Training Run 3... the jumping one

Fit Mark had kindly worked out another route for us, increasing the distance again. This time his midweek email said 'I'm not going to sugar-coat it [does he ever?] this one is quite tough with a couple of nasty climbs' And it was 7k...

Because I'd been out on Friday night the others kindly agreed to run on Sunday instead. However, Ice Cream Sian forgot (a) that she was out on Saturday night and (b) that she had two events to attend with ice cream on Sunday. So whilst it was good for me, Ice Cream Sian felt a bit rough and had a busy day ahead... I ran from home to Ice Cream Sian's, across the fields and the stream - it's always good to get the feet wet early!

Fit Mark was right about the uphill stuff - directly uphill from Ice Cream Sian's house for about 2k, by which time we were absolutely shattered. He was, as usual, bouncing on ahead in normal Tiggerish fashion. One day I'll be that fit...

Then it flattened out a bit and we were running through woods, deep puddles and really fun muddy bits. Brilliant! Fit Mark was again appointed Official Photographer and at some point (I'm not quite sure how) ended up behind me. I told him to photograph our backsides at his peril... 'Too late' came the cheerful reply 'I've already done it and, hey, I didn't know this thing had a wide angled lens'.... Ooh!

After the fun stuff there was more uphill - this time a VERY long incline and although we took a photo, it looks flat. So I'm not putting that photo in as you'll all think we're wimps! At the top we arrived at a track called The Ridgeway which kind of implies it's at the top, and apparently there's a fantastic view of Cardiff... I think I was too busy catching my breath to notice!

I did manage to grab a quick shot of Fit Mark looking calm, fit and not in the least puffed before we set off again:

After some more deep mud (tip: avoid the steaming bits - they're cow pats) at last we were going downhill. I ended up in front but Mark was determined to get past me (not difficult) and yelled 'Careful - you don't want to slip and fall - at least, not before I'm in position to get the shot!' My, how we laughed...

This is a bit of where we went - we had run along the top of that green field on the horizon, then through the woods on the left, down past the houses, into the valley and up again. The dot is one of either Ice Cream Sian or me... hard to tell from this distance, which was where Fit Mark was. He said he kept thinking he'd gone deaf, but then realised he was just so far ahead he could no longer hear us wheezing... It was a good week for insults!

Once we were going downhill I got a little over enthusiastic and leapt over a horse jump next to the track. Yay! Yes, ok, it's pretty small...

As we were getting near to Ice Cream Sian's house Fit Mark said we'd have a sprint finish - 'from that puddle to the gate' and both he and Ice Cream Sian went off like rockets. Blimey! I seem to be determinedly one-paced, so I stuck at my one pace and joined them some time later... then Fit Mark and I ran home again. I'd done some maths - if it was 1.4k to Ice Cream Sian's house from mine, and we were heading for just over 8k on the run (including the bit back to home) then I only needed to make it to 8.6k for it all to add up to 10k. Which would be amazing... So I ran up and down the lane outside home for a bit until I got to 8.6k. HOORAY!

Or, at least, it would have been HOORAY if it really was 1.4k to Ice Cream Sian's house. It isn't. It's only 1.1k . So my total distance was, er, 9.7k.

No wonder I never made it as an accountant...