Phoenix Running Intergalactic Friday Marathon, 25.11.2022 and Saturn Running Autumn Marathon 27.11.2022

Phoenix Running Intergalactic Friday Marathon, 25.11.2022 in 04.00.45

Found a new route to Waterloo, saving half the the time of the 26 bus! Met Sarah in the front carriage of the 07.12 from Waterloo, and walked to the start at the Wier Pub in Walton-on-thames. Lovely sunny morning!

Started off about 08.30 and ran the blue bridge route, 8 laps for a marathon. Saw Dimitri the cockeral, who seemed to do an early wake up call, another one mid morning, and then a lunch time reminder. The swans were in the swan spa, the seagulls and ducks pottering along the river, and it was a nice peaceful morning on the towpath. Lots of catch ups, and a good chat-athon with Sarah, and we finished in 04.00.45, which was our fastest time running together/chat-athoning!

Mint tea, a walk back in the sunshine, and sharing the train with loads of football fans, who seemed to think it was ok to go for a wee without shutting the toilet door.

Thanks Phoenix! And Sarah!

Saturn Running Autumn Marathon, 27.11.2022 in 03.57.12

An extra bonus chat-athon! Today in Reading, which was an interesting place to try to get to with the train strikes on and what not. Worth it though! Timed it well to avoid the rain, and it was a strange, misty, humid type of day. 

Because of all the recent rain, the route was changed to the other way to normal, along the path back towards Caversham Lock. I hadn't done this before, and it was a nice route, with the exception of the giant bridge with the wrong length steps for short people. Enjoyed watching the Sunday morning football in the park we ran through, which was more entertaining than the World Cup has been so far, especially the part where they moved the goal posts (to avoid the mud). Ran over "Halloumi Bridge" which squeaked whenever we ran over it, and through "soggy cornflakes and shredded wheat sections" (to identify the differnet sogginess of the fallen leaves). The swans were all looking smart and unruffled. The man at Caversham Boat Club was putting up Christmas lights all morning, and they looked pretty sparkling across the water, especially the seesaws.

Shrimps, pretzels, and chocolate ice creams! Thanks Saturn Runnjng for a great day! Lovely to see lots of friends. Thank you Sarah for another chat-athon, and for our first time sub-4ing together! 

Running Miles Ricky Races Marathon (17.11.22), Saturn Chasing Numbers Marathon (18.11.22) & LDWA Sundon Saunter 27 miles (20.11.22)

 The best weekend of running, a mini break, friends and family!

Thursday 17.11.22 - Running Miles Ricky Races, marathon

The rain on the walk to the station was so bad, it felt like the end of days. Jumped on the Met line with Andrew on his way to work, and met Sarah on route. The run was at the Rickmansworth Aquadrome, which is super easy to get to, and a route I love.

First lap was rainy, but we ran with Theresa, which brightened things up! 

Then the rain stopped, and it turned into quite a nice day. A nice and sociable chat-athon with Sarah, with lots to catch up on, including a couple of laps talking about cemeteries, and with some km's with James as well (northern northern-ness to my southern northern-ness).

8 rounds of the route for a marathon.

What seems to be a worldwide pink shrimp shortage, forced us to experiment with strawberry hearts, and jelly babies. Plus the usual pretzels and a half way freddo.

Lots of swans and a zillion cute dogs, and a nice cafe at the end makes for a nice place to spend the morning running. Thank you Running Miles, Rik and Beryl! 

Friday 19.11.22 - Saturn Chasing Numbers, marathon, 4:16

After an "interesting" journey, made it to Staines to meet Jon, Sarah, and Annabel. Thanks Jon for the lifts! 

 

A chilly but sunny run, from Runnymead, and 8 laps for a marathon. Soon warmed up, and it was so sunny we couldn't see. It was beautiful by the still water, with the trees mostly bare now, but filled with mistletoe balls. Saw swans, geese, ducks, cows, and dogs during chat-athon #2, and wore the new Track Wars vests. Good to share some miles with Craig, Kasia, and Andy, and catch up with lots of folk.

It was giant Flump Friday! With more pretzels, and a half way jaffa cake. Great day out by the river. Thanks Saturn Running!

Sunday 20.11.22 - LDWA The Sundon Saunter, 27 miles

Such a brilliant weekend and event! Stayed for the weekend in Tingrith, and got to see my Mum, Dad, Andrew, Auntie Nicky and cousin Sammy on a mini break, so we could all do various assortments of the routes of the Sundon Saunter, an event organised by the Beds, Bucks and Northants LDWA Group. 

I did the 27 mile route (which also had some extra LDWA "bonus miles"), and it was a beautiful route and excellent event, I thoroughly would recommend it. 

It was a clockwise loop starting and finishing in Barton-le-Clay, heading down to Chalton (CP1), over to Milton Bryan (CP2), up through Woburn Deer Park (a highlight!) to Harlington (CP3) and back to Barton-le-Clay. The views were lovely, and the sun shone. It was quite muddy underfoot, but nowhere near as bad as I expected given all the recent heavy rain, and I was happy with myself that I navigated myself around without any major mishaps after quite a break from navigating type runs!

Good to see Dave, Merriem and Andrew (BBN LDWA) during the day! Although I was running mostly on my own, I met loads of people on the way round, and it was really social, and it was good to meet and run a few miles together with Dimi - thank you! Good to see Davo, Elaine and Andy, Steve, and Ercole too. 

About 1.5 miles from the end, I caught up with my Dad, who had been walking the 18 mile route, and we walked together for a while, eating Kendal Mint Cake and catching up on the day, which was brilliant! 

Amazing spread put on at each of the checkpoints, and soup and bread and cakes at the end.

Well done to my family gang who all completed their respective challenges - super proud of you all, and I love that we all do these things together! 

Thank you BBN LDWA for a superb event!

Hemerodromoi Marathon with Saturn Running, 29.10.2022

The Hemerodromoi Marathon with Saturn Running - to celebrate Richard's 300th Marathon! Huge congratulations Richard!

A beautiful sunny and warm day (even by summer's standards, never mind for October) running down by the River Thames from Runnymead. I may be a bit sunburnt. Imagine that! There are still so many leaves on the trees, and so many are still green. But the autumn colours were looking vibrant in the sunshine. Beautiful!

Bit of an adventure to get there - a bus, a train from Waterloo to Virginia Water (picking up Sarah on the way!) and a rail replacement bus. A very posh bus it was.

We got coffee on the walk to the start, and saw the sun rise.

There is a new path at Runnymead, and the course was changed to make the most of it, so it went further west than before, and less east. I was excited to do a new bit of Thames Path, until I remembered on lap 5 that I had actually done a race on that bit before, and must also have run along it when I did the Thames Path with Andrew in 2014. But things look different in the opposite direction (is my excuse).

A great day for catching up with friends, and lots of chats on the way round. I think I managed to condense moaning about work to about 1/2 a lap (sorry, Sarah), so this left time for more interesting topics (such as Beyoncé and TikTok dances, lampshades, custard and cakes, and beginning our wish list of international marathons), which was important, as our last chat-a-thon was two weeks ago. On lap 6 we both learnt that the other one had felt secretly under prepared for today, due to variously perhaps having a bit too much rum or too much wine in the preceding night or two, and were surprised with ourselves to have made it to the end. Hurrah!

Aid station highlights today included vegan beer bottles, watermelon, the discovery of a giant bottle of pretzels hidden away, and of course, Richard's cake. 

Travel adventure in reverse on the way back, with the addition of a Waitrose picnic on the bench by the bus stop by the road waiting for the rail replacement bus (also a posh bus).

Hemerodromoi means, I think, "daily runners" from Ancient Greece, who were running messengers - taking important messages from one place to the next by covering incredible distances by running. 

Congratulations Richard! Thank you Team Saturn! Well done to everyone 😊

The Day Before George's Birthday Run Marathon with Saturn (14.10.22) and Steampunk Run 2 Marathon with Phoenix (15.10.22)

 

The Day Before George's Birthday Run, Marathon with Saturn Running, Friday 14.10.2022, 04:18

Flump Friday! Sarah and I tested out our legs after the 100 miler 4 days ago, and happily found they were still working. A lovely Friday morning running along the Thames, starting from The Thames Side Brewery in Staines. Beautiful weather, especially for October! 6 laps for a marathon, fuelled mostly by a snack of a giant flump, a pretzel, and a peach heart each lap. Seemed to do the job! Navigated our way around the many swan obstacles (swan-stacles), and saw the polar bear and the unicorn (really, we did). Flag of the day in the "Flag House" was Thailand. The skeletons on the balcony above the Slug and Lettuce now have scarves on, and are joined by a little dog skeleton. Nice cup of mint tea in the Brewery cafe afterwards. Super day, and I love the medal, which is a magnet and a bottle opener! Thank you George and Team Saturn for a great event!

 

Steampunk Run 2, Marathon with Phoenix Running, Saturday 15.10.2022, 04:45

Another run a little further up the Thames. Nice views from the #26 bus to Waterloo. Sarah and I met on the train (front carriage, of course) to Walton on Thames. Surprisingly, I suppose, given that we only caught up yesterday, there was still lots to catch up on!

Starting at the Weir Pub, it was the eastbound 5km route, so 8 laps for a marathon. Quite nippy to begin with, but soon warmed up! Nice and sunny (actually quite dazzling) until the start of the last lap, when it got a bit miserable and started raining. 

Legs were a bit more tired today, but still working, and it was another fun day. Some good Steampunk fancy dress! Today's animal facts: I learnt that rabbits and guinea pigs speak different languages (or do they? and what about accents?), and bees have two stomachs (they must be so tiny!).

Fun catching up in the pub afterwards for the Chip Buffett! Here I learnt many more animal facts, mostly dog related, including getting some idea (actually, more of a vivid idea than I might ideally have wanted) about what happens when a dog eats tights, or knickers. 

Thanks Andreas for the lift to start, Sophie for the lift to the station, Annabel for the Chip Buffett and Sarah for drinks! Thank you Rik and Team Phoenix for a fabulous day!

Vampire 100 miles, with Phoenix Running, 08.10.2022

A brilliant weekend with Phoenix Running at Denbies Wine Estate. Lots of different events going on over the weekend, including the Vampire 100 miles, which I completed with my princess twin, Sarah.

100 x 1 mile loops around the vineyard.

"How can you run the same loop 100 times?? That must be boring!" some people ask. Not at all! Had the best weekend catching up with so many people, it was such good fun. I love this event and it's festival atmosphere! Including all the random 100 mile chat, such as with Dave from Purbeck and Gloria, and a new idea for a new line of nail polish colours "Post Marathon Pedicure" which will include fetching shades called Day 1 (dark red), Days 5-7 (varying shades of purple), and Day 10 (yellow bruise). 

Plus, Denbies is beautiful, and I would be quite happy to live there, ideally in the turret of the main building, which will require me to win the lottery, and therefore require me to start buying lottery tickets. 

The loop is nice to run on, and has lots of nice different sections. We have named them as follows. Princess Avenue (moved up by two vines to usual, due to the grape harvesting happening!), puddles!, slippy stones, grass carpet walking hill, dark and hot downhill, freezing steep downhill, left turn (don't forget), Positivity Pen, and Jeremy Vine vine and the elephants.

Started at 08.00 on Saturday, and it was such a beautiful sunny day, and Sarah and I got to wear our new vests (thanks Kerry for the photos!)

Watched the sun rise over Box Hill, move over the whole sky, and set, and then the moon rise and shine brightly all night. It was a bright, clear, and freezing night.

At midnight we decided to ask what lap we were up to, and found out it was 74, so were down to our last marathon, so we celebrated with a mocktail and a wee stop.

Following our tent envy at the last Denbies event, we made more effort with our tent this time....

Thanks Tara for coming by and bringing baked delights! Thank you Max and Genevieve for being excellent pacers. 

Well done Andrew on your marathon. Loads of epically brilliant dig-deep performances at the event, and huge well done to everyone! Congratulations to Jan on your 100th marathon! 

Thank you Rik and Team Phoenix, and Karen and Mat from Timing Monkey, for a brilliant event and for looking after us wll.

We finished about 06.30 just as the sun was starting to rise.

We ran it in 22:33:12, for 100 miler #18 for Sarah, and #13 for me, and I was happy to get through #13 without anything unlucky happening 😆Thank you Sarah for my fabulous card!