LeadNow

LeadNow photo

I was on an interesting three day course this weekend so there is no running to report on.  The course leader, Todd Eden, was an excellent facilitator and just happened to have worked on one of the Britvic brands that I helped launch in the Raisley days.

The LeadNow course is designed for graduates both in this country and in the third world and despite teaching similar material myself on the Terbell postgrad programme, I found it fascinating and extremely thought-provoking!  Definitely a programme to recommend!

Many thanks indeed go to the LeadNow team and to my Brighton Business School student Giulia for inviting me along!

Random route

I didn’t particularly feel like running so I thought I would take a short route somewhere, possibly sticking to the pavements.  That’s not exactly how it turned out.

I did start by running down through one of the new estates and found myself on Folders Lane, but then I was stumped as to where to go.  Years ago my short route wove down in the space between town/railway line and the road across the Common and this was where I found myself running.

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So much for avoiding tall stinging nettles and other scratchy plants… the path is clearly not so well travelled at the moment.

At the far end I emerged onto Janes Lane and ran towards the town for a short distance before being lured off to the right towards Great Ote Hall and on towards Wivelsfield church.

Here I was caught up by another runner who was clearly on better form than me.  Richard suggested that I join Burgess Hill Runners… advice I may well take in the autumn.

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I continued on across the fields to the far end of Theobalds Lane, which is still delightfully stuck in a 1950’s time warp… it’s a narrow road with a grass verge in the middle!

I ran back along the lane to the present time and then found my way past my old house… the hedge having been allowed to grow half way across the pavement!

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So much for my short run… once again it was about 6 miles, completed in 70 minutes… the average of 5.1 mph reflecting my general reluctance!

Playing to the crowd

With a three-hour project management exam looming large on the horizon tomorrow I felt it was important to get out for a run, despite the fact that the weather was really warm and very close… my notes (I’m writing this, ahem, three weeks later!) say that it was almost raining!

I decided to run the normal short route, with a few tweaks to miss the stinging nettles that I have been wading through lately.  The major tweak was that I ran the route in the opposite direction… something that I cannot remember doing before, thought I find that hard to believe after all these years!

Inevitably my feet were drawn to different tracks and I found myself out on Hundred Acre Lane and then running down a path to the middle of Wivelsfield.

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Those of you who have followed my blog over the long-term will know that I have a Jekyll & Hyde approach to mud.  In the summer I tend to avoid it, going to great lengths to keep my runners dry, but in the winter I relish running through the thick of it.

Thus, in the midst of my summer run, with dry trainers, my first thought when I came upon a big muddy patch across the path was to run round it.  However there were two couples carefully picking their way around the margins, one on each side.

The opportunity to play to the crowd was far too appealing and I splashing noisily through the worst of the puddle, leaving big smiles on both sides in my wake!

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One of the couples took a short-cut across the fields and I caught them up again on the other side having run the long way around.  Curious about the other characters I’d just passed by the side of the road I stopped to chat… it was the village day yesterday and I learned that there were 20 or more different people represented around the area.

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My serotonin levels refreshed I returned home.  The run was 6 miles, completed in 65 minutes… 5.5 mph average.  And muddy runners!

Back in the here and now

The last three weekends I managed to run but not to write, hence the short infill posts.

This weekend we went away to stay in a treehouse, courtesy of Jason & Karen… thank you very much guys!

The treehouse is pretty substantial but has been somewhat carefully hidden amongst the trees…

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Even the owners house and their other rented spaces are tucked away so you don’t notice them…

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Yup… there be a house in there somewhere!

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This is actually a sublime barn space with a double-height sitting room and stunning first floor bedroom!

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While we were there we spent a few absorbing hours wandering round the Cass sculpture park at Goodwood… it gets better every time we visit.  This place keeps drawing us back, as does the nearby Goodwood Park Hotel with it’s spa and restaurant!

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The weekend fortunately arrived early this week which meant that we got back yesterday… which meant that I had no excuses for not running today.  That didn’t mean that I was fired up ready to go however!  Instead I took a potter round the same route as the last couple of weekends, managing the 5.2 miles in a leisurely 59 minutes… 5.25 mph average.

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