The mirk cleared and the sky lightened, so I took the opportunity to get out for a run. I was only intending to do the same as last week, but I decided to take a slightly different path, going down the next valley over.
En route the path went through a mud trap… a ten metre stretch of well-trodden, watery cow-patted mud between two gates… I laughed every step of the way through!
The route then took me down to the village of Ovingdean, where there’s a dirty BIG hill to climb to get back up to the path I ran down last week… Daren would be proud that I ran all the way up, albeit very slowly!
The path back up the ridge seemed steeper than it did last week, at least until my legs got over the steep hill! I glanced over my shoulder to see another runner catching me up… I was grateful to be pushed and ran a little harder to delay the inevitable, but he reeled me in and then ran on ahead as if I was standing still!
4 miles in 45 minutes across the rolling Downs… not bad going Foster!
Back might be a stronger word than I intended, but it was certainly a second run this year! I took the same route as two weeks ago, mainly so that knew how far I’d run. It was hard work, but there was less of a direct wind against me and I felt as if I made better progress overall. I also wasn’t quite so exhausted afterwards, such that I walked down the garden, watered the plants in the greenhouse and raked leaves from all the different lawns.
It was a glorious afternoon… though rain is forecast for the next couple of weeks by all accounts! 2.5 miles in 27 minutes is not bad going 🙂
Inspired by one of my Mum’s amazing carers, and four months on from my last run with Daren (which was my only proper run in 2025!), I finally made it out the door for a run.
I ran up across the field, down the path to the top of Ovingdean, and then back.
It was hard work running down the hill as there was a fairly strong headwind blowing directly against me… but that made the return leg a little easier, despite the gradient.
Who am I kidding… the whole thing was super hard work for my poor legs!
The path across the field currently has a single electric fence at each end that you have to duck under… tired legs on the return journey meant that I lost my balance and ended up with a nice gentle roll in the mud!
Whilst Strava didn’t capture the return leg, I reckon it was around 2.5 miles in maybe 30 minutes or so.
I really didn’t feel much like a run this morning, not least because it was chucking it down with rain! However, as Daren often says, “rain before seven, clear by eleven”, and so it was today.
I met Daren and Lyra at Jack & Jill windmills and whilst Jack was still missing it’s sails, Jill’s sails were merrily turning in the wind… I can’t remember the last time that I saw that!
We walked to the top of Home Hill and then jogged down into the dip and to the top of the next rise. Then we resumed walking until we got to Ditchling Beacon. .. whilst Lyra quite literally ran circles around us, and around one or two dogs that she encountered on the way. There were occasional flurries of light rain, but nothing to really dampen the experience.
We decided to drop down the scarp slope and walk along the underhill lane. The going as we descended was slippery, and at one point I ended on the ground, propped up with my hand in a bramble bush… ouch!
We chose one of the borstals to get back up to the top… the view to the north was amazing!
From the top of Home Hill, we gently jogged down to the car park. Just under 5 miles, according to Daren’s app, in just under 100 minutes. .. mainly walking, though we may well have run a mile in total.
I’m curious to see how effective my coffee runs have been for my recovery… I’ll let you know next time I post… hopefully you won’t have another 10-month wait this time!
I feel compelled to add a postscript: I put my running kit on to wash, and at the last minute added my Gore running jacket, as it had mud down one sleeve after my slip. The jacket is more than 15 years old, but is branded FosterRuns.com and is super-comfortable, so I’ve never felt the need to replace it. Midway through the washing cycle I realised that my car keys were in the zip pocket 🙁
I stopped the cycle and removed the totally sodden jacket… which had a perfectly dry set of keys zipped in the pocket. That speaks volumes about the quality of Gore jackets! Phew!
It’s been a while, but house guests often stimulate the neural links to spark new ideas, or forgotten habits. So, with thanks to my temporary house guests Nigel and particularly Kristin, I have done both yoga and a one-mile run on the machine this morning.
Regular readers will already know that running tends to lower my resting heart rate and help me think more clearly, both of which would be useful at the moment given a range of really interesting cognitive challenges… ones which are largely positive in nature, but gnarly nevertheless 🙂
While I have your attention, I’d also like to report that I had a short mental break last night. It had been raining most of the day, and I’d had my head buried in my work, so I stuck my head out of the window to get some fresh air before bed and realised that it was really calm and warm outside.
So I went to sit in the teahouse for a while, with the sweet fragrance of the honeysuckle drifting across from time to time, and a short rain shower pattering gently on the roof for added effect. The photo below makes it look quite light, but by the time I headed back to the house it was difficult to see in the darkness. Overall, very calming 🙂
Okay, so I was running around the local ‘hood again, and not deep in the woods at all.
But the neurons in my head have been firing up nicely recently, to first compose a piece of guitar music that even the amazing Lucas Cook might approve of, and to then put some half-decent words to it (my first new song lyrics since the beginning of 2022).
The words reference a place on the western edge of Washington State called La Push where lush rainforest gives way to a bright beach that takes the full force of the Pacific and regularly collects the remnants of waterlogged trees the size of articulated lorries.
Deep in the woods at the edge of the world
There’s a place where the waves come thundering in
Some that are blue, some that are tall
And some that come crashing to the surprise of us all
et al, la, la
My head has been full of other stuff too, recently, so I really needed a run this morning. It really wasn’t an appealing thought, as I sat in the teahouse with my coffee, but the sun was out in full force and I pushed on out the door.
I stuck to the short circuit so I could get back to my desk, but just over 2 miles in 19:31, 9.42 mins/mile, is a really good pace for me 🙂
Sitting in the teahouse this morning was really lovely, quadspresso in hand, listening to the waterfall gently splishing.
Running has been on my mind recently, for all of the reasons I mentioned a few weeks ago and this morning the planets aligned to actually make it happen.
My now-normal short circuit is just sufficient to keep me exercised, but today I added a short exploratory loop which marginally increased the distance… breaking a cognitively-limiting pattern.
In other news, I’ve lost count of the age of my running shoes, but they are still surprisingly comfortable, despite the slowly deconstructing inners and the only-distant memory of splodge. However, the guys at Run would not approve and I really must visit them soon to confess my sins & make amends 🙂
2.25 miles in 22:23 , 9.55 mins/mile, is not a bad pace for me, and I even look as if I’m enjoying it more than last time 🙂
I woke up too early this morning, with a head full of work.
Early enough to do my yoga set, then sit in the teahouse with a coffee, reading an old copy of New Scientist, and then sit playing my guitar whilst drinking a second cup.
All of which was a huge diversion tactic to put off going for a run.
Cognitively kicking & screaming, I eventually ventured out of the door.
I wasn’t in the right frame of mind for it to be a particularly fulfilling run, so instead it was just hard graft (which you can see from the pic below).
Mind you, I did at least notice that it was a lovely warm day… and that a whole series of people returned my passing greeting 🙂
1.97 miles in 20 minutes (I’m still not sure how the same route can vary in distance by so much from one week to the next!) and still back before 8am.
Sleep better,, lower resting heart rate, more positive, more alert, think both more clearly and more creatively, cognitive input from the local neighbourhood, more to write about, better able to run next time.
Today’s run was slow and hard work, but in a comfortable way… that is, I wasn’t gasping for air at any point!
As normal, the more time that elapses from my previous run, the harder it is to get out to do the next one. But it was a beautiful spring morning and this just tipped the balance 🙂
The grass-cutters have been out (a mix of local authority and locals, I suspect, given the attention to detail) and the area really had that well-heeled look that I remember from the first time I came to look at the house, more than 15 years ago now.
I think that people in government must underestimate the power of the simple things that directly affect the people who they hope will vote for them. Long-term readers will know that grass verges are a subject that I often return to, but potholes are a particular challenge at the moment. There’s nothing quite like a daily commute along a third-world road, dodging potholes that would kill a tyre if you weren’t paying attention, to give people the impression that the quality of local services generally is falling.
Having not run fro four weeks, I took it really gently, especially as my knees were initially a little grumpy. Beyond this though my fitness wasn’t quite as bad as I had feared and I really enjoyed my run in the sun.
So, a little slower, but still okay, with two miles covered in 19.46 and a reasonably even split in the pace, despite the gradient in the first half.
