Snow | Obsessive Ramblings

March 23rd, 2013 | Comments Off

Tapering is going quite well. My desire to reduce my weekly mileage has, through necessity though, been easier to manage than I had anticipated. Liz is away at the moment in South Africa ‘fetching’ her mother, as she is moving back to the UK after well over 50 years. She has lived in the same flat in Bloemfontein for 30 years now, so as you can imagine there is substantial amount of accumulated ‘memorabilia’ to sort … Read entire article »

Snowy Run – Revisited

January 20th, 2013 | 9 Comments

When you are training for a big race, consistency is a prime requirement – so today, snow didn’t stop play. There is also a much used phrase which goes something like ‘there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad equipment’ and today I was going to put this to the test. I had prepared everything the previous night, hoping to get out about 5:30am so I stood a chance of getting at least 20 miles … Read entire article »

The Wind from the East

February 3rd, 2012 | Comments Off

The weather certainly has changed today. Out at lunchtime for a quick run around town, I went down to the Thames again and did my Tower Loop again (Tower Bridge, London Bridge and back to Tower of London). Unfortunately I underestimated the temperature when I was picking my clothing for lunchtime and only brought shorts and a tee-shirt, and to be frank it was too cold outside, although in the sun it was bearable, but then … Read entire article »

Enchanted forest run

January 6th, 2010 | Comments Off

Today’s run was supposed to be a ‘pace’ run, my speed session for the week, but even as I stepped out the door I realised speed was not going to be on the agenda. The blanket of snow that had covered the north of England for some weeks had been drawn over the south throughout the evening, and a good few inches were lying everywhere around. As a result I had worked from home for the day, nevertheless, I still had a training schedule to stick to and a sojourn to the surrounding countryside was called for. I decided my best bet was to enjoy the scenery and so I scrambled my way across slushy bridges, empty roads and up icy stairways just to get to the start of Pewley Hill. My trainers … Read entire article »

Filed under: Running

Running… on ice

December 24th, 2009 | 1 Comment

Not the title of some new celebrity (get me out of here) he’s behind you pantomime, although the seasonal appropriateness was not lost on me. No. This was much more about the variety that can occur when you decide to go for a run after it has been snowing and subsequently frozen overnight. John arrived at the prescribed hour (early) and after I’d finished deciding upon the number and type of layers for the oncoming assault on my body, we left. Ollie was, by this time, already starting to complain about the delay, probably (we decided subsequently) because his paws were getting cold and, when not running, the recently shawn cocker spaniel, was undoubtedly eager to get on the road. It was an interesting first fifty yards, as we began to grapple with … Read entire article »

Filed under: Running