Month: October 2015

Really lovely run with Daren, on a day that looked like it might be very wet.  Actually, looking at his face as I drew up next to his car, I thought it might be a good day for a cup of tea rather than a run!

As we ran so we watched dark cumulonimbus clouds drenching the area just to the north of us, but these missed us and had soon blown away into a lovely morning.

We completed our normal loop with our normal depth of conversation (delightfully  d e e p) and even found it easier than last time to keep running up the tank tracks.

According to Strava is was 6.5 miles in 71 minutes, 5.5 mph.

I didn’t find time to run last weekend and even though it was only ten days since my run with Daren, I still didn’t feel on form this morning.

However, it was warm enough for me to sit outside with my quadspresso and it seemed a shame not to get out and complete at least a short functional run.  I ran out towards Wivelsfield on the normal short route, but then turned right into West Wood rather than putting the recent additional loop on.

As I ran past Ditchling Common Industrial Estate so my foot caught a root and I came down heavily on my hands… not particularly painful, but it did wake me up a bit!

Then it was back down the Magical Path before again taking the more direct path home.

No loops meant that I completed only 5.7 miles in 55 minutes (route shown here on Strava), an average of 6.2 mph.

I’m not sure that it gets much better than this…

I met Daren upstairs at Jack & Jill ten minutes after sunrise… the view was spectacular, as you can probably see from the photos above.

We did our normal loop up to Wolstonbury, down to Clayton and up the tank tracks to Home Hill, deep in conversation the whole way round… although it did lapse towards the top of the tank tracks as we were both struggling to not stop!

Our delightful run was 6.4 miles, completed in 72 minutes (route shown here on Strava), an average of 5.3 mph.

I awoke to yet another glorious day, though the passing of the autumn equinox means that the nights and early mornings are starting to get demonstrably colder.  I sat in the teahouse contemplating to the sound of the waterfall while I supped my quadspresso, then got out into the warming day for a run.

I had a clear sense of my route for a change, with one particular path through the woods in mind.

Compared to last week’s lack of energy, today I felt invigorated as I trotted off merrily down the road… it’s October and I’m still wearing shorts and t-shirt.  It was lovely to see evidence of good land stewardship on the fringes of Ditchling Common, neglected for years.  It must have involved considerable hard work (WELL DONE to whoever undertook it!) and it suggests that locals will be able to make use of a huge additional area that was previously impenetrable scrub.

I ran out to the fringes of Wivelsfield and along through West Wood on the path I had been thinking about.  It was a simple pleasure.  At the far end of the wood is a nice sharp hill and then I ran on along Hundred Acre Lane and back across farmland to Ditchling Common.

With the stile at the end of Janes Lane now negotiable (I’ve always thought it odd that it was there at all, given that there was no way through the sharp & matted stuff on the other side) it seemed rude not to use it and I ran through the newly cleared area with a smile on my face.

Then it was back to base with energy to spare.

According to Strava, the 6.8 mile run was completed in under 62 minutes, which I think is the fastest I’ve run this particular loop to date.  At an average of 6.58 mph, it was only marginally slower than my run with the Bok at the beginning of August!