Released!

We were pinned at home by the storms over the weekend, nothing long was really possible so we made do the best we could. Sunday was utterly dreadful and it doesnt take long for cabin fever to set in. But this week is half term and so we took our chance on monday. Although we didnt mean to – I have a slightly dodgy back at the moment, I felt it pull while lifting but I figured a few miles to see the folks and back wouldnt hurt.

So off we went and although the wind was still strong it was just fine. We extended a little and then some more and then figured well we might as well go a little further which led to us covering around 10 miles or so and we got to see the damage to our forest – which turned out to be surprisingly little just a few trees here and there.

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  First blue skies for days – looking out towards Witches Point from inland

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  Trree down

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  Another tree down

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  Back along the beach

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  Happy to be back on the rrun

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  A different path – We are lucky enough to have a key and access to a prriovate path back from the beach

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  Normally we avoid people by running early in the day but today people were about as it was early afternoon so we used our key and slipped past them on the other side of the river

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  Murprhy rreturrning from a squirrrel chase

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  Flowers – sprring is imminent

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  We finished the day with a stroll though the fields at sunset

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  And I got a new bed – its huuuuuuge (I am spoiled)

Three Woods

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)

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  Over the bridge heading for woods number one

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  Woods number one and the first stepping stones of the day

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  Out of the woods and up onto the cliffs – the channel is looking spectacular today. It always does when there are low clouds

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  Drop down here from the cliffs to run the beach as by now the tide had dropped off enough to get around

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  I know the sandwiches are in here

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  Woods number two – We don’t need a path right?

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  I knew it – Gimme sandwich

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  More stepping stones on way to woods three

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  Made it – tired but happy in woods number three

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  Sandwiches!

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  The road home

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  See the horizon? We have to go over that kiddo

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  Home and time for a snooze – It was just over 13 miles altogether

Seems like its monthly now

My posting that is, I have plenty of time to write but seemingly it’s more fun doing something than writing about it. So as per usual we’ve been out and about, running here, running there but no longer logging the miles like last year. Which took a litle while to get used to but after having to record every single walk and run I think I do prefer just getting out there and doing it and sod the numbers.

We also have a few projects on the go. First up is Run all the Footpaths which does basically what it says on the tin. There’s a vast network of footpaths and bridleways around here and I want to run them all with murph, which takes us maybe to places we haven’t been before. Hopefully it will turn out to be an ever expanding circle of footpaths on a google map that I’m recording them on. Christ I’ve ended up recording things after all.

So far it looks like this with the yellwo lines as completed footpaths

We also now have a Go Pro camera and as of yesterday a camera harness for Murph. So we’re been doing some filming and I’ve been playing around with video editing – which I’m not very good at. And Murph now has his own youtube channel where I can store all the finished videos. The lastest is being uploaded as I type and is his first test run with his hardness for a Murphs eye view of a run.

If you want to see his vids go to

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwjERA57Av8_6_iwHv7hKtA

Should be more to come, especially as the weather starts to improve, I don’t really want a harness on him when it’s wet and to be honest I don’t like him wearing one at the best of times but the odd bit of filming won’t hurt I reckon.

We have some more things in the pipeline and for now I leave you with his latest photos!

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  Idiots having fun

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  Poser

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  Sunnier days

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  Photogenic yet dirty hound

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  Having fun with fresh water bubbles

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  Sunset in our favourite fields

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  In the ancient dovecote

Spring Sprung Sprong

Not sure what a sprong is but I like the sound of it. Well spring is here, been waiting for it for ages and now it feels a little anticlimatic due to viruses and lockdowns and the suchlike but nature stops for no-one.  Today I saw the first bee buzzing around and teh evidence is everywhere. Just take a look …

The ferns have started to appear – I love the little alien dudes at this stage

Leaves on a (deciduous) tree!

Not really a sign of spring but a duck!

Dawn walks to the beach are in order these days

Spot the rainbow

Never get tired of climbing up here

Don’t remember this one – nor the shadow telling me I was running with a giraffe

 

 

Zoomies

I wasnt intending to run much this weekend, y’know the old let things heal thing but it was just so glorious out what else could I do?  Those crisp mornings at dawn are irresistable and not just for me they seemed to entice Murph into a world consisting of zooming around like an idiot. I was happy for him to zoom while I plodded, 5 miles on saturday and 10 today and I feel fine. Sometimes all you need is zoomies (and a plod)

Blurry zoom followed by charging leap – trick is to stand your ground and he will deviate at last second, if you move either side he will take you out without mercy

Happy zoomies

Still zooming

Ok i’ve slowed down a bit but i could go mental at any second

Hmmm day 2 of zoom? It’s still frosty

When the stream floods we ound a new way of crossing – he does it so gracefully compared to me. No-one as fallen in … yet

Getting ready to zoom – Fuel stop – 1 treat equals 10 minutes zoom

Just trotting trying to look photogenic

Prepare the zoomster!

And go!

The usual views

Back inland and heading home through the lanes

Chilling out on the afternoon cool-down walk (which unsurprisingly included zooming)

Starting Over

So its less than two weeks since the Eddum 50 miler and I think I got away kind of lightly.  I had a few aches and pains but they faded pretty fast and within a week I could jog gently again. Today I was able to knock out a happy 8 miles in the sun and cool breeze, We took it easy – I always need to make sure Murph doesn’t overheat and although we went up over Witches Point i didnt run all of it. The legs still feel a little dead on the uphills.

 

Whats it like being back in training Murph?

Pretty damn sweet dad!

I have that “so what next” feeling at the moment. I swore that before the race I would just be happy running the beach again. The preperation (or lack of) for the race, the injury worries, the sponsorship stress all added up and I’ll be honest I didn’t enjoy the build-up to it. I was happy once the gun went and we were off but the rest was stress.

But I do like having a purpose to my running as well. I already know what I’ll do though because it will be fell running. I enjoyed the one short race I did back in january but after than injury and prep for ultrarunning took over. So maybe just stick to the shorter hills for a while. For a while…..

Haven’t seen this view in a few months

Murph surveying inland from the top of Witches Point

Wandering through the crops

 

 

 

So here’s the news

Trainings picking up very slowly but very surely which is a good thing because on the 3rd August I’m running my first 50 miler! Been planning it a while and it’s one of the reasons I didnt start the Preseli Ultra last month. The injury has been a knockback on the trianing front but I’ve still been walking Murph 30 odd miles a week and now back to running.

The raace is around the Epynt Way in Mid Wales and as I say is 50 miels with around 8000 feet of elevation gain and loss.  Its a big challenge for me but one to look forward to. There will be plenty of walking the ups no doubt! Link to race details is here https://www.pegasusultrarunning.com/the-eddum/

Plus here is the good bit there is extra motivation – I’m doing it to raise money for charity – specifically the dog sanctuary I got Murph from. Its a really special place that homes dogs no-one else will take, sometimes for life – they call these “the forgotten ones” which breaks my heart.  They rehome dogs like Murph that people generally don’t want because they are emotionally scarred – Murph is still very scared of people (but improving slowly with lots of love).  They always need funds as it’s privately run and recently they’ve suffered terrible flooding so need money to repair and strengthen flood defences.

I’ve waited til now to start fundraising due to the injuries but it’s about time to get out there and start raising some cash!  So if any of you lot out there would like to donate theres a new page at https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/helplizziesbarn

Any donation is appreciated, much of my fundraising will be done in the local village and in all my schools that i work in but with the kindness of everyone off and online I hope to raise £500.  It’ll actually be odd not running purely for myself, Im expecting to feel some sort of extra pressure to finish but I’m also expecting it to act as an extra spur to get to that finish line no matter how long it takes. If I have to walk it I will. Luckily I have a friend coming to crew me and she will also be bringing Murph and his little pal Tilly so I’m sure seeing them at aid stations will be a great boost.

So for now I’ll leave you with some pictures of the reason i’m doing this… If it wasnt for lizzies Barn this little monster wouldn’t have a life like this

 

 

All in the mind?

Last saturday was the first “proper” run for a while, it was still a test run in essence although the leg has been feeling better lately. oddly enough the saturday morning when i should have been running in preseli the leg seemed to be better and has improved from that day onwards. Which makes me wonder – Its quite the coincidence that once I’d resigned myself to not being able to run the race and had informed the organiser that the leg started to really improve. The mind and the body are so closely intwined was the bodys constant reproduction of pain a warning to the mind that no it wasn’t ready to run that race and once the decision was made then it simply stopped generating so much pain as it no longer needed it’s self defence mechanism.

Who knows. All i know is that I can feel it improving little at a time and on saturday I ran seven miles to Witches and back without the “its gonna go” feeling of the previous weeks test run. Don’t get me wrong it ached but not in a “you’re screwing this worse way”
Then that afternoon I walked with some friends to the next village for another 7 miles and yesterday it was a little sore but not much – and what do you expect when you cover 14 miles the day before no matter the speed.

 

Sands a shifting – Usually this is just a crevice full of bare rock but today it was full of sand

Just a strolling – We did a bit more walking than usual to keep from straining the leg too much

When i got to Witches Point there was a huge temptation to go running up it as I normally would do – But today I actually managed to resist temptation and just turned for home – But I took a photo to remind myself I’ll be back

 

 

Where we at?

So lets face it im a terrible blogger nowadays. I never seem to have the time – or is it inclination because I do have the time really its not like my life is 100mph. But I digress. The running is going well, things still hurt and ache but my new strategy (strategy number 108 Ive tried I believe) is to not worry about it, niggles will go away and they arent going to stop me getting out.

In fact I looked at my movescount stats page for the first time in ages and was surprised to see 140 miles since I came back from injury less than a month ago and 44 in the last week. I didnt mean to let the mileage stack up again quite so fast but hey ho if im out and enjoying it i find it very hard to stop and seeing murph loving it too makes it even harder. So I’ll don my kamikaze pants and just pray the body holds together for 2019.

Onto the photos – unsurprisingly all of beaches. I really do need to go further afield (Though to be fair A I like beaches and B one of them is of a different beach which we visited over new year)

In reverse order – Ish – This was today – Murph keeps lookout while I hunt for fossils

Sunrise  at Marcross

Genius photography skills – get that sun blur thingy!

Surveying from Witches Point

Enough winter sun for a rainbow!

Double sun

Purty dog is purty

Striking a pose at Newquay beach in Mid Wales

Exploring the coastal path between Aberaeron and Newquay

 

 

So that was xmas

I’m not really a christmassy person. However I do find it a good reason to be outside and getting in some longer runs while I have the time off.  In the last week I’ve managed around 50 miles (not counting today – Im waiting on the tide) and have taken the days off as needed when I can feel that the legs need the rest.  If I was the type to do new years resolutions then ths years would be to try not to be injured half the time. Sometimes you cant do anything about it – Some times you can – I’ll at least try! I have plans for 2019 but everytime I announce plans something tends to get in the way so I’ll keep them to myself until they happen.

Until then I’m just going to enjoy being out with Murph and doing whatever miles I can.

Murph loves the forests – I love them because he’s safe to hunt small furries (he never catches any)

I think this was xmas day – they all blend into one. Just as I like it when the weather keeps people awy

Sunnier runs and a poser

Think we were out approaching dusk for this one – Running in the dark with a headtorch is something i’ve learned to love