Week 9 - General Election Week
Sunday 4 June 2017 the day after the London Bridge attacks. 7 innocent civilians and 3 attackers dead plus 48 injured. Youngest daughter not going back to college for a couple of days, she has to go through London Bridge on her way.
I went to the local shop before my workout tonight as it would be later to go for a run and hopefully I would miss the dogs. I left for the glen just before 9 pm. Walked there then jogged down the 135 steps, it was drizzling very slightly. I thought that with being a bit later and the weather not being great I'd have no problem with dogs. I completed 4 laps of 1 km. They included 4 x 380, 3 x 270 and finished with a 430 steps jogging. On my first lap a passed a young girl wearing jeans and a coat, she looked a bit lost. On each of my last two I passed a man wearing headphones accompanied by a golden labrador, the dog was very well behaved. As I finished the last lap I continued and ran a bit extra over the river, up the hill and back to the footbridge leading to the exit of the glen. I passed the young girl twice again. The first time I passed her, she had just crossed the river and was turning into the centre footpath along the river, a few seconds later I passed her and she had turned around and was heading back over the river. When I stopped to stretch and rest a bit, before intending to jog to the waterfall and back, I heard a loud bark from the opposite side of the river, and you guessed the man and his golden retrievers had arrived. He must have waited for the mild drizzle to stop before coming out with the dogs. Once again the loud one of the two was running towards the footbridge over the river and I once again decided to leg it up the hill. So no break and 75 steps jogging uphill on my way out - it was as far as I could jog. I walked the rest and on exiting the glen I stopped to catch my breath and stretch. The young girl appeared withing about 30 seconds. I said hello, and asked if it was the dog that had made her decide to get out of there. She mumbled something, which I think meant yes. On the walk home I passed the young girl and was then passed by the man wearing headphones. This time he was jogging with his dog on a lead.
Although my workout had been cut slightly short again, I was still pleased to get the week off to a good start. Later in the evening, whilst having a beer, I thought to myself it's good to have got a routine back where I am going out most nights to do some exercise. Its feels a bit like those many years ago in London and Surrey where I would always enjoy going running with my club or on my own and having a few beers afterwards.
Monday 5 June 2017. I decided I was going to have a break today, but by 9.30 pm I changed my mind. It was almost 10 pm when I set off walking. By the time I got to the glen it was almost dark. I managed one lap with 400 and 420 steps jogging. It was lonely and dark in the glen and it was difficult to see my the layout of the ground. I was worried about tripping over a fallen branch and with what little light was managing to filter through the trees I could see the odd bat flashing about overhead. I still jogged the 110 steps to the waterfall and 120 back. It had been raining for most of the day and the noise of the water running over the fall drowned out everything else. There was just enough light to see me up the footpath and back onto the pavement and home. It was a bit of an errie workout, but it was a workout, took about 25 minutes and another 2 miles in the bank. I was happy as I wanted to keep the miles adding up and will hopefully get up to at least 20 this week.
Tuesday 6 June 2017, I cooked myself a meal for later (Chinese Curry - all from fresh). After a hot shower and some stretching I set off on the walk to the glen. It was 8.45 pm. I was hoping to get a workout in today, I set off on the first lap intending to do four in total, but in the back of my mind I really hoped I could do five. I also wanted to extend my jogging intervals so there would be less time for recovery. The workout turned out to be my best to date. I completed 5 laps. The first four included 4 x 400 and 4 x 280 steps jogging, On the last lap I extended this to 420 and 430. Then after a short stretch I jogged 120 to the waterfall and ran (yes a lot faster than my jogging) 200 back and well past the entrance bridge. I felt really good and happy with myself as I walked home. In total I probably covered just over 4.5 miles and the laps were slightly longer as I ran around the car park and not straight across it. After cooling down and changing I walked to the local shop and back. Now I'm sitting here typing this with a Guinness at my side. I'm also please I missed the barking dog tonight, but the glen was not empty. There was one car in the car park. Three very tall men in their 20s were enjoying an evening stroll, I walked passed them a few times and said hello. They returned the compliment at first I thought they sounded Polish, but later I began to wonder if they might be Latvian or Lithuanian, as I had read a few weeks ago these two nations were on average the tallest in the world. One of the great things about jogging is your mind does wander. I then started to think about a few Lithuanian lodgers I had when I lived in Surrey. Their favourite sport was basketball and they were really proud of their national basketball team. So putting two and two together I deduced the reason why they were so good at basketball was because they were very tall. On my last lap I also passed the man from Sunday with his golden labrador. This time he had a friend walking with him and he didn't run past me as I walked home tonight.
Three days into the week and I'm pleased I have managed about 10 miles. Let's see how the rest goes.
Wednesday I had a break from exercising.
Thursday 7 June was the day of the General Election in the UK. I intended to go out today and get some miles under my belt, but time went so quick and before I knew it I would have to give it a miss as I wanted to vote. After voting I went to the pub for a few beers and watch some golf. Just after 10 pm I asked the girl behind the bar to switch over to see the exit poll. What a shock! Instead of predicting a landslide for Theresa May & her Tory Party, it was predicting a hung parliament. Most people in the pub watched with excitement as seat after seat came through, and by the time I got home Labour were ahead with a hung parliament still predicted.
I spent all night watching coverage of the election and drank too much wine. The result was a hung parliament. The Tories had won most seats, but Labour had made huge gains.
Friday was a bit of a washout from the night before and I decided it was time to recover from my alcohol excesses. I also felt "jet-lagged" and this followed through until the Saturday. So what had started off a great week, ended up as being not a great week. My total mileage was 10, so I'll have to improve on this next week.
I went to the local shop before my workout tonight as it would be later to go for a run and hopefully I would miss the dogs. I left for the glen just before 9 pm. Walked there then jogged down the 135 steps, it was drizzling very slightly. I thought that with being a bit later and the weather not being great I'd have no problem with dogs. I completed 4 laps of 1 km. They included 4 x 380, 3 x 270 and finished with a 430 steps jogging. On my first lap a passed a young girl wearing jeans and a coat, she looked a bit lost. On each of my last two I passed a man wearing headphones accompanied by a golden labrador, the dog was very well behaved. As I finished the last lap I continued and ran a bit extra over the river, up the hill and back to the footbridge leading to the exit of the glen. I passed the young girl twice again. The first time I passed her, she had just crossed the river and was turning into the centre footpath along the river, a few seconds later I passed her and she had turned around and was heading back over the river. When I stopped to stretch and rest a bit, before intending to jog to the waterfall and back, I heard a loud bark from the opposite side of the river, and you guessed the man and his golden retrievers had arrived. He must have waited for the mild drizzle to stop before coming out with the dogs. Once again the loud one of the two was running towards the footbridge over the river and I once again decided to leg it up the hill. So no break and 75 steps jogging uphill on my way out - it was as far as I could jog. I walked the rest and on exiting the glen I stopped to catch my breath and stretch. The young girl appeared withing about 30 seconds. I said hello, and asked if it was the dog that had made her decide to get out of there. She mumbled something, which I think meant yes. On the walk home I passed the young girl and was then passed by the man wearing headphones. This time he was jogging with his dog on a lead.
Looking down to the footbridge over the river from the top path.
Although my workout had been cut slightly short again, I was still pleased to get the week off to a good start. Later in the evening, whilst having a beer, I thought to myself it's good to have got a routine back where I am going out most nights to do some exercise. Its feels a bit like those many years ago in London and Surrey where I would always enjoy going running with my club or on my own and having a few beers afterwards.
Monday 5 June 2017. I decided I was going to have a break today, but by 9.30 pm I changed my mind. It was almost 10 pm when I set off walking. By the time I got to the glen it was almost dark. I managed one lap with 400 and 420 steps jogging. It was lonely and dark in the glen and it was difficult to see my the layout of the ground. I was worried about tripping over a fallen branch and with what little light was managing to filter through the trees I could see the odd bat flashing about overhead. I still jogged the 110 steps to the waterfall and 120 back. It had been raining for most of the day and the noise of the water running over the fall drowned out everything else. There was just enough light to see me up the footpath and back onto the pavement and home. It was a bit of an errie workout, but it was a workout, took about 25 minutes and another 2 miles in the bank. I was happy as I wanted to keep the miles adding up and will hopefully get up to at least 20 this week.
Tuesday 6 June 2017, I cooked myself a meal for later (Chinese Curry - all from fresh). After a hot shower and some stretching I set off on the walk to the glen. It was 8.45 pm. I was hoping to get a workout in today, I set off on the first lap intending to do four in total, but in the back of my mind I really hoped I could do five. I also wanted to extend my jogging intervals so there would be less time for recovery. The workout turned out to be my best to date. I completed 5 laps. The first four included 4 x 400 and 4 x 280 steps jogging, On the last lap I extended this to 420 and 430. Then after a short stretch I jogged 120 to the waterfall and ran (yes a lot faster than my jogging) 200 back and well past the entrance bridge. I felt really good and happy with myself as I walked home. In total I probably covered just over 4.5 miles and the laps were slightly longer as I ran around the car park and not straight across it. After cooling down and changing I walked to the local shop and back. Now I'm sitting here typing this with a Guinness at my side. I'm also please I missed the barking dog tonight, but the glen was not empty. There was one car in the car park. Three very tall men in their 20s were enjoying an evening stroll, I walked passed them a few times and said hello. They returned the compliment at first I thought they sounded Polish, but later I began to wonder if they might be Latvian or Lithuanian, as I had read a few weeks ago these two nations were on average the tallest in the world. One of the great things about jogging is your mind does wander. I then started to think about a few Lithuanian lodgers I had when I lived in Surrey. Their favourite sport was basketball and they were really proud of their national basketball team. So putting two and two together I deduced the reason why they were so good at basketball was because they were very tall. On my last lap I also passed the man from Sunday with his golden labrador. This time he had a friend walking with him and he didn't run past me as I walked home tonight.
Out of the woods towards the car park.
Three days into the week and I'm pleased I have managed about 10 miles. Let's see how the rest goes.
Wednesday I had a break from exercising.
Thursday 7 June was the day of the General Election in the UK. I intended to go out today and get some miles under my belt, but time went so quick and before I knew it I would have to give it a miss as I wanted to vote. After voting I went to the pub for a few beers and watch some golf. Just after 10 pm I asked the girl behind the bar to switch over to see the exit poll. What a shock! Instead of predicting a landslide for Theresa May & her Tory Party, it was predicting a hung parliament. Most people in the pub watched with excitement as seat after seat came through, and by the time I got home Labour were ahead with a hung parliament still predicted.
I spent all night watching coverage of the election and drank too much wine. The result was a hung parliament. The Tories had won most seats, but Labour had made huge gains.
Friday was a bit of a washout from the night before and I decided it was time to recover from my alcohol excesses. I also felt "jet-lagged" and this followed through until the Saturday. So what had started off a great week, ended up as being not a great week. My total mileage was 10, so I'll have to improve on this next week.
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