22 miles run/staggered/crawled in the Beast from the East today brings my mileage for the week once again up to the magic 40 despite my incredible flakiness during the first part of the week. It was definitely a run of two halves today. The first half was full of fun and distractions…taking photos of me with Rocky the owl on our ‘micro adventure’ (for school), recording a short thank you film for the Running Commentary boys as it’s 5 years this week since their podcast started (I nearly froze on top of the hill doing take 3 without my coat on so they could see my t shirt ) and then joining our weekly ‘coffee after church’ zoom meeting to say hi and wave from my run!This led to part 2…I spent about 5 mins in the Zoom enjoying the banter and it was great to be able to join in with a prayer for SB and his surgery this week. Then I suddenly got a low power alert on my phone! Zoom meetings use a lot of phone battery apparently (95% down to 10%!!) so, I hurriedly exited the meeting, put the phone into low power mode and made my peace with the 11 (now silent) miles ahead.It turns out that when I’m not faffing about with my phone taking photos and changing podcasts/music every three minutes then I can actually run a bit faster than I thought! Running into the headwind back up the old A590 road from Witherslack was not too much fun and there was a bit of swearing and grumbling, especially as I often phone my mum or sister along this lonely stretch and had been looking forward to a chat with my mum today. However, around the Gilpin Bridge Inn my friend Steph Sharp appeared and slowed her pace a bit so that we could have a socially distanced run/chat along the bottom bit of the Lyth valley road. I had really hit a wall at this point, so it was amazing that she turned up when she did and so nice to spend a few miles running together and catching up with each other’s news. Thank you Steph! I managed to keep trotting after she turned off towards her home, but those last few miles were so hard. It was absolutely epic to see Tiree Dawson waving like an absolute loon out of her car (Sam was driving!) and shouting encouragement…It really gave me a boost, even though all I could manage at the time was “I’m dying, just kill me now!” Thanks T.Lessons to learn for the week ahead include packing a power bank, packing more water; a small bottle is just not enough even on a cold day, revise my fuelling strategy as last nights potato wedges just didn’t cut the mustard when I needed fuel today and while snickers bars are nice cut into handy pieces, if you’ve not got enough water then they become a serious choking hazard. It’s a miracle I lived to tell the tale!! On we go xx

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22 miles run today, bringing my total for this week up to the magic 40.A 22 mile run wasn’t on my agenda for today, but yesterday I got home from work mid afternoon, collapsed into a chair and slept for an hour. The planned run just didn’t happen. Despite my ‘nana nap’ I still managed to sleep for 10 hours straight last night and I woke up this morning knowing that if I wanted to run 40 miles this week then 22 miles needed running over the next 2 days.I planned a route with various ‘bailout’ options thinking that I would probably do 15 or so today and the rest tomorrow and off I went. Tomorrow I will be licensed as an Associate Priest (SSM) for the parishes of Cartmel Fell, Crosthwaite, Winster and Witherslack as part of the wider Two Valleys Mission Community which is also being launched tomorrow by Bishop Emma via Zoom. It seemed appropriate that my 22 miles saw me in each of these parishes today with a cheery wave from my friend Helen on Cartmel Fell and a quick chat with Ann over the wall of her garden in Witherslack. It was very cold again, and for the second time in a fortnight I had to don my emergency fleece, this time at the 18 mile mark along the old A590 road where I was running into a massive headwind.A long chat with my sister on the phone saw me along the loneliest stretch of this road and well along the Lyth valley road. As I hung up the phone I glanced at my watch and realised that I had almost run 22 miles and I was still a good 3 miles from home. Doh…my mental maths had let me down somewhere along the way…again! For the first time ever, I gave in and rang Michael and asked him to come and rescue me. I COULD have run all the way home, but I was tired, hungry and getting cold and a long run of 25 miles at this point in the process was not in my plan and I didn’t want to risk injury through sheer stubbornness! He was waiting in the lay-by as I turned the corner, and it was a blessed relief to fall into the cosy warm car (thank you!). It has been another very long week. My brain is exhausted and I am noticing that little things become big, overwhelming things very easily and quickly…all warning signs that I need to make sure that I am looking after me as well as everyone else…I am so thankful now that I still have the goal of training for the 10in10 ahead of me. It is keeping me going. My body is tired and sore, but my heart feels happy today…running is brilliant!So, on we go x

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13.1 miles run/walked/staggered today bringing my total for this week up to 40 miles. The snow certainly made the first part of the run ‘interesting’, but it was absolutely beautiful and just what my exhausted brain needed today.The wildlife were rather sensibly tucked up in their dens and hidey holes, so there were no deer scares today, just a friendly looking squirrel who charged off into the bush with the nut he thought I wanted. A mile or two into my run today I feared that my ankle was hurting rather than aching and I decided to walk for a bit (partly because it was very dodgy underfoot and partly to stretch the muscles in a different way and see if that helped at all). I think my mind was playing tricks with me as a mile later I was back running and very happy and comfortable! There were even moments when I felt really strong today, although also other moments when I would have gladly curled up in the hedge for a quick sleep.I had to put on my emergency fleece at 9 miles as the temperature on top of Gummers How was much lower and even though I was working hard going up hill I could feel myself getting cold to my core. (I’m writing this in a bobble hat and Rab jacket under a blanket by my fire!) Luckily I always carry an extra layer for emergencies and I was very glad of it today.In the last two weeks my job as a music/RE specialist teacher has changed once again in response to the new lockdown and I am currently helping to deliver live English and maths lessons in person to critical workers children and online to those at home. My brain is full of new technological things I’ve had to learn, many doubts about my own abilities and worries about all sorts of other things and people. I am fortunate to work with an amazing team of supportive and caring people and am more thankful for that than ever before just now.Being able to go out and run feels like a huge gift in these increasingly challenging times, and having that goal of being ready for the 10in10 again in May is just what I need to help me remain focussed and positive, so I am thankful for that too!So, a relatively uneventful run, but a big milestone nonetheless.I arrived home to a beautiful note from my special 10in10 friend Sonja Farish and enough Voom bars to power me into 2022! I feel very lucky to be surrounded by such wonderful friends. Thank you Sonic, you are awesome.On we go x

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I am back! 10 miles run/staggered today bringing my total mileage for this week up to 30. That’s 30 miles more than I have run since last August. I am quietly saying that my ankle seems happy, although currently that is the only part of my anatomy that doesn’t actually hurt! It was a wildlife free run today apart from a brief sighting of Harry the Heron, but the two men walking up the lane towards me with shotguns over their shoulders did provide a bit of an adrenaline boost for a while! I’m hoping to be back to running weekly marathons within the next few weeks, but for now it is a case of slow and steady. I have finally caught up with The Running Commentary Podcast and laughed my way through their recent episodes…I never leave home without those two and it feels good to be out with old friends again even if they are just in my headphones! On we go x

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