Thursday, October 30, 2008
Sorry For The Lack Of Postings!!
I must apologise for the lack of postings... I haven't even written up the Spires and Steeples yet!
I must say that moving house must be the most bloody stressful thing ever- really- it just seems never bloody ending!! I have bags and boxes everywhere and keep tripping over the damn things... Lucky hasn't got a clue what's going on... I am now fridg/ freezerless... the list goes on!
But- D-Day (or rather M-Day) is tomorrow, and hopefully a normal and stress free service will be resumed here shortly... watch this space...
I must say that moving house must be the most bloody stressful thing ever- really- it just seems never bloody ending!! I have bags and boxes everywhere and keep tripping over the damn things... Lucky hasn't got a clue what's going on... I am now fridg/ freezerless... the list goes on!
But- D-Day (or rather M-Day) is tomorrow, and hopefully a normal and stress free service will be resumed here shortly... watch this space...
Labels: Moving
Sunday, October 26, 2008
The Long Awaited Spires & Steeples Report!!!
The Start- Lincoln CastleYep, the long awaited report from the race I actually did several weeks ago!!!
This was quite an unusual one, in that it was a linear route. The Spires and Steeples walk is a newly created heritage trail from Lincoln Cathedral to St Deny's Church in Sleaford, and this was an inaugural challenge event along the same route (although starting and finishing in slightly different places.) I had originally planned to do another challenge walk the day before, but ran out of time with the move, so made my rucksack up to about 6 kg instead.
We parked at Sleaford and caught minibus transport to the start, which was in Lincoln Castle grounds rather than the cathedral. By the time we got there I was bursting for a wee! We had our photo taken before the start, quite a few people were doing it but some were doing a shorter 13 mile route. The runners were starting later, but I opted to enter as a walker as I though I'd take it easier.
We started by dropping down steeply through the old part of Lincoln to the shopping centres.
Lincoln CanalIt was quite sunny at this point, in fact it stayed dry all day which was lucky. We left Lincoln along a bridge over the main road with a spectacular view back to the Cathedral;
Lincoln CathedralThe route then followed an easy tarmac track, then a grassy track to the village of Washingborough. The route is signed, but the organisers had supplimented it with small stickers with arrows drawn on, which were quite easy to miss. In fact, two walkers who had overtaken me missed the turn up to the village church, and didn't hear me try to shout them, but came into the first checkpoint a little shame faced!
We left the village along a track over the railway, and then followed a stream through fields. The sun was quite strong at this point.
Walking Across FieldsThe first checkpoint was in the next village, Branston. There was only water available at the checkpoints, in bottles. I ended up stockpiling some in my rucksack, so my pack ended up heavier at the finish than the start! luckily I took loads of food, and a very welcome flask of coffee, I love these walks, a great excuse to eat loads of crap and not worry about it!!
The next part of the route went by the side of a wood to a track. There was nobody around at this point so I had a little run. Two guys were patrolling the route on mountain bikes, and they passed me on a regular basis, so we had a bit of a banter. I also came across St Johns Ambulance guys parked in various positions. There was a bit of road walking before crossing fields to another road, and footpath through this neat hedge arch;
The first of the runners were passing me now, as we reached Potterhanworth village with it's huge water tower;
Potterhanworth VillageThis is Lincolnshire, so it's basically flat, which made for quite easy walking! It was a short hop, across fields and along the road to the next village of Nocton, where I caught up with some other walkers (as well as being overtaken by a load of runners.) There were a few sculptures and things here, including a cow made by schoolchildren from old scrap farm tools ploughed up in surrounding fields.
A Cow I Don't Mind Meeting!!A easy walk brought me to the next village, Dunstan, then across fields and road to Metheringham, where a lot of the walkers and runners were finishing. I refilled my water bottles, and had my number checked, before continuing, sustained by one of the last of the Waltham Winder mars bars. A lovely path took me to Blankney, where there used to be a large hall, Blankney Hall, which burned down in 1945. We passed the remnants of it and crossed fields to a track into Scopwith.
Blankney ChurchScopwick is a lovely village, with a back running through it, ducks and everything.
ScopwickAfter this was more large flat fields, including a ploughed field which I negotiated by going round the edge, but ended up missing the waymark sign and went through the wrong bit of the farmyard to the road into Rowston. After this was a mile of road walking to Digby. There was another checkpoint here, and I was informed that there were quite a lot of walkers behind me, which, of course, appealed to my competitive side and made me run more!
DigbyThe sun had gone in by now, and the wind was whipping across the exposed fields, as I left the village over a clapper bridge and across yet more open agricultural fields. I entered Dorrington by a playing field, and ate a Tracker and had some coffee sitting on a wooden sculpture depicting the 'Dorrington Demons'.
The 'Dorrington Demons'The last section back to Sleaford was the longest; I crossed more fields and roads into Ruskington, where there was a rather wind blown checkpoint. I was asked if I had seen any runners as they appeared to have a few unaccounted for! I suggested they had maybe become walkers. I was just leaving the village through fields when a runner caught me up- it turned out to be the chap I overtook on the Winder, so we had a bit of a chat, and he ran off.
I kept him in my sights and had a bit of a slow run, through fields full of free range chickens doing what they should be doing- walking round, scratching and pecking in the grass- it was a lovely sight!
The last part of the route was along the canal back to Sleaford- there was a final checkpoint before joining it, with a portaloo which I took advantage of. There was a wedding party posing for photos on the bridge I needed to cross, so I had to disturb them!
As I walked along the canal, I noticed a couple of walkers fast gaining ground on me, so the old competitiveness kicked in again and I ended up jogging most of the way back, overtaking some more walkers. I must say, this bit seemed rather never ending!!
By The CanalI caught up with the runner chap, who I later discovered is called Phil, and we finished together. The finish was at the back of the Sports Centre rather than the church, and we were given more water and t-shirts. I was asked if I wanted a long sleeve or short sleeve one, and got quite excited as I haven't many long sleeve ones! The excitement didn't last though as I discovered it was a large... it would make a good nightshirt...
I think they are planning on making this event a yearly challenged- I'd certainly do it again, on the questionnaire they supplied I suggested providing food instead of a t-shirt next year!
My time was around 7 hours 15 minutes, which was fine as I planned to take it a bit steadier due to carrying more weight.
Labels: Spires and Steeples Challenge
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Busy, busy!!
I have been so busy the last few weeks... I am moving house in a fortnight and the amount of packing I have to do (not to mention getting rid of so much stuff) is overwhelming!! As a result I decided against doing a back to back this weekend, so am just doing tomorrow's event- the Spires and Steeples. This is a 26 mile trail running from Lincoln to Sleaford; there is transport from Sleaford to the start at Lincoln Cathedral, and we walk back to Sleaford. There are checkpoints, and my instructions advise that water is available. Food isn't mentioned so I will take plenty.
This week hasn't been too bad in spite of being busy- Monday I impressed myself as I managed an 8 mile slow run with a light pack despite it being two days after the Winder. Tuesday and Wednesday I managed 30 minutes on the stepper and lots of sorting stuff- I guess lugging bin bags full of stuff to charity shops is all good training, not to mention shifting heavy boxes! I am wondering what the reason was behind me keeping every tax disc I have ever bought...
Thursday was a hill reps session- I found two hills in the next village, and ran up one four times and the worst one five times, as quick as I could. I have only just started to do these, and could feel it in my legs! I followed this with a cheeky little gym session Friday. Shame I have eaten pizza, Burger King and Chinese since... kind of negates it a little...
Must go, I have no idea how early I need to leave tomorrow...
This week hasn't been too bad in spite of being busy- Monday I impressed myself as I managed an 8 mile slow run with a light pack despite it being two days after the Winder. Tuesday and Wednesday I managed 30 minutes on the stepper and lots of sorting stuff- I guess lugging bin bags full of stuff to charity shops is all good training, not to mention shifting heavy boxes! I am wondering what the reason was behind me keeping every tax disc I have ever bought...
Thursday was a hill reps session- I found two hills in the next village, and ran up one four times and the worst one five times, as quick as I could. I have only just started to do these, and could feel it in my legs! I followed this with a cheeky little gym session Friday. Shame I have eaten pizza, Burger King and Chinese since... kind of negates it a little...
Must go, I have no idea how early I need to leave tomorrow...
Labels: Spires and Steeples Challenge
Saturday, October 11, 2008
The Waltham Winder
First, I must apologise for the lack of photos- my camera did it's usual trick and decided not to tell me the batteries were flat until I tried to take a photo...
Luckily I slept right through until 5am after a really early night last night, and when I woke, my headache had gone! The Winder is a local event and doesn't take much time to get to, so I had a leisurely sachet of porridge in bed. As before, there were three routes; 26 miles, 16 miles and 10 miles, with staggered start times for each. We were given a brief route overview, and, as before, the routes were marked with either red (26 miles), blue (16 miles) or green (10 miles) arrows, and where routes converged, the markers were black arrows with corresponding coloured dots underneath.
I met Sue, who was walking with two chaps, and went outside for the 8:15am start (the runners went at 8:00am but I don't really class myself as a runner, so joined the walkers). There was a larger field this year, but the event seems to have had more publicity. We had had a 'briefing' and had been advised that the route had changed, as last year's wasn't very popular, so they had gone back to the old one. Originally all routes finished along the same route, but then they discovered that the 26 mile route was only actually 24 miles- so added a bit on the end! I had decided on my larger ruck sack- weighing around 4 kg.
There was a sign outside the village hall requesting us to start as quietly as possible out of consideration for the locals, but this was slightly negated by the fact that they started each route at 15 minute intervals by a large blast from an air horn! We climbed out through the village, and up the Bescaby Road- I was chatting to Sue and her companions at this point. We turned off the road by a disused race track, before picking up a dirt track. I decided to start a little jog here and left the others behind. Pretty soon, the 16 mile runners started to stream past, and I followed them and the track round to the right. I had gone a few hundres yards when I met a demoralising sight- loads of runners coming back towards me, as instead of turning right we should have gone straight on!!
I retraced my steps, and followed the muddy track and field to the first checkpoint at Croxton Kerrial, jogging and managing to overtake some walkers. As before, we were given red elastic bands to hand in at each proper checkpoint. Sue was already there- they had managed to avoid going too badly wrong! I had a lovely homemade flapjack and stashed a mars bar for later- honestly, each check point had boxes of full size mars bars- not your usual little fun size ones!!
The 16 mile route turned off in the village, and the next stretch I had done a fortnight earlier as it was part of the Ponton Plod. It was a lovely day, we were really jammy again with the weather. I followed Sue and the others through woods, and along tracks, and overtook them in a field when I started to jog again (they are faster walkers than me!)
I passed through Harston and followed the road up to the cycle path we used on the Plod, and was quite surprised to find a refreshment stop just before it. I was even more surprised to be told that I was the first 26 mile walker through- that has never before happened to me! In fact, they assumed I was a runner at first and told me I'd catch up with them soon!
The cycle track was easy going, so I kept to a jog, even managing to send a couple of texts whilst on the move! When I got to the end of the track, I turned right as signed and saw one of the organisers walking towards me carrying signs; he said that some had been removed and the one I'd just seen had been turned round to point the wrong way- luckily one of the runners had righted it or I would probably still be running round Leicestershire now!
The next stretch was a lengthy one following the canal, with another refreshment stop and more home made cakes. I stashed another Mars Bar (this is fast becoming a ritual!) and set off at a slow jog. Rory Colman, who has completed the MdS loads of times, was organising a run along the length of the canal today, I wondered if I might see them but think we were too far along. I had a few sticky moments when I wondered if I should have turned off, but finally left the canal and headed up a road towards Belvoir Castle. This was uphill, and my legs were feeling tired, so I tried to power walk with varying degrees of success. It was quite hot, I could actually feel the sun beating down on me. I stopped for more cake eating and mars bar stashing at another refreshment stop, and they expressed amazement as I was still the first walker through. I felt a bit guilty as I had actually ran a lot of it- I felt like I was cheating somehow!
There followed some fairly unpleasant road walking on a busy road- uphill to Belvoir Castle, past it and down towards Belvoir Woods. The track through the woods was muddy in parts, but I still jogged when I could. I reached another checkpoint, gave up a band and took a packet of mini cheddars as I figured I needed some salt! Two ladies with dogs followed me in- they were the last 16 mile walkers and had got lost.
I walked, slipped and jogged through the woods for a lo-o-ong time, before finally emerging into daylight on a metalled track, and following it to fields to Eaton. I turned down a track, and saw a chap taking down a sign, which he put in his Land Rover! When I ran up and queried what he was doing, he said he had had orders to remove all the signs- I said, rather increduously, 'But the 26 mile walkers haven't come through yet!' 'Oh', he said, 'Are there still people behind you?' Well, yes, only all of the 26 mile walkers and the two 16 mile walkers... he promised to put it back up and I carried on, safe in the knowledge that I had quite possibly saved the entire field of 26 mile walkers... I was still jogging on the flat and walking up hill, and then started overtaking 16 mile walkers (which was another novelty for me!)
There was a really tempting array of cakes (and mars bars) at the checkpoint at Eaton; I was introduced as the 'first 26 mile walker', but as I left, Sue and her companions came in- I hadn't realised they were so close, Sue said that the blokes were really fast walkers and were 'killing' her! She is certainly very fit... I have to admit, my competitiveness kicked in a little here, and I was determined to maintain my status of 'first 26 mile walker!!' I ran uphill through Eaton, passed more 16 mile walkers, and further up the road was directed into a field, by a guy in a yellow jacket. I set off in full shambling jog across the fields, overtaking 16 mile walkers, until I came to a sign with a black arrow and a blue and green dot. No red dot. Bugger. I pushed on to the next sign- again, blue and green dots only.
I started to panic a little and wondered whether I should go back to the chap in the yellow jacket. But when I got my brief instructions out, the little map showed all the routes going together to the next mini checkpoint, which we hadn't yet reached. The description appeared to back this up, so I pressed on, finally emerging onto a road and seeing a sign with all three dots on- sheer relief!! I past through the last refreshment stop, grabbing drinks, cake and obligatory mars bar, and got to Goadby Marwood (how do these villages get their names!?!) where the red route took it's detour along the road to Wycomb.
It was feeling like a bit of a slog at this point, and my legs were feeling really tired. I caught up with a 26 mile runner, and we ran together for a few minutes before he told me to go ahead- he had done quite a few challenging events close together and said they had taken their toll. He had panicked like I had about the lack of red dots on the signs after Eaton, and had retraced his steps to ask the bloke in the yellow jacket, so had lost a bit of time. After I left him, I followed the red arrows (not the little planes!) to the village of Chadwell, and picked up a footpath through fields (all uphill naturally and with cows in- luckily disinterested!) back to Waltham-on-the-Wolds.
I jogged through the village and, for the first and probably last time ever, had the distinction of being the first walker home! My time was 6 hours and 15 minutes, which I am well happy with. I also managed to obtain a total of 8 mars bars, some of which will come in handy for next weekend (if they last that long...)
Had a very welcome slice of apple pie and custard, and waited for Sue. They finished in about 6 hours 45 minutes, which was pretty good going- they also turned back to query the route after Eaton, and ended up jogging to claw back some time.
A chap approached me and said his wife is thinking of doing the MdS, so we chatted about it and I told him to tell her about the MdS Forum. It was really nice, as everybody wished me good luck for the MdS when I left!
My legs are aching a bit but not too bad- I called in at Tesco on the way back, and was able to walk normally (whilst trying to avoid standing to close to people as I didn't smell very sociable...) I haven't had any suspect pains at all, just muscular aches, which is good...
... lie in tomorrow and no gym- but I will probably dream of following red arrows!!
Luckily I slept right through until 5am after a really early night last night, and when I woke, my headache had gone! The Winder is a local event and doesn't take much time to get to, so I had a leisurely sachet of porridge in bed. As before, there were three routes; 26 miles, 16 miles and 10 miles, with staggered start times for each. We were given a brief route overview, and, as before, the routes were marked with either red (26 miles), blue (16 miles) or green (10 miles) arrows, and where routes converged, the markers were black arrows with corresponding coloured dots underneath.
I met Sue, who was walking with two chaps, and went outside for the 8:15am start (the runners went at 8:00am but I don't really class myself as a runner, so joined the walkers). There was a larger field this year, but the event seems to have had more publicity. We had had a 'briefing' and had been advised that the route had changed, as last year's wasn't very popular, so they had gone back to the old one. Originally all routes finished along the same route, but then they discovered that the 26 mile route was only actually 24 miles- so added a bit on the end! I had decided on my larger ruck sack- weighing around 4 kg.
There was a sign outside the village hall requesting us to start as quietly as possible out of consideration for the locals, but this was slightly negated by the fact that they started each route at 15 minute intervals by a large blast from an air horn! We climbed out through the village, and up the Bescaby Road- I was chatting to Sue and her companions at this point. We turned off the road by a disused race track, before picking up a dirt track. I decided to start a little jog here and left the others behind. Pretty soon, the 16 mile runners started to stream past, and I followed them and the track round to the right. I had gone a few hundres yards when I met a demoralising sight- loads of runners coming back towards me, as instead of turning right we should have gone straight on!!
I retraced my steps, and followed the muddy track and field to the first checkpoint at Croxton Kerrial, jogging and managing to overtake some walkers. As before, we were given red elastic bands to hand in at each proper checkpoint. Sue was already there- they had managed to avoid going too badly wrong! I had a lovely homemade flapjack and stashed a mars bar for later- honestly, each check point had boxes of full size mars bars- not your usual little fun size ones!!
The 16 mile route turned off in the village, and the next stretch I had done a fortnight earlier as it was part of the Ponton Plod. It was a lovely day, we were really jammy again with the weather. I followed Sue and the others through woods, and along tracks, and overtook them in a field when I started to jog again (they are faster walkers than me!)
I passed through Harston and followed the road up to the cycle path we used on the Plod, and was quite surprised to find a refreshment stop just before it. I was even more surprised to be told that I was the first 26 mile walker through- that has never before happened to me! In fact, they assumed I was a runner at first and told me I'd catch up with them soon!
The cycle track was easy going, so I kept to a jog, even managing to send a couple of texts whilst on the move! When I got to the end of the track, I turned right as signed and saw one of the organisers walking towards me carrying signs; he said that some had been removed and the one I'd just seen had been turned round to point the wrong way- luckily one of the runners had righted it or I would probably still be running round Leicestershire now!
The next stretch was a lengthy one following the canal, with another refreshment stop and more home made cakes. I stashed another Mars Bar (this is fast becoming a ritual!) and set off at a slow jog. Rory Colman, who has completed the MdS loads of times, was organising a run along the length of the canal today, I wondered if I might see them but think we were too far along. I had a few sticky moments when I wondered if I should have turned off, but finally left the canal and headed up a road towards Belvoir Castle. This was uphill, and my legs were feeling tired, so I tried to power walk with varying degrees of success. It was quite hot, I could actually feel the sun beating down on me. I stopped for more cake eating and mars bar stashing at another refreshment stop, and they expressed amazement as I was still the first walker through. I felt a bit guilty as I had actually ran a lot of it- I felt like I was cheating somehow!
There followed some fairly unpleasant road walking on a busy road- uphill to Belvoir Castle, past it and down towards Belvoir Woods. The track through the woods was muddy in parts, but I still jogged when I could. I reached another checkpoint, gave up a band and took a packet of mini cheddars as I figured I needed some salt! Two ladies with dogs followed me in- they were the last 16 mile walkers and had got lost.
I walked, slipped and jogged through the woods for a lo-o-ong time, before finally emerging into daylight on a metalled track, and following it to fields to Eaton. I turned down a track, and saw a chap taking down a sign, which he put in his Land Rover! When I ran up and queried what he was doing, he said he had had orders to remove all the signs- I said, rather increduously, 'But the 26 mile walkers haven't come through yet!' 'Oh', he said, 'Are there still people behind you?' Well, yes, only all of the 26 mile walkers and the two 16 mile walkers... he promised to put it back up and I carried on, safe in the knowledge that I had quite possibly saved the entire field of 26 mile walkers... I was still jogging on the flat and walking up hill, and then started overtaking 16 mile walkers (which was another novelty for me!)
There was a really tempting array of cakes (and mars bars) at the checkpoint at Eaton; I was introduced as the 'first 26 mile walker', but as I left, Sue and her companions came in- I hadn't realised they were so close, Sue said that the blokes were really fast walkers and were 'killing' her! She is certainly very fit... I have to admit, my competitiveness kicked in a little here, and I was determined to maintain my status of 'first 26 mile walker!!' I ran uphill through Eaton, passed more 16 mile walkers, and further up the road was directed into a field, by a guy in a yellow jacket. I set off in full shambling jog across the fields, overtaking 16 mile walkers, until I came to a sign with a black arrow and a blue and green dot. No red dot. Bugger. I pushed on to the next sign- again, blue and green dots only.
I started to panic a little and wondered whether I should go back to the chap in the yellow jacket. But when I got my brief instructions out, the little map showed all the routes going together to the next mini checkpoint, which we hadn't yet reached. The description appeared to back this up, so I pressed on, finally emerging onto a road and seeing a sign with all three dots on- sheer relief!! I past through the last refreshment stop, grabbing drinks, cake and obligatory mars bar, and got to Goadby Marwood (how do these villages get their names!?!) where the red route took it's detour along the road to Wycomb.
It was feeling like a bit of a slog at this point, and my legs were feeling really tired. I caught up with a 26 mile runner, and we ran together for a few minutes before he told me to go ahead- he had done quite a few challenging events close together and said they had taken their toll. He had panicked like I had about the lack of red dots on the signs after Eaton, and had retraced his steps to ask the bloke in the yellow jacket, so had lost a bit of time. After I left him, I followed the red arrows (not the little planes!) to the village of Chadwell, and picked up a footpath through fields (all uphill naturally and with cows in- luckily disinterested!) back to Waltham-on-the-Wolds.
I jogged through the village and, for the first and probably last time ever, had the distinction of being the first walker home! My time was 6 hours and 15 minutes, which I am well happy with. I also managed to obtain a total of 8 mars bars, some of which will come in handy for next weekend (if they last that long...)
Had a very welcome slice of apple pie and custard, and waited for Sue. They finished in about 6 hours 45 minutes, which was pretty good going- they also turned back to query the route after Eaton, and ended up jogging to claw back some time.
A chap approached me and said his wife is thinking of doing the MdS, so we chatted about it and I told him to tell her about the MdS Forum. It was really nice, as everybody wished me good luck for the MdS when I left!
My legs are aching a bit but not too bad- I called in at Tesco on the way back, and was able to walk normally (whilst trying to avoid standing to close to people as I didn't smell very sociable...) I haven't had any suspect pains at all, just muscular aches, which is good...
... lie in tomorrow and no gym- but I will probably dream of following red arrows!!
Labels: Waltham Winder
Friday, October 10, 2008
Headache...
I have a really bad headache today... probably a combination of not getting to bed til gone midnight last night, probably not drinking enough after going to the gym and having to spend most of the afternoon in a stupidly hot hospital (work related!!)
There is nothing I would like more than to go to bed but unfortunately I lived above a shopping precinct which attracts vast hordes of teenagers who like to stand outside and make loud, unintelligable noises for hours on end...
I have the Waltham Winder tomorrow so will need to get up early. I don't think the weather is looking too bad; provided I wake up feeling ok, I will need to decide how heavy to make my pack.
Not done too badly this week, with a 5 mile walk Monday, 10 mile steady-ish run Tuesday, gym session Thursday with some slow running on incline on the treadmill.
I think my bed calls- thank goodness for ear plugs!!
There is nothing I would like more than to go to bed but unfortunately I lived above a shopping precinct which attracts vast hordes of teenagers who like to stand outside and make loud, unintelligable noises for hours on end...
I have the Waltham Winder tomorrow so will need to get up early. I don't think the weather is looking too bad; provided I wake up feeling ok, I will need to decide how heavy to make my pack.
Not done too badly this week, with a 5 mile walk Monday, 10 mile steady-ish run Tuesday, gym session Thursday with some slow running on incline on the treadmill.
I think my bed calls- thank goodness for ear plugs!!
Labels: Waltham Winder
Monday, October 06, 2008
Quiet Week...
I've not updated very often lately as things have been quite busy... partly because my Dad and stepmum are here at the moment, and mostly as I am getting ready to move- I have decided to move into my friend's house as it will save us both quite a bit of money, which is very important, particularly in light of the fact that my bills are escalating constantly and the MdS is costing such a huge wedge of dosh...
She is willing to have Lucky as a lodger as well which is essential; the downside is that I am having to downsize in a major way, and get rid of most of my stuff- eBay is my new best friend!!
And, of course, I still have to keep up with the training... speaking of which, I have been building back up this week; I covered around 31 miles, plus had a good gym workout, with a three miler on the treadmill at a fairly fast pace (top speed of 7 mph but only for 2 minutes!!) plus some work on 'Brian' and the elliptical. Although I am now going to have to find a new gym as I will be moving to Nottingham very soon... I would love to find one with a summit trainer, such a fantastic bit of kit!
I have another 26 miler planned this weekend- the Waltham Winder, which I did last year- and the weekend after, there are two challenge walks that are fairly local; one on Saturday and one on Sunday. I am considering doing them both to get my first experience of doing long walks 'back to back', I will come to a decision nearer the time...
Winter is on it's cold dreary way- I had to scrape my car windscreen this morning! That's depressing...
She is willing to have Lucky as a lodger as well which is essential; the downside is that I am having to downsize in a major way, and get rid of most of my stuff- eBay is my new best friend!!
And, of course, I still have to keep up with the training... speaking of which, I have been building back up this week; I covered around 31 miles, plus had a good gym workout, with a three miler on the treadmill at a fairly fast pace (top speed of 7 mph but only for 2 minutes!!) plus some work on 'Brian' and the elliptical. Although I am now going to have to find a new gym as I will be moving to Nottingham very soon... I would love to find one with a summit trainer, such a fantastic bit of kit!
I have another 26 miler planned this weekend- the Waltham Winder, which I did last year- and the weekend after, there are two challenge walks that are fairly local; one on Saturday and one on Sunday. I am considering doing them both to get my first experience of doing long walks 'back to back', I will come to a decision nearer the time...
Winter is on it's cold dreary way- I had to scrape my car windscreen this morning! That's depressing...
Labels: Waltham Winder
