So please, put the kettle on, grab a biscuit or two, pull up a chair and join me for a short romp through some of the highlights of 2022.
January 2022.
Starting the year as I planned to go on, it didn’t take long to get into the adventurous side of things, when I managed to squeeze in a cheeky overnight hotel adventure before I’d even gone back to work. 150 miles, with an overnight stop in Beckington, certainly got the year's mileage tally off to a good start and got things moving in the right direction. The majority of January's running was focused on route finding, for a planned attempt at The Brenda Parker Way later in the year. And a few muddy weekend runs quickly proved the benefits of reconnoitring the route, before attempting the whole thing and also confirmed that the winter's rain had left large parts of it very muddy.
I still managed to find time between the reconnoitring, for the now traditional marathon a Month effort though, with the Winter Tanners Marathon being held on the 16th. A beautiful day saw some interesting cloud inversions as we climbed up onto the North Downs way and some stunning scenery throughout.
A new bike build, and test run down to Warminster wrapped up the month. But not before some Audaxing fun in the shape of The Willy Warmer 200K, a cheeky little number from Beaconsfield along some familiar and not so familiar roads, looping around home before heading back to the start. Click here for January 2022's Blog Posts
February 2022
February got straight into the thick of things with the Darkstar River Marathon, a muddy, but flat and fast, jaunt along the banks of the river Adur. Mud, strong winds, rain and a bit of sun, it was all the seasons in one day, but that did little to spoil the fun and it was a great day out.
A week later and it was back to the running for more marathon fun, this time in the form of The Punchbowl Marathon and a return to more familiar, hilly terrain, after last weekend's flat riverside course. An LDWA event with strict control opening and closing times, I messed my early timings up a bit and had an enforced rest, brew, catch up with my fellow runners, and generally good time at one of the mid-point controls, which made for a nice change from running my legs off.
A bit of light wind put pay to plans towards the end of the month, but didn’t stop me getting out for a bit more reconnoitring of the Brenda Parker Way amidst the fallen trees, and despite warnings of my impending doom, I still managed to cycle into, and run back home, from work, so it wasn’t quite as windy as forecast! Bookending the month, I was back on the bike for the Chiltern Grit Audax. 200Km through, as the name suggests, the Chiltern hills around Aylesbury and beyond. A dry but windy day saw some interesting conditions during the afternoon leg into the wind. But as they say, “these things are sent to test us” and “without struggle there is no strength”. Anyway, burning off a few extra calories peddling into the wind just means more cake at the end of the day, and what’s not to like about that?
March 2022 The start of March is traditionally The Steyning Stinger, 26 miles of muddy trail running up and down the slopes of the south Downs, traditionally accompanied by mud and rain, and whilst this year the rain held off, there was still plenty of mud underfoot. It wasn’t my best showing, with cramp slowing me down towards the end, but not a bad finish and another great day out with plenty of like minded enthusiasts! And then an unusual failure. The middle of March should have seen my organised attempt at the Brenda Parker Way, but the ongoing coronavirus kerfuffle resulted in the event being cancelled. Not to worry though, I’ve already arranged for a day's leave, and booked the hotel, I’ll just do it on my own. My previous reconnoitring of the route meant things started well, but conditions weren’t in my favour, and despite the sun shining, much of the route was deep in mud.
39 miles in, the mud finally took its toll when I landed funny and pulled a calf muscle. I carried on for a bit hoping it would get better, but I wasn’t going to be so lucky, and as it happened, I was probably in the best position I was likely to be all day for pulling out and getting the train home. 40 Miles still isn’t to be sniffed at though and I valiantly hobbled home. Safe, only slightly injured, and having learned a lot, ready to fight again another day.
With the weather starting to pick up as March drew on, it seemed like a good idea to put last week's failures behind me and take the new bike camping. And a brilliant idea it was too. Roadside brews, chats with friendly farmers, chips for tea and frost covered sleeping bags. It doesn’t get much better than that I can tell you!
And to wrap the month up? Well, the clocks changed which can mean only one thing, The Start of Summer Audax.
April 2022 What can I say about April, apart from “I really kicked the backside out of it”. The weather was warming up and the Audaxing, running and allotment fun was really starting to kick in.
Starting the month off gently, the first bit of fun was the 3-down Audax – 300Km of cycling fun, from the outskirts of London down to the New Forest and back. A bitterly cold start to the day saw frozen water bottles, a situation that was remedied with a cooked breakfast at the first control point, massive cakes at the second and a glorious loop around the New forest before heading back to the start. Brilliant!
The question is how do you follow that? Well, how about a 200Km Audax on the Saturday and then an evening start for a second attempt at the Brenda Parker Way on the Sunday evening. “The Emma'' dropped me off at the train station in the dark, and I set off from Andover at 22:00, running through the night and into the dawn, for some good progress on a chilly night. Once the sun came up and the day warmed up, I plodded on. A Cornish pasty and slice of bread pudding at Bramley provided sustenance and a much-needed breakfast, followed by a late lunch in Hartney Wintney. It may not have been pretty, it may not have been fast, but 71 miles and 16 Hours later, I had avenged last month’s failure and completed what I’d set off to do.
There was no time to celebrate though, as the next weekend was Easter and what better way to celebrate the long weekend than with a cheeky wee 500-mile jaunt up to Oswestry and back. Why Oswestry I hear you ask? Well, it just happened to be the right distance away! The sun shone, the nights were cold, but my Hammock kept me warm and snug, Easter lambs filled the fields and the countryside was a vibrant green, fresh with new life. Fish and chips for tea and supermarket sandwiches kept the legs turning and I had a whale of a time! How do you top that then? We’ll how about wrapping the month up with a 200Km Audax on the Saturday and a Trail marathon on the Sunday. Yes, that’ll do it, and give the old legs something to think about!
After a manic April, May was a bit quieter, starting off with nothing more serious than London-Wales-London. 400Km of Audax fun across the country. A bitterly cold, ice riddled morning, led to a pleasant, sun filled spring ride through the Cotswolds, across the Severn bridge and back again via plenty of lovely country lanes. It’s a ride I’ve done a few times now and one that never fails to disappoint.
A quieter few weekends provided time to catch up on the allotment too, which was in full swing. Digging, sowing seeds and planting out the newly grown plants, kept things busy, but there was still always time to just stop and stare as nature unfurled around me.
And then a return to running in the form of the Marlborough Downs Challenge, but if I’m going all that way for a run I might as well kill two birds with one stone and squeeze in a hilly 100Km Audax on the Sunday before coming home too. Running and cycling in the late spring sunshine, what’s not to like about that?
And to wrap the month up. Well, maybe it’s about time I gave something back and a few hours of marshalling duties beckoned, manning a road crossing for the Chawton Challenge before heading down to the new Forest for a bit of walking and another 200Km Audax. What a way to finish off the spring and welcome the start of Summer.
But that was just the start of the fun. A 300Km leg stretcher the next weekend kept my legs turning over, followed by a 400 the next weekend . The hottest day of the year so far, lulled us all into a false sense of security, before turning to heavy rain, leading to a number of abandonments and some pretty grim hours heading into the night. An emergency pair of washing up gloves saved the day though, resulting in a successful 400 to round things up for a Super Randonneur (SR) series of Audax’s in the first 6 months of the year. That’s never enough though and the final weekend in June saw my biggest undertaking to date, with an attempt at the Warwickshire Ring Canal race. 111 miles of towpath running fun. And it was fun, for at least the first 60 miles, after which things went downhill pretty quickly and I pulled out at 75 miles, pride hurt but not seriously injured. Should I have pulled out when I did? That’s always going to be a big question and at the time I thought it was the right decision, but looking back now. No way! I could have carried on and got round well within the time limit, but I guess I just didn’t want it enough. Oh well, you live and learn and what doesn’t kill you just makes you stronger!
July didn’t get off to the best of starts with “The Pesky Emma” giving me the Lurgy and putting pay to my planned 600Km weekend away. Not to worry though, the rest did me good and gave me a chance to catch up with a few odd jobs and make some Jam from the allotment produce, which was going great guns.
Fully recovered, the next weekend saw me lining up for another epic running adventure in the form of the Wayfarers walk 100Km Run. As the name suggests, 100Km of running fun, from the highest point in Hampshire, down to the sea at Portsmouth, on what turned out to be one of the hottest days of the year. Lucky then that it’s all downhill (yeah right).
With the sun beating down, and the record for the hottest days ever being broken, sleeping inside became even less appealing than it normally does, and what better way to remedy that than with a couple of nights out. While I’m away though I might as well do something useful, so the next weekend saw me cycling down to the Devils Punchbowl Audax. Returning the next day, after a cool night swinging gently in my Hammock, saw the hottest day so far, and boy was it hot! With the sun still shining and it being my birthday, I needed something to mark such a momentous occasion as my 50th. How about all the 50’s? 50 Km of running along the canal for 50 miles total running for the week, followed by a weekend away on my bike for 500Km. Not a bad effort for 50!
There was only one subject of conversation in August and that was London-Edinburgh-London. 1500Km of Audaxing fun, from one end of the country to the other and back again. It was the highlight of the Audax UK calendar and the highlight of my year. The sun shone endlessly, the volunteers that made the entire event possible were remarkable, the miles occasionally flew by (and occasionally didn’t) but overall it was a once in a lifetime event and a once in a lifetime achievement! And there’s the best part of an entire months’ worth of blog posts covering not only the event itself but my thoughts both before and after, so if you’ve got spare half hour, head on over to August 2022 and have a read!
After the excitement of London-Edinburgh-London, September dawned with a sense of deflation and anti climax, the main aim for 2022 had been achieved, now what?
Well, how about 2 marathons in one weekend? The Andover trail Marathon and the Farnham Pilgrim, both fell on the same weekend, so why not? It wasn’t easy, in fact I made it hard for myself by pushing too hard and cramping up at Andover, but I got round both, and had a great time doing so.
Next weekend saw me back on the bike for the Morris Major Audax, 130 miles through the Cotswolds, and an unusual puncture within the first couple of miles. That didn’t stop me though and it was good to be back on two wheels again.
And then a trip down to Wales for the Beacons to the Blacks ultra, 50 miles of very hilly fun on a beautiful, late summer / early Autumn day. It was a bit of a last minute booking and I only decided to enter a couple of weeks before, but by gosh I’m glad I did, because it was without doubt the best run of the year. Hilly beyond sense, with every step being hard won, but the scenery, well, there’s nothing I can say which will justify it, you’ll have to just go down there and see for yourself.
That just left the last weekend in September and the less said about that the better. It was supposed to be The University Challenge 600Km Audax, but my heart just wasn’t in it and I was incredibly tired before I even started. I did start though, which was something, but within the first few miles I could hardly keep my eyes open and there was no way I could see myself being in any fit state to keep the wheels moving for the next 40 hours. So, I quit whilst I still could and slunk back home for some well earned rest and recuperation. A second failure for the year, but if you're not working outside of your comfort limit and pushing yourself, then you're never going to have any successes and you've just got to accept that sometimes it’s not going to go to plan.
October 2022 An unusual start to October, saw me returning to the road for a road marathon for the first time since 2019. And not just any road marathon either, the London Marathon no less. I’ll confess that I wasn’t looking forward to this one. It was a logistical nightmare, it was too crowded and it was on the road, oh and I’d never expected to get an entry place in the first place. But, how wrong could I have been. Yes it was a pain in the backside, yes it was stupidly expensive by the time I’d paid for hotels etc, but yes it was brilliant, yes I had a great time, and yes, I’ll do it again if the opportunity arises.
An unavoidable work commitment provided the opportunity for a more adventurous weekend away mid month. If you're going to be dragged halfway across the country for a seminar, then you might as well pack your running shoes and bike and take advantage! A bit of running, a few bike miles and a bit more running, made the journey far more worthwhile and provided the opportunity to see a bit more of our beautiful countryside.
And then that was it, the End of Summer, recognised in the now traditional manner with the End of Summer 200Km Audax. The clocks may have gone back, the trees may have been losing their leaves, but it’s still beautiful out there, and what better way to see those autumn colours than with a 200 Km jaunt around the South Downs!
A bit of surprise car tinkering started November off with dirty fingernails, when ‘The Boy’s’ pride and joy got dropped off for a bit of MOT failure work. Well I say a bit, if I’m honest it was touch and go as to whether it was worth fixing or not. But it lives to fight another day and solved the problem of what to get him for Christmas (a couple of weekends of free labour and a pile of car parts, that’ll do nicely).
A chance meeting with a vaguely familiar face got me thinking during my travels around the Upper Thames Audax too. 200Km gives you plenty of thinking time, and it certainly got me thinking about why I continue to put my thoughts to words.
A long planned trip down to Wales for a few beers and a bit of a reunion with some old friends provided not only the opportunity for a good time (although my head wasn’t so sure the next day) but also the chance to get ‘The Boy’s’ car back to him and an unexpected run on the Saturday morning. And what a run it was, there’s not enough superlatives to do it justice, but it’s not every day that all the training comes to fruition in the best location with the ideal weather. Brilliant!
Roly’s run, kept the running fun going towards the end of the month, luckily coinciding with a break in the wet weather which seemed to characterise November. 40 miles of hilly running fun through the South Downs and a beautiful sunny day, what's not to like about that I ask you? Nothing is the correct answer! Oh, and even ‘The Emma’ managed to get involved with the fun in November when she had a lucky escape in her car on the way to work, when she hit a Deer. Safe and sound, she got even luckier when we managed to find a new bonnet and all the other bits required in the right colour and get her back on the road in short time, and for far less than the excess on her insurance. If only she’d bought a lottery ticket too!
December, Christmas, taking it easy, eating and drinking too much. No way, there’s miles to do if I’m going to achieve my goals for the year, so to that end a few bike miles were required. And what better way to start the month off than with The South of Bucks Winter Warmer. It would have been a lot better if I’d remembered my saddle bag, but not to worry, there’s always a solution and an unexpected return home mid route helped to solve that problem.
The weather mid month did its best to limit the adventures, but I’m tougher than that, -9, whatever! I’ll concede to extra gloves but that’s about it. It may have been chilly but oh so beautiful. Running and cycling provided plenty of opportunity to see that beauty too!
And then in the gap between Christmas and the New year a chance to really kick the backside out of it. The Winter Cross Ultra on the 27th, followed by an epic mid winter cycling adventure between the 28th and 31st, with the The Full Fat Festive 500 Audax. Not content with just doing the 500, I added in the cycle to the start in Bristol and back too. Strong winds, heavy rain and a total of 480 miles in 4 days, what a way to end an already epic year!
2022 in Numbers
Running Total – 2040 Miles Average daily running mileage (Total / 365) – 5.59 Miles Runs of 26 Miles (Marathon) and above – 19 Longest Run – 75 miles (twice - Brenda Parker Way and part of Warwickshire Canal Ring) Cycling Total - 10181 Miles Average daily cycling mileage (Total / 365) – 27.89 Miles Longest Ride – 1520Km (London - Edinburgh - London) Nights out in van – 57 Nights Out Camping – 8