The Year So Far

Training, training, training, that's what I've been up to so far.  But in truth not as much as I'd like.  I've also been tagging on to various other run groups for some of my runs.  So here's a brief run down of most of my long runs so far this year:

January 6 - running with JK (who must have been taking the photo) and his band of merry runners, half of whom I knew already.  We did a 16 mile run on the Roman Road, starting from Magog Down, on a fairly mild but foggy morning.  It must have felt quite warm for the time of year judging by all the bare legs.

January 13 - I ran with four of the Sweaty Betties (Anna, Sarah, Jo & Emma) and David tagged along, too.  He hasn't been seen since!  The girls were doing about 11 miles and I was running 18 miles.  For this one we stuck to the River Cam from central Cambridge to Waterbeach and back. I tagged on a few extra miles at both ends of the run.

January 19 (Sat) - And yet another group of runners.  This time a run organised by my mate Tony (in the centre).  Once again, I knew most of the other runners.  As you can see we had a bit of snow to deal with.  But it takes more than snow to stop us hardy souls.  On this day we ran 9.5 miles, starting and finishing at the Orchard Tea Gardens in Grantchester, where you can get the best scones in Cambridge.  It was the idea of having a scone at the end of the run that got me up early on the Saturday morning.  And it might not look like I've been for a run, but being fast for a bloke in his forties I had time to change before most people got back.

January 20 (Sun) - Another run with the Sweaty Betties along the Roman Road and in the snow. This time I was with Pia, Emma, Alison, Jo and Sarah.  On this day we mostly all ran 12.5 miles.

January 27 - What a difference a week makes.  This time we were all over dressed as we were taken by surprise by just how warm it was.  This run was pretty much a repeat of two weeks ago, approximately 11 miles for the Sweaty Betties, but 16 miles for me.  Again we went from central Cambridge and followed the river to Waterbeach and back.  In this photo the ever present Jo, Rowan, Anna, Pia, Rona and me.

February 3 - And this photo brings us up to date.  I met with five of the Sweaty Betties (Rowan, Viona, Sonia, Jo & Emma) and Tom, a friend of Rowan's, outside the Sweaty Betty shop for a run out to the west of Cambridge.  A route that I very rarely run.

Viona and Sonia turned around just before it got really muddy.

The others had planned on running 10 miles, but as the puddles of mud started to get deeper they decided to turn around a little earlier.

Jo and I proved that we're hardcore, and carried on through some pretty thick sticky mud, that added extra weight to our ever tiring legs....

....not to mention a big cleaning job to do when we got home.  Give me snow to run through any day.  You never have to clean your running shoes after a run through snow!  Today I ran 19.5 miles and had Jo as my ever constant companion for the middle 15 miles.  Thanks, Jo.

I have also suffered my first running related injury of the year.  This was sustained at the Sweaty Betty running club on Wednesday as a result of me trying to run fast whilst looking over my shoulder.  This is not recommended, because this is the potential result:

Still, it's better than a torn muscle.