Thursday 11 February 2016

Thursday Double!

Hello blog lovers.

History And New Paths!

It was such a perfect winter running day today, I am so glad it's like this on a Thursday morning, it makes for such wonderful runs through the woods.  And we did go through the woods, even though we almost changed our minds when we got to the bridge.  But let me start from the beginning.

I pulled into the car park to see all the others, ready for the off.  They park was bathed in glorious sunshine.  Although the air was still chilled I could feel the sun warm on my back, I just knew I had to go through the woods today.  The frost on the grass made me think that maybe the frost had got to the paths in the woods.  I had contingency plans if it was still too muddy in there anyway.

The route that I took Janet, Trish and David after we entered the woods through 'Poo Ally' was to the left.  I had planned to get to the walking bridge, then head down to the river.  But the path was muddy.  I had my 'good' shoes on, I really was hoping that the ground underfoot was going to be hardened by the frost.  We picked our way through the muddies bits, ran on the solid ground but it was a slow slog.  I know if I had put my old shoes on I would just have 'gone for it' and ran through the middle like I normally do. I would even have gone through the middle with my good shoes if I wasn't going to run this evening.  I didn't want my shoes to get to wet and muddy.

We got to the bridge where I stopped to discuss strategies.  We could go over the bridge and run along the roads, taking in the three parks.  At least then we will get some running done.  But David looked down the path, "It looks ok really, we've probably run through the worst of of" he says.  I looked up at the steps, thinking about the pavements, the cars, the fumes. Yes we will go through the parks, but we will still have to run along the roads to get to each one.  I looked down the path.  He was right, It didn't seem that bad, and maybe we had already ran the worst of it.  "Oh, go on then, lets finish off through the woods, muddy shoes anyway, we can always bash it off"  So we continued along the path and then down towards the river where we turned left.  The path along the river, in comparison, was clear from all the muddy puddles, we could run along here, feeling the sun warm us up, chatting as we do.  

But then came the Goss hill.  I looked up at it and just thought, "I gotta try to get up there"  David and Trish went up first, they will be able to run it quite well.  Janet went up next, I insisted!  I thought then that if Janet walked then I would walk!  A great reason for being sweeper!  But the path was a bit muddy going up, so it was again another slow slog up there.  David and Trish made it, running, all the way to do the top!  One big high five to them!

The path along the back of the school was just fully of deep puddles and I ran side to side, straddling them. but being very careful because of the barbed wire along the top.  I thought as I was running along here that I may change the route.  Go straight up Botany Bay lane to the very top, and then run along the road before popping back into the woods. We got to the bridle path and looked along the path, I could see that it was muddy too.  So that made up our minds.  Straight up! 

Once we got to the top of the road David then told us some interesting things.  The house that is on the left was once a mansion.  and at the back of here is an avenue of trees that can only be spotted on google maps!  The chap that used to live there had apparently lived in Australia before but he loved this area so much, he called the road Botany Bay Lane!  There is the history lesson, at least some of it.  The next interesting thing was that St Nicolas church was built in the 1300's, so I think David said that was when Catholic churches the mainstay of the community back then, although now it is a Church of England church.  But also the mechanism that works the clock in this church is the same as that of clock in the tower of St Stephens Tower, commonly known world wide as Big Ben!  But this mechanism, was actually put in two years before.  I think I have that right, don't I David!  It also keeps brilliant time, I think just 5 seconds over a week faster/slower, which I can't remember!  I think David is going to test us at the end of March!

So that's the end of the History lesson, and quite frankly I am amazed I still remember this late in the day!  It just goes to show what a wonderful run it really was!  We got to the top of the road and I gave another option, through the woods on the other side or through the houses, and then the woods on the right hand side.  We chose the houses, just because we just love being nosey!  I was telling the girls of the wonderful house that was down here that inspired my 'romantic' style blog last year, 'Into The Veil' if you would like to have a read of it!  We will still go into the woods from here.

The houses are gorgeous along this road, some big huge houses, some smaller ones, and some extremely large bungalows!  We ran along to the end of the road, with the entrance to the woods just ahead of us.  Back into the woods, with the birds singing, the sun was still filtering through the trees, lighting up the not only the woods but smiles on our faces.  It feels just so fresh and free to be in the woods.  I was feeling pretty lucky to be able to do this and I said it, "I was just thinking the exact same thing" Trish said.

We ran along to the woodsmans house and David said "Stop!"  I felt another story coming up.  He then began to tell us the the path on our right is the only place we the rhododendrons grow, along both sides of the path creating a beautiful corridor in the summer when the bloom.  "Well, we just got to go down there" I said to everyone, and they all agreed.  I had never been down there before, it's always nice to try new routes, new paths, to get to know more about this fantastic place on the doorstep of the metropolis that is London.

Soon 'Poo Ally' came into view and our run was nearly at an end.  It wasn't the most fastest run, or indeed the longest run but it sure was an interesting run.

Geeky stats for you all.

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Track Time

As it is Thursday it does mean track.  I had to turn up today, it seems my blog from last week had inspired Nicola to 'try out track'  It wouldn't look good if I didn't turn up!  Besides, I do like pushing myself harder on track.  So now is the time for excuses.  I was feeling tired, my legs were a little complaining, but I just thought to myself 'Do as much as you can, just make sure that when you are running, you run as best as you can"  Did I listen to my own advice? Meh!  I know I could have done better, I know I should have done better! And next week I WILL DO BETTER! There I said it.  

When every body else was doing 5 laps in one go, I did 4, when it was time to do 3 laps in one go I think I did 3, and then we had to do 4 x 2 laps.  By that time I was just happy to do 1 lap, rest and then see if I had time to do another lap!

While I am running around track I marvel at the runners as they run past me, lapping me.   The very first section of todays session I had ran around the track one time and just as I started to do the second lap then the first of the runners ran past me. So that means he was running twice as fast as me! Right?  I didn't feel so slow then, only twice as fast as me, it could be worse he could have lapped me before I even got to the end of my first lap!

It was quite a chilly night but I soon warmed up, although I didn't take off a layer, just my fleece that I had on when I had arrived.  I took that to mean that I should have worked harder!  But these days I try not to beat myself up, well, not in my blogs anyway, on track you can hear me calling myself all sorts!  I am out there doing it, twice on a Thursday I am running, trying to get fit and lighter!  Thats all that matters, and yes, just as Mr. S. said in one of his Facebook posts, I am beginning to really enjoy my running again!  But still........'Work harder Old Girl, ok'!!

Geeky stats.

<iframe src='https://connect.garmin.com/activity/embed/1047398542' width='465' height='500' frameborder='0'></iframe>



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