What a difference the weather makes! On Friday I went out and did my long run along the North Downs Way. Armed with my map and GPS I headed along the downs towards Dover. It was a glorious day and I was feeling very relaxed and just wanted to go out and enjoy my running. Leaving Eastwell Manor I found this sign which made me giggle!
I took photos, chatted to people along the route and even stopped for a few moments to enjoy the view and eat a bit of my honey sandwich – bliss.
As I was getting closer to Folkstone I met a group of elderly walkers who I stopped to chat to and also double check that I was actually running in the right direction! They couldn’t believe that I was running to Dover but I told them it was such a marvellous day it was a shame to miss out on the suns rays!
As I ran towards Dover I passed the Channel Tunnel on my right which brought back wonderful memories of when Tim Welch, Neil Kapoor, Paul Taylor and myself ran the Paris Marathon, then continued running all the way to Dover where we caught the ferry (some people did suggest we should have swum across – stupid idea!!) then ran to London for the Start of the London Marathon (the Paris and London Marathons were a week apart) 330 miles and a great adventure.
The scenery nearing the coast was beautiful. I received a phone call from HWMBO to say he was on his way home and thought we could have a glass of Rose in the garden together, what a marvellous idea, but had to tell him that I wouldn’t be home for a few hours as was nearly at Dover then had to catch the train back.
I had a slight niggle on my left leg towards the end of the run but apart from that the following day my legs felt good.
Saturday was a rest day so myself & HWMBO went down to Bewl Water, I was helping out at the Bewl Marathon and HWMBO was fishing so both of us were happy. It was fantastic to see so many runners enjoying both the half and full Marathon, a great event put on by Hermes Running
Sunday morning with my mountain bike in the car I drove to Horsmonden for a great annual charity bike ride organised by friends. There are 25, 50 and 75 mile routes and myself and Caro were planning on doing the 50 miler, however when we got to the point where the 50 mile route went left and the 75 straight on it seemed perfectly sensible to keep going! Considering I hadn’t been on my bike for over a year, the handle bars were slightly off, gears were weird and the seat slightly too low I did well and thoroughly enjoyed eating the cakes at the aid stations.
You can see I’m not a seasoned rider!
This week hasn’t gone so well – in fact is hasn’t gone at all. I took Monday off as per my plan, then went for a run on Tuesday to discover that my left leg felt odd, so had a sports massage the following day, nothing seemed to be wrong so she told me to not run until I had seen Ken (my fabulous osteopath) on Friday. Very dull but better to be sensible so it was dog walking with a friend on Thursday which the dogs loved, they were able to do a lot of sniffing and exploring.
Today is Friday and have an appointment with Ken at 1pm, its sensible bra and knickers time! On Sunday I’m off to London to be part of a runners/bloggers conference put on by Write This Run I’m really looking forward to listening to all the other speakers and just chatting about running, it will also help me write a better blog.
Have a marvellous weekend
Happy Training
fortnightflo
Cam across your blog via Chris Mercer, all I can say is WOW!! What an inspiration you are. Love the pics from your run – especially the one with the sunbeam in the middle.