Friday we left the arable landscape of Oxfordshire behind and headed down the M5. Turning right at Tiverton we were soon among the familiar green patchwork of fields dotted with sheep. It was Stuarts birthday party, I will not reveal his age but will only say that Health and Safety restrictions prevented all the candles being put on the cake. We shared a table with Jason, who was a very talented runner before turning to football, and his girlfriend, Craig who has a PB of thirty two minutes for a 10K but prefers cycling now and Callie. Callie’s most recent claim to fame is that she overtook Stuart in a cycling race.
Saturday morning Stuart was left in charge of Maddie, my wife and cooking the breakfast while Sam insisted on taking me out for a run. We set off on the Old Barnstaple road then turned left up to Westleigh. Sam was very gracious and walked up the hill with me. One of Sam’s claims to fame is that she once beat Paula Radcliffe in a race. Running out of Westleigh to the Tarka Trail gives views over Appledore and the Torridge estuary. The run back to Bideford is flat but there was a sting in the tail. The run, which was almost six miles, pushed the weekly total up to nearly twenty seven miles.
Sunday we were back on home ground. It was mild, raining slightly and trying to snow. We stayed on the road because the fields are still like a quagmire. It was a seven mile round trip with a few lumps and bumps in it. We only saw two other runners out, one a woman, is training for the London Marathon. That’s the trouble with marathon training you cannot afford to get too far behind your schedule. I think that’s what Stuart said.
No comments:
Post a Comment