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
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
The Waltham Winder
A day later than promised, but still...
I found this event quite by chance as I thought it had died a death years ago.
There were three distances for the Waltham Winder; 10 miles, 14 miles and 26 miles. The start times were staggered, with 26 mile runners setting off at 8am and us mere mortals (walkers!) at 8.15 am. The shorter routes set off later still. This event only took 25 minutes to get to, so I had a bit of a lie in! I toyed with the idea of only taking my small pack, but thought, no, you wimp, you have got to start upping the weight, so reluctantly got my large pack out and set about filling it. Now, I usually put any old pair of shoes in to make up the weight, but for some reason I put my newer running shoes in, as I decided to walk in my old Air Structure Triax Nikes. I was later going to be very glad of this decision!
We were directed to park in a field and when I left the car, I wasn't sure where the Village Hall and registration point actually was so I followed a girl who looked like she knew where she was going. After a few hundred metres, she turned to me and said "Do you know where you're going I'm not sure!"
I had a coffee and a couple of biccies and met Sue, who I'd spoken to on the Ponton Plod. She was going to walk with a friend, but the friend had gone to the wrong Waltham and was some miles away! Me and Sue decided to walk together. There were about 12 people walking the 26 mile route and we gathered outside for a briefing on cows etc before setting off. There were no route descriptions as the long, middle and short routes were marked with red, blue and green arrows and tape respectively. We were given rubber bands to be handed in at each check point.
We set off and half the field took off at a really fast pace. It was very misty and remained so for most of the day, it was actually quite damp. I don't remember that much of the beginning of the route as me and Sue were chatting quite a bit! Being in Lincolnshire, it was fairly flat and also fairly muddy. We negotiated a lot of bridal ways and tracks, and had a few gentle jogs, before reaching a road. The other two routes met here so we found ourselves suddenly surrounded by throngs of walkers! I realised that the first check point couldn't be too far off, so we put a spurt on and managed to pass most folks.
We reached the first check point, grabbed a biscuit and stashed a mars bar for later, and set off before the throngs arrived. We found ourselves walking part of the Ponton Plod route, but in reverse; we walked through Buckminster, passed the water tower and jogged most of the lane to Saltby. I discovered that the route overview I had been given had completely disintegrated, so it was lucky it was so well signed!
The second check point was on the air field near Saltby, at about 14 miles. We grabbed another mars bar to stash and I had the most gorgeous home made lemon cake. We set off and periodically picked off a few 14 mile walkers and overtook a couple who were doing the 26. The route was a bit more undulating here, and the 26 mile route branched off to complete a large loop.
We found ourselves on part of the Ponton Plod again, walking between two reservoirs before branching off to pass a third.
Reservoir 
Pump at Croxton Kerriel
I found this event quite by chance as I thought it had died a death years ago.
There were three distances for the Waltham Winder; 10 miles, 14 miles and 26 miles. The start times were staggered, with 26 mile runners setting off at 8am and us mere mortals (walkers!) at 8.15 am. The shorter routes set off later still. This event only took 25 minutes to get to, so I had a bit of a lie in! I toyed with the idea of only taking my small pack, but thought, no, you wimp, you have got to start upping the weight, so reluctantly got my large pack out and set about filling it. Now, I usually put any old pair of shoes in to make up the weight, but for some reason I put my newer running shoes in, as I decided to walk in my old Air Structure Triax Nikes. I was later going to be very glad of this decision!
We were directed to park in a field and when I left the car, I wasn't sure where the Village Hall and registration point actually was so I followed a girl who looked like she knew where she was going. After a few hundred metres, she turned to me and said "Do you know where you're going I'm not sure!"
I had a coffee and a couple of biccies and met Sue, who I'd spoken to on the Ponton Plod. She was going to walk with a friend, but the friend had gone to the wrong Waltham and was some miles away! Me and Sue decided to walk together. There were about 12 people walking the 26 mile route and we gathered outside for a briefing on cows etc before setting off. There were no route descriptions as the long, middle and short routes were marked with red, blue and green arrows and tape respectively. We were given rubber bands to be handed in at each check point.
We set off and half the field took off at a really fast pace. It was very misty and remained so for most of the day, it was actually quite damp. I don't remember that much of the beginning of the route as me and Sue were chatting quite a bit! Being in Lincolnshire, it was fairly flat and also fairly muddy. We negotiated a lot of bridal ways and tracks, and had a few gentle jogs, before reaching a road. The other two routes met here so we found ourselves suddenly surrounded by throngs of walkers! I realised that the first check point couldn't be too far off, so we put a spurt on and managed to pass most folks.
We reached the first check point, grabbed a biscuit and stashed a mars bar for later, and set off before the throngs arrived. We found ourselves walking part of the Ponton Plod route, but in reverse; we walked through Buckminster, passed the water tower and jogged most of the lane to Saltby. I discovered that the route overview I had been given had completely disintegrated, so it was lucky it was so well signed!
The second check point was on the air field near Saltby, at about 14 miles. We grabbed another mars bar to stash and I had the most gorgeous home made lemon cake. We set off and periodically picked off a few 14 mile walkers and overtook a couple who were doing the 26. The route was a bit more undulating here, and the 26 mile route branched off to complete a large loop.
We found ourselves on part of the Ponton Plod again, walking between two reservoirs before branching off to pass a third.
ReservoirWe were walking through very muddy fields now, and at about 18 miles I thought I had something stuck to my shoe. I looked down and to my surprise most of the heel was hanging off my left shoe! Sue said "What are you going to do?" "Put my spare pair on, I guess" I replied- thanking my lucky stars I had put them in my pack! Potential disaster avert and so not like me to be either (a) so organised, and (b) so lucky!!
We continued on, picking up the Ponton Plod route again and following it to Croxton Kerriel. We walked through the village with its perpetual pump;
Pump at Croxton KerrielWe walked down a lovely leafy lane, then an undulating track. The sun started to come out at this point, and we saw the third check point in the distance in front of a village I can't remember the name of.
Just Before The Third Check Point 
Scenery Towards The End
Just Before The Third Check PointA little lad in a multi coloured coat was very enthusiastically helping out here and waved us in, shouting with excitement. I had a very welcome cup of tea, flap jack, and the Sue found some shortbread. The couple we passed earlier came in, and we grabbed a mars bar as was our ritual for the day and set off again.
The route was fairly undulating from this point on, and we joined back up with the middle route. We had another little jog here, my legs were aching a little and I could feel a couple of hot spots on my feet- socks are something I'm going to have to sort out!
Scenery Towards The EndThe last three miles were counted down by green marker boards, which was a novel idea. We picked up a track, which became a road to lead us to the last check point, only 1 1/2 miles from the end. I had a coffee here, which was heaven! I thought I spotted a bag of chocolate biscuits which turned out, on closer inspection, to be dog biscuits!
The couple behind us came in and we left; we both felt that after staying ahead of them nearly all the way, we weren't prepared to let them pass us now! Luckily the last bit of the walk was easy road walking and we kept them at bay. I had been having fantasies about apple pie and custard and Sue confessed to having similar fantasies about soup, so we were ecstatic when we finished and were offered soup and apple pie! We even managed to stash more mars bars- I ended up with five (all gone now though!!)
We finished in 8 hours 18 minutes, which I'm quite pleased with. There were five people behind us, including a paramedic in full uniform.
We had to laugh when we got back to the field we parked in- it was a massive field, there had been loads there, Sue had arrived well after me but we had managed to park next to each other! Definately one to do again next year; it made a change having somebody to walk (and talk) with too!
Labels: Waltham Winder
Monday, October 15, 2007
Catch Up...
... I was going to write about the Waltham Winder tonight but a mate dropped by, another mate called and now I am too knackered, so will have to wait for tomorrow...
Had a good workout at the gym last Thursday, I was back up to 30 minutes running on the treadmill and over 3 miles, I did speed bursts of up to 8 mph. Also cranked the steppers up a notch, and did resistance work on the ellipticals.
I ran 8 miles on Tuesday, used my stepper Monday and yesterday I walked about 6-7 miles with a friend, and didn't feel too stiff from Saturday's challenge walk, which is a bonus.
Off to bed now, will write more tomorrow. With photos!
Had a good workout at the gym last Thursday, I was back up to 30 minutes running on the treadmill and over 3 miles, I did speed bursts of up to 8 mph. Also cranked the steppers up a notch, and did resistance work on the ellipticals.
I ran 8 miles on Tuesday, used my stepper Monday and yesterday I walked about 6-7 miles with a friend, and didn't feel too stiff from Saturday's challenge walk, which is a bonus.
Off to bed now, will write more tomorrow. With photos!
Labels: gym, Waltham Winder
