inspiration

I've been running for over 20 years. Blimey. I would have been running for longer, but I stopped in my early '20s just as I was getting into it. What keeps you going for that long? Health, fitness, competition, looking at the scenery, fresh air, company, laughs, seeing places you wouldn't see normally...lots of those things and more, probably different things at different times. I know, for instance, that i have spent an entire day of my life doing London Marathon(s), and outside of that race I can only remember a couple of short trips to London. I've been to the top of some of the highest UK mountains, and been privileged enough to run on some of the Uk's iconic athletics tracks. And I've had some running heroes too. Here are three.

1. Ron Hill. Everyone who has been running distances in the UK knows of Ron. His world records, his medals, his invention of modern running kit, and of course his running streak. My first experience of Ron was listening on the radio as a kid in 1972 as he finished 5th in the Olympic marathon in Munich and being very disappointed with him. It wasn't until many years later, reading his epic book 'The Long Hard Road' (or, as some put it 'The Long Hard Read') that I understood the full story. He is a legend and I met him once and was just about to have a chat when he was whisked away at the end of the Tour of Tameside to do a TV interview, but i have seen him several times since at many North-West races. And he's still going, into his 70's. Class act.

2. Steve Ovett. Ridiculously good at anything he deigned to enter, he won races from short sprints up to a half-marathon, often without seemingly breaking into a sweat. I loved his anti-establishment stance, the way he ran in a Soviet Vest, the ILU sign as he crossed the line in yet another victory, and the sheer raw power and grace of his running. If you were in front with 200m to go and he was on your tail, he would hunt you down like a deer and smash past you on his way to the line. His career faded in the '80s, blighted by illness and injury, and his attempt to become the first v40 to go under 4 minutes for the Mile was ended with a bizarre training accident. Of course he doesn't grab the modern headlines, unlike his former nemesis. But then, who needs to when you're as good as Steve Ovett, thanks Steve for being the difference between 146th and 147th place in many a race :))

3. Alf Tupper. He's not real, I hear you say. Yeah, but when you're a kid, he IS real. Alf is perhaps Ron and Steve combined, with a bit of 1950's/60's 'Angry Young Men' thrown in for good measure. He would think nothing of a 48-hour shift as a welder, sleeping in the bath before a fish supper, hitchhiking to the White City before running a new world record against some sneaky Cold War agents who had secretly tried to sabotage him somewhere along the way. Or maybe he was running cross country, stopped to save someone trapped in a demolished building, rejoined the course to be the last counter and save the day for his club. Or, famously, winning the 1970 Commonwealth games for Tristan da Cunha (sorry Ron, if you thought it was really you). His biggest battles were always reserved for the establishment, and he always finished a race with "I run 'im". I wanted to write a contemporary Alf story, and one day I will, it's all up in my head..

ironbridge

Over the years, I've grown to really like Ironbridge. There was a time when I though the place was some unnecessary model village, stamping the life and history out of our local towns in order to create some corporate-style museum, and there's still some of that as far as I'm concerned, but the town is so damned pretty, and on a Spring evening the air is thick, sweet with the perfume of blossom, and oxygen-rich, the river, though slightly flooded, looks and moves like builder's tea running along the Gorge. For a while, the Ercall Stompers have been meeting up at Coalbrookdale for a stonking little run then retiring to the Dale Inn to tell tall stories. Start up by Cherry Tree hill, run down into the Dale, along and across the iconic Bridge, pick up the Severn Valley Way to the War memorial footbridge by The Boat, cross and over, back towards Ironbridge but then up the steep, steep climb at the back of the Golden Ball to Jockey Bank. From there, more climbing along Belmont, through the 'back streets' of Ironbridge, picking up Lincoln Hill and turning off for the White Horse pub ( I navigate by pubs). From there it's an eyeball-out descent down Church Hill which brings you out on the Dale road just by the Coalbrookdale pub and home. It's a sliver under 6 miles but an excellent route, covering industry, rivers, railways, war history, churches and chapels, football (Billy Wright's house) pubs and much more besides. Fab run on Tuesday, chaps :)

bluebells and running

Bluebells feature in this weekends running post. I love bluebells, they seem like the quiet angelic blue carpet of the Spring flower world, they sneak up on you, they are no-where to be seen and bam! suddenly they are everywhere - but only in those quiet, out-of-the way places which they happily share with you and your thoughts. The bluebells in this picture are on the Wrekin hill (not my picture sadly, but I know exactly where it is and yes, this hasn't been photoshopped). I decided to begin training properly again, it's been long enough after the Exe to Axe and though the holiday was lovely, after a while you need the feeling of moving along the road and paths (and hills, yes, etc etc). Goodness knows what i'll do when it's time to pack it all in, but I suppose I'll know its the right time so that will be fine. So with a spring in my step I set out for a 10-ish tour of the local countryside in bright Spring sunshine. It was so warm, I soon stripped down to my vest top at the Bluebell crossroads (like what I did there?)and i found myself putting extra on to the end of the run to take it over 10 miles, I was enjoying it so much. I quite like the idea of making it up as i go along. 10 miles in the weekend bank, and I gave up some essential VLM viewing to go on the slopes of the Ercall and path round the Wrekin on Sunday with my good friends. Apart from jarring my knee again, it was a lovely run, great that the mud is back and that the bluebells are out in force (but not as magnificent as 2011). 17.5 this weekend, mojo intact, scouring the websites for races. Normal service resumed. Next race may be the Wrekin Streak though I will have to see how the knee is before committing to this brutal little thing. Happy times.

rain

'I can't stand the rain, against my window', so sang Ann Peebles (thanks Wiki :) )

What makes a man go out to a 5-mile road race in the pouring spring rain? It can't be the course. No, not even the thrill of running down (and then up) the driveway of a former stately home and one of the UK's most iconic sporting training camps (Lilleshall National Sports Centre). It can't be the challenge of a good time, three weeks after Exe to Axe and the holiday has taken it's heavy toll. I suppose it must be the guilt of pre-entering a race and wanting to get value for money !! Anyhow, it was very wet. I set a PB for stops to tie my shoelaces, I got my feet very wet, and there was a lot of huffing and puffing in the gloom. Oh, the gloom. It was dark before we started. On the whole though, i was happy to get the Lilleshall 5 miles done and I'm hoping for a big improvement in May over the wide-open savannahs of Dawley.

that dingling feeling in my toes

ever been to Loamhole Dingle? we ran round there today. It's like a lost world - a steep sided valley with a stream (Lydebrook/ Loamhole Brook) running through the bottom and eventually to the Severn. The nice people at Severn Gorge Countryside Trust have lined the valley with a boardwalk which goes up, up, up then down, down, down. One of my favourite places round here.

'till you die...

We came back from a nice week in Cyprus to find we were all extremely tired for days afterwards; I hadn't done any training due to not feeling well while I was out there so I couldn't blame that, although we were bitten to pieces by mozzies I don't think it's malaria, and I'm fairly convinced it's not alcoholic poisoning, so it leaves the ubiquitous 'a bug' which we could have picked up on the plane back. Who knows? Anyway, we got back early Thursday and by Saturday I was no better. But today, Sunday, I woke with more of a spring in my step, singing 'Play that funky music' round the house and warming up for a nice trot round the Wrekin etc. by watching the Paris marathon. My last words as i left home being 'his last words before he left for the Wrekin were 'till you die'..'
Anyway. It was clear, cold, but I trotted comfortably to the top where the view was as good as ever. Although there were lots of cars around it was only busy on the hill and by the time we had made it to Willowmoor, we were on our own again to enjoy the peace of the woods. Nice to be home and even better to be feeling good again :0)

April, come she will.

The Exe to Axe is a 20ish mile run from Exmouth to Seaton in Devon, is a navigation event with over 4000 ft of climb following the South West Coast Path and is, by general agreement, a bit tough. I made the trip down there last year with friend and venerable club man David 'Grizzly' Arnold. Regular readers of the blog will note that we do a few trips like this, so it was no surprise that 2012 was back on the agenda following a successful Grizzly outing earlier this year.
Anyway, enough of that. We went down on Saturday as neither of us fancied the 5am start this year. The only reasonably-priced place to stay though was in Exeter YHA. We kipped in a dorm which had an air of the film The Great Escape about it - on closer inspection the bunk beds would appear to have had some of the slats removed, presumably for the tunnel (which we never found..)

Still, a few beers seemed to make it all go quite swimmingly and take the pain away!!
Up early, and after a hearty YHA breakfast we went to the race.









We were doing it as a relay, neither of us fancied or had trained for the whole race. Dave tried to convince me that the 2nd leg (Sidmouth - Seaton) was about the same length and difficulty as the 1st leg (Exmouth - Sidmouth) but the organiser laid waste to that hopeful claim by telling the assembled company at the start that this wasn't so and that the 2nd half was quite a bit harder(insert smiley with sticky-out tongue) (ah yes, this one )



Due to Dave's recent battle with injury, his chances of beating last year's time of about 1.57 were very low but with an optimistic heart and under the bluest of skies and seas he set to his task, while I was left to dash to Budleigh Salterton (4 miles) where I was to provide drinks, camera and, if needed, a motivational speech. He got to Budleigh in good spirits, I began to get a little concerned he may have gone off TOO quickly and the wheels were going to come off. I zoomed off to Sidmouth and the start of my bit.
As my estimated start time loomed, I began to get a little worried for him but I needn't have - he came bounding along the prom almost a minute up on last year's time. We had a chance of beating the 2011 time after all!
I set off immediately uphill, then on to the cliffs where it just seemed like climb after climb, many on steep steps which was hard to get any running rhythm at all. There was a steep drop to the beach with a ridiculously but mercifully short stretch on the pebbles before a stiff climb back up. But hills aside, it was dry, the running was good and I was reeling the others in and feeling pretty good. At the drinks table at Branscombe I made the mistake of taking orange juice which aggrevated my asthma a bit but I pressed on, knowing that Seaton, and the finish was just round the next bay. By the village of Beer, all was going well and I stopped for a brief chat with a very excited Dave who was positively jumping at the prospect of beating 2011's time . Just the steep steps and climb out of Beer, and once at the top it was almost downhill all the way to the finish. I misjudged the last half mile along the prom a bit, I picked it up a bit without knowing where the finish was (novice mistake ) but anyway I got in in good order. I checked the watch and to my amazement I had knocked 14 minutes off my time for last year, we were 15 minutes quicker in total. Wow.
So, we were in celebratory mood all day. This was made even better, if that were possible, by our finishing 3rd relay team overall, a virtual podium finish made even sweeter by the fact that my running partner is (a very young) 65 years old. But as he's only 18 in his head, he's talking about going back next year to challenge again...
all my pictures are here on photobucket

March. It came, it went

The planned trip to cloud 9 fell race never came off. Injury and bad weather put an end to that. However, I did manage a trip to Devon (Seaton) for the Grizzly (cub run). I had to drop out of the main Grizzly as, well it was too long and hard for my level of training. However, the cub run was very pleasant indeed. Add to that some lovely sunny & warm weather and it was a pretty good day out. Here I am right at the finish, all big smiles and that. Lovely!

Happy New Year

Crikey, it's nearly March and it's all gone quiet over here. Thought I'd do a race update of what has happened so far in '12 in order of toughness.

(1) Stourbridge Stagger 10 (Feb) I was looking forward to a good run but I was let down badly by ice & snow which made it treacherous (for me). Always a toughie.
(2) Tough Ten, W-S-M. (last week). A bit uninspiring, to be honest. It had all the feel of a 'big' race but never quite got out of 1st gear, a bit like me I suppose. 10 miles of which the majority was off road, either along the beach or in the woods. The woods were quite hard going up & down.
(3) Blymhill 10k MT tough, windy, lots of off road, much like Pattingham. Liked it a lot.
(3) Shifnal 10k MT Not much MT but fast finish.

next up: Cloud 9 Fell Race. Yippee!

Proper Chrimbo and a challenge.

Happy Christmas to anyone reading (ok, that is MAINLY me. I know)
Some thoughts on the Wrekin Hills Challenge:
Take several points on a trip round the Wrekin, and provided you visit them all, you knit together a very nice - and challenging - little challenge.
Starting & finishing at the gate at the foot of the main path, visit these points in any order:
Wrekin * Ercall * Lawrence Hill * Maddocks Hill * Little Hill * Willowmoor Ridge *

I'm working on the grid refs at the moment, will add them later.
Do it, record the route, record your time and join the "club" :-)

Mortimer Forest 11/12/11

I had a bad experience at MF in '09 which resulted in my damaging my ankle and being out for most of '10, leaving me fat and demotivated. I'm still a bit fat and demotivated but at least I'm running better now, though I have a problem with slippy downhills and my stud-less Walshes don't help me at all and I'm only running in them out of a misguided sense of loyalty :-)

So.. those are the excuses posted; actually Mortimer Forest '11 was a good run. Tough as ever. The first real climb is a hands& knees scramble up a muddy bank, if you don't get well up the field it's very slow progress. That is then followed by a lot of trail running which was quite muddy in places. There is a sequence of small hills near the water facility which were not a lot of fun for the weak & feeble rubbish slidey man. I was running very well on climbs, but once on the slippery stuff all bets were off and I reckon it cost me about 10 minutes. The 2nd climb was tough as usual and by High Vinalls there were lots of hands on knees. Saw my friend Colin hiding from the elements in the trees with a camera; in any other circumstances this is slightly deviant behaviour but Colin laughs in the face of convention and anyway he would have been freezin' up there. One tortuous descent through the trees later and I was on the road home but feeling not a little disappointed that I hadn't done myself justice. But on reflection I finished in good order with no aches and pains at all so I feel I've gained revenge on this tough race. What's next? new shoe investment, for sure. Thx to Al Tye for the lovely pic :-)

Gravy Pud Fell Race 4/11

It was undeniably grim yesterday. We left home early to visit Gill's mum and for me to escape to go and run the imaginitively-titled NorthernBoysLoveGravy Gravy Pud Fell Race

.

I had planned the trip to th 'Nth' degree, even going on to Google streetview to see what the road turns looked like, where the best place was for car parking etc.

This wasn't really the issue, the issue was the weather. As we approached Stockport it began to rain a little, the nearer to Tintwistle I got, the lower the temperature was and the more the rain intensified. It went dark, and the warning signs indicating whether it was safe to use the Woodhead Pass looked like they were twitching into action. I parked up safely near the village hall which was very small an

d had more of a hint of a caravan about it. I sent a text to some friends which had more than a hint of a last will & testament about it.

All the time, rain poured off the slate roofs and ran down the m

ain street. Oh, well, I'd better find the pub then.

The pub was a very pleasant little place, just off a green space/war memorial which on a summer's day would have been very lovely. But on a day like today, well I just wanted to get inside. Every one was very friendly inside, they had the fire going etc. Top stuff! There were the day's papers to have a browse through and in the corner one intrepid runner was carbo loading with a pint before the race. Which is a bit 'ard.

To the race. The start (and finish) was along a cobbled lane which took us out onto the moor. Once upon the moor there was a sharp climb on a trail and then a drop to a narrow wooded bridge. This was not good, as not having local knowledge and being a bit of a girl I lost about 20 places cos I didn't cut the corner. Grr.

I made a few back on the climb away from the stream, and normal order was resumed until the real big climb of the day which was a hands & knees scramble up to a little cairn(Lees Hill). By this time it was hailing into the rain and stinging every part of the body not covered by cloth, and even some that was.

On the grass was a sparse covering of - yes - snow. Eek! Over the top we go - and a long, fast descent which wasn't as quick as it should have been, because of the deep slippy mud that was fast becoming a feature of the run. But I got going ok, and didn't lose any places. Yet more climb, then a patch though some trees and deep, deep water puddles/mud as we dropped down to the reservoir. I was going really well here and reeled a few in. I steeled myself for the inevitable collapse as we climbed back up to the start lane but found that once I was up the climb, though the taps were full on, I was able to maintain it all the way to the finish. Not a brilliant finish position - but I'm sure the performance is a considerable improvement on recent showings. It felt good and strong.

This was a brilliant race. My only regret is not stopping for a pint, but as hypothermia was a real prospect, it was a quick jog back to the car and true warmth :)

Winter Sun

I was out on the hill today.

The sun was shining in all its Winter glory.

The dark days are now upon us and the Winter Sun is so different to her Summer counterpart. There is no warmth in the Winter sun. She wears a coat and scarf, not a dress.

Her rays are low, bright and they bleach the landscape; green is grey, grey is black, brown is black too.

The sheep are blurred and uninterested, barely lifting their heads. The wind is sharp and it cuts through you if you're daft enough to stand still.

Your ears hurt, your toes are cold and your nose runs all the time.

Even the birds say "why me?" as they look for some shelter in the bare trees.

But the holly leaves have hardened up now in time for Christmas and the Mistletoe, well yes, that looks good too. If you see a Robin, that's a welcome dash of red.

And in a few days, the nights will start drawing out again....

Little Stretton - Stiperstones Time Trial 27/11/11

We arrived in good time at Little Stretton to register for the Time Trial. Mike was convinced it was All Stretton, but as he didn't know where either villages were, that didnt seem to matter much :)

There was none of this 'register at the back of the car' nonsense as in past TTs - we went into the (tiny) Village Hall, handed over some (tiny) cash and in return got a (tiny) electronic dibber. Yahoo! TT ...in the space age.

Mike had all kit packed and ready. Waterproof, drinks, phone, entrenching tool, glasses, emergency rations etc. I felt very unprepared by comparison, but I did have a map, a strawberry chewit bar and a yearning for the great outdoors.

We got an early start time as Mike had to be back in time to go and "get his eyes tested". So, sadly... no pub. Gutted :(

We dibbed in ..and started off. All was going well, we passed the cottage - now restored and looking lovely after years of neglect - and passed the Yearlet (glad we're not going up there!) and then picked up a sheep trail. Biiiig mistake - we should have kept to the stream bed. Though it went the right way, the trail was narrow and I fell off it and down towards the stream, some 30 ft below. Aaaaagh.. thank goodness for a tree to hang on to!!

We ended up to the right-hand side of Long Synaulds and went straight up and over, following a couple of people. Mike didn't like this very much, I dont think he really likes hills. Well, not 'proper' hills, with rocks and stuff on. I was loving it, but was slightly concerned as to where we were going to come out...

...which proved to be a valid concern. We came out on the road, but for some reason instead of picking up the road on the right to Bridges we went left towards top of Pole Bank . We were only about 150m out, but I forgot how featureless it was and there was no-one else around.. We followed a path up side of Pole bank and started to descend, then we saw the traffic in the distance and I realised where we were. We'd probably taken about a 10 min detour, my fault for not concentrating but nothing in the great scheme of "We are Lost East Devon Style". Mike wanted to take the direct route back to the road rather than the path I suggested, but it would have been a hands & knees climb, he didn't see the contours. Must be the eyes...

Anyway, on to the road, then straight off the road at Shooting Box and all was going well. We detoured through the woods as usual at Bridges, and then just after the pub picked up the road towards the Hollies, where we met some runners who had gone the other way at Ratlinghope. At this time, Mike began to suffer with the climbs and so had a little walk. That was fine, it was a lovely day. We did more of a walk-run all the way up to the farm and yet more walking once we were out on the Stiperstones. It was a bit muddy , Mike was quite apologetic about keeping me waiting but I didn't mind - it was such a lovely morning, you could see for miles. We followed it with a nice & tidy - if slightly slippery - descent into Stiperstones and a steady finish. We dibbed in about 2 hours and Mike was disappointed at that but we would have comfortably beaten that if we hadn't had to detour, even though there was some walking. I did think at the time that I quite fancied making my way back to the start ON FOOT but as my car was at Stiperstones, that being surely madness of the highest order. Maybe next year :)

Passing Clouds

Another stunning 149th place,

another set of bruises,

another hour spent cleaning the shower

after the race..

Fellbound

I love the work of Fellephant
here is the brilliant "Fellbound" :)

race catch up time again

2 more races to report on:
(1) Worcestershire Beacon Race, Great Malvern 8/10/11
I first did the Worcestershire Beacon Hill race at Great Malvern about 15 years ago; it was in the first FRA fixture calendar ever, and, so the Starter said at the weekend, it was the 53rd consecutive running of the event. So a good history lesson there
The course has changed since I first took part; there used to be a lot more road running in it but now it's almost all off road, along some good trails and paths. Imagine a posher Wrekin, and you've got it (..it was from Malvern after all). I think the Beacon is about the same height as the Wrekin so it was quite runnable, pity it was so dry because with a bit of mud it would have presented a far tougher challenge
Great run, about 7-8 miles (no-one's really sure) nearly 300 finishers and unusually, a Saturday afternoon race. I went as flat out as I could but eased up a lot on the long descent to the finish. That's my version. You could of course believe I was knackered instead.

(2) My 20th consecutive Bells of Pattingham

It was a beautiful morning eventually, but chilly to begin with. An autumnal 7 degrees as I drove through Telford, and the turn off the Rabbit run seemed to come oh-so-quickly, I nearly missed it. How many years have I travelled this road?
Arrived at the school car park early and in good order, and went for the usual aimless wander round. By now it was getting a little more sunny and that lovely low white mist was receding quickly. After establishing that not much was going on in the Church Hall, I met up with Steve from NDRC and we had a nice chat while watching the junior run set off. It turns out he has also done 20 Bells, though he missed one somewhere along the way. So maybe it's not that rare, or maybe it's just the two of us!
Start time soon came around. After having made the crucial vest/t-shirt decision I wandered to the start line wondering whether wearing studs was a good idea, the ground underfoot was as hard as nails. I met with Bernie and a couple of other Newport runners and also a couple of lads from the Harriers. One chap pointed out the huge number of Sloes on the hedge next to the start and I though maybe I could come back under cover of darkness? Um ok, maybe no, that might be construed as trespass.
I decided to see what life was like at the front of the race, and so took a spot in the 2nd line. I had toyed with the idea of going to the back but this seemed like a daft idea and was quickly shelved. I also wanted to test out my theory of 'if you get a good start it makes a real difference'. What I failed to realise, however, was that it's one thing being handily placed at the start but actually getting away properly is another thing entirely. When the hooter went, whoosh! everyone ran past me leaving me floundering in the weeds. So much for that idea then, by the time I got to the bottleneck at the bottom I was almost walking again.
The first couple of miles were quite hard, picking my way through slower runners and feeling quite tired in my legs, perhaps a better warm-up (or indeed a warm up at all) would have been a good idea. By the time we got to the sharp climb by the house I was chugging a bit, progress was slow and steady. Perhaps I had put too much in too early? The houseowners had relaid the drive with shingles, definitely shades of the Grizzly there. Crunch, crunch.
Once over the climb though, things were going swimmingly well. Running was easy and I was picking off quite a few. By the farm / drinks station at halfway, the Sun was fully out and it had the feel of a lazy Summer's evening. I stopped and had a refresing drinky, pouring the rest over me for a cold shower (!) before I set off again. By the time we got to the house and steep drop, I was in the zone a bit but began to focus on miles left which perhaps wasn't a good idea. I slowed a bit going down the hill, but then I focused on a lady runner who seemed to be motoring a bit so I tucked in with her up to mile 5. This did me the power of good, I felt the best I have felt perhaps all year for this short while!
We skirted the woods 5-6ml and instead of turning left up the big climb, and over the two fields to home it was straight on to the road but then sharp left go along the edge of the two fields next to the road. It was a pretty steady climb and I was glad to get it over. I refused to sprint the last bit. I was very pleased with my finishing time and probably could have squeezed a bit more out if pushed, I felt good at the end. Nice to feel my racing legs coming back.
Cake was slightly disappointing but welcome. Looked at the commemorative t-shirts, but it wasn't worth purchasing more evidence of my 20/20. But the horse brass is nice.

Race Updates

couple of brief updates along my trail ..

7/9 - Madeley Matchmaker 5km. Dark, gloomy, slightly wet run round the outskirts of Madeley and Woodside. My own 20th anniversary 'cuz this is where it all started. Nothing major to report other than (1) impressed with the size of the field (200+ ?) and (2) its year zero again - i'm back on the long road to recovery ( which now seems a longer road than ever :0) )
11/9 - Goodrich 10k . Nice loopy thing round Coven near Wolverhampton. Not a great time for me, fairly close to my personal worst for 10k although in mitigation m'lud it has been a few years since the last race at this distance.

Easy..like a Sunday morning..

Late to rise, and I knew I had to back in time for Mo's brilliant 5km win :) so a climb up and over the Ercall Hill was in order. It's steep enough to get the heart pumping but not too long to count as "a day out in the hills" :) There werent too many folks about; Telford is still asleep, or watching Sunday Kitchen, or out at a car booty or maybe doing a bit of XBoxing. Saw a young couple out walking toy dogs and a bloke with some psycho beast on a lead, but little else until I got to the golf course. It looked like the Hash have been out in the Limekiln woods again, I spied the familiar sawdust marks and then noticed that there had also been some coppicing going on, trees and sawdust all over the path - heh heh that'll confuse the hash house harriers, and that's before the beer takes hold :) I then had a strange encounter with a tooled-up platoon of elderly ramblers which I won't go into here, and then it was just a question of dodging the bad golfers and cruising home past the cricket game on the Bowring Rec. Easy, like a Sunday morning.

Random Thought Generator

Watched thoroughly enjoyable IAU World Trail Champs on C4 at weekend. The Canadian runner impressed me with how he manages to blank things out of his mind during a run - he gets in a "running trance". I tried something similar today. Anything to take my mind off sore legs and a never-ending climb. When you are trying to keep thoughts out, it's amazing what random thoughts actually do pop in and out. I tried my hardest to keep all of them out, Apart from one. What does your favourite soup taste like then?