My Favourite Run (Despite the Rain!)

Burger (Home made) and Fries, Bottle of Beer, 2 glasses of Wine, and watching Batman Begins till after midnight...Oh and a Ready Salted Crisp and Cream Cheese Roll (The Best!), all in all not the best preparation for an early morning hilly 11 miler.

It made me think about my nutrition today and how it definitely affects your running (Must try better!) because the run felt harder than usual and I partly put this down to last night indulgences. We eat fairly well as a family, I do the cooking in the household and try to cook most things from scratch, even the burgers when we have them but I reckon that there is room for some improvement.

I knew the forecast today was for rain for much of the day (The Weatherman always seem to get that one right!) I was OK with this, as of late we have been blessed with some great weather, it made a nice change to get out in the rain again.

My favourite run takes me over the Ash Ranges which are about a mile from my front door. The Ranges is an vast area of common land owned by the MOD which the nearby Army at Aldershot use for their training, The area of Trails and Woods with plenty of hills makes this the perfect place for running. Sometimes on these runs I don't see a soul, so is the perfect way to escape from the world for a couple of hours.



The only trouble is that when the Army are using the Firing Ranges you can't use the area, the use of Red Flags around the perimeter are used to show when this is happening (and the sound of shooting gives you a good idea to keep out!) Normally at the weekend the flags are flying until about 4 o'clock, but I was fortunate that the flags were down for the whole weekend.

The Long and Winding Road

From door to door the run is just over 11 miles. Its fairly undulating all the way although early on there are some flat straights. Between mile 7 and 9 is where the main hills lie, in this area the elevation rises by a few hundred feet. One hill in particular (Tunnel Hill) is a tough steep hill that you think you've got to the top only to bend round and climb some more. This hill is a real 'Thigh' burner! and when I'm grunting my way up it, I question and try to remind myself why this is my favourite run!

On a Summers day this run gets a 10 out of 10, today with the rain maybe a 9.

I have to apologise to all fellow Juneathoners for not sticking to the task of exercising and blogging everyday through June. a) I was struggling with the time b) I was struggling to write everyday. Especially when I'd just been out for a routine regular 4 miler it was hard to come up with something half decent to write and the posts were losing quality. I salute the other bloggers who are sticking to the task and getting the blogs out everyday. Well done to you all.