It's been a good week. The weather has really improved so although life post-lockdown hasn't returned entirely to normal just yet, we have been out and about a good bit more, and been enjoying a lot more socialising than we did for the vast majority of spring!
We met up with Jess, Arthur and Freida on Thursday and it was an utter joy. Jess and I were able to catch up while the boys just played away at the things they love; climbing trees; digging holes in the paths; playing the cinema game where you get tickets at one tree and give them to an imaginary cinema worker at another; doing laps of the bandstand on their bikes; chasing each other. It was bliss.
On Friday we embarked on a family shoe shopping trip. I'd already had an unsuccessful trip to Decathlon and Intersport on Wednesday, but we headed to the Bizanos one to see what we could get our hands on. William desperately needed new sneakers as his feet had grown so much, and I felt that my Asics, which had been bought circa 2013, were due for an upgrade. (I felt I'd also earned the upgrade, having knocked out my first 7k on the Monday.) We came home with us all kitted out. William's are proper big boy gutties and he looks so grown up in them. My new kicks got their first run out on Friday night (6k) and my feet were aching. Hopefully they just need broken in a little and not that I've bought the wrong shoe design for my feet. I'll give it three months.
On Sunday we had our first trip to the forest since before lockdown. We planned on doing the perimeter run (7k) but due to all the rain last week, the tracks were impassable and we had to stick to laps of the inner paths. I'm glad I chose to wear my old shoes! I had been really looking forward to the chance to run trails instead of pavements but I have to be honest, I found it really repetitive and boring. It's just the same thing over and over again. Think our next decent hit out needs to be along the river. After our run we took a picnic back to the benches area. William was loving it. By the time we got home and showered, it was after 3pm, and I'd said to Jess that we would love to catch up with them again in the park if they were going to be around. It was great. The boys playing, and the adults just blethering like normal. However, Parc Beaumont was mobbed. I hope this is isn't a reflection of what's going on everywhere and the potential for a spike in cases in two weeks. We just need to sit back and see. Eeek.
On Monday, we took things easy and in the afternoon I did a big shop at Auchan. Part of this was in preparation for a trip to the mountains on Tuesday which I'd planned with Astrid and Lee. Initially, it was just going to be the ladies and the kids but Conrad and Iain joined up too and we had a brilliant day. We met at the Cave du Jurançon at 10.30 and drove up to the Plateau du Benou. From there we hiked up to the stone circles which took us about an hour. Having so many kids with us definitely slowed the pace but Iain and I were both amazed and proud of William who was right at the front throughout, almost running up the hills. All the cycling training is definitely paying off! We had lunch at the stone circles, let the kids play for ages (William found a dung beetle and they all wanted to find fresh poo for it to live in, then realised that it they used a stick to crack the top layer of a cow pat, there's fresh poo underneath...they joys...) We then looped back down to the plateau and let the kids play in the stream until we'd had enough. Iain and I didn't leave until about 4.30pm. A long, and brilliant day.
Today has been significant, but let me back track. Yesterday was meant to be a run day, but having spent the day in the mountains, there was no chance we were running when we got home. It meant that today became a run day, and despite that massive day out on the mountains yesterday, I knew that we had penciled in another distance increase. And guess what, I smashed it. 8.5km! Bloody hell, sometimes I can't believe how far I've come. From 2.3k to EIGHT AND A HALF! The route along the river was really good, but the kicker was getting home as we needed to do the hill climb from the Gare to Place Royale. Absolutely brutal. But I completed it and that's what matters. Interestingly, I wanted to map this to give Jinty a clear understanding of the distance I'd covered and it works out that it was the equivalent of running from Jinty's house to M&S on Argyle Street. Bonkers!
I definitely have one eye on that 10k now.
Lorna. :-)
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