Damp feet and ice cream (otherwise known as "sailing and sore muscles")

Another weekend, another road trip. This time to Chichester (South coast), to a newly refurbished ship at CYE. We arrived at night, so it was a bit of a surprise in the morning to find out it was green!

Our sailing group (known affectionately as Pteraductyls) meets twice a year for a weekend of sailing, relaxing and catching up. Most of the people I have known for more than ten years, so it's a bit like meeting up with family.

So, mostly, we sailed. Please excuse the quality of the pics as I was taking them whilst sailing! And I got the camera wet during a slightly accidental capsize...

Thoughts about Alicante

What a lovely city! Sea, sun, boats, beach, castles and a really gentle pace of life. I'm sure it's busier during the main tourist season, but in October it was pretty calm. Maybe I'm just still on a holiday-high, but I liked it. A lot.

Becoming Speedy Gonzales

This is probably a bit of a premature post - I've been back running about a month (and only once/twice a week), and yet I'm worrying about speeding up.

The thing is, I've always been a slow, ploddy runner. That's why I was soooo surprised with my accidental PB at parkrun the other week. And I know I want to get a bit faster. However, what's pushed me into thinking about it this week was a post on FaceBook by my friend (and new running partner):

Average Pace: 8:37 min/mi

Distance: 2.10 miles

Duration: 18m:05s

Hmmm... I can't run that fast! I checked my parkrun pacing on my trusty garmin, and I managed that pace for the last 0.1mile only! And I was really pushing myself. I get the feeling he's going to be really bored on runs with me...

 

So, my question is, do I make working on my speed a priority? And if so, how do I go about doing it?! I've heard of people running intervals fast, then jogging lightly to recover - is that what I should be doing? 

A couple of days in paradise

We got away from cold, rainy October in the UK. Granted, it was only for two and a half days, but it was definitely worth it!

And what did we do in Alicante? Well, mostly, we ate...

I love Spanish food!

We also enjoyed the sea and sunshine:

I am officially relaxed! Long may it last...

I have never...

Radio 4 has a comedy/chat program called "I have never seen Star Wars". The other day I was listening to it on the way home from work - Ian Hislop trying four things he's never done before:
- buying and wearing jeans (!)
- playing Grand Theft Auto 4
- meditating
- baking a cake

It was pretty funny, but more importantly got me wondering about things I have never done before...
... played a team sport (well, not since school so I think that counts).
... sung in front of an audience (eeeek!).
... spent a night (or evening) star gazing.
... worn dungarees.
... erm ... that's all I've thought of so far! 

Now, I'm not considering these activities to be must-tries (especially the singing one!), but I guess it doesn't hurt to try new things. Does it?! :S

The making of wow fireworks!

Here's the "making of" video from the massive display I worked on last month. I'm in there somewhere (hiding behind a fountain) - enjoy! :)

ParkRun and an accidental PB!

ParkRun is a growing phenomenon in the UK (and starting to spread across the world). The idea is that they organise free, weekly 5K runs that are free to enter and open to everyone. They're run by volunteers and are very cool.

This Saturday, I dragged myself out of bed (after a very long week) and along to Thames Valley Park, where the Reading ParkRun takes place. It was my second appearance (the first, rather embarrasingly, being back in January!) and I wasn't expecting too much from myself - the furthest I've run since restarting is 2.2 miles, so I was just hoping to get to the end of the 3ish miles in one piece.