trying to attack the pigeon and get at the nest. Sadly, I came home from work one day and no longer saw the pigeon on the nest. Not sure what happened there but she hasn’t been back since. We have had another visitor though. A hummingbird hawk moth has been here a couple of times. I just thought it was a giant wasp when I first saw it. I called Clare and she I.D’d it straight away. I sure does have a clever girlfriend :D
I also took my Nikon camera out of retirement. I hadn’t used it for a few years. I decided to go for a walk and photograph some Damselflies. It took me a while to work out the setting again but I did ok I think capturing a few Banded demoiselle.
I was very much looking forward to the 25th of July. Our mate Stacey had organised a coach to Battersea park parkrun. I went up with Josh and Kev. We were picked up from Rownhams services just after 6am. Initially, I was stood on the wrong side of the motorway services until Josh phoned me and asked where I was. Thank you Josh! Luckily the coach hadn’t arrived yet and it was a good journey up. I sat next to Vegan Runner Christine who I knew through John Pellegrini. We talked all things parkrun and Vegan.
The time flew by and we were soon there. The Iconic Battersea park. It was pretty big. I had never seen so many runners just running around all morning. It was a bit like a Miami muscle beach. Muscly dudes running around topless and women running around with very tight clothing and bouncy bits. It was a hive of activity. Very busy. We did a warm up and headed to the start. It was a narrow start and the marshalls would not let us join the front of the parkrun. We were to run about 400 metres around to the back. Not allowed to run on the grass either and it was already 9am. Would we miss the start?
We had to make our way through 1100 other runners and try and get close to the front. We gave up about halfway and just accepted that it wasn’t going to be a fast one for Josh and myself. In fact, Josh was so disappointed that he didn’t even scan his 17 minutes in. It worked out ok for me though. It was two laps of the park and it felt like a pretty quick course. Obviously, my right leg still wasn’t right though. It was a flat out effort for me and I managed to run a sub 20 with a time of 19.48 at least. 9th in my age cat? What happened to the real Dean Jones..lol.
It was my 408th parkrun though and my 113th different location.
We then went to Battersea power station which I was expecting to be some ort of museum but it’s actually a giant shopping centre. We had food, coffee and enjoyed basking in the sun until the coach was ready to collect us. What a great day. Cheers Stacey. I look forward to the next one.
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