Lockdown running - weeks 10 & 11

Week 10: included 71 miles, falling over and getting an injured knee, and a loop of the LDWA Winter Tanners 30 mile route in Surrey. All that was really worth a photo (or a few) was the Winter Tanners day, a beautiful sunny day in the countryside.

It is so beautiful there, that it's easy to loose your head over....

...as even the rubbish dumps have flowers...

...a luxury checkpoint at the top of St Martha's hill, had views, a water tap AND a bench long enough to have a socially distanced checkpoint...

...then it was on along the North Downs Way for a while....

.....and then some beautiful running on sandy paths through pine trees...

....the flowers were in fine bloom all along the route....

...and a checkpoint in the Field of Dreams had great views both up and along...

...as it was such a nice day, there was opportunity for plenty of sunny spots to have a break (really, we did do some running), and the final rest was by a babbling brook in Leatherhead, where we were joined by a small dog named Stanley...

...then it was back to the finish at Denbies, to have a picnic....

Following a graceful fall over a tree root in Victoria Park earlier in the week, 6 miles the next day, then 30 miles the day after, and 5 miles the day after that, didn't seem to do my knee much good. It swelled up and turned a fetching dark purple colour. It was kneerly a disaster, but following a week of gentle running and walking, the swelling and pain is going down. 

Week 11: involved 55.5 miles, including the Founders Challenge 30 mile route, in Surrey, with Tara and Andrew. What a difference a week makes! This week was balls, so when life gives you balls, make chocolate orange ones, as the saying goes, or something like that.

I'm not sure why, but I've felt all out of sorts the last couple of days. At the risk of sounding loopy, I feel as though I have shifted into a parallel universe. Yes. On Friday, doing my knee rehab walk, I felt suddenly a bit vague, and then when I refocused, things looked a bit different and I felt like I was somewhere else. It's probably the weather, like the atmospheric pressure has changed or some such thing. Or maybe it's the new normal. Anyway, everyone I know is also in the parallel universe, and so is Covid, so it's not that different. 

It was very good to escape away to Surrey again (which is also in the parallel universe), for the third 30 miler in three weeks. Trying to get my endurance back up. For this weeks route we did the LDWA 26 mile Founders Challenge, plus 2 miles there and back to the start at Denbies (thank you Tara for figuring out the directions and planning!). It had a lot more climbing than the other route (4200 ft) and was a tough workout - there was no way I could have done that the first week, so I guess that shows some progress!

The weather wasn't a patch compared to last week, and it rained and was grey for most of it, but at least we escaped the torrential rain and thunderstorms that happened on the way home!

Another very beautiful route, along peaceful tracks and pretty villages, taking in such LDWA landmarks as the Old Post Office at Peaslake, Blatchford Down and Tanners Hatch YHA, and plenty of other delights....

...even a Roman Temple..

...check points weren't taken in quite such a leisurely manner as last week, what with the rain and all. "It's a lovely day for ducks" I think the saying goes...

...I thought we were saved at the sight of this, but devastatingly, the route only went past it, not into...

...still, it was extra incentive to make it back to the end, at Denbies...

...and time for a picnic in the pouring rain, watched over by the cows. I was going to ask them about my knee injury, but they said they only specialise in calves.