Insta Friends to Real Life Friends - Tatton Park Half Marathon

For a while now, I’ve been talking to my Instagram friend (now real life friend) Joanna (@happyjoruns) and when we found out her and Lucas were coming to the UK for a few weeks from the US, we just had to meet up! Jo asked about a half marathon which is local to us – Tatton Park Half Marathon. So, I checked our plans, and it turns out we were free, so we entered too!

We quickly realised that none of us had ran anything near a half marathon since we ran marathons in early October. So, entering a half marathon with a week to get prepared, probably wasn’t the best idea! But we decided to do it for fun and have a chatty race.

After hugs and introductions, we headed over to the start line for some selfies (obviously)! And then we were off! I feel like the whole race just involved cramming in as much conversation as possible – it was sooo good! The race route is an enjoyable one with some beautiful views and just a few small hills. We even saw some deer too, which Lucas was happy about!

We finished the race in around 1:50 which was actually quicker than I thought we’d do, but once we got chatting, I almost forgot we were running. Well, until the last couple of miles.

When we entered, I asked Jo if they wanted to freshen up at ours and then we could grab a ‘Sunday Lunch’ in a pub nearby – which we did! We ordered 4 roast dinners and soon tucked in when they arrive. While we were there we talked about plans for the rest of the day and decided the four of us should head into Liverpool for a few hours to explore. Liverpool is one of my favourite cities and is right on our doorstep so I thought it would be lovely for Jo and Lucas to see it too!

We took a detour and drove past Anfield and Goodison Park on the way into Liverpool and then parked in Liverpool One. We walked over to the Albert Dock and after freezing in the wind, popped into Costa for some hot drinks. Just before we left, we went over to the Liver Building and Beatles statue for some photos and then wandered back to the car.

It never fails to amaze me how differently we do things here compared with the US, we assume that everyone just knows, but it’s so different. I had so much fun finding out how things work in the US and loved telling Jo & Lucas how things work here too.

I had such an amazing day and enjoyed their company so much! It was like we’d known each other for years. We definitely need to meet up again, maybe in the US next time too!!