Boxing Day Run

Complete with extra ballast in the form of Turkey, chocolates & red wine, I attempted to blast away about 4000 extra calories in one run today. An 11 1/2 mile run at a reasonable pace with the mountain of Cleeve Hill right in the middle. Really cool today so ideal running conditions and the first 3 miles were all just over 7m/m; so fairly steady. The run up the hill wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, possibly due to the extra turkey protein ;)

Cleeve Hill

I ventured, with trusty hound Rusty, up to the Common on Sunday for a fairly gentle 5.5 mile run. A mixture of muddy slop on the sunny slopes, frozen on the shaded areas but a nice run all-in-all. Obviously hilly, but the pace was quite manageable given I was trying to be kind to Rusty ;) Actually, he did well given that he hasn't had a run on the Common for a little while. Lovely conditions up there, nice and chilly although going at 3pm is probably not the best time given the thawing ground and fading light. Still beats the tarmac though!

Hoping to make it a regular Sunday morning venture, gradually increasing the mileage - dog permitting!

'ere tis:

Unusual Run

On Sunday, whilst staying with sister-in-law (and brother-in-law of course) I was invited out on a group run with some of the locals. Despite the considerable windchill, we ventured out on a fairly steady 7.5 mile run. As the pace was quite a bit slower than I'm used to, it was actually quite tricky and my legs stiffened toward the midway point. Two miles from the end, knowing the route back home, I was set free and blasted back with a couple of 6.30 min/miles. As I got back I found out that Helen had set off on a 3 mile out&back route, so I chased after her and we ran the 'back' part together. So 10 miles in all, but very varied pace!