Week 19 - Back down to Earth in more ways than one...
Last week was a massive plus. I jogged 23 miles and walked 9 miles making it my best so far in this Long Run Back to Fitness. This included six tough workouts over the last six days. My ambition this week is just to continue with my regime and continue to loose weight. I don't expect to jog as many miles as I did last week, but it would be great to get somewhere close. One annoying thing during the night is our Lithuanian neighbours, across the back, were having a party in the garden all night. The music was loud and one girl must have been so drunk, she never stopped talking all night and you could hear her above the music. The music stopped at 10 am this morning.
Sunday 13 August 2017. As it says in The Book of Genesis "On the seventh day He rested.". Well I have decided that also applies to me. The tough work I have put in over the last six days should be an investment and something to call on later. So I chose to just go for a walk today. It was beautiful all day. I set of at 7.30 pm armed with my camera, camcorder and a black bin bag. It's been a while since I have just walked around The Glen collecting litter.
As usual I said hello to the horse as I walked towards The Glen. It's only a 700 yard walk there and I passed so much litter on the way. I sometimes think I should pick it up, but if I did my bin bag would fill up too quickly, so I decide not to. I did pick up some litter just before I entered The Glen and then a long bare branch to help me reach litter I would otherwise not. I was determined to clean the area around the waterfall first as there were empty bottles and crisp packets there that had been annoying me all week. I then walked along the river path, sometimes going down and across the river to collect anything I could easily reach - the stick I was carrying came in really useful. By the time I reached the car park my bin bag was over half full. I went around the area and then decided to empty most of my bag in the litter bin before continuing. As you can see from the photo below, the car park was empty and looked clean by the time I had finished.
Sunday 13 August 2017. As it says in The Book of Genesis "On the seventh day He rested.". Well I have decided that also applies to me. The tough work I have put in over the last six days should be an investment and something to call on later. So I chose to just go for a walk today. It was beautiful all day. I set of at 7.30 pm armed with my camera, camcorder and a black bin bag. It's been a while since I have just walked around The Glen collecting litter.
As usual I said hello to the horse as I walked towards The Glen. It's only a 700 yard walk there and I passed so much litter on the way. I sometimes think I should pick it up, but if I did my bin bag would fill up too quickly, so I decide not to. I did pick up some litter just before I entered The Glen and then a long bare branch to help me reach litter I would otherwise not. I was determined to clean the area around the waterfall first as there were empty bottles and crisp packets there that had been annoying me all week. I then walked along the river path, sometimes going down and across the river to collect anything I could easily reach - the stick I was carrying came in really useful. By the time I reached the car park my bin bag was over half full. I went around the area and then decided to empty most of my bag in the litter bin before continuing. As you can see from the photo below, the car park was empty and looked clean by the time I had finished.
Clean, empty car park at The Glen.
With an almost empty bin bag I set off along the two upper footpaths. My long stick was continuing to prove really useful. As I walked from the old reservoir towards the sluice footbridge there was a dead raven on the footpath. I didn't take a photo, but I did move it to the undergrowth. By the time I had walked around both of the upper paths my bin bag was half full again. I put it next to the litter bin to take a photo before I squeezed it into the bin.
My half full bin bag next to the litter bin with the footbridge over the river, from the car park behind.
As I went to walk away from the car park something caught sight from the corner of my eye. It was something I hadn't noticed before, when I had pick up the litter in the area. It was in the far corner, which I thought was clean. When I got to it, I was a bit annoyed. There were a few areas with a concentration of cigarette butts, all the same, and obvious the same lazy person couldn't be bothered to walk the few yards to the litter bin, but just empty their car ash-tray on the ground. I decided just lo leave them.
Cigarette buts on the ground in the car par.
I walked back along the river path and out of The Glen. As I walked I could see a few pieces of extra litter I had missed, but overall it looked very clean. The thing I have learned, over the weeks, is if you walk one way along a path you'll see most of the litter, but if you then walk the other way along the same path, you'll notice extra. My legs and my body were also beginning to feel tired as I exited The Glen. I was feeling glad I had decided not to do any jogging today. By the time I got home I had been out for over an hour and a half. The light was starting to drop and the sky was a wonderful red. I had walked at least 3 miles and what a satisfying walk it had been. The Glen was surprisingly empty tonight. The only people I passed were two very young teenage girls and as I climbed to exit The Glen I could hear the voices of a few teenagers coming from the area of the waterfall.
I sometimes think, why do I bother to collect litter to try and clean up The Glen when others don't? However, I enjoy walking and jogging there and I enjoy it much more when the place is clean and looks more beautiful. So I really do this for myself and if it adds to others' enjoyment, then that's a bonus.
I really hope I can get a good night's sleep and tomorrow wish I feel rested enough to get back to putting a few more jogging miles in the bank.
Monday 14 August 2017. I spent all afternoon cooking a huge bolognaise for relatives arriving from England later. By 7.50 pm I had showered and stretched and was on my way walking to The Glen. It had been raining all day, but luckily it had stopped just before I went out. I jogged down into The Glen, over the river and set off on my laps along the top path. The cattle were close to the fence but I just ignored them. On the second lap I jogged up to the turn onto the top path, but due to the bull being too close I turned around to run along the river path. I don't know why, but I usually feel tiredest on the first lap and then seem to settle into a rhythm. By the time I started the third lap the cattle had moved away and I was back onto the upper path. The same for the fourth lap. I decided that four would be enough and then stayed straight on towards the waterfall. However, with it being quite dark and with a loss of concentration I tripped and fell flat on my face. It was a heavy fall and I cut my hands, arms and legs on the gravelly path. I picked myself up and jogged the last 60 or so yards to the waterfall. I rubbed myself down as best as I could and washed my hands in the river, then stretched and rested a short while.
Because of the fall, I decided not to do anymore laps. But I did want to take my jogging for the evening up to 5 km. I just jogged slowly along the long flat footpath past the exit bridge, almost as far as the sluice footbridge, then back over the exit bridge and all the way uphill out of The Glen and as far as the road junction. I felt good so I kept going along the road home for an extra 250 yards and stopped at the gate to the sewage works. I didn't hang about and walked straight home.
The Glen was completely empty tonight, probably because it had been raining all day. Rain was still dripping down from the leaves on the trees and the river was in good flow. The heavy cloud coverage meant there was very little light and each time I looked, from the highest path, into the light in the fields it took me a few seconds to readjust my eyes on looking back to the path.
As I arrived home my older brother was just leaving. He asked me if I had fallen. It made me realise there was a lot more dirt on my arms and legs than I had first thought. I headed straight for the shower. I saw later that one cut on my left hand did have a small stone embedded in it and when I removed it the cut continued to bleed. After half an hour I gave up trying to stop the bleeding and patched it up with a plaster.
Overall I was glad there seemed to be no lasting effects from my fall. I had managed 4.3 km and 1 km intervals (total 5.3 km or 3.3 miles) jogging and 1.2 km walking. Grand total of about 4 miles.
My relatives arrived very late, there were five of them, and were fed with huge amounts of pasta, bolognaise, chips, garlic bread and Irish bread.
Tuesday 15 August 2017. Today was just another day of walking, taking videos and collecting some pieces of litter. Sometimes the odd piece of litter was just out of arms reach so I would have to use my imagination to reach it.
I took many more videos today, including the one I posted above about falling over the previous night. It was a pleasant walk today and The Glen was very busy. Apart from the young lady jogging there was also her husband and kids walking. Her daughter and so joined her on her last lap, but the young boy fell over and started crying, the young girl was a little older and managed to keep up. There was also a teenage boy jogging and a few others walking.
I walked to the local shop on the way home and was out for almost two hours in total. Overall I probably walked around 4 miles. Tomorrow I hope to get back to jogging again.
Wednesday 16 August 2017. It's bingo night for my mother again and I needed to get out early for a jog before taking her to the bingo.
I showered, stretched and set off walking to The Glen at 6.30 pm. Because I only walked on Sunday and Tuesday, I felt good and was looking to get a good workout in. I started my first lap on the upper path and felt better on the climb than I ever had. On going along the top of the path I glanced to look down at the river. The next thing I felt was agonising pain and had crashed face down onto the ground. I rolled about for two minutes in pain and knew too well I had sprained my ankle. It took a while to pick myself up and as I looked around I saw a stone, about the size of a golf ball, in the middle of the path. My left foot must have landed on it and twisted. I was only about 500 m into my jogging and I knew this would be the end of it for a while. My initial reaction was, I'm 19 weeks into my Long Run Back to Fitness, I've survived the first 18 weeks without a mishap, but in the last three days I've fallen twice.
I did start jogging again and finished the lap. I jogged up out of The Glen and half way along the road home. So all was not lost as I had managed to jog a mile and walk over half a mile. I was covered in dirt, there were small stones embedded in my right hand, my right leg and my right elbow. I had a shower and put a pack of frozen peas against my ankle, which now was swollen by the size of a tennis ball. I managed to take my mother to the bingo, but I was in a lot of pain.
I sat up late catching up on TV programmes on iPlayer and noticed through the window there was a really pleasant crescent moon in the sky tonight. As usual I grabbed my camcorder and took a video.
Thursday 17 August 2017. My parents, my sister and her husband headed off to Newcastle for a two day break at The Slieve Donard Hotel. I rested, put the frozen peas back on my ankle and rubbed some Ibuprofen into it. I was thinking that when I way younger and fitter I often sprained an ankle and it healed up within a couple of weeks. I once sprained my ankle on a Thursday night, but still ran a 5 mile race a week later and won. However, now I'm older and not as fit it may take a little while longer.
In the afternoon I took the bus to Armagh. I walked around the city very slowly. I was walking for over half an hour and probably shouldn't have been. On the way home I took a video of the old mill and railway viaduct at Tassagh and a few others as the bus passed through Tassagh. As you can see from the video the bus drivers around here don't drive slowly and the roads are very narrow. It does say fasten your seat belts, but not many tend to take the advice.
Friday 18 August 2017. The swelling on my ankle has come down a bit, but it's now red, purple, blue and black. I thought it was worth a photo.
Later that evening I decided to get out and walked gingerly to my brother's pub. I had a good evening and a few pints of the black stuff.
Saturday 19 August 2017. I cooked Chicken Rajella The chicken had been marinating for 48 hours. I also remembered it was one of my brothers 50th birthday. I called my youngest daughter to find out how she was enjoying her holiday in Amsterdam, but she had just moved on to Berlin. Some of my relatives, who had come over from England on holiday, arrived later and had some curry. My youngest brother also turned up for some and my mother had some. It was too hot for my father.
As you may have already guessed, walking and jogging is off the menu at present, but I suppose the week hasn't been a total washout. Overall, I managed to walk 11 miles and jog 4.3 miles. After the great result last week I have suddenly crashed back down to earth in more ways than one.
I'll leave you with another short video I took this week. I was a lot happier about my jogging when I recorded it than I am now. The first half shows the area of the footpath where I sprained my ankle - not something I had intended to use this video for, but I might as well.
Let's see what the week ahead brings and how quickly my ankle decides to heal itself.
This short video shows just a small area of The Glen.
I really hope I can get a good night's sleep and tomorrow wish I feel rested enough to get back to putting a few more jogging miles in the bank.
Monday 14 August 2017. I spent all afternoon cooking a huge bolognaise for relatives arriving from England later. By 7.50 pm I had showered and stretched and was on my way walking to The Glen. It had been raining all day, but luckily it had stopped just before I went out. I jogged down into The Glen, over the river and set off on my laps along the top path. The cattle were close to the fence but I just ignored them. On the second lap I jogged up to the turn onto the top path, but due to the bull being too close I turned around to run along the river path. I don't know why, but I usually feel tiredest on the first lap and then seem to settle into a rhythm. By the time I started the third lap the cattle had moved away and I was back onto the upper path. The same for the fourth lap. I decided that four would be enough and then stayed straight on towards the waterfall. However, with it being quite dark and with a loss of concentration I tripped and fell flat on my face. It was a heavy fall and I cut my hands, arms and legs on the gravelly path. I picked myself up and jogged the last 60 or so yards to the waterfall. I rubbed myself down as best as I could and washed my hands in the river, then stretched and rested a short while.
Video taken a day later of where I tripped and fell.
Because of the fall, I decided not to do anymore laps. But I did want to take my jogging for the evening up to 5 km. I just jogged slowly along the long flat footpath past the exit bridge, almost as far as the sluice footbridge, then back over the exit bridge and all the way uphill out of The Glen and as far as the road junction. I felt good so I kept going along the road home for an extra 250 yards and stopped at the gate to the sewage works. I didn't hang about and walked straight home.
The Glen was completely empty tonight, probably because it had been raining all day. Rain was still dripping down from the leaves on the trees and the river was in good flow. The heavy cloud coverage meant there was very little light and each time I looked, from the highest path, into the light in the fields it took me a few seconds to readjust my eyes on looking back to the path.
As I arrived home my older brother was just leaving. He asked me if I had fallen. It made me realise there was a lot more dirt on my arms and legs than I had first thought. I headed straight for the shower. I saw later that one cut on my left hand did have a small stone embedded in it and when I removed it the cut continued to bleed. After half an hour I gave up trying to stop the bleeding and patched it up with a plaster.
Overall I was glad there seemed to be no lasting effects from my fall. I had managed 4.3 km and 1 km intervals (total 5.3 km or 3.3 miles) jogging and 1.2 km walking. Grand total of about 4 miles.
My relatives arrived very late, there were five of them, and were fed with huge amounts of pasta, bolognaise, chips, garlic bread and Irish bread.
Tuesday 15 August 2017. Today was just another day of walking, taking videos and collecting some pieces of litter. Sometimes the odd piece of litter was just out of arms reach so I would have to use my imagination to reach it.
Using a big stick to reach a piece of litter.
When I walked along the highest path it had been blocked by a number of dead branches piled on top of each other. I was pleased I hadn't come across this when I was running or I would have had to stop and clear it to get past. Anyway, I did clear it and just in time for a young lady who came jogging past me.
The blocked footpath in The Glen.
When I reached the car park I took a video of some old lorry tyres that had been dumped in there about a week ago. They lay in the car park for a few days before someone decided to roll them into the river. It such a shame some people can't be bothered to dispose of their waste properly and instead fly-tip in scenic areas such as this. From the video below, you can also see that one of the tyres had been rolled upstream and dumped in the river.
Lorry tyres dumped in the river.
As I continued to walk about I noticed many different types of fungi and took some videos of them, which I complied into one. If you are a fan of fungi I hope you enjoy it.
A selection of Fungi in an Irish Glen.
I walked to the local shop on the way home and was out for almost two hours in total. Overall I probably walked around 4 miles. Tomorrow I hope to get back to jogging again.
Wednesday 16 August 2017. It's bingo night for my mother again and I needed to get out early for a jog before taking her to the bingo.
I showered, stretched and set off walking to The Glen at 6.30 pm. Because I only walked on Sunday and Tuesday, I felt good and was looking to get a good workout in. I started my first lap on the upper path and felt better on the climb than I ever had. On going along the top of the path I glanced to look down at the river. The next thing I felt was agonising pain and had crashed face down onto the ground. I rolled about for two minutes in pain and knew too well I had sprained my ankle. It took a while to pick myself up and as I looked around I saw a stone, about the size of a golf ball, in the middle of the path. My left foot must have landed on it and twisted. I was only about 500 m into my jogging and I knew this would be the end of it for a while. My initial reaction was, I'm 19 weeks into my Long Run Back to Fitness, I've survived the first 18 weeks without a mishap, but in the last three days I've fallen twice.
I did start jogging again and finished the lap. I jogged up out of The Glen and half way along the road home. So all was not lost as I had managed to jog a mile and walk over half a mile. I was covered in dirt, there were small stones embedded in my right hand, my right leg and my right elbow. I had a shower and put a pack of frozen peas against my ankle, which now was swollen by the size of a tennis ball. I managed to take my mother to the bingo, but I was in a lot of pain.
I sat up late catching up on TV programmes on iPlayer and noticed through the window there was a really pleasant crescent moon in the sky tonight. As usual I grabbed my camcorder and took a video.
Crescent Moon over Ireland, early hours of 17 August 2017.
Thursday 17 August 2017. My parents, my sister and her husband headed off to Newcastle for a two day break at The Slieve Donard Hotel. I rested, put the frozen peas back on my ankle and rubbed some Ibuprofen into it. I was thinking that when I way younger and fitter I often sprained an ankle and it healed up within a couple of weeks. I once sprained my ankle on a Thursday night, but still ran a 5 mile race a week later and won. However, now I'm older and not as fit it may take a little while longer.
In the afternoon I took the bus to Armagh. I walked around the city very slowly. I was walking for over half an hour and probably shouldn't have been. On the way home I took a video of the old mill and railway viaduct at Tassagh and a few others as the bus passed through Tassagh. As you can see from the video the bus drivers around here don't drive slowly and the roads are very narrow. It does say fasten your seat belts, but not many tend to take the advice.
On the 69 bus through Tassagh.
Friday 18 August 2017. The swelling on my ankle has come down a bit, but it's now red, purple, blue and black. I thought it was worth a photo.
Apologies, as this is not that pretty.
Later that evening I decided to get out and walked gingerly to my brother's pub. I had a good evening and a few pints of the black stuff.
Saturday 19 August 2017. I cooked Chicken Rajella The chicken had been marinating for 48 hours. I also remembered it was one of my brothers 50th birthday. I called my youngest daughter to find out how she was enjoying her holiday in Amsterdam, but she had just moved on to Berlin. Some of my relatives, who had come over from England on holiday, arrived later and had some curry. My youngest brother also turned up for some and my mother had some. It was too hot for my father.
As you may have already guessed, walking and jogging is off the menu at present, but I suppose the week hasn't been a total washout. Overall, I managed to walk 11 miles and jog 4.3 miles. After the great result last week I have suddenly crashed back down to earth in more ways than one.
I'll leave you with another short video I took this week. I was a lot happier about my jogging when I recorded it than I am now. The first half shows the area of the footpath where I sprained my ankle - not something I had intended to use this video for, but I might as well.
The highest point in The Glen and descending.
Let's see what the week ahead brings and how quickly my ankle decides to heal itself.
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