Week 9

Monday

This morning I woke up to another scattering of snow on top of the iceL.  I felt guilty for only having done 3 runs last week and only earning our Jantastic group 75% that I had to make amends by doing 5 runs this week.  Since it was out of the question to do a run outdoors with thin snow on top of ice; it had to be done on the dreadmill.  3 miles made up for not doing parkrun so at least I feel like I’m on course again.

Tuesday

Kath and I discovered a path from Festival Park to Cobridge and along the side of it was a large field which we could run around safely even though it was covered in deep snow.  Ha ha, Kath nearly scared the life out of me when she asked me if it could be a pond we could be running on as there were no trees, bushes or stones in the middle.  I had this horrible thought that the ice might be strong enough to hold the weight of the snow but what about our weight?  Anyway, when I looked down to Festival Park and towards ASDA, I realised that if there was any water here; it would run down anyway.  It did make us think how easily you could get into trouble running in areas you don’t know.

Thursday

There was absolutely no change on the snow front.  If anything the pavements were probably even more lethal tonight than they were on Tuesday.  I nearly went flying outside my house by just getting in the car.  Good job we found our nice field. We ran another 4 miles in the deep snow which we thought would easily cover the 5 we should do

Friday

Oh no, even more snow fell over night and continued to fall until mid-morning.  Still, I managed to get my extra run in because I guessed that Parkrun would still be off; just less than 3 miles around Westbury Park and Seabridge.

Sunday

Yesterday’s rain had removed most of the snow and ice off the pavements around Stoke.  Kath and I had a 12-mile run to do and we decided to run from Festival Park to Longton and then up the dreaded Anchor Road to Bucknall and along Leek Road to the Station and back to Festival Park.  It was a mild, sunny but very windy morning and to my surprise Anchor Road didn’t seem anywhere near as bad today as it was last time I tried it.  I ran all the way up with relative ease.  Afterwards I realised that this was due to the strong wind pushing us from behind.  It was completely different matter running on the flat along Leek Road.  The weather changed at the heavens opened and this time the wind was coming towards us.  It suddenly so awful that after 9 miles we decided to take a short-cut through the park which was just as well; if we had stuck to the original course, we would have gone too far.  Our short-cut through the park made the run nearly 12 miles

Week 8

Monday

I knew the weather forecast was going to be -4 for Tuesday and guessed that club run would be cancelled so I decided to mine whilst I was at the gym anyway.  It was very icy but I got there safely; only to find it packed.  It appears that everyone else had the same idea.  Well, almost 5 mile done but it was torture.

 

Wednesday

Another 3 miles done on treadmill in anticipation that tomorrow’s club run will also be cancelled.  Still very icy and snow has been forecasted for tonight. I had planned to do 6 miles to cover the parkrun but couldn’t face the mill of dread for that long.  I hoped I would catch it up another time but it didn’t happen as I became ill for the next few days.

Sunday

After having spent the day in bed yesterday due to my sickness and diarrhoea bug; I was dying to get out for a run in the snow.  The plan was to do a 6 mile route from Stoke to Trent Vale, Hanford, Trentham, Trentham Lakes and back and then do a slightly shorter version of it again.  However, once I started off, I couldn’t bear myself to turn back so soon.  It was absolutely fantastic.  The snow was coming down, for the first 7 miles, in slow, gentle flakes and it felt reasonably warm.  Instead of turning back towards Stoke at the entrance to Trentham Lakes; I decided to continue towards Blurton and Heron Cross and then along the path to Britannia Stadium.  I was a mile short when I got back to Stoke so I did a detour around Sainsbury's which gave me 11.30 miles.  Total for the year so far is 68.67 miles and I have burned 10,308 calories in the year so far.  Those are not just running calories as I have included walks and gym as well but not work.

Week 7

Tuesday

After having done  over two miles hiking in thick mud and wet grass and a several hours of bathroom and kitchen cleaning, I was already worn out when I got to the club for our run.  There was a light rain so we decided to do swap Thursday’s 3 mile run for tonight’s 5 miler.  Hazel and her friend Karen joined and for some reason they ended up taking the lead at a faster pace than me and Kath are used to.  It didn’t seem too bad running out towards Baddeley Green but it was very tough coming back.  None of us could really say that we’d enjoyed it but at least it got done.

 

Thursday

Oh boy, did we regret swapping the miles around on Tuesday.  The weather was very foggy, damp and cold and we were not happy to have to do 5 miles L.  We did the Keelings Road to Birches Head Road route but got slightly mixed up with the distance.  Apparently we should have gone to Lime Kiln instead of Cromer and then carried on Hanley Road so that we’d run up Bartholomew Road.  That would have been 5 miles but instead we ended up doing just over 3.  We decided not to worry as we could catch it up before the end of the week.

 

Saturday

Just 4 hours sleep but I was still just as excited about parkrun as usual.  It was a cold zero degree morning and I knew that I would have to run there and back to make up the 2 miles I’d lost so far but the difficulty would be to decide what to wear.  In the end I decided on a tee with a long sleeved running shirt and an ordinary cashmere jumper on top followed by a running jacket.  That combination seemed to work as I was cold but not unbearably so and I got hot towards the end of the parkrun but still managed to stay warm enough in the cafe; success.  74 runners joined us and Anne came for her second run and got her first pb.  Kath and I didn’t try to break any records and finished 54^th and 55^th but we thoroughly enjoyed it again.
 

Sunday

The snow that we’d been threatened with didn’t arrive but we woke up to a very frosty morning with bright sunshine.  It’s so rare to see the weather like this that when we do; it feels like a heavy weight has been lifted off.  Kath and I were in a very sprightly mood setting off for our first 10 mile run together.  The last (and first) time I ran 10 miles for Congleton half I ran with Sam as Kath was on holiday and I think that run put Sam off for many weeks.  Maybe I shouldn’t have included a run to Penkhull as part of the course?  Anyway, since it was very cold, we didn’t want to run too far away from the car in case we got soaked or got too cold, so we did two trips to Hanley which included a quick toilet stop at Tesco’s.  This time I was prepared and brought us some marshmallows to have after the 8^th mile and this made the run seem a lot easier.

Week 6

New Year’s Day

It was a lovely day for a run in the park. It was cool but dry for a change and even the sun came out now and then. There was one thing for sure; after having gone to bed just before 4 am, I wasn’t going to sprint it and neither was Kath. I ran to the park and back so that I could make up my required 5 miles without going on the treadmill. Still, to get 64 runners on New Year’s Day was excellent!

Thursday

Kath was working nights so I arranged to do my 5 miles with Alison instead.  However, on the day 5 of us went in Al’s car but we all ended up running different routes.  I (foolishly) decided to run with Charlotte, Bobbie and the two Liz’ because they were running 4 miles which was closest to the 5 I needed. The first mile went fine; we headed off towards Baddeley Green and there were no problems.  Then we turned back and I was told we were doing 2 miles faster towards Limekiln that’s when it got tough.  I only had a coolish t-shirt under my lightest jacket which was not too bad but for some reason I had my winter thick running bottoms on and it didn’t take long before I was too hot.  I just about managed to keep up with the pace for a mile and then I started trailing so far behind that I caused Liz T to keep running back and forth between me and the others, who I no longer could see.  She told me the pace was at 9.50 min/mile, no wonder I couldn’t keep up.  After a rough mile and half I turned back at an extra slow pace. I made up the other half along Birches Head Road and I knew I could catch up the 5^th mile on Saturday.

Saturday

I had an awful night; just tossing and turning as it was way too hot for some reason.  This is extremely unusual as the bedroom is the coldest room in the house, so I guess it was just me.  Anyway, it was fantastic to open the curtains be greeted by a very bright sun.  That makes a lovely change to parkrun just lately J  I ran to the park to make up that mile I had lost on Thursday and when I got there I was pleased to see Anne who was there for the first time.  She was concerned about getting lost so I promised I would run with her and I really enjoyed our leisurely run and chat.  Sadly Kath couldn’t make it as she had worked a 12-hour night-shift and was tired.  I think she was entitled LOL. Anne said she enjoyed the run and would come back next week.  We will all be pleased to see her again.

Sunday

I woke up to a grey but fairly mild day for our 1^st long-run of 2013 and as I closed the front door I noticed to my dismay that it was spitting ever so slightly.  We decided to shelve the route that I had drawn for our 9-mile run and thought it was safer to stay reasonably close to the car in case the heavens opened.  Plan B was to run a 3-mile route around Hanley, 3 times but the first lap was 4 miles and we guessed that second lap was going to be also 4 miles, leaving us with a mile to make up on Festival Park.  On the second lap we ran up Greyhound Way and I was very pleased that I managed to get up reasonably easy really considering that I’ve struggled with Union Street.  The last mile was the toughest, it was flat but because we had to make up two miles on Festival Park; it just felt like we’ve had enough and the only thing that kept us going was that we had already decided to go for a cuppa at Morrisons after the run.  The rain stayed off and looking back to the run we decided that, apart from the last mile, we had enjoyed it.