Foster Runs

I arose slightly earlier than normal for a sleepy Sunday and was out in my running gear by 7.45am… in the car.  The weather was less than lovely, but I had a long overdue arrangement to run with Phil (Garmin-man) on his home turf.

When I say less than lovely, I had such torrential rain on my journey that the road actually disappeared a couple of times.  I saw one car which had just spun into the central reservation on the M3 and another which had morphed into a tree, deep in a ditch.  Needless to say that between the rain and the obligatory getting lost, my normally one-hour drive took 90 minutes.

I find a genuine challenge in navigating in the space between the M3 and the M4 and apparently do not need a car to feel this way… within minutes of starting our run I was once more completely disorientated.  The area really is stunning, but other than being able to say that we ran on some paths, some pretty back roads and occasionally along slightly larger roads, I have NO idea where we went.  Other than we ran around the edge of Ascot racecourse and up the High Street.

We had a good pace going from the start, but alas this started to tail off slightly as we progressed.  This despite me slowly taking off gloves, hat and jacket to stay cool.  Our average speed over a carefully designed 12 mile circuit was 6.3mph though… as reported by the aforementioned Garmin after which Phil is named.

This is faster than our 12 mile run in Sussex four months ago on August 9th and also faster than my 12 mile run on 22nd November… although to be fair, the latter did include running up onto Ditchling Beacon and falling down the other side!

Back at base I was gratefully refuelled by means of a huge egg, bacon and tomato roll, washed down by plenty of tea and coffee.

I then set out for the return journey and as per normal, pretty much instantly got lost, ending up driving back via… well actually I have no idea, other than the fact that I managed to cross the M3 without realising it and join the M25 at the Chertsey turn-off!

Maybe I should go there more often… invitations?

Events, which now seem to elude me, somehow conspired this week to prevent me posting last Sunday’s run.

Nikki was already at Falmer when I pitched up and we quickly decided to sit in the car to wait for Cliff, on account of it being COLD outside!  In reality it wasn’t that cold, but it really did feel that way, possibly on account of a sharp wind laden with occasional heavy rain!

Having finally extricated himself from a traffic jam and parked behind us, Cliff sent a text message to say ‘what we doing this for?’… the reply was ‘we’re not!’

Of course, we did, running up alongside the Falmer Road and across to Newmarket Copse, then down to the Houseman Farm bridge over the A27.  There are two long hills on the other side, with a sharp downhill in between and Cliff & I bullied Nikki into running just about every step… she actually didn’t take much persuading but pretending to be a sergeant major was fun nevertheless!

At the point above Balmer Down where we normally turn back down the hill to Falmer, some idiot suggested we carry on up the hill!  This took us up to the path I often run along on the top of the Downs near to Blackcap.

Turning left and into the wind, we ran along the top as far as Streathill Farm, then south to Mary’s Farm, although if you look on the map you’ll find there are two ways to get there… of course, Cliff took us deliberately the less direct way!

Mary’s Farm lays in a lovely sheltered bowl and the road out towards Falmer starts by rising steeply for half a mile.  Cliff and I ran it side by side, virtually step for step, just slightly faster than would otherwise be sensible.  Fast enough that he had to resort to an old excuse to stop at the top… while I used him stopping as an excuse to stop too.

Nikki was more prudent, but just  far enough behind to not qualify for an old git’s break before we carried on down the other side to the cars!

9.65 tough miles were dispatched in one hour 40 minutes giving an average of 5.8mph.

Nought has been done running-wise by yours truly since then, although I have a different run planned for tomorrow and I’ll try not to make you wait another week to hear about it!

The weather this morning was almost springlike… not only was it quite mild, but it was also really changeable.  From welcome sunlight first thing, it quickly darkened for a band of heavy rain.  Fortunately I was still sitting inside with my espresso at the time, in no hurry whatsoever to get out.

When the weather cleared a little, I took it as my cue to leave.  My plan was to run down the pavement through Hassocks to Clayton, up past the windmills to the Beacon, down to Ditchling, along to Hassocks and back along the pavement.

After the initial ten minutes, when my mind did nothing but complain, I got into my stride and I reached Stonepound Crossroads in Hassocks at the 30 minute mark… average 6.5mph.

I then ran on to Clayton, up the crazy-steep track from the cricket pitch to Jack & Jill, with the wind full in my face and then on up to the summit where the tank tracks join from the left.  This second section took 28 minutes and I managed an average speed of 5.65mph… not bad bearing in mind the size of the hill in the middle.  It was pretty bleak on the top with a full wind and dark clouds threatening.

I then ran across to the Beacon and down into the calm of the track that leads down underneath the Beacon road… just in time to avoid some really sharp, wind-driven rain.  It really was magical down there, almost silent save for the slap of my feet and I tried to maintain my balance on the slippery, chalk-strewn uneven ground.

When my feet finally did slide out from under me, in a dramatic fashion, I was glad that I had left the sharp stones behind and that I landed, albeit heavily, on a smooth, hard, algae covered chalk bank.  I lay there, winded, for a couple of minutes, using the time to snap a couple of photos for you to smirk at.  Key contact points were my hip, elbow and shoulder… alas the photos don’t do justice to the quantity of durgy chalk marking these places!

Being so far from home, I was grateful that I could still run, so I did just that.  Firstly down into Ditchling, where a combination of rain and pain made me disinclined to run back via Hassocks.  I opted instead for the more direct route north along the road to Folders Lane, where I snuck through the houses back home in the most efficient way I could find.

The one hour 58 minutes final tally meant that, despite the fall, I had managed 6.35mph for the second hour and 6.1mph average overall across the 12 miles covered.  Not bad Foster!

My hitherto shiny runners finally got an autumn dousing yesterday morning.  If anything, it was long overdue, since I bought them in August… the Bok would be amazed!

It had chucked it down with rain on the way to Falmer, but it was quite calm as I waited for the others to arrive.  I had chosen to wear several top layers, but was still sporting my summer shorts… until Andy & Paula arrived and I persuaded myself that maybe the longs were a better idea.

Cliff then arrived wearing pedal pushers (I shall say nothing) and then Nikki, who having recently spent a month in the Himalayas, was on top form.

The first hill out of Falmer is a little like the one up from Jack and Jill: for some reason I just have to race myself up it… so much for a warm-up.  The others caught up and from then on it was a much more congenial run.

We ran out to Newmarket copse, then up the hill and east along the path along the top.  We dropped down to Standean Bottom and then took the  l o n g  hill back up to the top of Woodingdean.  I remember running it before on the Brighton 20… it’s a hill that seems as if it will never reach the top.

The view from the top is pretty good though!

From there we ran up to the radio mast, took the next path on the left and, in the absence of surplus energy, cut the corner off across the Access Land, dropping straight down to the path back to Falmer.  There was no racing down the final hill, just a gentle jog to the end.

8.45 miles in 1.33 is not especially fast, but bearing in mind I’d not run for two weeks and it was a particularly hilly route, it’s not bad.

In our garden, in the midst of the ‘burbs and surrounded by trees, houses and tall hedges, the beginning of the GMT half of the year was heralded by a gloriously calm, warm and sunny morning.  (you have remembered to put your clocks back, haven’t you?).  I felt that the Gore jacket and beanie hat may well be superfluous, but took them anyway, just in case wearing shorts turned out to be a little keen.

Just as well, as it was a somewhat different story at Jack & Jill, where the car door was nearly ripped out of my hands by the wind.  In fact, with hot sun, whistling wind and even a little rain from the scudding clouds in the course of my run, I was reminded of autumn, summer and spring… like a timely recap of the year we’ve had, ahead of the onset of winter.

I cannot say that I was flowing along today as it was darn hard work, even with the wind bowling me along from my rear starboard quarter, but there were a lot of other runners and walkers around today and one simply HAS to keep up appearances.  At one point I saw two runners on the hill ahead of me and I felt a familiar surge of energy push me up the hill in pursuit.  It took me a while to catch them, but not long to leave them behind when I did.

I got to Blackcap at 43 minutes, thanks in part to the thought of running with Mark Johnson and then I pushed onward to do the loop that he likes to do down to Lewes racecourse.  As I did so, the wind brought a brief but heavy smattering of rain, as if to suggest that this might not be a great idea.

The turning point, which once again I have had trouble spotting on the map, was at almost exactly one hour… and the thought of the other hour-plus to get back made me wonder why I had come so far.

The first hill back up from there is about 2 miles long and was hard going indeed, especially with the wind pummelling the cobwebs from my head.  In fact the balance of the run had this same characteristic and even the downhills were tough work.

I paused briefly at Ditchling Beacon 1.43 into my run and wondered whether I could make it back to the car in 17 minutes, bearing in mind it had taken me 19 minutes to get here at the start of the run.  I decided to give it a try.  This involved stretching out my stride going down the hills and just keeping my nose to the grindstone on the uphill sections.  As I came down the final hill towards the windmills and into the blessed shelter of gorse on either side, so my stride lengthened and the people I ran past must have thought I was completely barking mad.

As I turned into he car park I hit the stop button on the stopwatch… at exactly 2 hours.  Along with a GREAT feeling of satisfaction, I felt a real need to collapse in a heap!  It was a total relief to get into the car and out of the wind.

I confess to being slightly less joyous right now however, having looked back to my post from November 25th 2007 when I ran the same route with Mark… 9 minutes faster!  So much for progress… although it reiterates the additional speed that you can conjure up just by running with someone else… something which will hopefully play to my advantage come marathon day!