Screw the body which didn’t really want to go anywhere and was happy to sloth around. My mind let the two fight it out a while and then the soul won and said I wanna see the beach.
So seven very tiring miles later I was feeling awesome just as I got home … go figure!
I think the photos explain why the soul usually wins
No hangover this Sunday due mainly to everyone being depressed by the Welsh rugby game and going early and my apparent determination to run so calling it quits was easy.
So off I went into the blue skies and sunshine for a quiet 5 miles or so along the cliffs – Damn you tide dont you know its the weekend!? About half a mile in I realised i’d forgotten my camera =( Ahh well
Two things struck me about this run. Firstly for the first 2 or 3 miles I feel like it’s hard work and I can’t get into a rhythm and then it suddenly just clicks. Now I’m treating anything under 6 miles as “short” this isn’t too bad but it does mean that every single run I’m questioning myself about how I feel for a good while and I’d much rather be enjoying myself.
Secondly I ran in my old Adidas Kanadias and the difference felt huge after running in the Inov8 Xtalons (As I was going to visit my parents on the way back I knew there would be a mile or so of road which doesnt suit the talons) The Xtalons give sooooo much more grip on the trail. They are without a doubt my go to technical shoe now. They give a much more comfortable ride too. The Kanadias are fine but I wouldn’t want to do anything more than a short run in them these days.
As I had no camera there are no photos but with everyone talking about cold snaps and the approach of winter I give you some photos from 2010
10 beautiful miles along the cliffs in bright sunshine. No pain in foot tho chest still lurgied. Can’t complain about what running gives you …. except crap photographs …. I suck at photographs. These are the best of a blurry bunch.
Haven’t been out for 4 days! Between lurgi recovery and working late (ok relatively late for me) plus the evil of the clocks going back (I’m a firm believer in BST all year round, I’ve had an hour of daylight stolen from me and I’m sticking to that) it’s just been one of those weeks. So I was happy indeed to get home and out in the fading light. In fact it seems like no time at all since I was doing the same last year.
In the spirit of ephemeralisimo it’s interesting to see how the different light conditions change the feeling of the land. Everything seems softer, almost more gentle. I only did around 4 miles and as I havent been out for so long the legs were great, I even did a few sprints when the feeling just took me. Run in the moment I say. The chest isn’t great but I’m still battling lurgi. Everyone in my schools seems to be infected and it’s a hanger on. I imagine running as blasting out the crap (I won’t describe the blasting of lurgi from nose while running (unless you really want me too))
Continuing yesterdays theme of made up words that arent and the nature of ephemerality todays run at the beach saw a low tide to explore. Over seven miles I took a poke around at things you can only see a few times a day if the tides are low enough.
On running matters it feels now like 7 or 8 miles is an “easy” run, the usual first few miles of meh I’m not feeling this and then into The Flow (TM Sergei) So I’m guessing I’m slowly progressing even if I have no measurements.
So today I found the following things only seen around low tide
One of the reasons I love running coastlines is that they are dynamic and ephemeral. The tides ensure this, changing the patterns of the beach every six hours. You could run twice in the same day on the beach and cover the same path yet the terrain will most likely be different. Where there was rock there is now sand. Where pebbles lay in a heap there is only a rockpool. It makes every run unique and special.
I managed 8 miles of ephemerality (Warning – made up word) yesterday despite not feeling at my best. The legs were tired too soon for my liking but I kept on going doing a figure of 8 loop including a jaunt back along the clifftop. Hopefully I’ll be back in full form very soon.
Still feeling a bit ropey
But it’s half term week and its just Trouble the cat and I in the house together. We are approaching that episode of Steptoe and Son where they divide the room with a painted white line
So despite not feeling great I had to get to the beach and actually managed 7 miles. Wasn’t the greatest run physically but it certainly picked me up mentally. Thats what running does for you folks!
And now im off to bed again
Been laid low all week with man flu type snot based illness. It comes with the territroy of working in schools, multiple schools with multiple coughs and mobile snotbags. Some of the kids are ASD and for some reason they all want to hold my hands and/or touch my face and hair (I’m growing my hair at the moment and it fascinates them) You can’t really prevent them but germs are gonna get through eventually no matter how many times you wash your hands. Price you pay for a job you love doing I guess (Plus I love the kids no matter how infectious they are)
So it’s basically been work and sleep all week but today I just had to get out and run, still feeling pretty awful but needed something to clear the head and maybe blast some fresh air through the pipes! To the beach!
Strangely there were no seagulls today …. Incoming storm? However check these dudes out! My parents broughtthem back from holiday. Cheers guys you get the best presents! Sod boring t-shirts I get gulls!
I did 3 miles and had a hop around on the rocks to cheer myself up =) Was good to just get back out and I feel batter for it now. Luckily it’s half term so a week off, hope I get better for the rest of it so I can get out and do some proper running.
Catch you again after I’ve done some more sleeping!
Yesterday I had planned another longish run of around 10 miles, I questioned why I was doing it – Or rather a friend questioned why I was doing it which in turn made me wonder. There’s always the small improvements each time I run which have led to a 20 mile run last week.
My next event won’t be until May next year though, I’m looking to move up from the Presceli Beast half to full race which will be tough as it’s part fellrunning. So what am I training for now? Perhaps I should be letting everything rest before a fresh assault in the new year? Perhaps I should just be enjoying running full stop? In fact I am so to hammer this point home to myself Sundays run wasn’t focused on anything but running all over the beach and enjoying the technical terrain.
And what better shoes than the Inov8 Xtalons for this, I’m amazed by how grippy these things are, the rubber cleats hang on to rocks like the Boston Strangler to a neck. Someone asked me for a closeup of the soles the other day and I forgot so here you go.
They also grip superbly on slippery mud too, the only drawback being that they can clog up if the mud mixes with grass and sheep shit which does bind up and cling to the soles like thus.
Overall though I’m absolutely loving these shoes and even better the foot is healing well now, I actually covered 8 miles on the beach just running about like a loon with no pain despite the rocks.
The run was of course beautiful, less beautiful I suspect was that it was so warm I had my top off :p Hey it’s Enjoy Yourself Sunday so I can do what I like!
So yeah, lifes short so find your rainbows wherever you can!
Blue Green Gold Grey, Awyr Maes Tywod Aarreg 