Unusually Saturday saw both "The Emma" and I at home in the morning which presented the ideal opportunity to get in a bit of long running. "The Emma" was due at work in the afternoon, so with the weather looking better than it has done for ages I turned on all my charm and persuaded her to drop me off at Winchester on her way to work. From Winchester you can pick up the South Downs Way for a couple of miles, before diverting off to Alresford, from where you pick up parts of the Oxdrove Way and Wayfarer's Way, getting you almost all the way home. By the time you've actually got home, it's pretty much bang on 26 miles, the majority of which is off road and thus seemed like the ideal route for February's Marathon A Month effort. I'd walked this route back in 2019 on a cold and dark November evening, with a cheeky wee overnight bivvy (see Blog post) and from what I remembered it was fairly dry and not too muddy at the time. Having rained incessantly all week though I was prepared for the worst and with the later than usual start was fully equipped, with not only my normal first aid kit, extra jacket etc, but had lunch safely stowed in my back pack. It's not every day that you set out at the start of a Marathon planning to stop for lunch, but as far as I'm concerned any excuse to turn the normal into an adventure is worth taking and in the middle of winter, with the current lockdown restrictions in place, you need to grab every opportunity! "The Emma" kindly slowed the car just enough to push me out without major injury shortly after 11:00 too shakes of her head and shouts of "Idiot", before heading off to work, and I slowly picked my way through the car parks and housing estates to my planned start line. It's quite a climb from the start of the South Downs Way up onto the far end of the South Downs but once your up there it's worth it for the far reaching views back towards Winchester. With the cathedral poking it's head above the surrounding town it's quite a view when the weathers good. These magnificent buildings must have been quite a sight when they were first erected, standing tall and proud, against the skyline. No time for sightseeing today though, it's time to get moving. Following the South Downs Way for the first 6 or so miles, before diverting off towards Tichborne and it's 11th century church is pleasant running with the wind on my back. I've commented before on the difference the wind makes when your running, turning a pleasant jog into a real slog if it's in your face. No such problems today though and the miles are gently ticking off as I take in the views in the weak afternoon sun. The River Itchen flows steadily through Tichborne on its way to meet with the sea at Southampton and from there I briefly follow the Itchen Way an my way into Alresford, (another path that's on my to do list once the coronavirus palaver allows again). Alresford quickly arrives and along with it the first bit of road since I left Winchester. Coming shortly before the half way mark, Alresford seems like the first major milestone of the run ticked off. But it's a false sense of security, as I know from previous adventures that whilst I'm nearly half way, somehow it's all up hill from here! Picking my way through the throngs of Saturday shoppers and those wandering aimlessly around town, I briefly wonder if meeting your mates for a coffee whilst wandering around a packed high street strictly fit's into the meaning of going out for exercise? It's only a brief interlude into civilisation though and before long I'm heading back into the peace and solitude of the countryside and the Oxdrove Way. Once on the Oxdrove Way the routes a bit more familiar and I know that I'm onto home territory, with it being less that 13 miles to home from here. By now time was getting on, and having missed lunch (one of my 3 favourite meals of the day) my thoughts were lingering firmly on food. Cresting the first of the many climbs on this part of the route seemed like a good enough reason to give in to the hunger pangs and I paused for a few minutes to take in the view and grab a sandwich and hot cross bun (the running food of champions) from my bag. Hunger briefly sated and back on track, it's soon time to turn off the Oxdrove Way and onto the Wayfarer's Way. The Wayfarer's Way takes me to within a couple of miles from home, so although there's still a fair bit of uphill to come, it really feels like were on the home stretch now. By the time 22 miles came along I was starting to suffer. I definitely run better in the mornings, finding it a bit of a struggle mentally to keep going in the afternoons, and these big efforts are all in the head. I think that in the mornings not only does my body cope better with the eating and energy burn, but I seem better able too convince myself that it will soon be over and I'll be home for lunch. With a lunchtime start, the lack of a proper lunch, a lazy morning and knowing that there's not enough day left to do anything else, all conspire to make my mind think "enough, there's no point in this" and it becomes increasingly hard to put the suffering out of your mind. Once those dark thought's of "enough and stop" get a hold it becomes increasingly hard to push on! Push on I do though, and before long I'm on the outskirts of town. Just a couple more miles of road running to go and it will be brew O'clock. As I plod through the 24 mile mark I see the time click over the 4 hour mark, no PB today then, but considering the route, the stop for lunch and time of day I'm quite happy. As I reach home and slow to a stop one of the neighbours is just heading off to walk their dog and greets me with a cheery wave and a "been far"? I can see my nonchalant response of 26.5 miles slowly sink in as they start to say something else and then realise what I said and come back to check they heard me correctly! Maybe "The Emma's" not the only one that thinks I'm an idiot? But at the end of the day, and despite tired legs, that I know will be stiff in the morning, I've had a great day out. I've got muddy and wet in the couple of short showers, I've worn another hole in another pair if socks and I'll sleep well tonight (actually that's a lie because I never sleep that well after a big effort). But, I've been out in the fresh air all afternoon and maybe one day when I'm old and can't run anymore, I'll sit in front of the fire and remember the February day when I ran home from Winchester just because I could! After Saturdays efforts an easy day was on the cards for Sunday and with the weather unseasonably warm and dry for a change, a day on the allotment seemed like a good idea. Having lugged all the old paving slabs from Project Patio up there as they were removed from the back garden, I spent a couple of hours in the morning roughly laying them along the main paths and putting in a couple of new paths through the fruit cage. It's all a bit rustic and there only laid on bark chippings, but I'm hoping that as it settles I'll be able to level it out a bit better. Either way the slabs seem more stable than when they were in the back garden and being laid on a full bed of chippings are probably less likely to crack! I've taken a bit of a punt and sown the first of the spring seeds too. One of two things will happen, either they will germinate and I'll be ahead of the game, or they won't and I'll have to re-sow them! It's only Sweet Peas, Early Cabbage and more Broad Beans to replace the overwintering ones that have been annihilated by the cold snap, so nothing worth worrying about if they don't come up and there's plenty of time to sow them again if they don't germinate. To be honest, I'm quite pleased with how the plots looking this year. I seem to be on top of most of the little jobs that always need doing, and having got all the ground well dug in the Autumn it shouldn't need to much work over the coming months to get it ready for planting once the Spring finally arrives. In fact it was a lovely day to be up there. It was warm enough working in the winter sun, to be down to just my overalls and base layer at times, and with a couple of Robins hopping around for company, the local Red Kites soaring on the thermals coming off the nearby houses and the other little birds busy in the hedgerow it was a beautiful and productive day. In other news and as predicted last week, the cold snap played havoc with works on Project patio. As I'd mentioned it looked like the frost had got into the brickwork on the steps I built a few weeks back and on closer inspection things were worse than I first thought. I'd initially hoped that we would get away with cutting out the damaged pointing and reworking it. But, as I started poking around it became clear that the remaining moisture in the cement had fully frozen, cracking out the brickwork and leaving it loose and unstable. With no other real option I spent a good couple of hours at the start of the week knocking it all apart again and cleaning everything back to the foundations before rebuilding it all again! Not something I wanted to be doing and massively frustrating, the only saving grace being that as the cement had never fully set it was easy to clean off the bricks for reuse! In my annoyance I didn't get any pictures of the destruction and as it now looks exactly that same as it did before you'll just have to take my word for it. On a more positive note though, this weeks warmer weather seems to have done the trick and it looks and feels a lot better set this time around than previously, so hopefully that will be the end of that palaver!
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Paul PerrattOld enough to know better, young enough to still feel invincible, stupid enough to keep on trying the same thing again and again. Cyclist, Gardener, Runner, Hiker, Cook, Woodworker, Engineer, Jack of all trades and master of none, Anti social old git and all round miserable bugger. Archives
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