I've been a bit quiet on the blogging front lately, and that is because in addition to an exciting increase in my usual work I have been commandeered to write for another running blog on the fantastic Ransacker website. I have written about this site before as it is a great way to bag a bargain on running shoes, but it has recently been expanded to include blogs, training plans and other articles of interest to runners. I am contributing to their blogs under the names Mrs Motivator and Plodder's Diary, as well as posts in my name for running gear reviews. It's cool to be part of a larger site and one that has lots to offer for all kinds of runner. It even has a whole section for those who prefer to play with balls while they run - I think it's called football.........
So please check it out! www.ransacker.co.uk
Friday, 27 February 2009
Sunday, 22 February 2009
Barnstaple to Instow
12 miles of the Tarka trail today, with a friend from the local running club. Last summer when I had just moved to North Devon I did the majority of my training on this trail, either taking the route westwards to Bideford or on the other side of the river to the villages of Braunton and Saunton, but today I found this route strangely difficult. It wasn't the distance or the wind this time, so much as the hardness of the ground along the trail. After the tenth mile the concrete seemed to be hitting me through my shoes, not the other way around, and my feet and knees took a battering. I am aware that I probably need new shoes but as I'm running low (pun intended) on cash I haven't got around to replacing them yet, and today's session seemed to hammer the need home. We've resolved next time to find some softer ground around the coast, maybe going onto the sandy beach for part of the way to give our soles a rest, but in the meantime I think I am going to have to be careful with my choice of runs for the rest of the week. I guess the dog poo park doesn't seem such a bad idea now....
Sunday, 15 February 2009
Thoughtless Dog Owners
It is sometimes hard not to use blogging as an excuse just to have a rant at anything that has gotten up my nose. So far I have mostly refrained, but this week I am giving in to the temptation to moan after two events have ruined my training runs this week.
Both are because of people with dogs being inconsiderate. I am not a dog-hater, by any means, in fact I long to have my own house rather than renting so that my husband and I could get a puppy, and I always feel pangs of jealousy when I see a runner with a dog keeping them company in their training. But really the annoyances have occured because of their owners being selfish, not the dogs themselves.
The first was the obvious, stepping in dog doo on a run and having the smell follow me home despite me best efforts at wiping it off. This was in a park where there are signs asking owners to pick up after their dog and there are bins provided, and I had already been skipping around several simillar piles. I think that was what annoyed me rather than the actual stepping in it- the blatant display of multiple dog owners not giving a s**t!
The second event was when I was running in another public park when there were several people out walking their dogs. A man was coming towards me with two medium-sized dogs and one of them leaped at me, growling and baring its teeth. I sort of kicked it away, my heart pounding furiously because it had startled me and because it's more than a little frightening to be jumped on by a strange dog, and the owner stood there about a metre in front of me, doing nothing except giving me a look as menacing as his dog. He didn't apologise or even acknowledge that his dog had scared me and intruded on my personal space. GRRRR! It made me so mad, I fumed all the way home. What right did he have to just let his dog set upon me? If I had been a child I could have developed a fear of dogs for life. In fact for the rest of the week I have felt cautious about running past dogs, not knowing what they'll be like. It wouldn't have taken much for the man to just acknowledge his dog's action, or at least be more friendly rather than rude. Runners shouldn't have to put up with that - we have just as much right to be there (and to be undisturbed) as dog walkers, and people who choose to have dogs should take responsibility for how their pet behaves in public places.
Rant over.
Both are because of people with dogs being inconsiderate. I am not a dog-hater, by any means, in fact I long to have my own house rather than renting so that my husband and I could get a puppy, and I always feel pangs of jealousy when I see a runner with a dog keeping them company in their training. But really the annoyances have occured because of their owners being selfish, not the dogs themselves.
The first was the obvious, stepping in dog doo on a run and having the smell follow me home despite me best efforts at wiping it off. This was in a park where there are signs asking owners to pick up after their dog and there are bins provided, and I had already been skipping around several simillar piles. I think that was what annoyed me rather than the actual stepping in it- the blatant display of multiple dog owners not giving a s**t!
The second event was when I was running in another public park when there were several people out walking their dogs. A man was coming towards me with two medium-sized dogs and one of them leaped at me, growling and baring its teeth. I sort of kicked it away, my heart pounding furiously because it had startled me and because it's more than a little frightening to be jumped on by a strange dog, and the owner stood there about a metre in front of me, doing nothing except giving me a look as menacing as his dog. He didn't apologise or even acknowledge that his dog had scared me and intruded on my personal space. GRRRR! It made me so mad, I fumed all the way home. What right did he have to just let his dog set upon me? If I had been a child I could have developed a fear of dogs for life. In fact for the rest of the week I have felt cautious about running past dogs, not knowing what they'll be like. It wouldn't have taken much for the man to just acknowledge his dog's action, or at least be more friendly rather than rude. Runners shouldn't have to put up with that - we have just as much right to be there (and to be undisturbed) as dog walkers, and people who choose to have dogs should take responsibility for how their pet behaves in public places.
Rant over.
Tuesday, 3 February 2009
Weather to run?
The single thing that has had the biggest impact on my running over the last few months has been the weather. Today when I was thinking about my run, amidst all the fuss about snow bringing the UK to a standstill, I couldn't help wanting to write about the snow and ice. But then I looked back at some of my old posts and see that I have already talked about running when it's too slippery, running in the rain, mud and wind. Nevermind becoming a running bore- I'm now a dull weather whitterer too!
I'm sure I didn't used to find my running affected by such extremes of meteorology, but I am not sure if it is because I now live in the countryside, rather than the city where conditions are muted by street lights and warming traffic, or because the weather has been so extreme for everyone this year, or even if it is because I have become more of a wimp. This last one is quite a possibility, as I am finding it much harder to get motivated in my training for my second marathon and could be subconciously using the bad weather as an excuse. I wonder if our country's reaction to the recent conditions is partly due to a collective increase in cowardlyness? We are so used to being comfortable it seems like too much of an inconvenience to got out in the cold and wet.
An elderly lady on the news this evening was moaning about schools being shut this week as "children should learn that you go out and face the day", instead of crying off when it's too nasty outside. She definitely has a point; In other countries children traverse dangerous ravines and avalanches to get to school, and even in this country a good portion of people grew up having to walk miles to school on their own, wearing woollen shorts regardless of the climate. And there are runners who are used to persevering in harsher situations too, in countries from truly chilly Scandinavia to the scorching sub-saharan. I really have nothing to complain about! Time to get running again.
I'm sure I didn't used to find my running affected by such extremes of meteorology, but I am not sure if it is because I now live in the countryside, rather than the city where conditions are muted by street lights and warming traffic, or because the weather has been so extreme for everyone this year, or even if it is because I have become more of a wimp. This last one is quite a possibility, as I am finding it much harder to get motivated in my training for my second marathon and could be subconciously using the bad weather as an excuse. I wonder if our country's reaction to the recent conditions is partly due to a collective increase in cowardlyness? We are so used to being comfortable it seems like too much of an inconvenience to got out in the cold and wet.
An elderly lady on the news this evening was moaning about schools being shut this week as "children should learn that you go out and face the day", instead of crying off when it's too nasty outside. She definitely has a point; In other countries children traverse dangerous ravines and avalanches to get to school, and even in this country a good portion of people grew up having to walk miles to school on their own, wearing woollen shorts regardless of the climate. And there are runners who are used to persevering in harsher situations too, in countries from truly chilly Scandinavia to the scorching sub-saharan. I really have nothing to complain about! Time to get running again.
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