zondag 31 juli 2011

Month total 1312

if in June I was 9 hours and 10 minutes behind schedule that means I'm now down to... 3 hours and 58 minutes! That's just under 48 minutes a month extra needed now.

Triple run

44 min
Start: various times throughout the day.

3 short circuits with the dogs doing futile hunting stuff in and out of the trees and ditches.

vrijdag 29 juli 2011

Week total 255

month total so far 1268

Loose Woman

30 min
Start 8.00
Forgot to tie my hair back properly before going out the door and the loose pleat I'd put it in had shaken out by the time I got to the beach. No problem when running against the wind on the beach but coming back along the dijk it was a bit of a hassle dealing with 2 dogs-on-lead and having to regularly stop to deal with an excess of flying hair. Not the most relaxing run ever.

donderdag 28 juli 2011

Greenhouses-on-Sea

30 min
Start 7.30
After the usual chase around the sand we left the beach by the next exit and ran back along the dijk.



Only I went along a footpath instead of taking the cyclepath and half way along it was blocked by a locked gate so I had to push Sil through the fence and lift Minnie over it.

woensdag 27 juli 2011

Morning Beach Run

36 min
Start 7.30
Sil and Minnie exhausted themselves tearing about the beach whilst I went at a pace more suitable to the programme on mYpod, which today was mostly a discussion on the Victorian novel.

dinsdag 26 juli 2011

Circles in the Sand

34 min
Start 13.00





Sil arrived at lunchtime and I took both dogs for a run on the beach. Minnie raced in huge full speed circles with Sil trying to catch her on the inside lane. I plodded along the shoreline at a much more sedate pace...

Glimpse of Wet Beach

39 min
Start 6.30
Ran the 10 minutes to the beach with Minnie. She showed off a lot doing full speed greyhound back and forth sprinting along the dijk. I put her on the lead for the last bit of road as there were lots of rabbits about. When we got to the start of beach there was a faint spray of rain starting and the dog started her 'I'm a very skinny animal and just don't dO well in the wet stuff' whining so we turned back without actually reaching the sea. Gave Minnie her breakfast then went out for a run about the streets by myself.

zondag 24 juli 2011

Distance Dog

60 min
Start 20.45
After another day of rain spent almost wholly inside apart from 2 very brief toilet outings Minnie was ready for a decent run by the time it was finally dry in the evening. We had a warm up circuit inside the gates first and then I put her harnass and lead on to run out to the roundabout and back with her. Last final faster circuit on my own (10:28)

zaterdag 23 juli 2011

Between Showers

26 min
Start morning and afternoon short runs
Greyhounds are generally afraid they´ll melt in the rain and try to get home by the quickest route possible if there´s even a threat of a drop of moisture falling on their skinny bodies so both runs were full of stops to encourage Minnie to keep up with me. She stopped at every junction and looked at me running on as if to say ´Hey, if we take this path we´ll be home much more quickly.´ They´re obviously more sprinters than distance runners... If I hadn´t had her protests to contend with I might have gone for a longer run but there´s no joy in dragging a reluctant running buddy along.

vrijdag 22 juli 2011

Week total 276

Could have maybe got in an extra run once or twice if I'd tried but still not a bad week total.

High Speed (the Dog then) Run

58 min
Start - various times
3 separate runs spread throughout the day with Minnie the greyhound. Last one was my attempt at speed but I didn't feel too fast at the start and right enough my time was 11:03, 55 seconds slower than my record so far.

woensdag 20 juli 2011

Benschop Circuit

74min
Start 21.00



First a warm-up circuit inside the gates and then out to the village.

maandag 18 juli 2011

Brambles and a Bloody Nose

48 min
Start 21.00
Joep and I did a few meandering loops around the various routes here inside the gates, including stops to pick ripe brambles and a climb up onto the top of the bunkers. After this off-road detour I was back on the main path and Joep was still sniffing about in the grassy bit. Suddenly I heard a yelp and he´d smacked into the fence beside me, having not seen that I´d come out of the gateway further up. You know I´d swear I heard him say ´Yikes!´ just like Scooby Doo always did when something scary and unexpected happened... Funny thing is, a few minutes later, in episode 85 of the RunRunLive podcast, I heard Chris use the word ´yikes´ too. As it´s not a word I´ve ever heard either of them use before I can only assume that they formed some strange psychic bond when they met last month which caused this cosmic co-incidence to occur.
Anyway, good steady run, ending with some faster bits inspired by the live music from the T in the Park edition of Scotland Introducing.

zondag 17 juli 2011

Mud and Memorials

96 min
Start 5.30


Another of the not quite instant reaction to alarm mornings but it was fairly grey anyway so I don't think I missed any spectacular pre-sunrise light. Went out further along the west side of Benschop until I found another path through the fields which took me home via the path behind the windturbines. Got fairly wet feet going through the waterlogged fields - that's why I decided to do the road bit first so that I would only have wet shoes on the way home rather than for most of the run. Passed a memorial to the handful of young men of the village who were killed in action or by firing squad in February 1945.

zaterdag 16 juli 2011

Week Total 327

Another good week - would have been more if ridiculous amounts of rain hadn't cancelled a few runs. I mean, I don't mind a bit of rain but when the rain is falling in newsworthy quantities (the village I was looking after a lodgerdog in for a few days was on tv when a police car got stuck in a tunnel that was flooded - the water was window height...) it isn't really sensible to go out and run about in it.

vrijdag 15 juli 2011

Swanning About

61 min
Start 21.00


Out to the farmer´s campsite-with-lookout tower I discovered on Sunday. Back via the main road to Benschop.

donderdag 14 juli 2011

Cat Rescue Run

29 min
Start 20.45

Despite the driving wind and rain I really felt like getting out for a proper run this evening after yesterday´s 2 short outings with Sam. 15 minutes out to the next roundabout with the wind pushing me back. Decided that it was enough to be going on with and turned back. Once back inside the gate I heard a cat meeowing from the shed there. A very pathetic insistent articulate MEE-OW that was impossible to ignore. I found it came from a half grown (10 weeks?) black kitten. I picked it up and it started purring. Anyway it didn't seem to be injured in any way and it had already found a dry place to stay and I thought its mother might be around somewhere so I put it down and went to run the last 100 yards home. It ran after me, meeowing ridiculously loudly for such a small creature. It was raining. I picked it up, went back outside the gate and round to the nearest neighbours to ask if it was maybe theirs. Nope. It's very likely been dumped by someone who's going on holiday... this apparantly happens not infrequently here.
I took it home and looked around in the kitchen for something for it to eat. I'm not a cat person and am more used to canine catering. I gave it an egg in a bowl which it seemed to find acceptable. I'll see about getting it to the nearest cat sanctuary tomorrow. It's a healthy young well-fed and sociable kitten, I'm sure it'll be rehomed quickly.
(Next day - rescue centre welcomed it and put it in a cat heaven sort of place with various friends of the same age. It'll be seen by a vet and put up for adoption after 3 weeks if no-one claims it. They seem confident that such a young sociable cat will soon find a new home.)

woensdag 13 juli 2011

Afternoon Run

24 min
Start 13.00
Sam and I went out for an almost dry continuation of this morning's outing.

Soggy Sam

18 min
Start 7.45
This week's lodgerdog seemed to enjoy his first go at canicrossing. He trotted along beside me, only occasionally getting in a tangle when he stopped to sniff something without warning. I think he enjoyed our faster than normal pace. Might get out with him for a bit longer later today but the drizzly rain was getting heavier and we both wanted to get home for our breakfast. Actually meant to get out last night but it was torrential all evening and just didn't seem sensible to go out in it. My iPod would have died on me and Sam wouldn't have got to the end of the street before dragging me home.

maandag 11 juli 2011

Towering above the morning mist

88 min
Start 4.45
Benschop circuit with an added bit via a newly discovered campsite with a lookout tower.






zaterdag 9 juli 2011

Delayed Dawn

107 min
Start 5.00






Alarm went off earlier but I didn´t get out immediately and the sky was already morning coloured by the time I got myself out the door. However I was just in time for most of the best light so glad I made the effort after all and didn´t miss the whole show.