Lancaster by night

Here's me, up at Lancaster Hotel for another week to participate in more MSc fun however, I'm billy no mates tonight and after a 7hr train journey from the South West with little to do I fancied getting out and stretching my legs with a nice little and gentle run around campus.  Somehow however, I managed to pull off a 11km fairly enjoyable run, my longest 2014 run to date; out under the M6, out into the wilderness, skirting around the edge of the Lakes, past a huge Wind turbine, back over the M6, through Lancaster and back to the Hotel.  Even stranger, up until the last km, the run actually felt pretty good, a far cry from my run on Friday where I just managed about 6.5km after what felt like an eternity with zero energy or motivation, that certainly wasn't a problem tonight!

I did take some nice photo's, well I though they were good until I came back to the Hotel and looked at them....my ancient iphone 3gs just isn't cut out for taking photos in low light or anything for that matter.  Out of about 6 this was the best one......and it ain't great hence I've cropped it and kept it small.

Anyway, that's me done, off to get re-hydrated, some food and then finally down to some TV work!

A Rocky Road...

Apologies for not writing a Blog for a while; I've recently passed the year milestone since picking up my old knee injury and problems with it still persist.  Not quite to the same severity but it is still ever evident when I start running no matter what exercises/stretches I seem to do or even after a few weeks break!  

I think my next step will be when my current shoes give up the ghost, is to pop along to our local triathlon specialists and treat myself to a Gait Analysis session and then spend the extra to get the best shoes for my gait to see whether that improves things.

Running Selfie Jan 14

My Facebook profile picture was getting on a bit so I took the opportunity to take a running selfie at the end of my run today.  It was my first run in 2014 and 3 weeks as I had a cold that I had to shift and due to rest (inactivity) over the Christmas break.  The run itself considering this break went surprisingly well; a solid, dependable and reasonably comfortable 5km.  The weather was great as well; if I knew it was going to be that warm I wouldn't have bothered with the buff!

Anyway, I hope to step up my running this year after an injury riddled 2013 where I only managed about 50% of my normal distance (approx. 750km).  After completing the C25K in August, I went on and completed the Bupa's 10 mile training programme before returning to Yeovil Town Running Club (YTRC) and since then I've just been maintaining that level of fitness.  Just before Xmas, I managed to push the distance a little and stretch to a 12 mile run walk run.  This run was tough but enjoyable for the most part; as always I began to get bored and sore after the 10 mile mark however it's good to get out and run around the wilderness especially when the sun is shining and its not too hot.  Running is a great way I find to just escape and clear/free the mind, especially after a stressful morning at work.

Today's run was confined to just in and around Yeovil town but I still managed to venture up a new road and see some surprisingly stunning views towards the country park and further afield, just a short distance from town.  I intend to start back at YTRC next week and start taking more photos out and about which hopefully will help me get through the challenging winter months and the pile of Chocolate that is left to eat following Christmas; especially the Hotel Chocolate Rocky Road slab!