20 miles, 10 sunny, 10 rainy!

Had to do 20 miles today, so decided to set off from home and run to the other side of the lakes and back. It's slightly over 3 miles to the lakes, but with added hills to test out the legs at start and end of the run. Set off at 9:17 in sunshine, down the hill, through the park, through town, up long hill and down into neighbouring town, up and down, cross 2 main roads, along lane to lakes (38 mins). Then along the old disused railway line, following the river and passing the lakes, with noisy geese and quiet ducks and swans. Lovely run in the sunshine, quite a few other runners also out enjoying running around the lakes. Took the left to follow the river, past the tyre swings and zipwire and back to main track. Onward and over the lane, past another lake and the canal boats on the river, path getting muddier, but sun still shining. Over the (very high) river again, past a fishing competition? (there's not normally that many fishing). On through the tree-lined track, past the lock on the river, negotiating more mud & puddles towards the bridge over the A14. Down under the road and back up the other side, more muddy path, then 1hr 50mins done - time to turn back! Retracing the route back, fortified by a couple of jelly beans, past lock and it started to rain, kept going hoping it wasn't going to last - wrong! Robert appeared soon after on his bike, with his camera, taking a photo then biking on ahead to take more, lots of photos of a soggy runner getting soggier all the time! Back at the lakes, more jelly beans and turned left to go past the lakes on the opposite side to the outward journey, spotting ducks and swans. Back to main path past iron-age roundhouse (still work in progress). Quick comfort stop and managed to drop glove in (flushed luckily) loo! Robert found me another pair before he set off home with bike on top of the car. Getting wetter and wetter, but glad of lovely warm, dry gloves and more jelly beans. Negotiated crossing busy roads and set off uphill into town, legs were still going pretty well and hills didn't seem to bad, still getting soggier as rain got steadier, and gave up trying to see much through glasses! Very pleased that I could keep going at a reasonable pace, enjoying the downhill and flat sections. Legs did complain at one hill, but mind over heavy legs kept them going and onward through the park, past the snowdrops, brook and squirrels. After hill through park, path is on the flat and only minutes from home - hurray! Twenty miles finished, very wet in 3hr 53mins. Robert was cooking dinner so after stretches had lovely soak in the bath, a bit achy now but not too bad, and very pleased with myself - guess what schedule says same again next Sunday!
keep on running.....not long to go

More of my 'favourite fresh old runs'

Yes, threshold running again today, Saturday, so back to the lakes...can't face fast runs and hills! 15mins easy (with red kite soaring just over the treetops) then 3x10mins threshold with little rests, one 10minutes at marathon pace and 15mins easy to finish (I like that bit). Some drizzly rain and cool wind, but not too bad weatherwise. Quite a few people about, including Barbara (my aquarobics instructor) and couple asking how far am I running - they keep spotting me, and various ducks, geese, swans and other birds. Body still seems to be coping with the schedule - I'm amazed how you can train your body to do something like this - and it does (without complaining too much!) Yoga yesterday (rest day), threshold today and 20miles to do tomorrow..... 'Why?' quote from son, who thinks his mother has gone crazy!

Brisk Walk around the fields

Brisk Walk around the fields today, as the ground is too slippy to run. Walking boots are much safer, and the scenery is nice & white! Forty-five minutes for the circuit, plus a bit of dancing around the kitchen while making the dinner! Hopefully, icy conditions won't last too long so I can run again soon.

I'm running in the Snow

Most of the UK has lots of snow today. It was really cold here, but fine, until it started snowing around 1pm. That's when I set out from home, all layered up, hatted, gloved and rain(snow) jacketed! Didn't snow too hard, and it was really quite pretty running back through Hall Park in the snow. Did 45 minutes and felt quite good. Will I run tomorrow or will we be under a thick layer of snow? Watch this space!

Fartlek at Wellingborough

Went along to Wellingborough & District Athletics Club again yesterday. The session involved a short run to a close on the Industrial estate, and then going up and down the hill, in fast bursts then recovery runs. Found it quite hard as it's not something I've done much of, but got through it ok. Then a run back and cool down. Legs were a little stiff later that evening, but fine by the morning. This is all going to make me much fitter for the marathon!
Finished work today for the Christmas break - hurray! Now just got to get ready for Christmas (and keep running!) Weather getting much colder, some slippy pavements, but at least we haven't got the snow...yet!

Running with W & D A C

Had a stressy day at work yesterday and needed to run! Decided to go for it and with encouragement from Robert set off for a session with Wellingborough & District Athletics Club. They were very friendly with the 'newbie' and I'd soon filled in the relevant form and set off with Alan's group. There were about 10 of us in the group, mainly ladies, who jogged out of the school grounds, did some warm-ups and set off through the industrial estate. Every so often the front runners would double back or wait for the others to catch up, so we all stayed together and didn't lose anyone. The pace was good for me, not too much in the way of hills and good to have company, and not feel vunerable running alone in the dark. Alan and some of the others were very friendly and chatted to me as we ran around the town. I was totally lost at times, but Alan guided us back in just under an hour, having successfully run nearly 5 miles. I was pleased with how I ran, I kept up with the pace, despite still having a cold and could have gone further. After some cool-down exercises I set off back for home. As Arnie famously said 'I'll be back!'

I'm back!

Woke up this morning feeling much better. Got up, and still didn't feel too bad, so decided to go for a run. Had walked to town and back yesterday, but that was the most I had managed that week - thanks to my nasty cold! Weather was cold but bright and sunny, so I wrapped up and set off up the paths, on a steady careful run. Up ahead was either a very large dog or a cow on the path - wrong! Two cows! Plus farmer and dog encouraging cows back into field. Flocks of fieldfares flying along hedgerows, but little on the lakes as they were mostly solid ripples of ice. Very pleased to manage an hour of running and still feel pretty good - I'm back!