Category: Short run

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Alpacam ahoy!

It is a BEAUTIFUL day outside and I am in the process of taking the morning off, if for no other reason than to allow Kim to enjoy it vicariously when she gets back from work!

Bearing in mind that I had to scrape the ice of my windscreen this morning, meeting Daren at Jack & Jill at 8am wearing shorts may have seemed a little crazy… I certainly felt that way as I was putting my runners on.

But the run and the sun soon put paid to any chilly feelings, whilst the company would have put paid to some serious blues had I not already been feeling great!  I don’t know why it is, but I always end up laughing, whooping and generally celebrating life when I run with the BIG man.  He’s amazing!

We took our normal route (as if the last time we ran wasn’t a couple of months ago!) down to Pyecombe and up to Wolstonbury and as we neared the top we came upon a strange thing indeed.  A flock of sheep with one token Alpaca riding shotgun, following a Freelander and followed by a couple of strange shepherd types, including a lady with a sheepdog on a lead… that was clearly scared of the sheep!  I’m surely making it all up?

We paused on the top to admire the view before ambling down past the flock and down, up, down to Clayton… via a very muddy stretch of track!

After a nano-moment of indecision at Clayton (involving a very small collision) we made for the tank tracks and despite neither of us feeling on brilliant form, ran bottom to top without stopping… although I did collect a fascinating, convoluted flint stone on the way up that is now sunning itself in the garden!

We ambled back to the cars completing 6.38 miles in 1.12, an average of 5.3mph or 11.29 minutes per mile… although before we ascended the tank tracks we had averaged more than 6mph despite the route up Wolstonbury.  Not so very unfit for a pair of occasional runners!

And now I just have time to grab a sandwich in the garden (where the temperature in the shade is currently 20 degrees, yay!), before I get on with my work!  Happy Foster!

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Plus one

My legs were only vaguely stiff from yesterday, but I thought it prudent to disperse the lactic acid regardless in view of the increased pace.

Thus I ran an easy mile on the machine in 9:11.

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Another mile

I’d not intended to run so far yesterday so I thought I’d better run off the lactic acid this morning.  Slow start but my legs warmed up after a while and I completed a mile in 9:51.

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One smile

Rather than suffer the ignominy of walking like a 1970’s robot tomorrow, which may have been somewhat disconcerting for the team in the strategy session I’m facilitating, I jumped on the machine for a mile to disperse any lactic acid which may have accumulated.

One big Monday morning smile in 9.46.

PS. It’s Chinese New Year on Thursday morning, so if you were thinking of clearing away your accumulated clutter, now is the time to do it!

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Cleats of Clayton

T’was the week before Christmas and all through the snow, the crazies were running shouting YEE, HA and HO; wearing bright lime green trainers or twee Santa hats, they dashed through the snow like a herd of mad cats.

It was a whole day since my previous run, so I felt quite privileged to be out in the snow again, this time in the company of Dai & Daren.  Kim had very kindly lent me her car, which I was pleased about as the side roads at both ends were still white and slippery… no place for the big fat tyres on my rear-wheel drive car.

Dai was sporting his latest pair of off-road runners, complete with incisive cleats… it was quite amazing to see the difference in footprints between our shoes and his… ours were imprints in the snow, his were clear cuts into the ice below.

We set off from Clayton Rec along Underhill Lane and up the tank tracks, the snow making progress heavier-going than normal, which is saying something of that hill!

We turned right at the top and ran down towards Jack & Jill, admiring the bleak views to our left.

The snow was glorious to run on though and we took the South Downs Way down past the golf course and into Pyecombe, glad that we can always be bothered to get out and run, no matter what it looks like outside.  From Pyecombe we followed our normal track all the way to the top of Wolstonbury Hill.

Once on the top we realised the bite in the wind and huddled like kittens in the lee of the trig point.

The steep-steep hill down was a mass of whoops and laughter, Dai showing us how much faster cleated shoes get to the bottom… or maybe he just has a greater sense of gravity.  Either way, his feet hardly seemed to touch the ground.

Further down we saw how brilliant the valley we always thought would be brilliant for sledging really was, which was clearly brilliant.  Although, alas, we didn’t have a sledge to rub between us.

Back at Clayton Rec we ran around the football pitch in order to reach the 6-mile mark… and then had to chase Dai as he raised our 6 miles to 10km by running around again!

So 10 brilliant kilometres,  circa 6.25 miles, 1.18… 4.8mph.  Mind you, we did laugh a lot!

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Reversed route

In view of time (apologies again Daren!) and starting from the bottom of the hill, we opted to run our intended route in the reverse direction.

Thus we ran across the main road into New Way Lane and left up into Wellcombe Bottom, before tackling the steep side of Wolstenbury Hill.  I thought this was harder than the tank tracks, but Daren thought it was shorter, so easier.  Either way, it was steep steep steep and there was a sense of euphoria at having reached the top without stopping.

From there we dropped down into Pycombe Village, up the South Downs Way through the golf course and then down past Jack & Jill… where I had a strange sense of deja vu!

4.5 miles in 54 minutes, 5mph.. certainly an improvement on my earlier speed!

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Too early

… and I mean, quite literally, too early!

I dropped Kim near to the station and hurried off to get to Jack & Jill ahead of Daren, who I knew only had a short time to run this morning.  When I got there the car park was closed and couple of workmen were busy looking at (resurfacing) it.

I quickly phoned Daren and left a message to say that I’d meet him at the bottom of the hill in Clayton.  I parked in the recreation ground and started putting my caked muddy shoes on from Monday (the Bok would NOT be impressed!)… about half way through the second one a thought occurred to me… I’ve mixed up the hours!

After another quick message to Daren to say DUH, I weighed up the choice of staying in the car with the heater on, or getting out into the morning: and went with the latter… I mean, there’s a hill right there waiting to be conquered!

It was certainly chilly out, but it didn’t seem that bad… UNTIL I turned around at Jack & Jill car park and got the sharp northerly wind in my face… WOW!  It WAS cold!

I ran back to the car park to check, then repeated the circuit to J&J, checked again and repeated a third time.  This time there was a Daren man waiting for me to go for a run!

I guess I covered about 2.5 miles in 37 minutes… 4mph.  But it was fun and the views were great!

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Dry run

I’m not sure what flavour of weather front blew across this morning, but it sure was wet outside.

Meanwhile, in the land of the warm & cosy running machine, I ran a de-lactic mile in 9:04.

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The morning after the day before

Our friends Jo & Simon very kindly gave me free reign with my hedge trimmer yesterday and I spent around 4 hours giving my upper body and core stability muscles a really great workout!

However, among the trees, bushes and hedges I tackled were two 15-foot holly trees and I now have some idea why the tree surgeons charge them £200 to trim them!

It took Simon and I about another hour to clear up all the trimmings by which time it was dark, so I have no idea how it looks in daylight.  Since Kim went to see Karen for the day, I know that the weeds will look just as they did when we arrived, alas!

Jo then very kindly produced THE most delicious lamb roast, possibly ever, washed down with smooth red wine, apple pie and Simon’s chocolate mud pile.  This latter may not be its correct name, but does correctly describe how it looked… though to be fair, it was also delicious!

So after a slightly broken night’s sleep (my wrists weren’t the only painful areas!) I decided I had better have a quick run this morning to clear at least some of the lactic acid.

One mile in 9:03.  Have a GREAT week peops!