Not the golf club three wood but rather our small three woods challenge. On our regular runs there are three seperate woods that we visit just not on the same run. Murph loves woods as there are furries to hunt and things to sniff. So I figured why not do a run that links up all three so he gets to visit them all in the same day. I had a vague idea it would be around half marathon length and would mean we could take in the fields, woods, cliffs, beach and the lanes.
Plus it was an excuse to take sandwiches and extra dog treats. Of course everything is easier in phot form so here goes the story of the day (spoiler its not that exciting)
Over the bridge heading for woods number one
Woods number one and the first stepping stones of the day
Out of the woods and up onto the cliffs – the channel is looking spectacular today. It always does when there are low clouds
Drop down here from the cliffs to run the beach as by now the tide had dropped off enough to get around
I know the sandwiches are in here
Woods number two – We don’t need a path right?
I knew it – Gimme sandwich
More stepping stones on way to woods three
Made it – tired but happy in woods number three
Sandwiches!
The road home
See the horizon? We have to go over that kiddo
Home and time for a snooze – It was just over 13 miles altogether
You wait for ages for one but you just want to get off it as soon as possible. Luckily the runs aren’t like that these days. With it being half term we have a full week to get out and about and so after waiting for the rain to stop we headed out for a bit of variety. We hit the beach, followed by the forest then ended up in the lanes where Murph was most pleased to meet his best friend by pure chance. In fact his friend was so happy to see him he ran off with us instead of his owner and we had to backtrack a bit to return him
10 miles of dog joy and things feel just right at the moment, the only injuries are nary but niggles and the cardio side of things is just fine. More miles in the legs and some hillwork and we’ll be ready for more mountains.
It’s odd, it might be 6 months away but just having an ultra to train for it giving me unexpected motivation
First up the beach
Past the waterfall
Im not sure how this photo worked out like this but I like it
I shared this blog with someone the other day and realised I haven’t posted in six months. Which kinda makes me sad as it used to be daily. I havent lost my love of running. I think I’ve just transitioned into a different phase of it. At the end of the day how many times can you write about the same runs over and over. And I’ve progressed from worrying about progression to just running by feel. Just as I can tell the time on the run without a watch I can feel my effort and distance. Â
Six months – a whole summer has passed and summer for us tends to be our off-season, I don’t like to run Murph when the mercury rises, he tends to overheat fast despite being Portuguese. Drawback of a black dog perhaps. So runs gravitate towards early mornings.
But now as the countryside cools we are back at it again and it does feel good to move more and quickly. I have raced once since Covid, back in August when the Preseli Beast Bach (small beast) was rearranged. It was a shame there was no Beast (24 miles) or Ultrabeast (32 miles) this year but I can totally understand why and it was good to be invited to the Beast Bach and no way was I turning that down – I love that part of the country.
As it’s only an 11 mile race (though the elevation is tough) I decided beforehand that I would just go all out and leave nothing in reserve. Which I did. And I was happy with the effort and results. I wanted under 2 hours and I got 1.54 and I was comfortably in the top half of the field and top 50. Can’t ask for much more than that really.
Mostly I was happy with the effort I put in, it was a staggered start and you don’t know if the runner you are chasing started before or after you, all you can do is your best and I felt I couldn’t have given much more. Especially as I chose to race without a watch too – risky if you have set yourself a time goal. But I figured knowing the time wasn’t going to make me go faster if I was at full effort anyway and so it proved. I’m not sure I would want to run without a watch on ultras just for the sake of timing food and cutoffs but we shall see, it’s something I’d like to try.
Apart from Preseli it’s just been a case of Murph and I starting to rack up the miles on a consistent basis again. He’s loving it as much as I do. It’s something I cherish now as I know it won’t last forever so every run is special in some way.
Update – not sure I can update something I didn’t actually post but i’m updating anyway. Looks like the Preseli Ultrabeast is back in May – six months is a long time but something to train and focus on. I love that race and will be good to stretch my legs for the full 32 mile version again. It’s so beautiful up there.
Blue Green Gold Grey, Awyr Maes Tywod Aarreg 