Saturday Long Run - 25km (busy day, but still got the 'long run' done)

dannewton just finished a 25.19km run, that lasted for 175 minutes.
This run helped dannewton burn 1902.0 calories.

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Description from Strava:
Its felt like a really busy day today. It started at 9am with a trip out to Woodside Wildlife, which is a nice little zoo type place. It started life as a falconry centre (with Hawks, Owls and other birds of prey) and has since grown to include Tigers, Penguins, Crocodiles and more. Its a while since I visited, so 'twas nice to return and see the new exhibits.

I went along with my parents, along with my brother, his wife and their daughter... so a proper little family outing for once :-)

It was a pleasant way to spend a few hours, and as is of course my habit, I took a million photos, so you can look forward to the best of those appearing in a post soon enough.

After finally arriving home at 2:00pm, it was time to think about going for my standard weekend long run. I had already missed parkrun earlier today, and due to the time of day I wanted to avoid running in the City as it would be swamped with people.

After a quick 20 minutes of getting changed and prepared, I eventually chose to run out along the water railway, which is a local footpath which runs from Lincoln to Boston.

Todays plan was reasonably simple out and back route. I would head in one direction along the path until I reached either 12.5km or 90 minutes, and then I would turn and run back. I was really aiming for 25km today, and I should manage that in the 3 hour time limit I set myself, but I set the time limit just in case I was moving slower than expected.

I really don't to be spending more than 3 hours running at the moment, just takes to long to recover from the exertion.

At 2:30pm I set off, and first had to navigate the boring bypass route, before I was able to turn off onto the Water Railway. The clouds were gey and ovecast, but at the moment there was no rain (there was plenty forecast for later!)

After 6km I found a sign post...

And I was able to head down onto the footpath.

There are no cars nearby, so it makes for a nice and quiet place to run, and it's relatively scenic too, if slightly repetitive lol. The path has plenty of hedges/trees/vegetation of which there are usually plenty of bids too hear. Plenty of butterflies and other insects in the Summer too, although we are getting a bit past that stage now.

By this point (about 1 hour into the run), rain had started to fall. It was only light drizzle, but I suspected it was only going to get worse

Surprisingly there were plenty of dragonflies about despite the rain. They were busy darting back and forth looking for food (ie other flying insects).

There are a couple of sculptures on route such as these metal bulls...

I'm not quite sure why they are relevant here, but they look quite impressive, so that's something I guess!

A little further up the path I found another interesting sculpture - an 'arch' made from some wheat/barley sculptures.

This was actually a very nicely place statue, as it marked the fact that I had just reached my aim of running 12.5km. I had managed to reach this distance in 1 hour 26 minutes, so just under my 90 minutes 'time limit'.

It was time to turn and head back home, but first I need to 'take a break' and have a Kit Kat! 😅

By this point the gentle drizzle had turned into more persistent rain. Looking into the distance I could see low overcast clouds, and decided the rain was gonna get worse (and it did!)

I decided to take one last picture (below) and then I put my phone away in my backpack so it wouldn't get wet. Just wasn't worth the risk, and besides, I was just going to do the route in reverse.

I ran back along those quiet footpaths lined with trees and hedges, and then rejoined the bypass to get back home.

It got pretty wet at times, but I eventually made it back home about 5:30pm 3 hours after leaving. And then there was time for a quick shower and grab some tea (sausages, chips and beans tonight), and finally I was ready to sit down and start a videocall with my partner who is currently staying at University.

2 hours later, and all caught up with her progress, I'm now finally able to write this post... it feels like a long old day today!

I'd say tomorrow should be a easier and more restful day, but in reality I need to go for a little recovery run, and work on my course, and do the washing (and the blasted ironing)... and start getting ready for the start of a new work week on Monday.

At this rate, I'd better take an early night to prepare for it!

Er, so on that note, I'll bid you good night :-)

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If you would like to check out this activity on strava you can see it here:
https://www.strava.com/activities/9950539384

About the Athlete: Living in the UK, I am an intermittent Runner, but always striving for more consistency. When I'm not training I can be found photographing insects or listening to really loud angry music (which is the best type of music obviously!)

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