A run, two rides, and a curry!

As all Saturdays do now , today started with a trip to Colwick Park for our beloved Parkrun. As we drove the 15 mins or so to the park, the temperature gauge in the car hovered between -2.5 and -3C - it was definitely going to be the coldest Parkrun so far! 

As it turned out, the course was pretty free from frost / ice (unlike a few weeks ago) and the lack of wind or rain made for really good running conditions. 

The boys and I met up with Andy Next Door before the start, and then just before we set off, I saw Ian, who I'd offered to pace round. Ian fancied going for a new PB, so we decided that I'd run with him, and the boys would run ahead with Andy and aim for their usual 25 mins or so time. 


Ian's only recently got into running and struggles with Asthma quite a bit, but he's been making great progress and had got his 5K PB down to 30:30 at a recent Parkrun. We decided to aim for around 30 mins and set off near the back of the pack. 

Just before we to the first mile, our other friend Gary caught up with us - he'd arrived at the start late, but had run a really fast first part of the race to catch us up. Ian was feeling good at this point, so we stayed at our steady pace and the 3 of us chatted while I took photos. 

We reached half way in about 14:30 - so we weren't just on course for a new PB for Ian, he was on course to smash it!

We kept the pace steady for the next part of the course and I tried to get a picture of Ian and Gary running together, but they were moving so fast, the camera on my phone couldn't cope!

With a mile or so to go, I could tell that Ian was starting to struggle, but I kept the pace steady, and we were still catching and passing people as the finish line approached, and Gary shot off to gain a few more places. Ian put in a final kick too, and stormed across the line in under 30 minutes for the first time - in fact, he was under 29:30 - over a minute faster than ever before!

I really enjoyed today's run, if fact I think I enjoyed pacing Ian to his PB even more than running my own fastest 5K at Colwick a few weeks back. There really is no better way to start a weekend than running with friends and today there were 140 of us at Colwick, which I believe is a new record.

After dropping the boys at music school, I set about changing the tyre on my bike - as always it took longer than planned, and after a trip next door to talk to Andy and get some expert help with tyre pressures, I was finally ready to hit the road only about 30 minutes before I had to leave to pick the boys up. As I rode out onto the street, I saw Mohammad (who will feature in future posts I'm sure) - the boys' friend from across the road, and he was very keen to come with me. I can never turn down a running or riding partner, so Mo and I set out from together and decided to do our standard very short 5 mile route. 

Mohammad was determined to beat his previous best time on the route (around 21 mins) and although he struggled up the long drag of Catfoot Lane, by the time we got to the top, we were still on course for his fastest time. We flew along Mapperley Top towards home and for a few seconds I thought that finishing under 20 mins was a possibility. Unfortunately, there was some waiting for traffic near the end, so we didn't break 20 minutes (only James has done that of the kids), but we did finish only just outside (10 seconds or so), and both Mo and I were very happy with that.

After picking the boys up and having lunch, we did some speed shopping and then got home around 3pm. I knew there was a small window of daylight to get another ride in before dusk. I was hoping James would come with me, but he decided not to, so I rode the same route as I'd done with the boys last weekend. 

It was a good ride, but would have been even better if I'd been with others - and I'm hoping I'll be able to get a ride dome with Andy tomorrow.

This evening has been a great celebratory curry, the boys came with me and there was lots of good food and company. The meal was a further part of Sarah's birthday celebrations, and we're going for a spa day on Monday to round it off. 

After far too much eating, I'm totally shattered and also late with #Janathon posting, so I'm going to call it a day now and get some sleep (haven't even slightly proof-read it, so it's probably full of typos!  :))