One for the trail

If you're fond of sand dunes and salty air,

quaint little villages just here and there.

Then play it loud.

Perfect for the endurance runner looking for a consistent cadence in footfall and the chance to be distracted for a few minutes...enjoy

A Hempen Jig

Whilst tidying up this evening I came across an Ordnance Survey map that had slipped behind a cupboard and was pleased to note that it was the Eastern continuation of my local area. I have found of late that I quite enjoy looking over my maps just to find any areas or features of interest that I could run out to and tonight I was not to be disappointed.

Regular readers may remember my plans in February to have a night run in March 2011 to visit haunted areas of the local area with stories of a ghost, phantom horses or a headless woman. Little did I know then that Kent was awash with smugglers, highwaymen and ne'erdowells due to the ease of access to the Thames and English Channel in earlier days. Imagine my joy when I saw a place called Gallows Hill, Wrotham Heath.

Research shows that in fact many a criminal were hung there and were seen doing the 'Hempen Jig'. So why a Hempen Jig? This was because the ropes were often made of hemp was the old pirate term for being hung and for the body to quiver and struggle in the noose like a person dancing a jig.

All this from reading a map!

A Hippy Father's Day

No Dear Reader, not a spelling mistake but a really strange meeting of a bunch of 21st Century Hippies in the middle of no where!!!

Whilst out on our run this morning just outside Shoreham, Kent (after taking a small cartographical error) we found ourselves hunting around looking for a path through to the said village. Richard took the lead and went on to take us on a slight detour as he was sure it was near our current location and directed us through an open gate into a secluded field and we were taken aback by the sights before us. There in front of us was a group of semi-naked men and women, some covered in towels, standing unabashed by our sudden presence,  in the centre of the group of tents was a yurt and an "alter" of flowers by a tree. One man was holding a challice like bowl  with smoke coming out of it and was moving towards the stream with it (presumably to throw the contents away)

After shouting out if they knew where the path was to Shoreham and met with a unearthly and vacant stare from the group Richard got in conversation with "Mr Challice" who was gesticulating wildly and rambling on about this and that we all extricated ourselves from the field in howls of laughter. We ran on to then see a quad bike hitched to a trailer with hippy standing on the back, surfing!

Just one of the bizarre sights we see on our runs but today's meeting was just plain weird :-)

Organised Mess

So now that I am getting ready to train again I have realised what a complete and utter mess my running kit is in. Whilst training my kit tends to congregate in one area, my kit bag; when it is washed and dry it is then dropped into my kit bag ready for selection. Likewise my backpack has all the usual stuff: a compass, First Aid kit, spare bandana, an empty bottle and possibly a waterproof but alas none were to be found tonight.

So with a jaunt out into the countryside tomorrow I thought it a good time to get everything together again and organised, kit in the kit bag and essentials in the backpack...taking me about an hour and about eight ascents of the stairs to pull it together, job worth doing.

Getting the mojo back

I am still finding it difficult to get the motivation to get running again properly after such a hectic training calendar in the first part of this year. George, my long run training buddy is taking it easy at the moment after his epic efforts at GUCR but I am mindful that I want to get going again, training partner or not I want to get going again as I have a few challenges in the pipeline.

I am very keen to get out on Sunday with some friends from the club and it looks like we are meeting up at our usual place to then drive out to a small village about 6 miles away to run on the North Downs. I am keen to run down to the location of a decommissioned railway station and the associated line that is now a footpath at Chevening Halt. 

Apparently the line was closed 50 years ago in October 1961 but is still a very good cut through to the main footpaths in the area.I'll see what the others say but it looks to be a different run for a change.

Bull 5h1t

I thought I would add this as an addendum to my recent post Nash Hash due to my post run enigma!

After catching up on news from my chums I got in the car in view of going for my late night supplies at the supermarket (read as ciders for me and a Bacardi for the delectable Mrs S) but as soon as I got in the car I smelt the overpowering odour of cow poop but my shoes were dry and "poo-less."

I got to the supermarket and the smell of cow bottom  followed but by now I had a clean shirt and shoes on, my legs were dry and covered only in trail dust, my shorts clean.

To home and the smell permeated the air around me so stripping off I had my bath and I was soon to be crusty clean, the smell gone.

It remains a mystery as to where the smell came from but I must have stepped in one BIG pile somewhere along the trail...oh the trials and tribulations of a long distance runner :-)

Nash Hash

I jumped the fence tonight and joined my friends from my other club for a lovely ~10mile trail/XCR run from their meeting point "Under the Lamp Post". It was the first time I had met up with George since the GUCR and also the first time to see some buddies such as Kevin, David  and Michael to catch up on news.

Michael took lead on this run and considering I have not run properly for a week or so found it quite tough and was soon puffing like an old steam train when we reached the hillier sections taking me about 7 miles to actually feel comfortable!!

I did take the steeper hills at a walk as tonight's run was about getting through in one piece and to test my recovering knee and ankle which appeared to stand up to the task well, so I am very happy. Rest tomorrow with a punt out on Thursday I suspect.

Nice one Michael, good run

Next event

The "Wedding Cake" in Croydon
town centre

The recovery from the Grand Union Canal Race, the general "wear and tear" injuries from it and the lack of running after it have got me down a bit. I say down, in fact I feel quite miserable at the moment but I suppose if I am really truthful, this is how I have felt on a number of occasions after my longer runs.

I awoke yesterday at about 9.00am after rolling over ignoring the alarm at 7.00am realising that that was the end of my running "window of opportunity" so stayed in bed for another hour.....lovely!

Then today I realised that it is not very long before my next event which I entered last week to give me something to aim for in the short term so to keep the legs moving  and my motivation up. I have entered the Croydon 30 mile race which is  mixture of mainly road and some off road (minimal) on 10th July. What is so fascinating about this run is the course takes me 2 roads up from my parent's house and then later on, the road just up from where I was born, then much later on past my first long-term girlfriend's home and many other little gems along the Memory Lane of my childhood and early teenage years.

The event is on road, self-navigating with some seriously hilly sections in the first 10 miles levelling out to undulating in the latter section so may see if I can get a nice time for this one but only if the knee holds out. This promises to be a very low key event, the ones I always enjoy with no pressure.

Old, new shoes

I am pleased to report that my knee and foot seem to be holding out well at the moment and so I plan to pop out for a trail run on Sunday to test them out. I am not too confident that they are totally recovered so will try and stay local around the woods and trails.

Another theory I have is it is my beaten up Mizunos that are causing some of the problem as they seem to be tight around the main area where the injury is. Now this may be because it is swollen down there or the shoes are damaged in some way. I have therefore decided to wear my old Nike Pegasus shoes which have been out of use for about 6 months but have a little more room in the aft section. The only problem is I didn't clean them up after the last run which was obviously very muddy as it took me absolutely ages clearing of the fossilised mud and clear out the spiders!!!

Thanks to the Prostate Cancer Charity

Two ladies modelling the hoody

I received a lovely email and surprise today from Chris Carter at the Prostate Cancer Charity which read:

...

I tried to give you a call today to let you know the good news that you are one of May’s Runners of the Month! As part of the Blue Runners, we choose a couple of runners each month who have put in lots of effort and raised money for us, and as you have taken part in events for us over a couple of years, I am delighted to choose you. The reward is one of our charity hoodies so let me know the size you would like and I will send one out to you.

Kind regards,

Chris

 ...

I am speechless as this is a really nice surprise and so unexpected, I promise you I will wear my PCC hoody with pride alongside my GUCR t-shirt

Bring Me Sunshine

Whilst Richard put us through our paces tonight he had us doing knee raises and as we were bouncing up and down this song popped into my head and I couldn't help but start singing it in beat to my jumps and claps....you can't help feel but happy when you sing this song...play it loud:

Frosty Feet

I have been very aware of my foot and knee over the past couple of days making sure I didn't do anything silly and honestly thought I had got over the problem, especially in the foot department.

As everything was feeling fine I chose to take a short run to the park to meet my club friends for some speed work and if things got bad to pull off the gas and enjoy a little punt around the perimeter. So it went well, we had a nice warm up with a few exercises but when it came to paarflaut runs I chose to opt out as I didn't want to put pressure on any joint  where necessary. Running around gently watching the others going through their paces my foot began to hurt enough for me to pull up and call it a day at the park and bid my farewells.

So on getting home and running about 6-7 miles I chose to dunk my foot in a bucket of ice.......WWOOOO that was painful but incredibly has made a lot of difference to my foot, let's hope it starts to work.

Itch Scratch

I am still mindful of Duncan's comment from Sunday when he pointed out sporadic patches of stinging nettles " I can't believe as runners we run through these things but as walkers we avoid them" and what he said holds so true.

I often laugh inwardly as I peg off down a pathway and dip and duck around nettles in the vain hope that the faster I go the less likely it will sting me, a completely irrational thought as they are in fact just defensive hairs that release three chemicals - a histamine to irritate the skin, acetylcholine to bring on a burning sensation and hydroxytryptamine to encourage the other two chemicals. Three days after this run and my legs are still itching, especially around the ankle.

Every year I talk about nettle stings and this year I really want to find a way of getting around this problem of itching for days after, I suppose anti-histamines are the solution but I wish I could find a non-medicinal solution to the problem

Forestalled

That is how I feel like at the moment after having had to sit in on 5 hours of presentations in the centre of London whilst looking at the sunshine outside, to limp home on a packed train then miss out on running club due to my nagging ankle and knee.

I had just settled down to put some final comments on some marking when at 7.30pm there was a ring at the bell and there was my buddy Rob bedecked in club kit wanting to know if I wanted to run to the club and had to decline. It was then made worse about an hour later when the delightful Mrs S called up to tell me that a whole pack of runners had just trampled past our house waving happily as they passed....and I was forestalled sitting at my desk marking itching to get out there in the evening sunshine.

Now totally distracted and my concentration evaporated I went downstairs for a cuppa and walking in I whinged about my foot and said:

"Look, it is bloody frustrating, it bloody hurts but I can stand on my tiptoes, like so and......" with that my foot made an audible CLICK enough for Mrs S to grimace and I was amazed to find that some of the pain disappeared, a big grin appeared acroos my chops and then I was met with a wifely order:

"NO, you are not going to the running club" 

and there I was again forestalled and now thoroughly miserable.

This has to be explored!

Click to enlarge

The dangers of recovering (read as injured) is picking up a map, laying it out on the floor and working out anything that needs exploring or can be used as a focus for a long run....well this happened this evening and after a flurry of web searching, scouring National Monument Records and geographical sites I have finally found an excellent candidate for a good longish run that takes us to a univallated hill fort not too far away.

I mocked up the image above to show the outline of the fort and surrounding woods, and would expect us to come in from the trackway at the bottom left of the picture. Any takers?

Oh why did I run?

It was a great run today and the only reason I went was because my ankle and knee were not giving me any discomfort, well the knee was all right but the ankle was twinging slightly.

The route we took was along a permissive path that had not been walked on for some time looking at its condition and our guidance was in some parts along trails made by animals, this was tough under foot next to fields which had churned up pieces of flint.

After about 9 miles I felt my right knee start hurting and my foot also which steadily got worse with the coming miles until I found that running up hills was getting quite painful. Some will say I am foolish to run so soon after my 91 mile GUCR attempt but I felt OK to run today, just ended badly.

This afternoon was spent with ice packs on my various hurts and my leg being raised up, it is time to listen and have a rest from running for a bit until they settle down.

Totally cross country

A great run out from Keston to Tatsfield with Duncan today to have a look at the monument marking the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty just outside Tatsfield, Kent. More interesting was the route we took along the Roman Road I first run in January 2010 as part of a much longer run.

As per usual the run was full of great surprises from a Roe Deer jumping out from the undergrowth some 30 metres from where we were running giving us a jump to pheasants a plenty. What was noticeable today were the vivid colours in the fields, we saw landscapes tinted blue by the miriad of flowers in them, to suddenly finding I was surrounded by poppies (see main picture) and then later on a field completely white that looked like it was covered in snow but when we got closer found it was large headed daisies.

A very pleasing run and to show how deep we were off road (and path) we only saw three people for the whole 13 miles and that was in the last 10 minutes of the run!

New plans afoot

After Thursday's little jaunt out to the park for a few laps I feel pretty well OK apart from a few grumbles in the foot which I reckon will settle down during Saturday and so am ready for a little trail running on Sunday.

I reckon a steady 20km out and back will do the trick with a little hill work before I hit the Surrey Hills and an AONB The picture shows the turn around point which is the Surrey Hills AONB Marker near Tatsfield, Kent

Going Naked

I was back to work for the first time since the Grand Union Canal Run and walked to the station, a distance of about 1.5 miles and was pleased that my aches and pains have lessened but not quite gone. The same from the station to home but with a little grumble below the ankle still.

Thursday night Speed training started again last week and as it is in the safety of the local recreation ground I decided I would attend to have a few gentle laps and to stop as and when I needed to. The session was going well but I noted I still had that grumbly tendon which seemed to be exacerbated by my running shoes, there was only one thing to do, take them off!

So whilst wearing my socks still ( I was protecting my old blisters) I went for 3 laps of the park and was pleasantly surprised to find the pain in my ankle evaporate. I am unsure if it was the barefoot running or the fact my soles were slapping on dry grass and mud that made the pain go but I will certainly try it again but not sure if it will be permanent.

The love affair is over

Whilst expecting to get a few blisters and rubs along the way from my shoes on the Grand Union Canal I have finally realised that my current shoes (and socks) are not the way forward if I want to carry on with long distance running.  

The blistering on my inner heels were horrendous at the weekend and so it is goodbye to Mizuno Waveriders, I am now in the market for new brand....watch this space