My Weekend in Kendal

Yesterday I travelled up to Kendal for two nights stay in a B&B in advance of the That’s Lyth LDWA event on Sunday (I’ll talk about that in my next blog).

I got the train up from Manchester and arrived in Kendal at about 1.30 and headed straight for Hillside B&B.  My room was lovely and the hosts very welcoming (sounds like I’m on Trip Advisor).  I had a great view over the rooftops to the fells although this picture doesn’t do it much justice (I say that about all my photographs - although some of the ones in this blog seem to have gone a bit 'funny' when I've uploaded them!)

 

 After dumping my bag I went straight out into town to find myself something to eat as I’d had nothing since breakfast.  After wandering around for a while I went to a small café and had a cheese and ham toastie which was OK but very small and I was left hungry so got myself a bakewell tart from a bakery before wandering around the shops and buying myself a new, very brightly coloured and very ‘roadie’ looking Berghaus windproof running jacket from TK Maxx.

I also went into the local Tourist Information shop to look for some local area walks which I could do tomorrow. Whilst in there, I was offered a taste of some Kendal Mint Cake liqueur which I have to say was delicious so I ended up buying myself a mini bottle.

After going back to my B&B and chilling out for a couple of hours, I headed back into town in search of some grub.  After wandering around the whole of the town, I decided on a bistro which was only a few doors away from my B&B.  I had a delicious sweet potato curry, washed down with a glass of pinot grigio which I then got a taste for so headed round the corner to Tesco to buy myself a bottle of wine and some snacks to take back to my room with me.  I then spent the evening lazing around reading my book whilst eating peanut M&Ms and drinking wine out of a tumbler.  Before I knew it, almost the entire bottle was gone and I was a little bit on the tipsy side.  I called it at night at about 10pm (living it large!).

This morning I got up feeling slightly groggy, and headed down for my full English breakfast.  I started my breakfast off with some crunchy nut cornflakes… without milk because I hate the stuff, which always earns me some funny looks as I crunch away.  I then had my bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, beans, mushrooms and toast and headed back to my room to get ready for heading out.

I had decided yesterday that I’d go for a walk this morning and a short run this afternoon but, looking at the weather, I decided I’d do the run in the morning whilst it was supposed to be nicer and I’d wrap up warmer for the walk in the worse weather later on.  I didn’t think I’d be able to run after having a big breakfast but I didn’t feel too bad. 

I did the ‘Kendal Castle’ walk route (as a run) which is only five miles and, as expected, took me up to Kendal Castle then on through some farm land.

 

I ended my run outside ‘The Famous 1657 Chocolate House’ where, obviously, I treated myself to one of their hot chocolates (the rum one, which came with a chunk of rum fudge on the side) and a dark chocolate fondant cake.  I think I need to run another five miles now to burn it all off!

 

After again wandering around town for a while, I then returned to my room to put more gear on and get ready for my walk.  When I got back to my room, it had been straightened out and, seeing that I was a lush, they had left me a wine glass in the room.

I chose the Scout Scar walk of six miles and set off on my way.  The weather was really windy now and there were intermittent hail storms and, at one point, a big piece of hail hit me hard in the eye and made me make an involuntary noise.  It really hurt!  I was just grateful that, whilst walking along the side of the cliff at Scout Scar, the wind was pushing me away from the cliff edge instead of towards it!

It was a really nice walk and the guide books I had bought were clearly written and really easy to follow so I didn’t have to get a map out at all.

This evening, I decided to just chill in my room with my book and so just bought a load of grub from Tesco and had myself a little picnic. 

It was so relaxing I didn’t want it to end.  It’s great being in a B&B as it’s so much more relaxing that being at home because, when I’m at home, I’m constantly thinking of things I need to do, like the washing up or putting clothes away, or hoovering, etc whereas, at a B&B, there’s none of that and I can really switch off. 

Just wish I could afford to do it more often!

Total distance - 5.2 miles (plus six mile hike)

Soaked to the Bones

I left work early today to try to get a decent length run in with Ruby.  I've run with Ruby all this week because I wanted her to keep me slow so I don't tire myself out for this weekend.

We again parked on the dam on Horrobin Lane and ran down past the bowling club and up the hill past Yarrow Reservoir, coming out onto the road and then turned right into Lead Mines Clough.

We then ran through the clough and up the hill, along the trail to Jepson's Gate.  From there we turned right down the road to Waterman's Cottage then went onto the path to White Coppice but only for a short way and then turned left, across the bridge onto the path back out of White Coppice.

We then turned right and ran along the road for a spell, to the end of the bridleway along Healey Nab.
We ran all the way along the bridleway, coming out onto Back Lane, then ran along to the Yew Tree and turned left, heading down The Street and back to the van.

It rained hard throughout the entire run and we were both soaked to the bones when we arrived back at the van, with Ruby shaking herself off right into my face as soon as we got into the van.  Thanks Rubes!

Total distance - 7 miles 

Doing My Own Head In

I have been driving myself mad today (nothing new there then), going round in circles about whether or not I should run.  I’m getting a cold.  It’s been lurking for a while now but today the sniffly nose has started and I’m all bunged up.  Normally I would just man up and run anyway but my dilemma is that I’m doing this LDWA event on Sunday with John and I’m scared that my actions during the week will have an impact on the run.  If I do run today/tomorrow, will this make my cold worse and tire me out before Sunday?  If I don’t run today/tomorrow will my lack of running be detrimental to my event on Sunday?  I know you don’t know the answer, it’s just hypothetical and I also know that I’m overthinking things, as usual.

Last week I did quite a lot of training during the week and then had a blinding long run on the Saturday.  The two weeks previously, I had barely done anything during the week and had rubbish long runs at the weekends, which makes me think I should do a lot of training this week to have a good long run this Sunday. 

My problem is inconsistency though.  Just because something has worked well for me once, doesn’t mean that if I do everything exactly the same again next time, it will work. 

I was going to have an easy run along the canal at lunch today (on my own since I’ve been deserted) but I know that when I run through Manchester, I can’t bring myself to run slowly, which is what I need to do because I don’t want to over exert myself with this underlying cold.  It’s a terrible ego thing but when there are so many other runners around, I feel like I have to look speedy and efficient, rather than plodding.  I know, I know, that’s ridiculous and I shouldn’t care what other people think but, c’mon are you telling me that when you’re running along and another runner starts coming towards you, you don’t straighten up and pick up the pace a little?  You know you do!

I finally made the decision to run with Ruby again after work instead as, that way, I had no choice but to run slowly. 

Total distance - 5 miles

Stormy Morning Head Torch Run

I wanted to get a decent run in before I started working from home today and because I had seen the weather forecast for storms starting at around 8am so wanted to get back before they kicked in.  Duncan dropped me and Ruby off at 6.30am at Curleys and we set off running along Wallsuches.  I could be wrong but I think this is the first time I have run with a head torch in the morning. 

We headed up through the quarries, coming out onto George’s Lane and then ran up to Two Lads.  It was already starting to get pretty windy so we didn’t hang around and kept running up Winter Hill to the mast then the trig point.  It was now torrential rain and blowing a gale!  It was really driving and I was having to shield my face with my hands because the rain was pelting it at some force.  I was quite enjoying myself to be honest but was a bit concerned about Ruby and so just wanted to head down off the hill.  We went down the diagonal and out onto George’s Lane, where I thought it would be a bit more tame.  It wasn’t.  Heading along George’s Lane towards the pigeon tower was utterly horrendous!  I could barely run because the wind was pushing me back so much.  Again though, I was really enjoying myself and it felt like great resistance training trying to power my way against the wind.  I was still concerned about little Ruby though but she probably wasn’t feeling it as much as me because she’s so little and has a much lower centre of gravity. 

Even so, once I arrived at the Pigeon Tower I thought it best to start heading further down, rather than continuing along George’s Lane, so I zigzagged my way down, coming out behind the school and then headed home.

Unsurprisingly, I didn’t see a single other person during this run.  Can’t think why not!

Total distance – 6.25 miles

Tired Ruby

Still feeling chipper today, I headed out for another run, although this time I took Ruby with me because I intended to just have a casual one after yesterday’s 20 miler.  

I drove out to Knowsley Lane and parked up on the dam with a view to doing a loop around Anglezarke.  We ran an anti-clockwise loop, heading along the Anglezarke Trails and winding our way out to Waterman’s Cottage.  Right from the off, Ruby seemed to be lethargic today.  She was behind me the whole time and I felt like I was just pulling her along. 

Once at Waterman’s Cottage, we ran along the road a bit to the end of the bridle path for Healey Nab, then ran up it before turning right and up to the cairn at the top.  I had let Ruby off the lead at the start of the bridle path and she started to come alive a little, although still wasn’t really going out in front of me.  We ran back down again and carried on along the bridle path, coming out onto Back Lane and then ran back along the road to the Yew Tree and back to the car.  I had put Ruby back on her lead when we came out onto the road and again she was just tottering along slowly behind me.

It’s probably a good thing, for me, really because I was feeling great and probably would have run too fast had I been on my own so it was good that Ruby slowed me down and kept my recovery run at just that, a recovery run. 

Total distance – 5.2 miles

I’m Not Going Home Until I’ve Done 20!

Today I met up with John at the bottom barn as planned to get our last long run in before That’s Lyth next weekend.  Ed also ran with us for the first part of our outing. 

We all set off up to Two Lads, then headed up to the mast and down the San Marino ramp.  We then did part of the Anglezarke Amble route, through the fields and along to Belmont Reservoir, which is where Ed headed off back to the barn.  John and I continued up onto Witton Weavers Way and along to Roddlesworth Woods.  We ran through the woods and around Roddlesworth Reservoir, coming out in Abbey Village, then went along the roads up to the path to White Coppice. 

From White Coppice, we ran up the road and along to the bridle path through Healey Nab.  We carried on all the way along the path coming out onto Back Lane, then headed back to Rivington via the ‘cascade’ or ‘slipway’.  Once back at the barn, I had only done 19.25 miles and I was determined that I wasn’t stopping until I had 20 so I carried on and did a loop around some paths.  My watch just beeped for 20 miles as I got parallel with my van in the car park. 

I felt great at the end of the run and could have continued on further.  I think it’s because we started off nice and slowly so I didn’t waste much energy at the start.  Hopefully, I’ll be as full of beans next Sunday at That’s Lyth!

Total distance – 20 miles

Losing my Running Buddies

In one of my previous blog posts I talked about running with people who are faster than you and apologising for being slow.  An exact paragraph I used was…

‘I’m constantly saying things like ‘sorry for being slow’ and ‘go on ahead without me if you like’ but the truth is, the person I’m running with doesn’t care about this because they know my capabilities and they’re happy to run with me anyway.  If they weren’t they wouldn’t ask me or would make up excuses when I ask them.’

It now appears that Kathryn, my lunch time running buddy who is much quicker than me, has come up with the ultimate excuse not to run with me anymore – she’s gone working in Warrington for two years.  Have you taken drastic action because I’m too slow Kathryn?

I don’t seriously think that of course but I am gutted that I’ve lost my lunch time running buddy.  I’ve also lost my morning running buddy too so I think they might both be trying to tell me something.  It’s going to be hard work trying to force myself out on my own and, truth be told, I probably won’t bother and will go back to running more in the evenings instead. 

So today’s run, after deciding that I really didn't want to run along the canal on my own, was just an easy one with Ruby.  We did our old faithful winter ‘trying to stay reasonably clean so I don’t need to bath Ruby’ run which took us along to the top barn then a zigzag up through the terraced gardens to the Pigeon Tower, then along George’s Lane and back home down the side of Wilderswood.  Needless to say, Ruby was still filthy by the end of it!

Total distance – 5.3 miles

Either my HRM is Lying or I'm Super Fit...

...I suspect the former!

As mentioned in yesterday's blog, my heart rate monitor seems to be playing up at the minute. Yesterday it told me that my average BPM for my canal run with Kathryn was 119 but I was definitely higher than that.

Today, it told me my average heart rate for my three mile easy run with Ruby (which wasn't actually very easy if truth be told) was 89 and so I only burned 95 calories!!!  I really don't think so.

I also went to spin at altitude today and that said my average heart rate was 93.  Again, my average is usually around 140 when I go to spin so there's definitely something wrong.  Technology eh!

My run itself today just took me along to Arcon Village and down Wallsuches before heading up past the quarry onto George's Lane, then back home again by the side of Wilderswood.

Total distance - 3 miles

Manchester Serial Killer?

There is a programme on TV tonight at 11pm about the ‘Manchester Serial Killer’.  Apparently, there have been over 80 deaths in the canals of Manchester since 2008 and they think there is something sinister about it and that there is somebody pushing in vulnerable people. 

With that in mind, Kathryn and I went on our canal run at lunch today.  We decided that we’d be able to overpower any would be killer if we were confronted by him so didn’t let the loony put us off our run.  Just to be on the safe side, Kathryn brought along a friend from work, Barney.  Barney is currently training for a 100 mile race so he’s definitely fit enough to overpower any would be attacker. 

We had to do the slightly shorter route today as the side of the river we usually run back along had collapsed and was closed off. 

I was feeling pretty tired today but managed to keep up OK, however when I got back to work and looked at my watch it was telling me that I’d only burned 257 calories as my heart rate had only averaged 119bpm!!!  I really don’t think so, I was knackered!

Total distance – 5.15 miles

Slipping and Sliding

Tonight I went out with the Monday night cake crew as there was a promise, not of cakes, but of fancy biscuits tonight.  To be honest, I had already decided I was going anyway, the biscuits just helped me to keep my promise!

Out tonight were Josie, Joc, Andy, Darren, Mark, Josh, Speedy and Mark. 

We did our usual route which was snowy/icy in places but had thawed out in others. 

The highlight of the night came as we descended ‘the diagonal’.  It was still quite snowy here and it was also foggy so visibility was poor.  Josie, Andy I and ran on ahead and within seconds Josie had fallen face down into the snow.  From my viewpoint, it looked like a real comedy moment as she formed a star on the ground and appeared to slide along a little in the snow.  Thankfully, I was able to laugh because she didn’t hurt herself and we continued on our way down.  The whole way down all you could hear was laughter, mixed in with the odd yelp/scream as somebody fell or their foot disappeared into the snow.  When we got near the bottom, almost simultaneously, Andy, Josie and I said ‘where are we?’ as we realised we had veered right of the ‘path’.  This obviously brought on even more laughter as we made our way across and back into the right direction.  That was the most fun I’ve ever had coming down the diagonal and I couldn’t stop laughing all the way down.  It was brilliant and, at one point, I wasn’t running, I was skating as I was in no control whatsoever of my feet.

Eventually everyone got down unscathed and we then headed back down to the barn where our biscuits awaited! 

Great night out, better than going to the pub!

Total distance – 6 miles (approx., didn’t start my Garmin properly so not recorded).

Snowy Fun

I felt a bit rough when I got up this snowy morning so decided to stay in bed for a while whilst Duncan got up early and went mountain biking.  I didn’t end up running until around 3pm on the way home from my mum and dad’s.  Duncan dropped me off on Colliers Row Road and I ran along Burnt Edge and up to Holden’s Farm.  From there, I turned left and along the path, eventually coming out at the same place as the Two Lads race route on the mast road.  I then crossed the road and went over the wooden bridge, heading up to Two Lads.  There had been fresh snow fall by now and there were no footprints to follow and the path wasn’t at all clear.  I just made my way up, having the odd sinking moment as I went.  From the top, I didn’t hang around and just ran straight down towards the kennels.  As always, I took the left hand route at the bottom of the descent but that takes you onto the really steep bit down to the kennels, which was incredibly slippery today and I had no control whatsoever over my feet!  They were just going where they wanted but luckily, I didn’t fall over.

Coming out onto George’s Lane, there were loads of families in ‘my favourite field’ enjoying some sledging in the snow so I decided to do a bit of showing off and ran hell for leather down the field, which was met with gasps and comments like ‘look at that girl go!’.  I felt oh so smug and thankfully I didn’t make a complete arse of myself and fall over.  That would have been incredibly embarrassing!

Total distance – 3.1 miles

Ice Ice Baby

Today I woke up feeling incredibly tired but knowing that I had to run 20 miles with John this morning in preparation for That’s Lyth in two weeks time. 

When I met John, and Ed, at the UTUP, however, the ice had caused John to have second thoughts on going for a long run.  It was incredibly slippery underfoot so a low level shorter run was the order of the day and we decided we’d try again for the 20 miler next Saturday instead. 

The three of us ran to Healey Nab and then along to White Coppice.  Even the gravelly off-road trails were very icy and slippery so it was pretty slow moving.  Once at White Coppice we decided to turn around and head back along the side of Anglezarke and up the road to Yarrow.  Once we got back to Rivington, we wanted to get our mileage up to at least ten miles so we ran around the trails a little bit before going back to the cars. 

Total distance – 10.35 miles

Nothing Like a Good Nap

Yesterday evening I had what I think was my first ever migraine.  My head was really painful and I felt sick and dizzy.  Duncan gave me some of his strong tablets and they seemed to do the trick but left me very tired and I continued to feel tired and groggy into today.  Having built up lots of flexi time, I decided to go home for the afternoon and have a lie down.

When I woke up, I forced myself to get out for a run before it got dark.  I got Ruby on the waist lead and headed off up to George's Lane.  I felt great!  All the way up I felt full of energy and when I got to Two Lads, I decided that instead of going straight home, which I had intended to do, I'd go over to the Pike first.

Again, I felt brilliant climbing up to the Pike and would have carried on further if I didn't have Ruby with me so instead we headed back home.

Total distance - 5 miles 

All I Need Now is a Bike!

I'm not going to lie, I ate like a total pig last night.  My tea was around 2000 calories as I ate out at the Black Dog in Belmont.  Duncan and I shared our starters, which were chicken wings and meatballs.  For mains I had a hot dog with chilli smothered all over it and some fries and then I finished the meal off with the biggest slab of chocolate fudge cake I have ever been served in a restaurant!  That of course came with ice cream and I also had a coke and a J2O.

The problem with this was that I hadn't done a scrap of exercise yesterday so I felt like a giant pig.

To make myself better, I got up early this morning and Duncan dropped me off on his way to work so that I could run to Horwich Leisure Centre.  He dropped me off 3.5 miles away and I ran back.  I wanted a good session so picked up the pace as much as I could, which was actually quite difficult because the pavements, in places, especially on the A6, were really slippery as they had frozen.  There were a couple of scary moments when I thought I was going to end up on my backside but I managed to stay upright.

Duncan dropped me off in Westhoughton and I ran along the A6 then along Station Road/Crown Lane and through the centre of Horwich, ending at the leisure centre.

Distance - 3.5 miles 

I then went for a swim, my first in about six months.  I was expecting it to be really busy with all the January get-fit people but it wasn't any busier than normal really and most of the time I was in a lane with only one other person.  I did a mile and then decided to call it a day as it had taken me ages to do the mile - nearly 50 minutes! 

Distance - 1 mile

Tired legs, it was now time to run home.  Fortunately, that's less than three quarters of a mile, otherwise I don't think I would have made it as I was really tired by now.  It wasn't even 8.30 yet and I'd already done two thirds of a triathlon! 

Distance - 0.65 miles

Total distance - 4.15 mile run + 1 mile swim

Striking a Balance

Since the New Year, I have been trying to lose a bit of the weight I have put on over the past few months.  As mentioned in a previous post, I have gone from 8st 10 to nearly 9st 6 and I want to get back down to just under 9 stone (basically, I want to see an eight at the front of the scales, but don’t really care what comes after the 8).  Between last Saturday and Wednesday, I had already lost 3lbs… that’s in only 5 days! 

I have basically just been eating less calories than I have burned but the problem is, am I eating enough?  As an athlete (can I use that word to describe myself?) it’s really hard to strike that balance between losing weight and eating enough to fuel your training.  My run on Saturday was dire and I’m wondering if that could be because I had consumed far less than usual during the week.  Today, I felt great and yesterday I had eaten a lot more than usual, including a home made pizza with over 1000 calories in that alone! 

Today’s run was an easy one with Ruby, although I was gutted that I had decided to run with Ruby as I was going really well and could have had a good session.  Unfortunately, Ruby was incredibly cold and I just wanted to get her home fast, as she was sinking in cold bogs all the time.  It was incredibly selfish of me to take her where I did, especially given the light dusting of snow on the tops making it even colder on her poor little paw pads.  We went from home up to the water tanks, then turned right towards the mast road and did the Two Lads race route, coming back out slightly higher up the mast road, but then took the boggy diagonal path up to the mast.  We then took the cross country route to Two Lads and ran down to the kennels, going straight down through my favourite field as I just wanted to get Ruby home as quick as I could.  Poor thing was shivveirng away so I had to throw her in a hot shower once we got home.

Total distance – 5 miles

World's Fastest???

Today I met up with Ed and John at the top barn.  I had expected John to be doing another long run but he was only doing around 6 miles today as he was racing tomorrow.  Ed planned to do a little further though so I decided to accompany him.

The three of us ran up to the Pike then along to Two Lads.  We then ran to the mast where I was starting to get really cold.  So much so, that my leggings had developed a film over them which I wrote the word COLD onto.

On the way down the diagonal, I made a bit of a squeal when I slipped and Ed commented on me being girly.  John then said, it's better than being called masculine, which developed into a discussion about the differences in strength/speed between men and women.

I posed the question of whether, in the very distant future, i.e. not in any of our lifetimes, or our great great grand kids lifetimes, I'm talking a LONG way off, the fastest person in the world could be a woman.  John was doubtful about this, however Ed thinks it's possible.  I'm inclined to agree with Ed.  Men have had a huge head start on the fitness thing but I reckon at some point hundreds of years from now, women could catch up.

At the bottom of the diagonal, John turned left heading back to the barn, whilst Ed and I headed to Hordern Stoops and up the diagonal path, dropping down to Higher Hempshaws.  We then ran along the path to Lead Mines Clough and ran up to bomber memorial, before dropping back down, heading through the clough and coming out onto the road.  We then ran up the hill and through the farm fields coming out at Dean Brook, which we followed back into Rivington.

The weather was horrid today but it was nice to be out with the guys.  

Total distance - 9.45 miles

Easy Plod with Ruby Ribbles

As the title says, today was just an easy plod with Ruby up around the terraced gardens.  Nothing interesting to report from it so this is possibly the shortest blog post ever!

Total distance - 3.32 miles

Bare Minimum Day

Yesterday I decided to see just how many calories I burn on an average day which doesn't include any running or other exercise.  I know my Garmin won't be 100% accurate but it will give me an idea and enable me to see whether my suspicions that I burn very few calories are correct.

They are.  I am actually very lazy.

My average day looked like this:

• Got up and got ready for work, fed pets, cooked porridge, etc
• Drove to train station
• Sat on train for half an hour
• Walked from Salford Central to my work - approx 1 mile
• Sat on my arse for eight hours, getting up only to get water/make a brew/go to the toilet.  I didn't even go out at lunch. 
• Walked to Piccadilly train station - approx 1/5 of a mile
• Sat on train for half an hour
• Drove home from station.
• Walked Ruby for half an hour (this is my bare minimum Ruby walk)
• Lounged around all night with intermittent bouts of housework, etc.

So, according to my watch, in the 24 hour period that was Monday, I burned a mere  1736  calories.  

No wonder I'm putting on so much weight as I eat at least 2500 calories a day.  I know I run but I don't think I run enough to justify the amount I'm eating.  I've gone from 8st 10lbs to 9st 6lbs (my weight on Saturday - I have eaten a lot less the past few days so await seeing what my weight is now as I can lose weight quite quickly if I put my mind to it).  I don't want to get back to 8st 10lbs though as I think that was too light but I would like to get back to 9 or just under.  

I don't know how I can make my working day more active though, other than going for a walk or run at lunch but a lot of the time I'm too busy and just don't get chance.  Work really does get in the way of life.  Hmmmm, how can I get enough money together to retire early? 

On the subject of going for a run at lunch, that is exactly what I did today.  I ran with Kathryn, which was nice because we haven't been out for a good while now.  She also had one of her colleagues, Thomas, with her.  I later found out that Thomas runs 5ks in circa 17.30 so this will have been an incredibly slow jog for him.

I actually felt really good on this run for a change. Usually I struggle on my runs with Kathryn, but I was able to natter all the way round and still keep a decent pace.

It was great to catch up!   

Total distance - 5.1 miles 

Just Get Me Home!!!

I'm doing the 'That's Lyth' LDWA event at the end of the month with John Swift so today I thought I'd better get a decent run in by way of training.  That's Lyth is 24 miles and, to date I have only done an 18.7 miler with John a couple of weeks ago so I thought I'd better do another long one and planned around 20 miles.

My plan was go head straight up to the mast from home, then down San Marino, onto Witton Weavers Way, up to Darwen Tower, down through Roddlesworth Woods to Piccadilly, up to Great Hill, down into White Coppice, then home via Anglezarke and Rivington.

It pretty much went to plan, however I missed out Darwen Tower.  I was feeling really tired right from the off today and, as with my long run last weekend, I had nothing in my legs.  They just felt lifeless.  En route up to Two Lads I was already thinking about giving up.  I quietened my demons though and pushed on, although there was more walking involved than I would have liked.

It was nice to see Sean and his dogs on the way up to Two Lads so I could stop and have a breather whilst we chatted.

I had hoped that once I started descending San Marino I'd start to feel better but I didn't. My legs just weren't working.  Still, I had set out with a goal in mind and, even if it was going to take me a while, I was still going to do it.

When I got to the bottom of San Marino, I took a longer route than I had intended because I didn't fancy running along the road through Belmont.  Instead of turning left I crossed the road and turned right, taking the footpath on the left which goes all the way down to a farm, then descends down to a bridge which was INCREDIBLY slippery, before going back up again, coming out onto Longworth road.  I crossed straight over the road and ran along an unused road, which then comes out on Stones Bank Road.  Again, I crossed straight over and this put me onto Witton Weavers Way.

Because I had taken a longer route to get to Witton Weavers Way, I decided that I was going to miss out going to Darwen Tower.  My legs still hadn't come alive and I just couldn't face the climb up there.  Even the very small undulations of WWW were taking their toll.

Just before I came out onto the Tockholes Road, I bumped into Adrian and Fin.  Again, it was lovely to stop and chat for a bit, however by now it was pretty wet so it was a bit too chilly to be standing around and we soon went our separate ways.  We were both heading for Great Hill, but in different directions.  I'm interested to see which way Adrian went as, last time I tried to get to Great Hill via the path almost opposite the end of Tockholes Road, I got slightly lost when the path suddenly disappeared.

I went through the woods, coming out at Piccadilly and then heading up to Great Hill from there.  It was chucking it down by now and I was so glad to be wearing decent kit - that kit being a good Inov8 waterproof and, surprisingly, an Aldi merino wool cycling top.  It kept me so nice and warm and I was so glad I'd decided to put them on as, this morning, I nearly put on a t-shirt under my jacket.  I was also very grateful to be wearing my Roosters as my feet were toasty warm.  In fact, the only thing that was really cold were my hands.  My gloves were now saturated but I was so wet that I didn't want to stop to get my spare gloves out of my rucksack.

I was so relieved when I finally got to the top of Great Hill and started making my way down into White Coppice.  I felt like I was on my way home now and kept having fantasies about a nice hot cup of tea.

The last few miles from White Coppice home seemed to go by quite quickly and I was pleased to see that I was on course for getting 18 miles in.  It wasn't 20 but it was close enough in this horrid weather on my own.


Total distance - 18 miles

Happy New Year!

After too much to eat last night and not going to bed until 2am after walking to the Pike, I didn't get up early enough today, nor feeling fresh enough, for a decent run.  In fact, I lazed around on the couch for a good while before eventually venturing out at about 2pm.

I just ran a very short route through Rivington and the terraced gardens and along George's Lane.  I also treated myself to my favourite field but didn't make any effort to beat my course record on it.  I will do at some point though!

Total distance - 3.2 miles.