Having convinced myself that I was quite capable of running this sub-60, just need a little help from the conditions. That would be why it was 26C when I stepped out of the car then
However, the sunshine does mean I can wear my lovely new Cebe sunglasses which I won in a competition from Sport Pursuit. Maybe I should pose round for a bit longer in than to help take my mind off tonight!
Lovely long run today, all of 10 miles, up to Chippenham, then down to Lacock by the old canal. Haven’t been down here for months, as the last time (back at the start of February) was when I did for my shin. Time to exorcise (exercise?) some ghosts, I thought.
As ever, I spotted lots of interesting things whilst running:-
– A deer on the other side of the river,
– 4 young squirrels on the path who haven’t learnt to be afraid of people yet,
– Lots of tourists in Lacock, many of whom now have photographs of the beautiful village with me in Lycra ruining the view. Sorry about that!
However the only sight I got my phone out to capture, was a road sign. A small path down between what was once a factory and the river, “Lovers Walk” conjures up, for me, gentle images of courting couples strolling hand in hand. The best bit about this sign though, is the graffiti neatly added in blue capitals (just visible in the photo if you look really hard). With this addition, the sign now reads:-
“Lovers Walk BUT NOT IN A GAY WAY”
Torn between speechless and giggling, all I can say is Mary Whitehouse is obviously alive and well, and living in Wiltshire!
Lazy girl running: Awesome Autumn Marathon Motivation: Running a half or full marathon this Autumn or thinking about it? Want some company training and an extra kick up the backside when it gets tough? Well step this way because I’ve got something you might just like…
I’ve been following the ‘Lazy Girl Running‘ blog for a while now (and she doesn’t sound at all lazy to me!) I’ve just signed up to her ‘Awesome Autumn Marathon Motivation’ e-mails to prepare for my 2 half marathons in October. Hopefully will be good motivation! I’ll let you know ….
So when that LSR is getting you down, when you’re feeling tired, and you’re still achy after that hilly run 5 days ago, when you need a sneaky excuse to have a little stop, what finer excuse that to take a photo??Not sure what is planted in this field, but it has very pretty blue flowers. If anyone knows what it is, please let me know so I can casually drop it into conversation and appear knowledgeable!
Oh and I found another ‘Secret Garden’ gate …
Don’t you just want to see where it goes? Or is it just me who’s so nosey? (That was a rhetorical question – no need to answer, thank you very much!)
So as a keen geocaching family, its always exciting to see a new geocache* pop up close to home. Even more exciting to see one just off one of my running routes. Slightly less exciting that that particular route is the muddy and hilly one I usually only brave before the annual ‘Marshfield Mudlark’. Add in the fact it has been torrential rain for the last week means that you would have to be seriously deranged to be looking forward to this.
So that’s why I set out yesterday, on the first non-raining day for a week, aiming for the woods and the river. Because its a long walk to get down to the By Brook here it is usually very quiet, and apart from the 2 dog walkers I met, the whole area was silent apart from the river and the birds. Despite the clouds, the deserted farm simply looked sad and abandoned, rather than eerie and spooky.
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| Deserted farm |
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| It’ll be this way, then |
Despite my mud warnings, the path wasn’t too bad. Squelchy in places, but nothing a good ‘wade’ couldn’t get through! I was wearing my shorts as I thought if it was really muddy it was easier to hose my legs off when I got home, rather than struggle through with wet and muddy trousers.
As I got closer to the cache location I had to pull my phone out to follow my progress with GPS. Crashing through the woods, I found the obvious spot and then spent around 10 minutes rummaging in the undergrowth getting muddy hands and knees to match the rest of my legs. Found the tupperware, opened it up, and discovered that I had got the FTF (‘First to Find’) and my reward was a little silver cup. Lack of a pen to write in the log book didn’t hamper this intrepid geocacher (that’s what twigs and mud are for!)
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| My prize! |
With my little silver cup stashed in my waist belt I set off for home, all the way back up from the river (the route goes up 100m in 1 mile. Is that steep? It felt it!)
4 hardcore miles – DONE!
Geocache – DONE!
FTF – DONE!
*If you don’t know what geocaching is, its basically a treasure hunt using GPS. It has been described as using technology costing millions of dollars to find tupperware hidden in woods. Sounds geeky (okay – it is pretty geeky!) but its a great way to get out into the countryside and find paths you never knew existed!
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| Too good to eat? Apparently not! |
Wow – what a busy (and long) Jubilee weekend! I’ve had a mostly lazy time, too much telly & wine I’m afraid. However I did think I ought to get out this morning, so set off for my 4 mile route thinking I’d take it good & slow.
Rain started just as I set off so felt cold going slow, then I had to go through the centre of the village which was full of people setting up marquees, tables & chairs for our Jubilee party, so I sped up to get past them with out anyone noticing (yeah, right!). Then thought I might as well stay speeded up and call it a tempo run. Well I don’t know if it was the wine-as-fuel, or the cooling rain, but it all felt so easy. 4.21M in 40:26, average pace 9:36 🙂
Good job it was a good run, as I managed to eat a goodly portion of Jubilee cakes at the party, and also bring home a doggy bag for later!
