What could go wrong on a 7 mile run?

I was not planning to blog again till after competing in the Spitfire 20 race in Dunsfold this Sunday but following an interesting run tonight it was too much to tell over 140 characters on Twitter, so a quick post is needed to tell the story.
I had a half day today off work to go and watch my youngest play football in an inter school tournament. They got knocked out quite early, which meant I got home and out the door by five o'clock for an hours run. The sun was slowly setting so I head out over the trails of the ranges a mile away from my front door.

I do a lot of running over here, it's MOD owned land but when not being used by the army it's the perfect place to run with it's vast open heathland, hills and trails. When the red flags are up you cannot enter certain area's. When I got to the gate where the first flag is I had a playful dog running part the way with me, with this distraction I totally missed the flag and continued through the gate.

Red Flag...Do not enter!

You usually get the odd dog walkers on this run but this evening it seemed I had the world to myself. The main part of the run is along a ridge with the views across the Surrey Hills, you can even make out some of the taller landmarks in London on a clear day. I now know why there was no one else around, because of the flags but I seemed to be lucky enough to have got away with it with no soldiers training. As I ran past the wardens office, within a few minutes my solitude was broken with an irate Warden shouting at me. I raised my arms in the way a holiday maker would abroad who cannot understand the language, sped up and made my way out the ranges.

Perfect Running!

Back in civilisation I was running down a hill near to home when I saw three characters approaching who appeared to have already had one or two (or three!) drinks so early in the evening. They were no spring chickens and the woman in the trio began mimicking that she was running.....Here we go, I thought. As I approached them the woman started to lean on me as if she had just finished a marathon. She stank, gave me a big grin with her brown stained twisted teeth (I say teeth, but there were more gaps than teeth) before cackling away with her pals.What a comedy moment.

My new friends!

Within the last few minutes I had been shouted at by a warden and nearly taken over by the living dead! Nearly home, I had one last encounter to endure. As I came under a railway bridge leading into my estate, I could hear a bunch of teenagers up above me. I thought nothing of them until a large stick came whizzing past my head and shattering against the wall. I turned to stop and give them a piece of my mind but realised it was a large group. Now I'm no Jackie Chan and thought better than to take it any further, I turned to them raised my arms as if to say 'Why the heck did you do that for' and continued the rest of my run. I could hear them heckling in the distance, they must make their parents proud I thought.



I'm not sure I've ever had such a eventful short run. It topped off my day, earlier I had been caught by a speed cop for speeding, 3 points on my licence and £60 fine...Doh! Well at least there was no chance of getting stopped again for speeding on this run!