w/e 17/1/10...And Pride Is Just Another Way, Of Trying to Live With My Mistakes

Denial is a better way

Of getting through another day

And silence is another way

Of saying what I wanna say

And lying is another way

Of hoping it will go away

.....And you were always my mistake...

An enjoyable weekend on the fells reaffirmed how much I love to be out there enjoying myself, whatever the weather. And yet, conversely, it also conspired to make me question if I really want to push myself so hard for the BG. The fells are there to be enjoyed, appreciated, loved...for what they are, not as an "obstacle" in a "challenge".

I'm still trying to work out if those feelings are my true ones or whether, underneath, there is an appreciation that my base level of fitness for this year is nowhere near what it was last year? Is there time to rectify that? Indeed, is that better, in that I can plan training to peak at the right moment instead of feeling tired and wearing myself out too soon?

Or perhaps events of the last six months have had an accumulated effect that has left me wanting to enjoy rather than always looking to push myself. There's no doubt that, in life generally, I've come to the realisation that my current state of mind is looking for some stability, a settled future, rather than always looking for more and always being restless, as has been the case in the past. Those feelings may well have permeated into my running. Only time will tell if the edge comes back, as the weather improves and I up the training.

Anyway, back to the week in question, and it started out with a Tuesday trot out on snow and ice covered roads with Calder Valley, putting in some efforts on hills and enjoying a nice chat with a guy who I'd met on the Saturday at Elise's run. A good run, although a bit dodgy in places with the conditions.

The plan was to do more running through the rest of the week, but on Wednesday the conditions were as bad as I think I've ever known. The slight thaw had frozen hard turning everything into a treachorous skating rink. I headed out for a walk down to the main road and slipped unexpectedly, coming down to earth with a crash and a shot of pain right up my back. I lay on the ice for half a minute, regaining my breath, then realised I couldn't actually stand up again because it was so slippy. So I crawled on all fours to the side of the path, got up gingerly and made my way home. By the evening I felt a bit sore, on Thursday and Friday I felt too stiff to run.

But by Saturday, I was feeling a bit better, and with it being Kirsten's birthday, it would have been rude not to have headed out! The original plan was to go away for the weekend. But with the cars still stuck and unable to move, we decided on a Trog recce. Which changed the moment we saw the conditions!!

The birthday girl gets acquainted with the slightly taller Joan

We headed up via Foster Clough, and on up to Churn Milk Joan. Even that part was tough. But once up there, running was near impossible and most frustrating. We struggled along and decided to drop down into Old Town. At this point, we realised we'd got £4 between us, and the chance of a half and a packet of crisps at the Hare and Hounds was too good to refuse! The landlord did us a "credit crunch" deal allowing us to have crisps and nuts :-)

Working hard at our running :-)

Refreshed, we decided we'd follow the Hebden route around to the crags and take it from there. The path through the crags was ridiculously slippy, but fun. From there, we climbed up to Slack before dropping down past Popples and into Hebden, to run back along an even slippier canal towpath! :-)

A tough trip out, but overall an enjoyable one. Enhanced of course, by picking up Rufus the dog, managing to get the car out, and driving down for a couple of pints down at the Fox & Goose (where Rufus is a much-loved regular! :-) )

With transport now available again, we decided to take a trip out on Sunday, down to Shropshire to recce the Long Mynd Valleys route. As soon as we got out of Yorkshire, the sun started shining and conditions were much milder!!

By lunchtime, we were down at Carding Mill, where the Newport crowd were assembled, having just finished a run. We donned layers and headed off towards the golf course. Within five minutes, we were both stripping off layers in the heat! Initially there was a little snow, but conditions were fine. However, as we headed up the gully from Jonathon's Hollow, things got tougher and that continued over the top to the head of Motts Road and on to the main road over the Mynd. I say "main road", but it was clear nobody had used it for a good while and there were several inches of snow on it.

A good descent down Ashes Hollow, a slippy ascent to Barristers Plain and then another snowy gully over to Minton Batch and a good descent down there on a mostly clear path.

We were enjoying ourselves, relishing the warmer conditions and the chance to be out somewhere different. But here, in Minton Batch, the race "begins" (you'll know what I mean if you've done it!). Three steep, tough ascents follow, with three steep descents to match. But Kirsten was staying really strong on the ups, and more than matching me on the downs. Every time we got near the summits, the sun shone on us and it was a wonderful afternoon.

Heading up Callow, fantastic!

We took the direct descent off Yearlet (which is definitely quicker than the "usual" way, especially if you like steep descents), climbed up the last "little sod" in the gathering gloom and, before we knew it we were back at the car, having enjoyed a wonderful afternoon out.

Kirsten heads up the last climb on all fours!!

Fish and chips in Shrewsbury, then a couple of pints with my son in Telford, before driving back up to Yorkshire feeling nicely tired from a lovely weekend.

And that encompasses everything I said at the start of this blog. It was a "leisurely" weekend, at no time did we push ourselves to the very maximum, but it was all the more enjoyable for that. Do I was to swap days like that, for days when I hardly have time to look around? I don't know, we'll see.

Plenty coming up, including the Hebden this weekend, That's Lyth next weekend, the Trog/Valleys double weekend after that. I confirmed with my mate Chris that we're doing the Old County Tops together again, which will be fantastic. We'll be looking for sub-9.30, which should be achievable. Plus it will be lovely to be out on the fells with him again, my partner in the first Old County Tops I did.

So all in all, the mood's not glum, it's just uncertain about what I want at the moment. Time will tell.

Total for the week - 27.5mls & 7,500ft