Running in the dark.

One disadvantage of our habit of putting the clocks back in the autumn is that I am always having to travel to work and back in the dark. I have always hated this. But this time it also impacts on my running.

I don't have time to run before work, I am not getting up at 5am, so I have to run after work. The problem is I live in a small town with very little street lighting. I couldn't run a mile in any direction till I would be running on unlit, pavement-less roads. Not a good idea.

So tonight I tried for the first time to run around Kendal, the town I work in and my parents live.
Kendal is a larger town and has many housing estates that are well lit for me to run around so tonight I set off running with no real route planned.

The problem I hadn't thought about is Kendal is built in the valley of the River Kent. This means when I set of from my parents every directions is up hill. Luckily I surprised myself and run up and out of town with ease.

I won't describe the whole route but I ran right to the other end of town and back. The whole circuit was just short of 6 miles.

You can view the route here. 

In the end the end I felt it was a comfortable run and will do it again. I will have to be running double the distance soon!

P.S. Please sponsor me here!

P.P.S I swallowed a fly tonight while running.

Running up that hill.

Today I ran up a hill. I also ran down it.

This is a slight lie as I walked for about 20 seconds on the way up. I had planned a circular route from my parents house up hill to the local train station and then further still to a pub called, imaginatively,The Station Inn. From there I was going to go along a path popular with dog walkers and go across and down the hill, through a small village called Natland and then home.

I guessed it would be about 4 miles but I had a couple of shortcuts planned if the hill got too much. In the end I did something I haven't done before when running.
About halfway up, at a particularly steep bit, I started to walk instead. I had not done this before as I always thought of it as a sign of defeat.
But this time, by walking those 20 seconds, it made it possible for me to complete the full run instead of taking a shortcut and I finished the rest of the run, mainly down hill, feeling great.

In the end, my time was on a par with my usual for a flat 4 mile run, 30 minutes and 49 seconds.

So in the future instead of shortening my runs, I will be walking!

Check out the full details here.

And why not sponsor my marathon attempt too!

Another blog?

Yes, I know I have another blog that I hardly use but I promise to update this one more regularly.

As you may know, I started running for the first time in January this year and gradually found out it was something I could do and might even enjoy!

Now 10 months on I have, maybe foolishly, entered to run my first marathon in Edinburgh next May. This blog will be a record of my preparation for that.

You will be able to follow me though the highs and lows of training though the cold, wet Northern England winter. The days when I can't leave my bed and nights when I'm running in the dark though the snow.

Hope you will join me on this journey. I will need all the support I can get!

And, of course, there will be constant reminders of my charity page. http://www.justgiving.com/Philip-Townley

The real work starts in January. Hope you can join me.