An off-road EPIC! Hazel’s view

Hazel

What an epic Sunday run. There is not much detail I can add after Gillian’s account. 20 miles across country, with the added difficulties of navigation (thankfully this only troubled me, and just slowed Gillian down), terrain (by which we mean ankle deep sloshy mud with surprises hidden in it to catch the unsuspecting blind runner), hot weather (this must have been the hottest day of the year so far, I got a suntan), and the unexpected issue of tourists on the path through the popular towns. Added to this Gillian had to battle with the fact that she had forgotten to take any antiinflammatory drugs for her horrible arthritis, so she was going solo pain-wise. The main thing in the second half of the run was the crazy bridges. They were unforgiving to say the least, and one of them was so far past hump-backed it actually went to a point then straight back down. It would have been funny if we didn’t have slithery, mud covered feet and four screaming knees…

We have developed a passable technique for getting moving again after a stop or walk break. Unfortunately these are sometimes necessary when you come up against pedestrians and other hazards, as well as for navigation breaks when your guide is a moron. But starting up again after stopping is the hardest thing when you’ve got over a dozen miles in your legs, and especially if you have arthritis. The technique involves me being completely unsympathetic and telling Gillian that pain is all in the mind, and asking her to resolutely focus on how she felt just before the stop. I’m working on a watered down psychology technique of visualisation, based on no scientific research whatsoever, but it seems to be working in practice. We also run with very small steps to reduce the pain of each heavy step, which is a technique from my barefoot running style. Two little hamster wheels is the effect I’m going for. It’s not stylish, but it is effective. If anyone wants to hear me give a sermon on barefoot running techniques, just ask, but you will probably be in a minority!

Anyway, we managed 20 miles, against all the odds, and I am so incredibly proud of my unstoppable mother. We crossed into the next County for Pete’s sake! What she didn’t mention is that she also had a rough fall, which really pulled at her ankle. I take full responsibility; I warned her about the dip in the path but simply missed the rock sticking out over the lip of the hole which caused her to trip. Hence the frozen peas at the end. She also didn’t mention that on arrival in Henley we were informed that the baby had been an angel in the car and had been sick, so she then spent an hour playing with us in the park to cheer him up. No rest for marathon runners. We did finally get a lovely break in the Chocolate Cafe by the riverfront, with absolutely necessary tea, and lovely sandwiches and soup. I would strongly recommend this cafe. The staff were lovely, the food normal and not faffy but excellent quality, they gave the baby some crayons and paper, and seemed very forgiving of the fact that we looked like lunatics with bright red faces and fell on our food like a pair of scavenging birds. To the staff in the cafe, I am truly sorry for the mud we left under our cafe table, and I hope you like the picture we left you.

An off-road EPIC!

Gillian

Another milestone this morning. Our final long run before the “taper”. I will let Hazel explain about the significance of the taper but suffice it to say I was looking forward to it. Hazel greeted me with an O.S. map between her teeth and a large rucksack on her back looking like Lara Croft, so I was nervous but excited before we set off on our final twenty mile run.
The weather was perfect and the route was by far the most varied and stunning of all our runs to date. The entire run was off road. We followed the Thames Path from Windsor all the way to Henley.
I had assumed we would be on a cinder track by the side of the river for most of the run. I was so wrong. The Thames path took us through numerous locks and weirs, several marinas and picturesque villages, boat yards, across open country fields, the grounds of a National Trust property and past hundreds of boats of every shape and size. We zigzagged from one side of the river to the other over steep wooden bridges. This was fun to start with but quite brutal on my knees by the end especially as at least half of the route was through slippery mud with challenging ruts under foot. It was so much fun though. We ran past many beautiful riverside houses with their own boathouses and moorings. Quite a few had their own tennis courts and swimming pools. Carpets of flowers dared do nothing but stand to attention and not a blade of grass blew in the wrong direction. Oh how the other half live 🙂 In some cases we seemed to be running through their gardens. It was very pretty. We even saw someone selling home made ice cream from their houseboat.

At one point Hazel made me stop to look up and directly above us was the most beautiful Sparrow Hawk circling around our heads. Just magic. I don’t normally see them but this one was so low I couldn’t miss it.

Some sections of the route were bustling with tourists and picnickers by the waters edge. Quite a challenge to navigate past. I’m told we got some funny looks as we weaved among them in their Sunday best since by now we were caked in sloppy mud up to our knees. The challenge of the terrain (and fear of an injury at this stage) slowed us down somewhat, but made for a fantastic run, one which I will store in my bank of treasured memories. I still keep pinching myself. I can’t believe I did it. Mind you, I was nearly on my knees by the end. We were out running for four hours and eighteen seconds, only having walked twice for a couple of minutes to take on fuel and water.
We managed to run through Berkshire into Oxfordshire. The run ended at a bridge in Henley and as if I hadn’t been punished enough, Lara Croft made me squat by the town sign for a photo.
We were greeted by my smiling grandson and Hazel’s running husband who was a real trooper and ran to buy a couple of bags of frozen peas to put on my ankle and both our knees. He also opened a picnic hamper with a large flask of tea and a variety of food. Who couldn’t love a son-in-law with a large flask of tea, an egg custard and a bag of frozen peas after running for four hours?
I went to bed thinking I would sleep like a brick but found myself lying in the dark grinning and reliving every moment of the run. I was buzzing. After a couple of hours I got up and did a few exercises thinking that would knock me out but it made no difference. I was getting angry now as Hazel keeps telling me that sleep is an important part of recovery but I just kept grinning and arguing with myself as to which part of the run was my favourite. Crazy. I think I eventually drifted off to sleep at about three in the morning. Thank you Hazel for a spectacular run and a very special day:)

Peaks and Troughs: a tough few weeks: Hazel

Hazel

Last week neither Gillian or I had the energy to write our blog entries. It was just one of those weeks where everything was a bit underwhelming. The plan was 5, 7, 7, 14, and we plodded through the miles, mainly recovering from our frankly amazing 20miler. We were both understandably sluggish for the first run back, but we started to get worried when Gillian still wasn’t back to her usual speedy self by Thursday. Huge relief by Saturday when she felt better, and Sunday went without incident. I messed up the preparation for the 14, so had to give my brownie to Gillian, so I was severely lacking in calories by the end and found it worryingly difficult to keep up with her pace in the last mile. Some of this is because we are still running when the baby naps, and the clocks changed sending his sleep into alien mode. So by the time we got running it was too close to lunchtime and I already needed food let alone making up for the calorie burn on the run. We also got caught up in the Devizes to Westminster canoe race, so we had a couple of specataor-dodging moments on the Thames path. We leapt manfully around hazards like old women with golfing umbrellas and men wielding toolbox-trays full of food to dangle into the river. It was quite odd.

Altogether last week will count as one of the troughs. Not dire, but not inspiring. Following that we did an uninspiring 5 and 2 to bring us through to Saturday. So it’s time to give this training plan a bit of a boost. I’m going for a multi-pronged attack. Determination, cake, beautiful countryside and an impending deadline. Baking on Saturday, planning only lovely countryside runs, and the terrifying sound of ‘1st day of Marathon Month’ pretty much guarantees the determination we need. Off we go.