Lessons Learnt Already

Here we are again, the 1st of Juneathon.
The 1st day of pushing myself to get out and run.
The first day of trying to get different systems to talk to each other (Garmin, Runtastic, runningfreeonline).
The first day of trying to find something interesting to say here.
So here goes.....

Today's run was easy to start as I was somewhere different to normal. Today I was staying at my sister in laws, in Newport, South Wales. The idea of a run somewhere new is always a good motivator, and when its a run to a run it's even better.
Generally I work on a Saturday ((joys of retail) but when off I always try to get to a parkrun, so as I'm on holiday and its Juneathon I thought I'd revisit the Newport parkrun. Last time I went, I was staying at my Mother in laws which was approx 4.5km away so I ran to it, ran it  ran back. This time I was about 9.3km away, but as I'm signed up to the NDR30km and so need to up my distances, I figured I would still run to and run back.
So a quick look showed that the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal runs past the house and almost to Tredegar House, so I tried out plotting on my Garmin & off I went, and this are where the lesson began!

Lesson 1 - If it looks like a glorious day (even at 730am) then you are going to need water when you run

Lesson 2 - If you're going to use an electronic device to direct you somewhere & record your efforts - its a good idea to ensure it is charged enough to to last and not run out just when you start to have options as to which direction you can go!!

Lesson 3 - The running community are great - reasons to follow.

As you may of guessed from lesson 2 my Garmin died, just as the one direction footpath ran out and I reached the housing estate which meant I actually needed all the directional help going. I fortunately had a map app on my phone, but as I was opening that I noticed someone jogging down the hill to my left (first decision to make was - are they out for a run or just in a rush) I noticed they were heading in roughly the right direction for where I wanted to go, so started heading along behind them. I got level as we reached a road to cross,and she looked round and "Hi are you going to the parkrun?", "Yes I replied are you?", "Yes", "Great you can show me where I'm going then cos I'm lost!". So we carried on together, and made the start with 10min to spare, and as her friend hadn't appeared, she gave a spare bottle of water.
A trip to the Gents meant I lost my new acquaintance do to the 344 runners plus supporters meant there was quite a crowd. After the briefing and introducing of the pacers (yep pacers at a parkrun! - once a month apparently), we were off. I knew today was never going to be a pb, due to the run there and need to do the run home again. So a social was on the cards, a trailblazer tshirt started my first chat and then I found Carol again, who seems to be struggling with the heat, so I stuck with her until the end. A nice coffee, & hot choc and then Carol kindly walked me back to where she found me, gave me another bottle of water and off I went back long the canal to home, where a nice sausage sarnie was waiting. So a great morning and approx 23km to start Juneathon