Month: October 2014

The warm weather is still hanging on with it’s fingertips and this morning felt more like a summer day than an autumn one!  It seemed rude not to go out for a run in it so I ran a slightly extended version of my normal loop.

Last time I took the Magical Path I quite literally had to wade through ferns up to my neck, but since the ferns and stinging nettles are no longer dominant, I decided it was time to get back down there.  It really is magical, hence my pet name for it.

When I reached the end I took a path that took me out to the common road and though I opted for the path on the other side of the hedge to the road, I effectively then turned left into Hundred Acre Lane.

I went straight down the lane and on down the path into Wivelsfield that seems the lane’s more logical end (the road bends right and makes a big loop).  Down here I found a tree that looked like it had its winter drawers on already (moss is really trendy this year).

Then I was back onto my normal path past St Georges Retreat and back to home.  6.6 miles took me 68 minutes, an average of 5.8 mph.

The warm weather meant that the grass and the green got a cut this afternoon… all now ready for the storm that is forecast this week.  Summer better get some moss gloves to protect its exposed fingertips!

I was really in the zone on Friday afternoon, but I also couldn’t wait to get out of the office… my nose had been running like a tap for a couple of hours and there’s only so many times that you can escape to the toilets for a good blow!  YUK! for me and for everyone else… sorry guys!

My cold progressed yesterday, but that was okay as I had a tonne of work to do, fortunately in the privacy of my own office!

This morning I was really in two minds as to whether to run at all.  Fortunately if was a lovely morning so I went out for a short run to a least stay (coughing) fit.

I ran down to the common and up to the top end of St Georges Retreat, before going the other way along my normal route and back down across the common.

The route was 5km, a shade over three miles in 30 minutes.

After breakfast and a shower, I got back out into the fresh air to pull weeds from the Japanese garden and noticed that one of the bamboo clumps had expanded enough to push the retaining sleeper over by more than an inch.

I set to with a spade and a carving knife to remove the clump entirely, then cut it into four smaller clumps.  Three went into pots and I placed the remaining one back into the ground, where it looks as though nothing much has changed!

Hopefully the fresh air and exercise will have done me some good… I’d like to be rid of this cold by tomorrow, in an ideal world!

When I arose this morning there was frost on the ground and the temperature on the thermometer (inside, by a vent) read 5 degrees.  Having walked around in a t-shirt most of yesterday this was bit of a shock, though I suppose that we are now in October.

A few hours later when I finally put down my book and ventured out, there was little more than a chill in the air, in the sun at least.  I chose to wear shorts and a t-shirt on the basis that there will probably be very few more opportunities to do so this year.

My late start meant that I could only afford the time for a short run, which meant that I defaulted to my woodland circuit, despite the fact that most of it is in the shade and thus slightly on the cool side.

I soon warmed up though… or should I say that I soon felt warm, despite not really getting into the flow of the running at any stage.  It was particularly hard work today!

I was also startled twice, early on: once when a cyclist came speeding silently out of the woods ahead of me and locked up his back wheel to slow down, causing me to jump and yelp like a wimp; second when a daredevil squirrel launched himself out of a tree above me and misjudged the strength of the branch he landed on… it bent right down towards the ground and we almost looked each other in the eyes.

Okay, I exaggerate slightly, but he certainly made me jump… before he regained his composure and disappearing back into the treetops.

In lieu of much more to report, I offer some photos of the day:

My 5.75 circuit took me 57 minutes, an average of circa 6mph, after which I collapsed onto a chair in the now-rather-hot garden.  If I hadn’t put all the rest of the garden furniture away for the winter, I probably would have fallen asleep on the lounger.  As it was I eventually made it inside and into an uncomfortably cold shower (yes, I’m still taking them, though I might relent as the temperature outside drops!) which did a pretty good job of waking me up!