Into week2 and the toll of the last 2 days of 23miles running, have halted this mornings planned 11miles of hills.. Sleeping in compression socks to help recovery of my calf's, i didn't think about the effect it would have on what i thought was a controlled blister situation. However after waking up and finding walking even bare foot painful, Ive had to switch around the weeks training a little. The plus side is, Ive found a bonus 2hrs to post on here and catch up with email...
Now for something alittle different:
Running has been going quite well, I'm really enjoying the trails and mud at the moment. On Sunday I ran out from my girlfriends house for my weekly long one.... After a couple of miles I came across some markers that took me back to thoughts of an unfinished project of mine from a few years ago, The Leicester Round.
The Leicester round is a 100 mile waymarked circular walk around my local county of Leicestershire. Most folks split the route into day walks and tackle up to 10miles at a time, making it a project for the summer or such like.. However a few years ago, after a couple of pints in a local pub, a friend and I made it our project to not only finish the round in one hit, but to do it running and in less than 24hrs..
My first attempt came that night! But poor lighting (something required when trying to navigate country side thoughout the night) and bad preparation, well none existent preparation to be honest, resulted in us only managing 63miles before we were forced to quit though mental and phisical fatigue.
My second attempt came on the day that foot and mouth disease, was declared over and the country side was once again open to the public. Disbite being trained and well equip with food, lights and maps, i didn't factor in the slow progress the overgrown untrodden footpaths would throw at me... By the 12hr mark i was 90Min's behind shedual and mentally suffering.. On this attempt i managed a credible 76miles in 19hrs, still 24miles short of the target but no to bad considering the slow progress the 10feet nettles caused............
The Leicester Round features at some point during most of my off road runs and always throws back memory's of those 2 attempts. It is still my project and is something I shall return too. But for now I'm quite happy to just leave it alone and consentrate on exhausting my Xterra potential..................
For any of you reading this who fancy a crack at it here's a map of the route, its fully signed and as I don't think anyone yet done a sub24hr round, the record is there for the taking!
