Officially excited

View to Cribyn

Ever since my run with Brian and George in the Brecons Beacons in December 2011 I have dreamed of returning to take on Pen-Y-Fan (pronounced "Pen a Van", meaning "the top peak", "top of the place", "end of the place" or "head of the place", depending on how you translate it) especially via Cribyn.

 Pen-Y-Fan is 2,907 feet (886 m) and the Brecon Beacons is known for its harsh weather, especially during the winter months when it can be clear one moment and snowing the next. This is perfect conditions for a challenge and when I heard that the Fan Dance was in January how could I refuse

The Fan Dance is a 24km race over the summit of Pen-Y-Fan and follows the route of the infamous SAS training route, who was I to turn away. I have to admit I am not going for the load-bearing option and running Clean Fatigue but that does not mean it is going to be easy as you are given a clean map, grid references and told to get to the check points.

So on Saturday 19th January 2013 I will make my 2012 dream come true...I am extremely excited

Just don't show Mrs S this video

I haven't told her that my January 2013 race means me doing this....wait for the last awesome camera pan.

Time to stop talking about it

Let's cool off

...and time to do something about it.

I had lots to do today so I left my run to the afternoon and decided to keep it local. I was moping around the house when the Delightful Mrs S mentioned that my running had dropped in recent times and it was about time I got out, "My God, Mrs S your greatest running naysayer said that?" I hear you scream at your computer screens Dear Reader, indeed she did.

On my confirmed release I grabbed my kit, donned my road shoes and took hold of a pair of aquas that I have bought for trail running (the others I will keep mud free) and went for it. Arriving at the woods I swapped shoes and went for my first run in minimalist shoes.

 What happened next.

I probably chose this path as the worst one for the first run as it was thick, glutenous mud that had me slipping and sliding but with concentration I was able to negotiate myself along until the path settled down away from the river bank and I on more solid woodland trail.

The first mile soon forced me onto my midsole as my heel striking soon decreased (mainly because it hurt) and then I started to take real note of my foot strike , possibly running a little too fast for my first big barefoot run so dropped the pace and began to really enjoy it. I say enjoy it apart from the odd pebbled area that was somewhat interesting, if a little painful, to run on. Ending quicker than it started I dropped out of the woods and changed back into my trusty running shoes and ran the last part home but this time really aware of the heels in them, I mean really obvious for the main reason my whole gait seemed to have changed for the remain journey home. 

At home.

I quickly collected a bucket, water and some ice and for the next 30 minutes gave my feet a ice bath....wonderful

Baby steps

Freshly armed with my new aqua shoes that I am using to "train" my feet for barefoot running I was tasked my the Demanding Mrs to go to the local cinema to but some tickets for the new James Bond movie, Skyfall. Ironically it felt as though the sky was falling as it tipped the contents of the English Channel across my home town. The cinema was 0.5 miles from where the car was parked.....time to run.

Being very mindful it was wet, it was pavement and my shoes were not exactly the toughest ones I ran being very aware how my feet landed. Wow, I was quite amazed as I found that I had to do very little to change my gait although I was aware of some knocking of the heel which I soon adapted and focussed my strike to not just the ball of the foot.

So there we have it, my first mile as a barefoot runner!

Could this be the next adventure?

Pen y Fan, the highest mountain in the Brecon Beacons National Park, Brecon. (886 metres) 

I don't want to put a damper on this but the Delightful Mrs S  has said yes....I will let her think about it but I am really want to do this one as I love the Brecons...let's hope she does.

Silence is Golden

Kicking and screaming I left the office late again and rushed home for tonight the drought known as my running miles was to end.

Getting into the house I caught up with family stuff, grabbed a meal and after it settled down went over the pile of running kit untouched after Sunday's DNS at Stort30 chucked it on and dived out of the door. I wanted my legs to be like coiled springs, their sinews twanging like a violin string and indeed they did.....for the first 1km and then I realised I was going a little too fast after such a long break so cooled it off.

My main aim this evening was to run to a training session with some people from my club who were doing basic hill reps nearby so thought I would catch up, see how they were and join in. Before I got there I decided to run off road in the woods....lost with my thoughts in the darkness, alone and for a long time feeling relaxed. I skipped the hidden roots, vaulted a fallen tree trunk then trundled to the road, took off my head torch to the road.

As I approached the meeting point I saw some runners coming up the hill towards me who were on the first set of 11 reps of a 200m section...I joined in......and for 6 reps nobody talked, lost in their own worlds...not what I was expecting....so I left to go on my way and enjoy my own thoughts.Running back to the woods and did a few loops and paths to return home, muddy, sweaty and most of all relaxed.

Tonight I enjoyed the solace of the run, the loneliness of the rehabilitating long distance runner...geee how I have missed the quietness of my own thoughts

At last

At long bloody last the project I have been working on over the past months has gone live last weekend and I am mopping up after the hectic Monday morning. Tuesday and Wednesday evening saw me teaching energetically at Uni but now I have a free evening on Thursday.

Yes, I know, Thursday! The evening I often miss out my training but I am going to make a real effort to get out even if it is a plod around my set piece 10km route, my trusty head torch in my pocket. I hate making predictions like this on my blog as I try hard to fulfill them but I really do need to get some exercise under my belt as I can feel the weight going on and becoming a little lethargic.

New Sister Blog

I am aware that there is some interest from regular readers about my [possible] transition to a barefoot running. You will have seen me looking at minimalist running shoes over the past weeks and after a few comments from fellow runners about my running style I thought it would be a case of "Now or Never" so have started the preparation period of getting my feet ready for the ordeal.

I imagine that the stories will cross-pollinate but why not visit and follow The Magic Forest's sister site to see how things are going.

The Barefoot Magic Forest

Choose your battles wisely

Choose your battles wisely. After all, life isn't measured by how many times you stood up to fight. It's not winning battles that makes you happy, but it's how many times you turned away and chose to look into a better direction. Life is too short to spend it on warring. Fight only the most, most, most important ones, let the rest go.

 C. JoyBell C.

There I sat on Saturday evening with my race kit packed and just jotting down the route for the drive to Bishop Stortford to the Stort 30 race on Sunday morning. I quietly asked the Delightful Mrs S if the SatNav was still in the car when she went into a blind fury about my running adventures, being at work all the time and why I "had" to go on this particular race. I had no answer, I was just too tired and mentally worn out to argue....

I chose my battle wisely.

Yes, I am disappointed as I wanted to meet up with a few of the faces on the circuit and enjoy the morning out but I have to be sensible, I am tired, I am not as fit as I should be and it has been a long week after quite a bad infection.

I chose my battle wisely.

Run on Water?

Manic day today and only part of my kit is packed but the rest is easy to gather together for tomorrow's run from Bishop Stortford. I have decided to run with my Salomon Advanced Skin S-Lab 5 Set along with about 500mls of water so that I can whizz through the earlier checkpoints without too much delay in the early stages.

I love race week as there has been the usual online banter from the regulars and what I love about this particular race is that it is Lindlay's first attempt at race but he is being supported both as volunteers and runners from the ever growing group of friends on the circuit. I joked earlier on in the week that due to my drop in mileage I was happy with a DFL but it appears more than one of us is looking for that title...never in the history of a race have I been aware that people are racing to come last!

So the banter continued and it appears Allan Rumbles, the Sweeper for the day went to do a recce on the route today and his Tweets report:

Allan Rumbles ‏@ogeerunner

@johnnyultra Not too bad, first 7miles are ver slippy tho. I reckon we'll get one in the water tomorrow. 

Allan Rumbles ‏@ogeerunner

#stort30 recce done. Ran it steady in 5½ hrs on just plain water. Looking forward to doing it all again tomorrow. #runningonempty

Allan Rumbles ‏@ogeerunner

@conwild Lovely route. Bit slippy though. #stort30

 

 I now look outside and the rain is tipping down over the London area and I have now decided to add another waterproof and a pair of gloves to my, now growing, pile of kit which was supposed to be minimalist but hey ho, it is going to be a blast. 

What is it about me and river/canal runs this years that requires it to absolutely tip down...you know me I wouldn't have it any differently

Caught in the act

I am now beginning to feel much better after my recent bout of Man-Flu and at last my temperature has dropped. I was feeling quite rough at the beginning of the week finding that I went into cold sweats at every small exertion and made worse by three 12 hour days!

I am still very keen to do the Stort 30 mile run on Sunday and have decided to take it sensibly making a judgement call on the weekend as to how I run it but mindful I may be called into work. I am however not going to fool myself and will be going for a comfortable run but if I feel it is going OK will stretch the legs.

On the subject of running shoes

I arrived to an empty house this evening and so had got myself a bag of chips for my tea so sat down in front of my laptop to do a little Bare Foot shoe research whilst the Delightful Mrs S was not supervising my late night browsing. For some reason at the moment she has the "Jerry Running RADAR" on full sweep and when she came in from work and had settled down on the sofa for a chat spotted that I had [stupidly] left my browser window open to display some VFF KSO and then came the classic comment ever which I know my good running friend Duncan will raise his eyes to the Heavens on hearing:

"YUCK....They look like monkey feet...you are mad!"

No rest for the wicked!

Another day off work today  but the worst of this infection is now over (The Delectable Mrs S admits it was flu) and my high temperature dropping to normal so it is back to work tomorrow.

With it is two more evenings teaching and the requirement to work Saturday,but that is not all for those who have been reading my Events page I have a little run out on Sunday in the form of a 30 mile canal race.

I am a tad worried about it due to the lack of miles I have been putting in of late but I have to put it into perspective it is just 30 miles and not a "proper" ultra so hopefully it has been a good thing that I have dropped back a bit. Firstly to repair any punishment from the White Cliffs and also just to have a rest and concentrate on things other than running for a little while.

The runs I took part in on the Downs last week and the run in London show that I am very strong at the moment and whilst no race winner I will be happy with a DFL and a race t-shirt.

Logistics on Sunday will be interesting though, a 1 hour drive to and then from the race with the added bonus of driving my daughter to Southampton in the late afternoon all that after a 30 mile race.

Indeed no rest for the wicked.

Planning

After yet another mammoth sleep of 10 hours I awoke this morning still feeling rough and under strict instructions not to do anything silly this weekend (read as no running or over-exertion) as apparently I look very rough! So whilst feeling unwell my little brain has been spinning 15 to the dozen and I needed a distraction so I decided to look at planning the logistics of the Hanover Marathon next May and boy, what a conundrum. 

I often think about other runners who attend big events and wonder how they go about planning it or do they just go to a travel agents and book it. I however am on a budget and want to go the cheapest, most efficient route.

To me this is the fun part of a race/event, the planning which includes:

1. Travel (to and from)
2. Kit
3. Food/water (in event)
4. Lodging/Boarding (if necessary)

 The Hanover race is no different but what makes it worse is there is only one flight on the Saturday leaving at 07:50 hrs from Stansted! So there is no easy way of getting there because the first train from my local station leaves at 05:59 hrs and I would miss the flight. So innovation was needed and I have therefore worked out that I need to get a night bus which is 2kms from my house and leaves at 4:20 hrs and gets to London at 5:13 hrs perfect. What with using German Wings , walking and a bus I have reduced this event by some considerable amount.

So a mixture of walking, bus, train and airplane will get me to Hanover with no doubt a walk to the Youth Hostel....yes you heard it, the Youth Hostel!

So the "Hanover Marathon Planner" Excel worksheet has been created soon to be transferred to the Cloud... I love planning for races :-)

Let's look at 2013 for a moment

Things are a bit down in my running world including my training miles and my general attitude, the latter being due to my general over-tiredness caused by long hours and general stress....hey enough of that this blog is about the running but it is good to know that with all the Tribulations there are Trials.

In my ever increasing running fraternity I have met some amazing people but one or two really shine above the rest. One such person is Christian Hottas of Hamburg, Germany. Christian is in various record books for the most marathons/ultramarathons run and it appears he is about to reach his 2000^th distance run in May 2013.....an incredible achievement.

I first met Christian in 2011 at the Grand Union Canal Run with his wonderful companion Christine Schroeder who similarly has run some amazing distances. Christian is a brilliant photographer  and often publishes pictures from his events including the runners, the scenery and items of interest. This year he presented a book to Dick Kearn of his memories from the Grand Union Canal races...a lovely, thoughtful man.

Today I received an invite to be one of his escorts at his 2,000^th Marathon in Hanover, Germany on 5^th May 2013..something I jumped at and with the full go ahead from the Delightful Mrs S (in a view of agreeing a fixed travel budget) I entered.

So, between you and me, I hope this will be the final training run before running GUCR at the end of that month....fingers crossed.

Treadmill

I had a funny feeling today at work when I realised that the project I was working on was (hopefully) nearing an end and we waited for some process to finish its cycle. Then that I was so very, very tired although better than I did at the weekend. The longer working hours, the deadlines hanging over us like the Sword of Damocles, so much work could so easily be lost. The project was supposed to have finished 3 weeks ago but was delayed, this delay now affecting my diary for this week I have started lecturing again and for my sins for 2 evenings a week...long hours + 6 are not good for the training plans.

So there I was moping at my desk and then an it hit me....could I honestly be doing all this if I wasn't so fit. Let's be realistic, yes I am fit, not as fit as I was in March this year but I am certainly the fittest I have been for so many years.

So OK, I do feel I am walking around Escher's Mobius Strip like the Ants at the moment work reflects my running "There are good stages and there are bad stages, stick with both and you will come out the other side just that little closer to the end"

This little blog entry makes me feel a little better but I want to get back to my training, feel that spark again and start enjoying things a little more than being stuck on this treadmill.

Night Run - The Misfits Report

"Why The Misfits?" I have heard you mumble under your breath when I red the relevant blog over recent weeks Dear Reader. Well the reason was because I wanted to settle a long standing "Pub argument" where various people have strong views as to where the highest points on the North Downs were and it all came down to which side of the county border you were on. We were to travel by foot to the highest point in Kent and then onto the highest point in Surrey, about 2 miles apart. The Surrey summit is classified as a Marilyn (above 250 m) and The Misfits was Marilyn Munroe's first film :-)

This Night Run was always going to have a low turn out as it was nestled slam dunk in the middle of some big events and training calendar dates but I was remiss in my planning but was happy to cancel if necessary but was it was great to have 3 of the regulars attend, Brian, David, Michael and myself.

So off we traipsed straight onto the muddy paths of Biggin Hill to wind our way along well known tracks and trails the four of us had trampled before but as David later stated "Running in the dark is so different, you really have to concentrate quite hard" Sadly no (real) badger attacks in the woods which secretly I was glad off and then out onto the road to head along Westerham Hill to visit the highest point on the North Downs in Kent which I described as the most uninteresting interesting point in Kent but the gathered ensemble mumbled the right words and we wandered over to a darkened area and stood for 5-10 minutes and star watched spotting satellites and the Milky Way. The path we were on was an entrance to a coach works with one or two houses and as we moved off we were met by a car whose occupants looked rather perturbed by our presence as we scooted off, I just hope that they didn't call the Police stating:

"Yes officer, four of them, one wearing Union Flag shorts, yes and they were all laughing!"

After getting off road again instructions were similar to "turn right when the dogs bark" which true to form the dogs did bark and we continued down to hit the North Downs Scarp to join the North Downs Way and onwards to Titsey Hill where I took the group to "The first tree on the right after the woods" where we were to view a trig point that was the current "official" highest point on the North Downs in Surrey. I say current as it depends on which map you use but Ordnance Survey is classified as the official one.

Cider called so it was a quick run to the pub where as usual we got the strangest of looks as we stepped through the door. Supping our pints we were soon to gather our belongings, I rather miffed as the £15 that I had placed in a plastic bag were no longer there so could not stand a round. As we left the ladies seated next to us commented that they thought we were cyclists but "Must be mad to be running", one lady was, should I say, showing a little more decoutage than one would want to see shouted as we left "Well if I see you I will make sure I run you over" slightly scared now we decamped. The politeness now lost between men "Oh my God, did she say she was going to kill us?  and "Cor, get your tits out on Titsey Hill" :-)

Hunter's Moon

So October is the month of the Hunter's Moon and we were aghast when, as we topped, the crest of a small hillock we were to see the Moon, a blood red and the size of a bright tu'pence just leaving the horizon, a beautiful sight as it approached its first quarter . It stayed our companion for the next mile as we ducked off road again to return on a slightly different route (for safety) to a warm and comfortable pub to sup another pint of cider and to return to our homes, mudded, blooded and sweaty.

Another great run with friends....and then to find I had not lost my £15 cider money for it sat alone on the side table next to my keys!

Exhausted

Over the past 5-6 months I have been working on a project that has been both a stressful one in the form of sharp deadlines, learning new skills...fast and then the extra hours both at home and in the office to get things done. This week has been unbearable in places with little or no support from my management team who appear oblivious.

My running has been hit hard and the miles reduced dramatically both as part of recovery from The White Cliffs Challenge but mainly due to the extra hours making me feel exhausted with a 15 hour work day on Thursday. 

Last night the small team I am in agreed to shut down the laptops and go home whilst the servers did their work on some data processing and to forget work for a while. On getting on the train, I fell asleep missing my stop. Got home, ate and then ran various family members to parties, collected daughter from the station (visit for the weekend) collected people from parties. Had a quick glass of cider and went to bed.......

I fell asleep before my head hit the pillow and awoke today having had 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep feeling the best I have for a good few weeks.

Make note to myself...Must start looking after myself a bit more

My problem with maps

In fact I don't have a problem with maps, I in fact love maps and the Delightful Mrs S is often heard grumbling that my trusty Explorer Map 147 is yet again on the coffee table.

Take Wednesday evening, I was looking over my map and I  came across some strange markings normally associated with a path but this was a long rectangle but my map would not say or give a clue as to what it is or was, that is until now. Looking at one of my favourite mapping sites (bikehike.co.uk) which I use to measure my routes sometimes and it should this:

Identifying it as an airstrip which apparently is unlicensed and by way of chance has a footpath running just south of it....time to explore

Time to pay the bills

and say goodbye to the running club on Tuesday for two months.

Battling a hectic training plan that started today I have had to vector out Tuesday and Wednesday evening runs as I will back at the University lecturing until 9.00pm but that starts next week. This week I am taking the evening away from the club to take my youngest daughter to the Royal Society to listen to a lecture on Looking for patterns in the prime numbers.

OK, I know you have heard me talk about how I like my race numbers to be a Prime Number but I read about this lecture and it was once in a life time chance so we are off for an evening in London.

Just between you and me Dear Reader my legs still feel a little heavy from the White Cliffs Challenge, which I have since learnt that George and I came =8th in 13:49 hours, my run today telling me that a break tomorrow will do me no harm.

"To live with ghosts requires solitude"

Anne Michaels, Fugitive Pieces