laid back

Runs do not get much more laid back than today's ramble around the canal trails, blissful stuff despite (or maybe because of?) the light misting of rain.  Elsie wasn't too happy about being leashed up and made to go after all the fireworks from the surrounding area bonfire night celebrations (remember, remember the fifth of November) but once we got moving, she settled in quite well.

I decided to take a slight detour from the normal path today that took me underneath a landmark viaduct and over a very rickety footbridge spanning the rail-lines.  There was a sign before entering that cautioned it was unstable and that no more than 10 people at a time should be on it--honestly I didn't feel that safe crossing it with just Elsie's and my weight!

Oh, I almost forgot but there was almost a running wardrobe malfunction last week, put on a pair of my 3 year old Nike running capris and fortunately took a look in the mirror before heading out the door.......they have become completely see-through once on, ooooops!  They are now a wear as a bottom layer under shorts or a skirt item of clothing. I'm just glad I decided to take that glance in the mirror before subjecting the public to that much of my arse.

This is pretty much the permanent state of my Brooks :-)

Run Happy y'all

Thursday was one of those gorgeous sun-filled days that suffuses everything and everyone all bright, shiny, and glowy......at least until around 3 in the afternoon when the skies opened up and I had to make a dash to grab the washing off the line before all the drying was undone.

I'm slowly getting the nearby paths and shortcuts mapped out in my head.  After taking a "shortcut" to the main canal earlier in the week I thought that I had a loop mapped out instead of an out and back so that's what Elsie the Miniature Schnauzer Menace and I set out to explore yesterday morning.  There are a handful of road crossings--one particularly busy with no pedestrian light to stop the traffic and one section that I would definitely prefer never to run through at night but it is a very viable (and scenic) route.  We ended up with 6.7 miles and for some odd reason Elsie wasn't begging as hard to go run this morning, lol.

One thing I have noticed is that when I take Elsie and/or Ben out with me on my runs people tend to be a lot more friendly and open.  It's not that there is any rudeness when I run solo but I do tend to get more subdued good morning greetings and just a wee bit of wariness whereas when the dogs are with me nearly all the famed British reserve almost disappears. 

Today I had to force myself out the door to run and then had to cut it short because I ate entirely too late last night but at least I managed to get a handful of miles in.  It's definitely time to start thinking about meeting up with some of the local running clubs so that I can find someone to run with. 

If I only knew how many miles! 

exploring and Access ALL Areas

What a beautiful start to the day, the sun came out to warm things up slightly and cast a gorgeous glow over everything. Made it much easier to get out and run than yesterday.  The canal trails closest to my house are no longer in use (which means you don't have to worry about tripping over barge stakes) but today I took a fork on the normal path I run to cross over the rail lines and found some more canal paths along a minor waterway. This means I also found a great place to run stairs on the foot bridge over the rails whenever I become so inclined as well as being able to admire the local graffiti ;-).  

Elsie had her first introduction to swans when two swam over to us looking for bread crumbs.  She stood there wagging her stub until one hissed at her, she took a few steps back then edged closer again more tentatively then decided she might ought to stay far away after the second hiss.  I also took my first fall, was admiring the canal lock when I caught an uneven edge of concrete and down I went. No blood spilled though. Then Elsie and I kind of hit the runner's groove where you zone out and we didn't hear the cyclist coming up behind us who was being perhaps a little too polite with his bell, lol. I apologized profusely and even if he might have been cursing me in his head he didn't display it verbally.

If you get a chance go over to a friend's blog, Access ALL Areas and show her some support please. Watch the video! It's very eye-opening and displays a tiny bit of her wicked sense of humor.  I hope she does more of these.