Stability Through Motion

Saturday - 5 hour walk up the Black Hill to Hay Bluff and down via the silent Olchon Valley. The last time I was here I was running in the sunshine. I’d had thoughts about running it this time, but it would have been very slow going as there was ice covering deep bogs. I’m not sure I’m up to that yet!

Sunday - too lazy to map out a new route for myself, I decided to loop Port Meadow 4 times to make up 18 miles. It meant I could listen to music for the first time on a run in ages, which was a great change. There’s nothing like Laura Veirs when running along riverbanks. The little bridge near Burgess Field was completely flooded, so I had to wade up to my knees in floodwater each time round, filling my shoes with muddy grit. The wind was also howling a gale and a collie dog mistook me for a sheep and started nipping at my ankles to herd me to some unknown location. A typical Sunday long run then!

Hills! At last, I reached the hills of Wytham, after walking and cycling through the waters of Botley Road past film crews and wading locals in wellies or sandals. Wytham itself was absolutely deserted, apart from the deer frantically trying to escape us (god we’re fast). A beautiful beautiful run in squishy soggy trainers. Rewarded with a return trip through the floods to wash the mud off, and two pints at the Lamb and Flag. Not strictly part of the marathon training schedule, but it’s been a hard week:

• 4 x 1 mile fast on Tuesday in the flooded University Parks
• 1 hour intervals on bike Wednesday plus weights
• 7 mile easy with hills Thursday

and I’m gearing up for 15 miles on Sunday, which is usually the farthest I can run and still feel comfortable at the end.

A few personal records: longest run since the Half Marathon today - furthest run in a week all year, and furthest run in a month all year too. Two aborted attempts, first at the Thames route, forestalled by the swamp beyond Godstow nunnery. I could have waded through the first bit, but assumed the path would also have disappeared down by the boat yard, the dangerous area where the cyclist was drowned back earlier in the year. Decided to try to sneak into Wytham and get some hill practice, but the road there had a river running through it (see photo, right), and the poor sheep in the nearby field were stranded beside a fence. The river north to Kings Weir had also completely flooded the Thames Path - no path visible at all. So, I gave up and returned to the canal for the familiar run north to Thrupp and back. The towpath was completely dry. As for the run, it went really really well. I’m still obviously trying to drink too much as even in a 2 hour run I had to stop twice for the call of nature. Even so I lost 2lb on the run according to the scales (water loss).