Despite claiming to do a bit of fell running, it's pretty rare that I venture off road these days - I've sort of got it into my head that fell and trail running doesn't do me as much good as a steady or a fast run on road - mainly, I guess, because there tends to be a few slow bits, some steep bits and even some walky bits.
However today as I set off for Halton East with slightly achy legs, having been shamed into going out by Karen and Lily who managed 3 miles in the rain, I decided to have a bit of a variation. So on reaching Halton East, instead of the usual "shall I go round the village or carry on a bit" I turned left up towards Halton Heights. I've mountain biked down this track several times, but never run up it. On the way up there was a group of mountain bikers, who I'm pleased to say I caught and passed, and I managed to run at a respectable lick all the way to the gate at the top.
I think I made a minor error here because I turned left again on the footpath, which although it was flatter than the track to the right, was narrower, slippier and nettle-ier. I did have a short walk to avoid some muddy puddles, but eventually I hit the road a mile after Halton East. The road back down through Eastby was pleasant, and I cut across the fields by the church and finished with 41 minutes on the watch and 5 miles on the GPS - so not a whole lot slower than a normal road run and a decent amount of ascent to boot.
I'm now thinking I might do a few longer off road runs to give me some variety whilst we still have the daylight - maybe up to Halton Heights then across the moor, then back down via Embsay Crag.
I did manage to read 150 pages of corporate guff today AND tidy the shed, but I also spent an hour or so reading this thread on an MTB forum - it's a year or so's worth of posts about a guy called Mark who's got incurable (so far - I've a feeling he might beat it!) cancer and who's currently riding LEJOG (well, JOGLE to be more accurate) - inspiring stuff.
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