Seeds of life renewed......

And the inspiration did indeed fire me up and get me back out there enjoying myself. I've had a fabulous week of running and managed to clear my head of all doubts and negative thoughts and 19th June it will be!!

Last Tuesday did indeed start with a trip up into the moors in deep snow and dense, low cloud. Amazing how you think you know somewhere and that your intuition will see you right....until the light starts fading, you can't quite recognise where you are, and you're struggling in a thigh-deep snowdrift!! All was well in the end, as I followed a compass bearing and managed to drop down to the Calderdale Way and follow that back over to Midgley, then down through the woods in darkness.

Wednesday was a gorgeous day, so another trip up onto the moor to work out where I went wrong the day before (defintely went to the right of High Brown Knoll!). Progress was slow in the deep snow but thoroughly enjoyable. Arrived back home with frozen shoelaces and trousers! Pleased to have got a good run in though, and rewarded myself with a couple of extra pints in the Fox in the evening :-)

Xmas Eve saw a club run from Old Town and, wouldn't you know it, we went up to High Brown Knoll again!!! Low cloud again made navigation interesting, along with a good coating of new snow...but Richard B was spot on to see us up to the top. A smashing run, lovely "credit crunch lunch" and a couple of pints, before heading down into Hebden for another pint in the Fox....excellent!!!

Not content with that run, at 11pm, we got kitted up again on a beautiful evening, and headed up onto the moors, where the deep snow and half moon meant that torches weren't needed as we slithered along the paths to see in Xmas Day. We had a lovely vision of some child in one of the villages looking out bleary-eyed, seeing lights heading across the moors, and imagining it was santa and his reindeer :-) Two hours out on the moors then back to hot drinks and Xmas Day.

A rest on Xmas Day, although we managed to walk a few miles down for a lunchtime pint at the Fox.

Boxing Day saw a trip out to my old running ground of the Stiperstones and the 3 mile "Dash" or "Dawdle". I was somewhere inbetween!!! Not much snow, but sheets of ice all ove the place, making it tough. Smashing run though, and nice to get into the pub and see several old Harriers and Newport friends. Lovely!! Oh, and of course, Rob was there as well, only seen him a few times since supporting on his BG. Still running well, finished in the top 10 and, of course, was there with wise words and motivation, and reassurance that, of course, I will do it this time.

27th saw us heading to Llangynhafal for the 2-mile downhill Jubilee Plunge. We arrived nice and early to have a bit of a run first....only to find the race was cancelled due to ice near the top. Actually, it was a good thing, and meant we had a couple of hours out on the Clywdian Hills, including the steep descent and then ascent up the gully from the November race. It was slippy on top and I can't blame the organiser for calling it off....but nice to see most folks had a run anyway!

28th saw me back on very familiar ground, parking up at Carding Mill to do a recce of the Valleys race. 13 of us in total I think, on a lovely but very cold day. Conditions underfoot were solid and slippy!! Lovely to see everyone though, and I really enjoyed being pushed along a bit.

And now, I'm back in Calderdale, with a race on Thursday and LDWA event on Friday to look forward to!! The achilles is complaining a bit today, but should settle down. Whereas the head is in good condition and raring to get stuck into training.