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Tuesday, 1 September 2015

Running again

A couple of weeks ago i tried an easy run in the English lake district, not sure of the distance but time wise, it was about 6 hours. 6 hours may sound like a long time to some people and i suppose it could be, but i was mostly walking with a little jogging thrown in, unfortunately i picked up yet another injury. I'm don't know the specific body part name but the pain is where the calf attaches to the back of the knee.

As usual i asked the phisio to take a look and he performed his magic again, a good phisio is well worth his money so i'm going to give him a mention by name. He is called Ian liversedge and at the time of writing he works as the phisio for Accrington Stanley football club. He can be found at Hopwood hall college in Middleton Manchester on a Wednesday evening.

After a couple of visits i still had a niggle but decided i was just being soft, some friends were planning a weekend run along the Yorkshire Wolds way. The route is about 80 miles but relatively flat and the pace was going to be steady.

There were 4 of us planning to run the whole distance with other friends and family joining in for shorter sections. The run went really well, the organiser had arranged for a couple of support vehicles to meet us every 6-7 miles with copious amounts of hot tea and the occasional piece of cake.

We camped about half way through the route, where we were fed with a very tasty chilli and cans of larger, usually i don't drink but the company was good and i felt at ease, amazingly i had one and a half cans of Carling and started to feel a little drunk? It really is suprising how your ability to drink alcohol diminishes over time.

When camping i find ear plugs an absolute necessity, they block out all the usual noises that keep me awake and i get a much better nights sleep. We had an early start on the Sunday, getting up at six for a 7am departure. We drove to the previous days finish point and by 8am we were starting the second day and the sun was shining again.

The trails were peaceful with few other people on the route and we jogged along chatting about nothing as usual. This was my first visit to the Yorkshire Wolds but it won't be my last, its really is a beautiful part of our country side.

The running felt easy so the miles seemed to fly by and we were soon running along the the side of the estuary, the Humber bridge looming in the distance. (apparently the Humber bridge was once the longest single span suspension bride in the world) we finished by the banks of the Humber estuary, after 2 days of sunshine and beautiful views we were greeting by torrential rain. We all ran to the cover of our respective vehicles and soon drifted off on our way home, another challenge over and another reason to keep on running.

It really is about the journey and not the destination, we complete these long distance runs fairly frequently and its always the same, we reach our goal relieved that its over but this is always followed by a huge feeling of disappointment.

The days following these challenges usually bring up an idea for the next one and this time its going to be a little different. Kayaks and running don't usually go together but Leon has an idea.

Finally, i would like to say thank you to Rory and his trusty 25 year old Transit camper van, Rory provided great support for us as usual and he was helped by family and friends.






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