Snippets from May - Part 2

15 May

I finished the cardigan I'd been knitting, it being a replacement, to the same pattern, as one made for me by Ma-in-Law around 18-20 years ago:

New on the left; Ma-in-Law original on the right. The zip insertion was sufficiently traumatic that I may never knit a zipped garment again.

16 May

We went out for breakfast, although not in the most conventional manner nor in the most salubrious surroundings. We ran into town and sat on the patio at McDonald's (indoor eating in England didn't restart until the following day), which is sandwiched between roads, had a McMuffin breakfast, then ran home. Good eating-mid-run training! 

17 May

I began to question the wisdom of my latest crochet project, when it took me over 4 hours to make the first square (of very many). 

(I've since got to grips with the pattern a bit better and as of today (3 June) I've made 6, the latest of which is reasonably neat. I've currently got the time for a square down to around an hour and a half, but I'm hoping I'll eventually get nearer to an hour.) 

18-20 May

Our impromptu trip to Carsington Water, about which I blogged separately.

22 May

Another breakfast date. This time we ran a longer route into town, sat inside McDonald's whilst it teemed down outside... 

...then ran home in slightly damp conditions (particularly underfoot where the canal had overflowed, inundating the towpath):

23 May

Erica was packed for her longest trip to date and...

...we took our first ever Covid Lateral Flow Tests, as it seemed like a polite thing to do before going into somebody else's house.

24 May

No photos, but up to the Lakes via lunch with friends in Lancashire. Oh the novelty of being inside someone else's house!

27 May

I failed to write a post about the last day of our Lakes trip. Mick had a 2-hour walk on the agenda and I thought I'd join him for the first 5km, before returning to Erica to ready her for the homeward journey. I then got a bit carried away and after the allotted distance decided to add on another few kilometres, mitigating the time impact by bursting into a trot. Mick managed to continue at a walk for another kilometre after I left him, whereupon he also couldn't resist a bit more speed, which meant that he finished up having done a lap and a half of the Torver-Coniston circuit. 

We were still off the campsite well before noon, which was a good thing as a road closure had us taking a slower route to Conrad's house for our 1pm date for tea, cake and a good catch up. 

 

Snaps from the morning's run. I should have taken a pic of the array of cakes and pastries at Conrad's house!

29 May

I had a bit of time free so thought I'd see if I could make myself look like Eminem:

30 May

A hot forecast with wall-to-wall sunshine from 6am, combined with a 42km run on my schedule, had me up and out of bed early. The immediate reality was murky conditions with dew-drenched grass. 

Having squelched the first half-marathon circuit I returned home to replenish my water and snacks, and to change to my road shoes for the next circuit, which wasn't on road, but was mainly on tracks and paths rather than through long grass. The weather finally came good during the second half-marathon circuit.