Category: Photos

There was a flatness to the light today and although it feels sort of chilly, I suspect that it’s just the humidity that’s making it feel slightly cool.  It wasn’t exactly ‘let’s go run’ weather, but I’m not running enough at the moment to vegetate for no reason, so I pulled on my runners & got out there.

I did a simple loop out to Wivelsfield, up through West Wood and back down the Magical Path.  I even managed to get lost again… I was sort of making my way out to Hundred Acre Lane, but as you can see from Strava I wasn’t even close to it!

5.6 miles in 55 minutes, an average of 6.2 mph.

After a day spent power washing our drive (and generally clearing up the mess that I created by doing this) I didn’t really feel much like a run.  However, I didn’t run last week so I managed to find the motivation to get out there anyway.

I’d managed to catch the sun a little on the back of my neck, so whilst I ran in the same direction as the last couple of runs, I decided to keep to the shade.  The light through the trees was beautiful and I actually managed to get disorientated in the wood such that I ran along one path for five minutes before I recognised where I was… I really enjoy that feeling of seeing something with fresh eyes, not to mention the delightful  ‘aha’ moment when you realise you know where you are.

At one point I tripped magnificently and went flying.  I’m still unsure exactly how I landed (I wasn’t certain at the time either)… I had mud on my hands and back, so I can only guess that I let go of my phone and water bottle, tucked and rolled.  The whole thing would have been quite funny for anyone watching, though there was sadly no-one there to see.

Later I took to the road to avoid a section of path that I thought might be thick with stinging nettles.  As I rounded the corner so I found some medics treating a cyclist who had slid off his bike on the gravel, so I stopped to slow the traffic down until an ambulance was on it’s way and one of his fellow cyclists relieved me.  The man being treated had blood right across his face and must have been in quite some pain with gravel burns, though I know from personal experience how much the head bleeds from even a minor cut.  I hope that he views the experience as life-affirming and is soon back on his bike!

You can see my run on Strava at https://www.strava.com/activities/320200150 – 6.8 miles in 64 minutes, average 6.38 mph.

I didn’t run last week, but this run was the week before (as I write on the 7th June).  I followed the same general route as the previous week with a few tweaks along the way as I discovered more about these new paths.  Aside from Lew’s cows coming over to ‘talk’ to me as I ran past, the highlight of the run was actually stopping to allow someone time to negotiate a stile.

I stopped to chat and it turned out that the man (Peter ‘Percy’ Pettinger) had grown up in the Royal Oak and was just back in the area visiting.

I was captivated as Percy described the area when he was growing up in the ’60’s… for example, the main road had gates across it because common had sheep & cattle grazing on it.  Apparently the local kids would turn these gates into tolls, charging drivers to pass through.  As the road developed so they installed kerbs, but these stopped some distance on either side of the Royal Oak to give people more space to negotiate the sharp corner.  He also described walking past the local labourers working in the fields and hiding, until they walked off home at the end of the day (probably via the Royal Oak), in order to poach a fish from the farm’s pond.

You can see the run on Strava at https://www.strava.com/activities/310967949 – 7.12 miles in 69 minutes (excluding the time spent talking!), average 6.2 mph.

Every so often I have a super-nteresting run and this run (bearing in mind I’m writing this on the 7th June) was one of those.  Where I had been running my normal circuit in an anti-clockwise direction, I simply went the other way.  Bearing in mind that I teach people to look at things from a different perspective, this was a beautiful example of what happens when you do.

A while ago I noticed that the local hospice had created a dog-leg in the path adjacent to their boundary and because I saw no particular reason for it (it could only be about 15 feet long), I had never run around the other side of the bushes.  Coming from the other direction and being in a curious mood, I took the diversion and found that it’s the start of a delightful path that runs along the field edge, parallel to where I normally run.

Needless to say I took this path and was delighted that it led onto a few more new paths.

You can see the run on Strava at https://www.strava.com/activities/306515705 – 7.18 miles in 1 hour 8 minutes, 6.34 mph average.

 

You’ll be pleased to know that, despite the absence (I’m writing this on the 7th June), I have actually been running most weeks… it’s only the writing that had lapsed!  I didn’t make notes after this run, or the next two, so the posts will mainly consist of photos.

You can see the run on Strava at https://www.strava.com/activities/301661469 – 6.06 miles in 57 minutes,, 6.5 mph.

 

It’s been a long time coming this year, on account of the sporadic runs, but it finally happened this morning… the longs came off and the legs came out!

Not that it was overly warm… it was more a case that we’re almost at the end of April and it wasn’t overly cold!

The short local loop that I chose had almost no wet mud which, in comparison to last time, was a real blessing.  As a gardener this is not great, since the garden is also dry, but at least it saved me the task of cleaning my runners!  Only in one place was the way blocked and since I’d left my gung-ho mud-plugging head at home, I minced around the margins like a fair-weather runner!

You can see the route on Strava and you might notice that I ran a lot faster than the 4 previous times I’ve taken this route on there (though still slow by comparison to ‘the good old days’!  I’m sure this has more to do with the hard surface than my fitness, although I did sprint down the road at the end… there is a short stretch that other Strava users run along and I’ve now managed to get into 2nd place!

I reckon that the people who live along the road were quite grateful for me whizzing past quickly… my white legs are probably not the most appealing sight to behold!

6 miles in 56 minutes 10 seconds…

As I sit here I have a palpable sense of deja vu… it’s been three weeks since my last run and I’m not entirely sure where the time has gone.  Moving on quickly, at least I managed to get out for a run today, even managing to rub shoulders with some of the runners on the Brighton Marathon course… albeit the back markers.  This is actually quite appropriate since, with my current form, it is where I would have been if I had actually entered the race!

I started from my folks’ place and ran the lovely 6 mile loop that makes up a lot of my running lately.  I start by running down the ridge from Woodingdean to Ovingdean, dropping down to the valley floor and then taking the steps down to the Undercliff Walk at Ovingdean Gap.  I then ran along to Rottingdean and worked my way back up to Ovingdean via the windmill and then on back up the ridge path.

I chose an easy pace, due to the lack of exercise lately, and just pottered along, stopping occasionally to take photos:

I completed the run in 1:03, though Strava helpfully removed the photo stops and called it just under 58 minutes.  You can see the route here:https://www.strava.com/activities/284076530

In other news, I am now the proud owner of a rather unusual custom shop J185 Gibson.  Unfortunately, whilst Kim couldn’t hear the myriad bloops that I used to make playing the Studio without an amp, now she can hear every blemish… and probably needs ear muffs!  This purchase is part of an ongoing experiment into learning & development that I started in 2010… she’s showed incredible patience with the exercise to date and my hope is that I’ll eventually manage to string some less jarring notes together!

The garden project paused whilst I did some spring-cleaning last weekend… there are no obvious changes, other than the table making it out of its winter hideout, but Kim’s car was loaded to the gunnels with garden waste when I had finished.

I also finished the work I was doing at WorldRemit and it has to be said that I REALLY miss the people 🙁  However, I swapped my London desk for one with this view… ho hum!

Yesterday was a lovely day and I managed to get out into the garden for a couple of hours to prepare the way for a new project.  This involved removing a couple of large shrubs that were past their best and moving a couple of railway sleepers.  I’m quite surprised that I’ve not felt the after effects of all the cutting, digging and struggling with sleepers!

After sitting with a quadspresso in the teahouse this morning, planning the next steps, I got out for a run on my local circuit.  The ground was surprisingly wet and the mud was thus really liquid, meaning that I was splishing a lot.  There was little point in trying to avoid this water-mud so I just ran through the very worst of it… generally in straight lines so that I didn’t end up on my face!

For a change (and in order to avoid the worst of the mud) I ran along the Magical Path today, though even this was muddy.

I don’t normally take pictures of the beautiful houses I run past, but this one is for sale if anyone is interested… though I can’t find it on the agent’s site to let you know the price!

Sometimes it’s hard to convey what the conditions are like… today, however, I have photos!

6 miles in 1.02 is an average speed of just under 6mph… you can see the route here: https://www.strava.com/activities/258563623

My aim was to get back out to my garden project, but incessant rain stopped play.  Cue a slob-out afternoon in front of the TV instead!