Today has been my brilliant other half: Sarah's birthday, and I was fortunate to spend a lot of it with her in rural Lincolnshire. We originally planned to go for a bike ride, but before we were ready, it started to rain, so we decided to go for the more sensible option of a walk in the woods.
As it turned out, by the time we'd been walking for half an hour or so, the weather had improved dramatically, the sun was out, the wind had dropped, and it felt like the perfect spring day for a bike ride.
The walk was a lovely way to spend a day off work, and although it didn't rack up as many miles as bike ride would have done, it did make for better conversation and photo opportunities - I took a few as always....
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| Hardly a cloud in the sky - it felt more like spring than winter, though bare trees give the season away |
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| The sun was blinding at times, including when walking past the church |
The woods are a lovely place to walk and after around 4.5 miles we eventually ended up back in Market Rasen and had a lovely lunch at the great value Aston Arms in the marketplace. The Aston is a "proper" pub which eschews modern drinking establishment trends and up-to-date decor, but does offer a great selection of food. Most of the meals, which come on massive plates with chips and or rice, are just £4.95. The selection includes chilli, which the birthday girl chose, and Thai green curry, which I had and really enjoyed, despite there being more far more green peppers than chicken (to say I'm not a fan of veg would be a massive understatement :)).
After lunch I had a battle with the rear tyre on Sarah's bike as it had a slow puncture, eventually getting it changed and then headed home.
The evening was spent running of course - and it was a very memorable run thanks to the first appearance of my friend Martin in our running group, and the exceptional distance that we eventually ran. Six of us set out on the run - Andy Next Door, Martin, Jono, James, Kieran and I.
We headed down into Arnold at a very steady pace, and then after diverting through Redhill, reached Mansfield Road and headed towards town. By this point James was already struggling, as his feet were very sore (it's possible that his new shoes have been outgrown already - he's going to try a non-running pair next time to see), so he headed home after about 3 miles, while the rest of us continued towards town.
We stayed at a steady pace all the way through Sherwood and as we approached town everyone was looking really easy - especially Martin, who'd already run far further than ever before (his previous longest run was only 3 miles). As we hit the 5 mile mark, Martin decided he was going to divert off and collect my bike from his house (he'd borrowed it last summer) and ride it back to meet us here at the end of the run.
The remaining 4 of us headed down to the bottom of Woodborough Road and then turned for home. Woodborough Road is 1.5 miles of almost constant climbing, so we took it even steadier, and then picked up the pace a bit once we reached the top.
Kieran started struggling not long after we reached the summit, mainly because he was desperate for a bathroom break, but managed to keep going all the way home - for his new record longest distance of 9.2 miles. Andy and Jono were running really strongly over the final part of the run, so went an extra quarter of a mile and still got home at the same time as Kieran and I.
It was a great run, with lots of fun banter and bit of sprint at the end, despite it being the longest run yet for Jono, Kieran and Andy, who all did brilliantly.
I'm very tired after such a fun day and long run, back to work tomorrow for a rest!
It just remains for me to say "Happy Birthday Sarah" for the final time today!
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