Author: FosterRuns

On such a bright and sunny January the first, it was easy to get out and get running and I quickly found myself on the way to the Downs.  It wasn’t exactly an early morning run however… it was midday before I emerged, mainly because I was hoping the temperature might rise a little from its sub-zero start.

I ran out towards Oldlands Mill on a very muddy track, taking a left before I reached the mill to drop down into the north end of Ditchling.  This meant that I could run down the high street with its pretty shops and cottages, before taking the Beacon road & track.

Each of my runs seems to represent an ordeal to be overcome and I was happy that I was able to push on up the steep Beacon track with little problem.  I didn’t feel particularly on form however, as I remember trying to work out what was painful… I was happy that it was not my legs, nor my lungs.

It was a joy to be on the top of the Beacon on such a beautiful day and I took these pictures to share the view with you.

Deciding which way to go back was difficult as all ways were appealing and I chose to run along the top to Jack & Jill, where a glider slid gracefully past overhead, before I turned northward.  It was cold enough on the top that I had to put my second beanie hat back on and drag it down over my ears and the temperature didn’t exactly rise as I dropped out of the sun!

I descended the steeper of the two paths into Clayton and ran through the Eastern end of the village and north towards Halfway (on the map).  Here I stopped to read the path closure notice and it was as if my energy, till then finely balanced for the estimated return distance, suddenly started to evaporate.  My new route took me through Butcher’s Wood, inadvertently via someone’s woodland-like back garden… if you are the owner, please accept my apologies.

At the one-hour forty mark, having run through Hassocks and onto the path at the north of the village my energy-meter suddenly hit zero and I found myself walking.  I realised that the elusive but pervasive pain was from my lower back so I allowed myself to walk for about ten minutes until I got to the the bottom of the lane to Oldlands Mill, eating out my entire small emergency stock of Jelly Babies as I went.  Whilst I really hate having to walk on a run and also really beat myself up about being so weak-willed, I know that I must have been feeling pretty pained to have resorted to it.

After my ten minute walk I was well chilled (and I don’t mean laid-back!) and I forced myself to start running again when I reached the lane to the Mill and then took the muddy track towards home, pausing only for a minute or so when I painfully twisted my ankle.  Despite this I still managed to run all the way home.

I had covered 12.4 miles in two hours 18 minutes… a pretty slow 5.4mph… and I arrived home like the walking dead, but it was good to have a tough start to the year and I seemed to recover fairly quickly which is a good sign.

It really felt like a Sunday yesterday… but it has just dawned on me that it’s actually Sunday tomorrow and that I’ll have to get out and do it all again!  Now I feel tired!

I arose slightly earlier than normal for a sleepy Sunday and was out in my running gear by 7.45am… in the car.  The weather was less than lovely, but I had a long overdue arrangement to run with Phil (Garmin-man) on his home turf.

When I say less than lovely, I had such torrential rain on my journey that the road actually disappeared a couple of times.  I saw one car which had just spun into the central reservation on the M3 and another which had morphed into a tree, deep in a ditch.  Needless to say that between the rain and the obligatory getting lost, my normally one-hour drive took 90 minutes.

I find a genuine challenge in navigating in the space between the M3 and the M4 and apparently do not need a car to feel this way… within minutes of starting our run I was once more completely disorientated.  The area really is stunning, but other than being able to say that we ran on some paths, some pretty back roads and occasionally along slightly larger roads, I have NO idea where we went.  Other than we ran around the edge of Ascot racecourse and up the High Street.

We had a good pace going from the start, but alas this started to tail off slightly as we progressed.  This despite me slowly taking off gloves, hat and jacket to stay cool.  Our average speed over a carefully designed 12 mile circuit was 6.3mph though… as reported by the aforementioned Garmin after which Phil is named.

This is faster than our 12 mile run in Sussex four months ago on August 9th and also faster than my 12 mile run on 22nd November… although to be fair, the latter did include running up onto Ditchling Beacon and falling down the other side!

Back at base I was gratefully refuelled by means of a huge egg, bacon and tomato roll, washed down by plenty of tea and coffee.

I then set out for the return journey and as per normal, pretty much instantly got lost, ending up driving back via… well actually I have no idea, other than the fact that I managed to cross the M3 without realising it and join the M25 at the Chertsey turn-off!

Maybe I should go there more often… invitations?

Events, which now seem to elude me, somehow conspired this week to prevent me posting last Sunday’s run.

Nikki was already at Falmer when I pitched up and we quickly decided to sit in the car to wait for Cliff, on account of it being COLD outside!  In reality it wasn’t that cold, but it really did feel that way, possibly on account of a sharp wind laden with occasional heavy rain!

Having finally extricated himself from a traffic jam and parked behind us, Cliff sent a text message to say ‘what we doing this for?’… the reply was ‘we’re not!’

Of course, we did, running up alongside the Falmer Road and across to Newmarket Copse, then down to the Houseman Farm bridge over the A27.  There are two long hills on the other side, with a sharp downhill in between and Cliff & I bullied Nikki into running just about every step… she actually didn’t take much persuading but pretending to be a sergeant major was fun nevertheless!

At the point above Balmer Down where we normally turn back down the hill to Falmer, some idiot suggested we carry on up the hill!  This took us up to the path I often run along on the top of the Downs near to Blackcap.

Turning left and into the wind, we ran along the top as far as Streathill Farm, then south to Mary’s Farm, although if you look on the map you’ll find there are two ways to get there… of course, Cliff took us deliberately the less direct way!

Mary’s Farm lays in a lovely sheltered bowl and the road out towards Falmer starts by rising steeply for half a mile.  Cliff and I ran it side by side, virtually step for step, just slightly faster than would otherwise be sensible.  Fast enough that he had to resort to an old excuse to stop at the top… while I used him stopping as an excuse to stop too.

Nikki was more prudent, but just  far enough behind to not qualify for an old git’s break before we carried on down the other side to the cars!

9.65 tough miles were dispatched in one hour 40 minutes giving an average of 5.8mph.

Nought has been done running-wise by yours truly since then, although I have a different run planned for tomorrow and I’ll try not to make you wait another week to hear about it!

The weather this morning was almost springlike… not only was it quite mild, but it was also really changeable.  From welcome sunlight first thing, it quickly darkened for a band of heavy rain.  Fortunately I was still sitting inside with my espresso at the time, in no hurry whatsoever to get out.

When the weather cleared a little, I took it as my cue to leave.  My plan was to run down the pavement through Hassocks to Clayton, up past the windmills to the Beacon, down to Ditchling, along to Hassocks and back along the pavement.

After the initial ten minutes, when my mind did nothing but complain, I got into my stride and I reached Stonepound Crossroads in Hassocks at the 30 minute mark… average 6.5mph.

I then ran on to Clayton, up the crazy-steep track from the cricket pitch to Jack & Jill, with the wind full in my face and then on up to the summit where the tank tracks join from the left.  This second section took 28 minutes and I managed an average speed of 5.65mph… not bad bearing in mind the size of the hill in the middle.  It was pretty bleak on the top with a full wind and dark clouds threatening.

I then ran across to the Beacon and down into the calm of the track that leads down underneath the Beacon road… just in time to avoid some really sharp, wind-driven rain.  It really was magical down there, almost silent save for the slap of my feet and I tried to maintain my balance on the slippery, chalk-strewn uneven ground.

When my feet finally did slide out from under me, in a dramatic fashion, I was glad that I had left the sharp stones behind and that I landed, albeit heavily, on a smooth, hard, algae covered chalk bank.  I lay there, winded, for a couple of minutes, using the time to snap a couple of photos for you to smirk at.  Key contact points were my hip, elbow and shoulder… alas the photos don’t do justice to the quantity of durgy chalk marking these places!

Being so far from home, I was grateful that I could still run, so I did just that.  Firstly down into Ditchling, where a combination of rain and pain made me disinclined to run back via Hassocks.  I opted instead for the more direct route north along the road to Folders Lane, where I snuck through the houses back home in the most efficient way I could find.

The one hour 58 minutes final tally meant that, despite the fall, I had managed 6.35mph for the second hour and 6.1mph average overall across the 12 miles covered.  Not bad Foster!