Category: Photos

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Dirty trainers

It was tricky getting into my trainers this morning… they were set like concrete from last weekend.  Eventually I prevailed, but not for the first time in recent weeks I made a mental note that I needed to wash them!

The sun was out in force and the weather mild, so despite the general wetness of the ground I headed out to do my local circuit.  The ground was a mat of leaves from now empty trees and this seemed to be soaking up some of the water… but not much.  Within five minutes of leaving the house I could feel a tell-tale dampness on the back of my calves, the splattered mud already soaking through my running tights.

On days like today there is little point trying to skirt around the mud… safer to go straight through.  The West Woods were sodden and squelchy but beautiful in the dappled sun.  At one point I caught up with a couple who were out walking… they stood well back from the path as I splattered through, enjoying the mud but only on the outside of their Wellingtons’!

The magical path was just that and I decided to continue on down it rather than turn left across the Common.

I crossed over my outbound route at the Royal Oak and ran down past the simplest and most elegant church I know around here.

When I mentioned earlier that I intended to wash my trainers, I have envisaged doing so whilst my feet were not in them.  But here in front of me the path had vanished under water and I had no option but to splash on through.

Now I was back onto paths that I used to frequent when I lived in my old house and soon enough I was running past it again… pleased to see that there was a sports car in the drive once more, even if the garden has been generally overgrown since I left.

A few minutes on the tarmac and I was home again, peeling off wet gear and finishing off the task of washing my trainers.

6.75 miles in 1:11 gives an average speed of 5.7 mph and a few pretty photos to boot (in reverse order for some reason!).

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Extempore

I’ve had a brilliant week!  One of the myriad challenging books that I’ve read recently suggested that there are just two critical measures that we employ when we are assessing how good something was (for examples my week or someone’s life): the high point and the ending.

So despite last week containing a sludge of stress and frustration, the duel high points of spending Thursday evening chatting with some really engaging Brighton Business School students and spending Friday working with the amazing Terbell PostGrad students, allied to the week-ending run I have just completed, make for a really positive memory overall.

The air temperature outside had an Arctic feel to it this morning as I ran off down the road and I quickly resolved to keep the route short.  Inevitably though, as with life, when we get interested in something and delve a little deeper it can draw us in and we suddenly find ourselves doing things that we could not have hoped for.

I ran down Ockley Lane and out through copious quantities of icy wet mud to Oldlands Mill, which had clearly turned its back to the low sun.

The view to the South was beguiling, but I still had in mind to follow a relatively short route.

Anticipating that I might not come back this way, I ran down Lodge Hill (I normally only run up it) and thus saw the village of Ditchling from a different angle for a change.

I felt a little guilty as I ran down the high street leaving a trail of watery mud on the neat pavement.  I could see it in my peripheral vision, flying through the air from my slowly whirling trainers.

Although it had not been my intention, I found myself on the path to the Beacon, ignoring the junctions which would have led me home more directly.  And then I was running up the Beacon itself.

A series of comments this week had been spinning around in my head and I suddenly decided to try an odd experiment.  Daren had mentioned that his tactics for getting up the Tank Tracks (a path which approaches the task of getting up the steep scarp slope by simply going straight up it) is to innocently ask me to explain something complex at the bottom and let me distract him with my reply until we reach the top.  With this in mind I turned on the video camera and extemporised for the duration of the hill.

The result is difficult to watch because of the fast moving scenery and also hard to understand through the heavy breathing, but I enclose it here for in case it’s of random interest.

And then I was on the top of the Downs chatting to a couple whose young children were occupying the highest point in Sussex… the top of the concrete trig point on the top of Ditchling Beacon.

Ahead of me I now had the task of running home, but I smiled as I enjoyed the initial down hill section.  My homeward route was going to be through the marvellous mud of the wonderful Weald… seemingly one part icy water to one part earth in places today… and this started before I had even reached Sporting Cars of Brighton at the bottom of the hill.

This route (especially at this time of year) is not for those who like to keep their shoes clean.  It has gloriously beautiful views…

… but the soundtrack is consistently splashy…

… and at times you have to have faith that your feet are still attached.

There was even one hill that looked to be a wide and curving lawn, but was in fact pockets of water disguised by tufts of grass, all the way to the top.

Eventually I returned via Ditchling Common and back home, my woollen Thurlo socks being the only thing that stood between my feet and frostbite.

Just over 10.6 miles in 1:57 is an average of 5.45mph… a glorious end to an excellent week!

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Mud transfer

After yet another curious AHA moment on Sunday from the book I’ve been reading, I went for a run to let my brain assimilate the new input.

I stuck to the short and simple route that I’ve followed the last couple of weekends but after a day of heavy rain on Saturday, it was no surprise that it was a little more muddy… and just plain stream-like in places.

Splish splosh splash!

The last of the autumn colour had also been washed or blown away, allowing more blue than usual to smile through the now missing foliage.

After much sliding around I arrived home with a lot of mud on my legs..

… but, surprisingly, none on the soles of my runners, which had been caked in mud when I went out!

5.2 miles in just under 52 minutes again… 6mph is clearly a great speed for thinking!

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A muddy reward

I’ve had a particularly enjoyable week, lecturing at either Birkbeck or Brighton Business School on all five working days.  My students were delightfully engaged post graduates looking to get ahead in some area of business or marketing and were suitably curious and cognitively challenging.

They were also flexible enough to allow me to experiment with both the material and the delivery and as a result I had FUN!  To top it off, I had an additional meeting after the Friday session which has left my head buzzing with ideas!

Having spent yesterday afternoon and this morning finishing off a set of condensed notes for the students, I rewarded myself with a run.

The sun was bright in a chilly blue sky and having not run last weekend I opted for a favoured short route through the local woods.  I first headed out to Wivelsfield, then followed the path through West Wood to Ditchling Common Industrial Estate.

It was beautiful, with autumn leaves covering the ground and sun filtering through the empty trees.

It was also muddy!

In the summer, or when the ground is largely dry, I tend to avoid any muddy puddles.  But at this time of year there is no point whatsoever and I revel in running straight through the mud, avoiding only those patches that might stop me in my tracks or swallow a trainer… which has happened a couple of times in the past!

Near the industrial estate there a subtle fork in the track which reminds me of Robert Frost’s poem about two roads converging in a yellow wood.  I call the one less travelled the Magical Path and it was on good form today, a narrow alley through the autumn trees.

At the other end I headed out across Ditchling Common and back towards home, my trainers sodden and legs suitably mud-splattered from the way.

5.2 miles was covered in 52 minutes, a steady 6mph average despite uncooperative lungs!

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Mud, sweat and fears

It’s always a challenge to write about my in-run thoughts when I return, let alone a week afterwards.  It’s a little like trying to recall the salient details of a vivid dream as input from the senses rushes in to fill the newly awakened conscious mind and crowds them out.

Had I written this post last week it may well have been a lengthy and candid expose to the way I was feeling that day, hence the fears in the title.

I shall instead focus on the mud and sweat, but the fears are a side-effect of the material I have been reading and developing for my workshops on self-awareness, team performance and creativity.  Honestly embracing our fears and failings, alongside of a demonstrable understanding of our skills, experience, motivations and goals, is a solid foundation onto which we can each build a truly fulfilling life.

This is not to say that I was in a morbid mood… I was not.  It was  a totally glorious day and I was on top form, both mentally and physically… hence my thoughts flowing freely.

I decided to run towards the Beacon but be satisfied if I turned around at Ditchling.  The sun was so bright through the trees on Keymer Road that I was super-careful with any passing cars lest they did not see me through the glare.

There was sufficient surface mud on the path to Oldlands Mill to use ‘straight through’ tactics, but it wasn’t deep enough to drench my feet or throw more than a thin layer of splatters onto my back.

Lots of people were out and clearly also happy, as more people returned my cheery greetings than normal.

I soon found myself running up the steep Beacon track and arrived at the top in 56 minutes.

I shared the top and a little conversation with a lovely couple from Clapham who had walked from Jack & Jill and intended to return via Wolstonbury… a more involved walk than most of the numerous people thereabouts.

I then retraced my steps down the Beacon track, through Ditchling, up onto Lodge Hill (intensely hard work for a couple of minutes), back past Oldlands and on home.

Longs and three layers proved on the warm side, but not monumentally so, though my hat and gloves got stowed before climbing the Beacon… it must have been at least slightly chilly.

I’m pretty sure that the time was 1.45 when I returned… slightly slower over the 10 mile route than on the 2nd September due largely to the conversational pause at the mid-point.

Overall a great run and good thinking time!

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A return to Blackcap

It was a surprise this morning to wake up to a beautiful sunny morning and after getting my brain going with the help of a Sudoku puzzle and a Kri-Kri tumbler of quadspresso, I climbed into my running gear.

At the very last minute I changed my mind about running from the house and instead drove up to Jack and Jill… a good decision by all accounts.  The car-park was almost full and there were loads of people out enjoying the unseasonal weather… there was still an edge of chillness in the shade, but shorts and t-shirt were all I needed!

I ran along the top of the Downs all the way to Blackcap, encountering the back-markers on the Lewes Downland Ten as I neared my turn-point.

The return leg was equally lovely and with the vague breeze now behind me, it was even warmer.

Lovely, apart from the flies that is.  Fortunately they were not along the whole route, just where the cows were grazing, but there were ‘fousands of the little blighters, all out enjoying the sun, cow dung and alas, my sweaty face… YUK!

I returned to the car in 1:35 having run 9.4 miles or so at a pretty steady and comfortable 6mph.

The sky has now clouded over which makes my effort this morning even more worthwhile!

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Temporary support

Andy P was (and probably is still) running the Extreme Running London to Brighton event today.  Cliff had suggested that we run a section with him to boost his spirits so we went to find him in the largely unexplored territory beyond Forest Row… in fact we only narrowly missed leaving the county of Sussex, that’s how far north we were.

We were hampered in our quest to find Andy by the fact that we didn’t know the route the race was following.  This led to an interesting tour of narrow, only vaguely metalled roads and a short stand off with a 4×4 with a wood trailer attached… eventually the guy reversed the few necessary metres, albeit with surprising difficulty!  Cliff was not about to reverse as the next passing place was about a quarter of a mile away!

We eventually found Andy who was running with Daniel from Jersey, which meant that I could put in a plug for Gemma at Orchard Chiropractors in St Helier!

Bearing in mind they had got lost early on and were six hours in, they looked to be moving pretty well.

We ran with them for a short while, during which time they paused several times to discuss the direction and eventually went the wrong way (yet?) again, but they were clearly not alone in this.  Various other runners caught up and then scattered in different directions… most of them incorrect too in retrospect!

After half an hour we left them turned & headed back to Cliff’s car… an easy 15 minute run when you know where you’re going!

So a very temporary support crew but it’s the thought that counts!  Thank goodness for Paula doing the proper job… otherwise Andy’s crates of spare gear & dry trainers would never have made it!  I’m still thinking of him even now and he’s probably still counting down the miles to Brighton!

Our run was about 3.5 miles in 50 minutes… time well spent though!

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Six fix

A weekday run with Daren is always a great way to fix the cognitive fog which afflicts us all from time to time, although you can clearly see from the photo above that any fog could only have been on the inside!

We run so infrequently that we’ve not yet tired of our simple six mile route: starting from Jack & Jill, dropping down to Pyecombe, running up Wolstonbury, dropping steeply to Clayton, running along the the bottom of the Downs and up the ‘tank-tracks’ that rise directly up the scarp slope and finally dropping back down to Jack & Jill.

It’s not lost on me that this is the third windmill (technically the forth) that I’ve passed in three runs!

We were particularly appreciative of the rough steps that have been installed on a short and often slippery uphill section below Wolstonbury (Daren thought this might have been big bearded Charlie at work) and otherwise just generally laughed our way round, appreciating the weather, the view, our open schedules, life in general and so on!

We even had an unseen audience… Maria (from the top of the Men’s Sussex Fitness League) arrived back in the car-park ten minutes after us and said that she had seen us running up the tank tracks.  She had heard us first, of course… probably on account of our chatting loudly to be heard over our own panting up the hill!

Six miles in a leisurely 1:25, 4.2mph average or so, TOP value!

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Pull your socks up!

My Mother sent me an email earlier which mentioned Ofsted Chief Inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw’s comments from the Andrew Marr Show this morning… which she paraphrased as ‘pull your socks up, satisfactory is not good enough!’

She had taken it as a personal admonishment and though I didn’t see it until I got home, the cognitive essence of the message clearly came straight through to me as I ran the last few steps to the top of Ditchling Beacon.

It was my birthday yesterday (thank you all SO much for the myriad birthday wishes!) and this morning I was reflecting on my chosen career path, which seems to involve a greater number of ups and downs than those of more conventional 48 year-olds.

No prizes for guessing that I’m currently on a down, though, if I remember rightly, Malcolm Gladwell says that the path to excellence in any field is a steep, gruelling, arduous and inordinately lengthy 10,000 hours of lung-busting effort, being forced to stumble and fall at every turn, etcetera… so I’m pretty stoic about it.

It had been flat grey outside threatening rain (likewise in my head) as I downed two quadspressos, and as I changed into my running gear it started raining, so I left in a hat and jacket.  The rain was really light though and within half a mile I had removed hat & jacket so that I didn’t overheat… it’s clearly not autumn yet!

My plan was to run to Ditchling Beacon & back and I soon found myself passing Oldlands Mill where there is a lively open day today if you’re interested.

Ditchling was looking pretty, despite the number of houses being redeveloped and for sale boards… I’m sure that sometimes people are so fearful of change that they choose to (in this case) move, so that there is at least the perception of control.

The bare chalk on my favourite steep and gruelling route up the Beacon was damp in the occasional light rain and thus very slippery and I was glad that I discovered this on the way up the hill!

I reached the top in an underwhelming 55 minutes (5.45mph average for the 5 miles) so with little view to appreciate and presumably sensing my Mother’s thoughts, I turned round without a rest for the return leg.

It was not a good day to go quickly down this hill but I wasn’t feeling tired so once I got to the flatter ground at the bottom I started to push on a bit.  Nothing heroic, just a little more effort.

I laboured momentarily up Lodge Hill (if you’ve ever seen it, you’ll know why) then resumed my slightly faster pace, passing an already busier Oldlands Mill.  When I got back to the tarmac of Ockley Lane (with the rain now coming down a little more heavily) I pushed on a little harder still, though still not beyond a comfortable jog.

And thus I finally returned to the house, 10 miles in 1:41.

The quick mathematicians amongst you will notice that my return leg was 9 minutes faster than the outbound section… 6.5 mph average for the second 5 miles.  That gave me something to smile about!  Even the combined average of 5.95mph was faster than last week’s (brilliantly enjoyable) run.

Maybe my running mojo is getting its socks on ready to return… and maybe, with a little more effort on steep and slippery paths, that bodes well for my work too!  Thanks Mum!

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SAIL NOW ON!

After enjoying the camaraderie of running with the St Francis Running Club last weekend, it was great to receive an email from Andy last week announcing a Bank Holiday Monday run.  Not least since it also saved Karen & Cleo, down from London for the first half of the weekend, from seeing me drag myself sweatily back into the house after a long run.

It was like one of the eye-to-eye groups, with Andy, Cliff, Pete, Nikki, Kevin, Lydia and myself, whilst the start at Falmer could easily have been one of the checkpoints.  In fact it was for Pete, since he ran from Brighton to get warmed up!

There were varying agendas, but Cliff helpfully set a clear initial direction by saying that he wanted to take a closer look at the windmill at Kingston, as it looked from the road like they had at least one sail on.

And we were off… initially up the hill out of Falmer.  When I was doing more hill running I would deliberately race ahead up this to test my staying power, but today I took it more cautiously, mindful of the distance I might have to cover afterwards.  Happily I can report that it wasn’t too bad, though I could hear Cliff’s steps right behind me the whole way, which kept me going!

We then ran across to Newmarket copse, after which there is a steep hill to the top.  Although I was initially dubious, I have to agree with Cliff that either someone has flattened it off or we must be generally fitter now than we used to be.

Across he top and down into Kingston was at an easy conversational pace and we quickly reached the windmill, which did indeed now have a sail on.

Actually, I can see from the Sussex Mills Group website that it’s a reconstruction of the Ashcombe windmill… and that unusually, as far as I’m concerned, there are going to be not two pairs of sails but rather three pairs of sweeps (the correct technical term).

From there we ran down into Lewes, with the added excitement of a near-miss when I turned left across the front of Pete… luckily he was awake and has good brakes!

After passing the prison we ran up to Lewes Racecourse… in fact, Kevin nigh-on sprinted up there with Pete in hot pursuit… and then on up to the next gate.  Here I met a couple of runners who I recognised, though after a little to and fro (which involved a quizzical look when I said I was running with Martlet Kayak Club) we realised it was because he generally shops in Waitrose at the same time as me on a Friday evening!  Nice to finally put a name to a face, Mark & Rosie!

Next stop Blackcap and both Andy and I were were uncharacteristically restrained in our rivalry, arriving slowly and at the same time!

Here the group decided to split.  Pete would head for home, joined for a while by Cliff, Andy & Nicky who were going to run back via Ditchling Beacon.  Discretion being the better part of valour (we were already 1:25 into the run), I decided to join Kevin & Lydia in the more direct return to Falmer via Waterpit Hill… which just happens to be downhill all the way!

We three arrived back in 1:57 having covered 10.9 miles… about 5.6mph average.

If there is a point to keeping up my occasional running, other that staying fit enough to keep any cognitive lethargy at bay, it is to be able to join a bunch of good friends on a day like today!  Thanks guys!