good garmin!

my slightly more talented fellrunning friends / neighbours simon, kate and kirsten bailey had better watch out. today i did a local roaches / gradbach route averaging around 8min/mls which might put the fear of god into them all. well maybe not quite. i havent a clue what happened to my gizmo but it definitely got carried away with the distance. i think a more conservative 10miles was about right..ah well..i enjoyed my moment of glory and a PB while it lasted

my other gizmo wasnt on top form either as both these pictures will testify..i know it was a bit of a pea souper on the very top but not this bad! the trig and charlie are only 4 feet from my phone!



all in all a great day for running a bad day for technology

the lakes

a short trip to borrowdale started with fairly ok spring like sunny weather then, over the course of 5 days, descended into sub zero snow and hail storms. thats the lakes for you i guess

not wanting to hog the holiday i decided i would rise early (as usual) and get my running done early before the clan were up and ready for whatever each day's entertainments might bring. so each day i had a 3 hour running window starting from the break of daylight

day 1 - one of my favourite runs in the area, as its 100% runnable from latrig to blease fell, taking the cumbrian way round the back of skiddaw and back via lonscale fell..a lollipop route (as hayfella would refer to it) in the classic sense. not only do you get a great run but for quite little climbing effort you get some cracking views too back over to borrowdale




day 2 - a bit more of a climb today taking in catbells, maiden moor, high spy and back down into borrowdale. catbells on a busy day is to be avoided but first thing in the morning this is another favourite routing of mine, done this time from memory without a map. the weather was blustery high up to say the least and the clag constantly threatened to envelope the tops. the two shots were taken at the same time and show the stark difference between one side of the mountain and the other




day 3 - a chance to recce what will be the start of day 2 of the coast to coast...out of rosthwaite, with a continous and largely runnable climb up the valley towards grasmere common...



..with charlie boy sporting his new spring fashion wear



day 4 - the slow twisty drive in a pea souper over to ennerdale lake left little time for actual running when we arrived there. i'd originally planned on running through to black sail youth hostel and back but ended up simply running round the lake. still it was good to see this bit of the c2c in what represents the opening part of the lakeland section



day 5 - just like the weatherman had said it was blowing a freezing gale and the mountains were starting to whiteout



for our final run before heading home common sense got the better of me as i opted to simply run round derwentwater and avoid any high areas. im glad i did as it was blowing an icy cold gale even in the valley and it was easy to imagine the difficulty you could quite quickly get into high up

so what did i learn from these outings?
firstly, i need to put in much more hill work than i have been doing
secondly, i must ensure more longer back to backs as planned and will probably jettison the two 50+ mile races in scotland ive entered in favour of doing back to backs in the lakes
thirdly, my map reading aint too bad but i need some compass work in case the clag comes down on us heavily
fourthly, charlie was on top form with no problems at all
and finally, i like to make it up as i go along and not to have everything planned

oh and by the way, if you havent already done so..go and see Alice in Wonderland..absolutely fantastic...a great way to spend some post run recovery time

the lakes (not the one with the big fat beardy person though , coming soon)

moody britain, happiness, and the unexpected horror

moody britain

after a lovely warm week the weather up top yesterday reverted back to what i refer to as a 'lake district day' .. low cloud, poor visibility, rain, heavy at times. it was like this for most of our outing..a 6.5hr trip using the gritstone trail from rushton over to teggs nose, round the top of macc forest and back (a great and at times strenuous route).


(moles were having a field day too..pun intended)

not sure if its something odd about me but i actually enjoy the atmosphere and moodiness of days like these. they make the routes seem even more desolate and remote somehow.

happiness

i felt good most of the way round but at one point started to feel physically and emotionally low..why was i putting myself through this i would say. cue what britnick calls 'the elixir of the long distance runner'



a bottle of this and then !!!!!!!!!!!! twenty minutes later the low dissapeared and i felt sheer happiness mentally and physically (im a sucker for subliminal advertising messages)

the boy wonder had a happy run too, fuelled by flapjack, half of my pasty and crumble slice. he had no problems whatsoever, full of fire and probably covering twice my distance at twice my pace (not hard to achieve)


(look, not a bead of sweat on him afterwards)

the unexpected horror

before setting out i lubed up my feet as usual (they came back in on piece despite being wet from nearly the outset) and a little 'elsewhere'. without giving too much detail i started to feel a little uncomfortable in places about half way round but it wasn't until i got home and undressed that i discoverd the full extent of the damage from my underpants and my backpack :-0
i'll spare you the photographic eveidence. as you can imagine it wasn't pretty. and it stung , and still does like buggery (though im merely borrowing that phrase not having had first hand experience of what that might actually feel like).
if i had to run today it would be sore but i definitely couldn't use a backpack.
i think im going to need pots and pots of vaseline if im going to get across britain with a pack on my back..a bumbag wont be big enough for each unsupported leg.

maybe i could get charlie to carry my stuff...now there's a thought

that's more like it!

clipped and ready for the off

running round rome

a busy week at work this week with two days in london followed by three in rome. i took my kit with me (but not the pooch) so i didnt totally miss out on a few runs.

in london, i popped round regents park early doors. i felt like an outsider..no i pod! and having smiled at the first few runners i passed without a response back i decided my friendly northern ways weren't for these city types. crikey the very thought of actually saying 'hi' was totally out of bounds. they'd have called the police!

and so to rome. a magnificient city, steeped in magnificance, emotion and spirit. i felt very chilled there. a world apart from london in every sense. not only is the city beautiful but so too are the people..i felt quite underdressed and lacking any style credentials by comparison.
i took the chance to run and see the city on foot, as much as my non-work time would allow..heres a few of the shots from the phone..some famous landmarks some not so famous..i hope you like them

C2C team outing

today saw the first official outing of our c2c team...me, richard, guy and his nibs



i guess we've all got different experiences behind us so today was hopefully there as a good taster for each of us regardless of what we'd done previously

in the end it was a belting day..crisp blue skies, warm (relatively) in the sun, chilly in the shade, running on everything from ice to snow drifts to rocks to mud.the lot really

we did a 5.5 hr trip from macc forest up to shuttlingsloe, over to the cat n fiddle, round goyt valley, down to lambaload reservoir and back to base. a cracking, if challenging, outing and one to set the context for certainly the first few days of the c2c.

to cut to the quip..all returned well having enjoyed a top time though i'm struggling to see charlie make the big week

and with that piece of news, though not new i guess, i'm questioning my running going forwards. he's been my inspiration and it might just be that i take the lad on runs of say 3 hrs max..and with that i may end my ultras and just run as the free spirit im becoming..doing what i like when i like..but with his nibs

in the meantime, i cant really let the two-legged side down as i was the one who suggested it in the first place!

should have kept my big gob shut!!