Autumn

I have been wearing gloves on my commute to work, and I have lit the fire! I think it is officially autumn. I suppose whether it technically is depends on whether you go by the start of September or the autumn equinox. I'm not quite sure if one of these is more correct than the other. But in my world, we don't need to wait until the 21st anymore. It had been smelling a bit like autumn for a few days, and you can see the starts of leaves turning. But I think the fire and the gloves make it official. 

In a way, the coming of autumn is sad. Summer is the most relaxed time of the year. And this year, I have done all sorts of things with it, but not my usual going out with my tent. It only came out for Jitske! But I went to see my sister, and I had a record number of visitors this year. And I had a great time running. So it was a good summer after all.

Now we'll get to the new academic year. But also: snug evenings by the fire. And a commute that might be cold and wet and windy, but also will have amazing autumn colours. I'll try to make the most of it!

Coring recce in the field

I had been thinking about where to core during our upcoming field trip. I had decided on two locations where the School had cored before; either during earlier episodes of the same fieldwork, or with a master’s student. So I had coordinates ready. Then what I would need was a GPS to navigate to these locations. But Martin told me that the parallel activity on the same day also needed the GPS. And he suggested we might just mark my intended core locations with simple wooden stakes before the field trip. That sounded like a good idea!

He was going to try to combine it with getting the keys to the gate of the woodland we have to get through to get to the estuary, and the keys to our headquarters. He picked me up in the morning in his Landrover, and we first drove to the main gate, without an appointment. But it was manned, and the lady was happy to give him these keys. Success! We then drove, again without appointment, to our headquarters for the week. There it turned out the lady who had a key for him would be there in some 10 minutes. Which suited me fine; I had coffee in my bag, and cake for 2. So we just had a snack break.

With all keys sorted we drove to the gate. This was actually open, but guarded by a man who did not want to say what his business was. Martin knew anyway; there was filming going on. But we were there with permission so we could proceed. And Martin managed to drive his Landie all the way to where I hoped he would be able to park up. It's only a path, but his car can do it! 

The GPS made fairly light work of finding the first location. I had also brought a gauge and an auger to check whether there was indeed anything going on in the subsurface. And there was! So Martin hammered in the stake, and that was one location done. I made sure to take pictures so I would be able to navigate back to it without technological help.

Martin surveying in our stake

The second location was even easier. This was going well! And soon we could carry the GPS, gauge and auger back to the car. We were back at the office before lunchtime. Not bad!

Martin deciding to hammer the stake in with a gauge rather than the mallet

We have quite streamlined the coring day by taking the navigation out of it. That will be good, because we will have a lot of students in the field, and that might mean things take more time than usual. But this way I think we will be fine on the day!

Back in Welsh class

Normally, I am in Welsh class during term time. Last year was an exception. I had registered, but when classes actually started, it became clear that this was not suitable to me. There are some classes where you just follow a certain curriculum, and then you know what to expect. I tend to go to the category of classes that are about "polishing" your Welsh. It is quite up to the tutor how that is given shape. And generally, that works out, but this time, it just didn't. I left.

In spring I realised I should be registering for a class in the new academic year. And then I forgot again! You know how that goes. You think about it, but never quite when you are in the position of acting upon it. So we reached summer and I wasn't registered. And then I did something about it. But by then, quite a lot of classes were fully booked, and I had to make a choice from a more limited offering. And what that meant for me was that all the online classes in the north were full. And if they are online, it doesn't matter where you physically are, but an online class in the south would be performed in south Welsh. Oops!

It started before the academic year did. I got ready on a Tuesday night. I had not had a Zoom meeting for so long, the software first needed to do a big update. I entered the meeting just on time! 

The first thing I noticed was the exemplary enunciation of the tutor. Great! And the group wasn’t too big. The tutor, Gwen, first told us a bit about the course and the course materials, and then she sent us off into breakout groups to get to know each other. we did that twice, with different groups, and then she went down to business. We had grammatical work to do. This first session we focussed on short verb forms. In Welsh, you normally leave your verbs in the infinitive, and let ‘to do’ do all the work. Not ‘I biked to work’ but ‘I did bike to work’. But if you write an official text, you will want to conjugate all your verbs, not just ‘to do’. And you might hide pronouns in prepositions. So ‘ysgrifennwn atynt’ means ‘I wrote to them’ as much as ‘rô’n i’n ysgrifennu atyn nhw’ does, but it’s a lot more concise, and it makes you sound like a 50s newsreader. I could use the practice! 

It was a good first class, and I look forward to the rest. And the fact it’s all in Southern isn’t a big deal. They say ‘moyn’ and ‘mas’ a lot, where I say ‘isio’ and ‘allan’, but that’s trivial. I’m sure to learn things here, and I don’t think my north Welsh identity will get in the way! 

Caernarfon half marathon; my last?

After the Snowdonia half marathon when my knees gave up around the 10 mile mark, I had been studiously doing my physiotherapy exercises, and managed fast runs of up to 10k, and slower runs of up to 20k. But would I manage to have prepared my iliotibial bands for 21k, a fast as possible? I was hoping to finally break my personal best on the half marathon, as it had stood since 2022, at 1:42:20. Could I drop below 1:40?

I got myself to the start in all my new kit (shirt, shoes, vest), and made sure the vest contained two knee stabilisers. For in case my preparation hadn’t been enough. I didn't have any experience in mitigating IT band issues with those, but some googling had suggested it might work, and it was well worth the try. I do know they can really take the strain off your knees, and it felt plausible that they can even do that when the problem isn't actually the knees.

The start

I started close to the front, and in the beginning all went well. The beginning normally does go well. I did struggle a bit to round the city wall on the seafront; my running shoes didn't have a grip on the material there! Luckily, this is only a short stretch. Soon we were on the bicycle path along the river.

On the bicycle path; all still good

In the Snowdonia half, I had felt a clanging runner’s high come up after a few kilometres. That didn't happen now. But I was quite happily plodding along. And I kept an eye on my times by every mile sign. So far so good.

After a few miles what I feared would happen, happened: I started to feel my IT band in each knee. This was only going to get worse. I spent a few miles wondering when I would put my knees stabilisers on. It wasn't a question of ‘if’. I didn't know whether it was best to do it as soon as possible so the problem wouldn't get worse very fast, or postpone it, as once you put the stabilisers on, you lose a lot of mobility in your knees, and that's not in general a good thing during running.

When I started running again this post stabilisers all I noticed it wasn't very comfortable. And my stride got shorter and stiffer. But I could feel that neoprene giving some relief to my IT bands. And that was the important bit.

I put them on at 7 miles; at around 10.5 miles I tightened them, as the problem has still been getting worse, albeit slower. Almost there! I wasn't trying to beat anyone anymore, or any particular time; I was just hoping to be able to keep running.

Still smiling in spite of the knees

The answer was: yes! I did manage to run all the way to the finish. It was more of a hobble by then, but technically still running. And when I turned around after the finish I saw that the clock was showing something like 1:40:23. So still a personal record! And not under 1:40, would you expect his knee problems. Having to stop twice to faff with my stabilisers wouldn't have helped either.

Looking a bit grim by then, but still running! 

And the finish

After the race

I didn’t hope I would end up kitted out like this

I decided not to wait for the ceremony. So many women had run past me when I was faffing with my knees! And I wanted to get home. And later this afternoon I saw I wasn't far off, I had run 1:40:20, and it still being the fastest woman in my age category. Oh well. If they would have published their timings there and then, which is totally doable as other organisations do it, I would have waited around!

I was glad I at least had improved my PB. But I also thought I might never improve it from this. Clearly, doing physiotherapy exercises every day was not enough to let my IT bands cope with this level of distance and speed. I could imagine I could bring them back into shape if I would really train meticulously, but who has the time for that? I might have to accept I am now short distance runner. And see if I can still improve on my 10k personal best. That is quite fast already! But who knows what I can still do. And maybe I should make sure I run a 5k somewhere. I haven't done one since 2016, so surely I can improve on that. Unfortunately, the next 5k race I had my eyes on clashes with cave rescue business. But I can always do a Parkrun.

My very first race was a half marathon! But it might be time to bail out. Until, perhaps, I retire, because then I can train until I am blue in the face…

Annual (?) hedge trim (+ extra)

 I always intend to trim the hedge annually. It doesn’t always happen. This year I was going to have a go at it, and went to fetch my working platform from the garage. The hedge is some 3 m tall so there is no way I can do it standing on the ground. And even with the extra height of the working platform I struggle.

There was an extra complication; fetching the platform involved coming through the garden gate, and I noticed it was broken. So I needed to fix that first. It must be quite old; there were several screws in there that were so rusty they had to lost all ability to hold the various pieces of wood together. These have been replaced now! But there might be more in there that are about to give.

Gate repair

When I got into the garden, there was another unexpected circumstance, but that was a good one. My neighbour offered me his stepladder instead of my working platform. That gives you a lot more height! So I accepted that. And that made the work quite light.

Starting the work (noticed the unused platform on the right)

Even with the very tall step ladder (this is not your average ladder) I couldn't do the top of the hedge. I estimate it is about a meter and a half in width, and getting 3 m up and then three quarters of a meter sideways is a bit of an ask. So it has a slightly comic look, with everything being quite tidy from the sides, but all sorts of crazy branches sticking out at the top. Oh well! We've done our best.

Finished! 

I'm glad I've got this done before term started! And the bonus repair of the gate. It probably wouldn't have happened at all this year if I wouldn't have managed to do it now…

Finally cutting some firewood

The pile of potential firewood had been accumulating in my garage for months! Most of that was from Neuadd Ogwen. And I needed to process it first. The wood I had got from them recently had been a platform, and it involves a lot of bits of wood nailed together. I would first have to pry these apart and get the nails out. Not as much work as taking pallets apart! But still a considerable amount of work.

Uncut firewood left and right

One weekend after the other passed when I didn't get around to doing anything with this wood. Then there was a weekend in which I managed it remove pretty much all the nails. That was good! As the next step is the cutting, and since my mitre saw, that is very quick.

This weekend I decided it was time. I brought electricity to my saw and set to work. I am always a bit hesitant; when I have big pieces of wood I always wonder if I should leave them intact. What if I need big pieces of wood for some project or other? For instance; the wooden stairs into the garden are disintegrating. I should have it replaced in the not too distant future, but maybe I should just replace the worst step myself to keep it functional before the big upgrade? I always think things like that. And I rarely need big pieces of wood for projects.

That same weekend I was also doing lots of other things, so it's not as if all the uncut firewood is now gone. Especially not given that it obviously is not only a time constraint. But a start it has been made! And my woodpile is considerably bigger now. And fitting in a little firewood session to continue this work shouldn't be too much of an ask. It has been set in motion! And soon it will be fire season again, and then I certainly will have a lot more external motivation…

Less wood on the right, more on the left in the rack! 

Annual apple harvest

This year wasn't a very good year for fruit from my own garden! I made some rather nice blackcurrant compote, but didn't get around to doing anything at all with the gooseberries, and the harvest from my plum tree was about five plums. But now the apple tree is ready to produce. And it's not a huge harvest but it's nice! Apples from your own garden are always the best. And I quite like the variety my tree produces. 

What is still come is the potato harvest. I think that might be quite near actually. I didn't manage to grow very much in my garden this year, but I have faith I will have some decent spuds. And with the apples that should pretty much be it this year…

Lovely side effect of milk change

On the day I did my first oat milk breakfast I was quite hungry in the run-up to lunch. That is not unusual! But no it happened every day. And that’s not strange when you think about it. The cow milk I use is full fat, and oat milk can’t match that level of caloric content. I looked it up, and the milk I used has about 1 1/2 times as much energy in it. And given that on a full fat milk day I often already struggle to make it to lunch, cutting my breakfast calories down makes it even harder to get there without losing composure.

I decided I just needed to bring more food to work. And more food means more sandwiches. And more sandwiches means that I would eat a loaf of bread quicker. And the advantage of that is that I can bake a fresh loaf quicker! If you bake your own bread it is absolutely delicious on the first day, delicious on the second day, and less good than supermarket bread on the third day. So if I can just have my environmentally-friendly breakfast, and then eat an additional sandwich before lunch, I am killing two birds with one stone! I am already practising this. And I like it.

A more frequently seen view these days

Thursday night hill training with night drawing in

The Thursday night trainings as I know them must be coming to an end. The previous week the head torches had to come out, as it was pretty close to dark by the time we were finished. This week we made sure to stop a bit earlier. And already it was quite dark. We had only done 11 km, which was the shortest Thursday night run I have done since the Hoka event. It seems to turn into road running in autumn, and I'll find out what roads and how soon enough.

But for now we were still in the hills. I was a tiny bit nervous about this training! It was the last Thursday before my attempt at running a new personal best in a half marathon. And I am always a bit nervous about spraining something, especially since my last run in the Netherlands.

We gathered at the usual location in Llanberis. I asked around about the lady who had injured her knee last week, and I was glad to hear she was walking as normal, and would probably be running again the week after. Excellent! It could've been a lot worse.

I thought we would head south into the hills, but we went north instead. Soon we were in the sort of territory where the Trail 10k goes as well. And then we headed a bit further north into Deiniolen, and pottered around a bit in that area. Some of the paths were tricky and slippery, and/or overgrown, so there was a fair amount of walking involved. And this was exactly the sort of terrain I was a bit scared of! But all went well.

Gathering by an old drumhouse 

Carefully descending into Deiniolen

By the time we were back in the woods above Llyn Padarn a lot of head torches came out. I left mine in my vest; I prefer to run by night sight, but that only works if not everyone around you is using a head torch. Quite a lot of people were wearing one, and if they're running behind you, they bugger up your night vision while not actually lighting up your way, so that is unpleasant. But that as well went OK.

It’s getting dark in the woods

Scenic skies over Llyn Padarn

By 20:30 we were back at the cars. I decided not to go for a swim. I did have a towel with me, and dry pants, but I just wanted to get home and sort myself out. 

I hope next week we can still do one of these trainings. But I don't think we can keep it going much longer!

First module websites live

We are advised to bring head torches for the Thursday evening runs, and it smells like autumn on my commute. Autumn is coming, and with that, term is really approaching fast now! And it is showing: the students has been added to the module websites, so I have made my dissertation module live already. It's always the first one I do that with. And the first thing that happens in the new academic year is always our fieldwork in the estuary; the website for that module is live as well. Things have really started! Before you know it, we are in the middle of it and there won't be a rest until christmas…

Supporting Kate in an Ultra

Yes, another running-related post! But this time it wasn’t me doing the running. 

Tough and strange people might consider doing the Dragon’s Back, a race from the north coast of Wales to the south coast, in six days. And the send you over every mountain they can find. It’s a beast! It’s not up my street. If I am on these amazing mountains I want to be in a position to sit on them with a flask of coffee and a piece of cake. And savour the view. That’s not happening in the Dragon’s Back! And as well; given the route they pick for you, most of it is either too steep up or too steep down to run, so you might as well accept you're not running, and just go for a hike.

There are people who have different thoughts about this. Kate is one. She wanted to do this race, but when it approached and she had been plagued by injuries and similar impediments to properly preparing, she decided to do the less strenuous version: the Hatchling, where you only run half the route. Every day you only run either the first half or the second half, and you get transported the rest. Strenuous enough as it is as far as I am concerned!

I wanted to support her, and the best day for that would be the first. I imagined travelling into the Ogwen valley after work to cheer her over that day’s finish. That turned out to be by Llyn Ogwen. But on the day it turned out that she might very well finish at 1PM. All runners carry a GPS beacon, and you can follow their progress online. And she had started at 6AM. Then you get to Ogwen by lunchtime! I suppose I hadn’t quite scrutinised the site, otherwise I would have noticed this before. There also was a 2PM cut-off at Llyn Ogwen. And I had a meeting in the diary between 11 and 12. And I was chairing it… would I make it? 

Tracking the participants

Additionally, the weather forecast for that day was rain and rain and rain. So I packed full waterproofs, and took the car to work. On bike I wouldn’t make it! And after my meeting I jumped into the car and drove to Ogwen Valley. There I checked Kate’s GPS position. She was still on the ridge! I was on time. And, unexpectedly, it was glorious weather. 

I walked up the path a bit, and where it was beautiful I sat down for lunch. I was starving! And I cheered on the other runners that passed me. After lunch I walked a bit further up. I looked at the dots on the hill. One of them was Kate! Which one? And then I noticed a yellow dot was moving quite like Kate. And when it approached I saw it was indeed her! And she saw me.

Found her! 

The rules for supporters are quite strict. Some of the challenge is that the runners have to carry everything they need from each day's start to finish, so you can't give them anything. You also are not allowed to run along with them. So I just cheered, and gave her a hug when she reached me. She didn't linger; she wanted to get in before cut-off time, and that makes sense. So I just followed at a respectful distance, got back to the car, drove closer to the checkpoint she was headed for, and then could cheer her on again when she arrived. I was not allowed to enter, but I could sit on the low wall that surrounded it and have a chat. I also cheered on the runners who arrived after her.

Kate vanishes in the direction of Tryfan

The checkpoint which was her finish for the day

She looked fresh as a daisy! Even though she had done 27 km, and 1700 m of ascent. And that was the mildest day the whole race would even have. I hope she'll have a whale of a time running the rest of the race! Even though it is not my thing, the feeling of accomplishment at the end must be amazing. And good stories for the rest of your life!

Book loot

A while ago I reviewed a book proposal. It was interesting to do, but it had another perk; I did that (as expected) on the request of a publisher, and they let me pick books they had published to a certain value as a reward. And I am trained as a geologist but mainly active in climate science, so I decided to pick a book on ocean circulation and a book on atmospheric science. I sure still have a lot to learn about these topics! These fluids were not really the focus of my studies. And I'll bring them home. I could imagine brushing up my knowledge in a comfortable chair by the fire this autumn. Could be a lot worse!

 

Gladstone 9

Racing day came! In a relaxed way, as the start wouldn't be until 1 pm. I was going to drive up with my date, Nick, who had said he wanted to come over to cheer me on. It didn't quite happen that way; my friend Harri phoned me and asked if we wanted a lift. And car sharing is a good idea! I knew that parking was going to be limited at the venue. But Nick was okay with sharing that part of the date with another man.

We drove up, parked, and went to registration. Then we did some final preparations (I exchanged my running jacket for a waterproof jacket as the weather wasn't quite what I had expected it to be) and when Harri went for a warmup run, Nick and I just went to the start. I thought it would be at the start of the public footpath, but I was wrong. At some point a lady summoned us to the actual start. This was by a kissing gate further up the path. I said goodbye to Nick and went up, accidentally quite far at the back.

We got a little briefing and then we were off. Walking, initially, as I was so far at the back, but after a while we could actually run. And then my jacket spontaneously fell off my running vest. I had to step aside and fix it again. That made me end up even further back in the queue! No running for me anytime soon.

At the start

Everything changed when we got through the downhill bit. There I am slower than most, so not so frustrated about being stuck behind slow people. So I could run in my preferred speed until, after the first checkpoint, we went up another narrow steep path where you couldn't overtake and where practically everyone was walking. The people who would win prizes in this thing probably had run all the way, but they had been much ahead of me.

Finally some running! Pic by John Mainwaring

The second steep path uphill through bracken

When the path finally came out of the bracken I could go back to running. From now on I could overtake if I wanted. It was my favourite part of the race; a clear path where you can make some speed without being too scared about your ankles, and with amazing views. I had more time to take pictures during my recce. 

Almost too soon I got to the second checkpoint, which was just before the ascent to the top of Tal-y Fan. I walked a lot of that; is very steep! And some bits are very rocky. And, of course, the hill was shrouded in mist. Given how bright it had been the day before I hadn't expected this! But I was prepared. It had been similar weather on my recce. 

On the ridge of Tal-y-Fan

It seemed to take forever to get to the top, but it happened. And then we started the descent. I happen to find myself in the company of another Eryri Harrier, and a bloke in a yellow shirt. This was the difficult part! After only 10s of meters we were in the middle of unending heather. That had happened to me as well during my brekkie. I had seen afterwards there had been a path a bit further to the west, so I was tempted to the west. Luckily the others agreed. But it was difficult going! Some of it was heather growing on block fields; you can't see the gaps between the blocks, and you are regularly up to your groin in heather. We also traversed a bog.

Negotiating a bog

In the bog we made different decisions; I veered to the west again, when the others didn't. And we all ended up on a bus, but they did that quicker than me. We could finally run again! And after a while a bloke joined me.

I knew I had to go left, but the path I took there quickly became nothing more than a sheep track. I needed to bring my GPS out again to help me along the way. Maybe I should just have held it in my hand all the way! But the bloke was happy to travel along. I again went too far west. But when I realised that, I saw other runners on a different path. I needed to get to where they were! But for now I just followed my own path. It should get to the same place. And the weather had cleared up, and the views were amazing!

With a bit of a mad dash to the other path I was on the route again, and soon in the stone circle where the fourth checkpoint was. And from there things got comfortable. A very good path, and not too steep, so I could finally go full pelt. I started overtaking people again! I hadn't done that since the Tal-y-Fan ascent, and there only to a limited extent. And when the path looped to the top of Foel Lus I put some distance between me and the others. That was good; I knew I was going to be slow on the descent there, and this way I had some space to go at whatever speed I wanted, without having to step aside and let people pass. 

A few people still passed me on that last stretch, but it was all downhill, so that was expected. When I came in, more than 2/3 of the runners had already finished. But that's what you get if you end up trudging inefficiently through heather fields and bogs. It was all right!

Having my chip scanned at the finish. Pic by Nick

Nick was there, and after some reporting back about the race we went to headquarters, where there was some soup and bread for us. I also got a drink in order to support the hotel. And then the ceremony started. In spite of my tardiness, I still won a bottle of beer and a bag of jelly babies as the 3rd female runner over 40! I hadn't expected that. But it was nice. And then we went home.

A prize, after all!

It had been a beautiful race! With a good atmosphere. And my ankle had held. And the week after it would be entirely different. That won't be very pretty, but I will be able to go as fast as I physically can all the way. It's on the road, so the limiting factor will be my heart and lungs. Or at least, as long as it won't be my knees. I hope I am prepared…

Trying out new running shoes and vest: this time for real

I am aware that this blog is turning a bit run-tastic. But these Thursday runs are just too good to not blog about, and I had two serious races coming up which required preparation (like reces and training). And new kit!

On Friday, both my new vest and my new shoes arrived! That meant I could immediately try them out on Saturday. Especially for the vest that was useful; I wanted to use that the very day after for a race. I should try it out before I commit!

The day before the race I didn't want to run too far, and because I had new road shoes it had to be on a hard surface. I decided to do my old standard run up Nant Ffrancon. It's on a good path, but still beautiful.

I decided to put into my new running vest everything I intended to bring on the race the next day. That was a lot more than I would need on this very modest run, but I wanted to know how the vest would perform. So I put about a litre of water in it, and an extra shirt, and jelly babies, and my phone, and tape. And I fixed a running jacket to the outside.

Snazzy new shoes

Ready to roll

When the shoes arrived I saw that indeed they were quite wide. Exactly what I needed. They look a bit funny, in a cute way! And when I tried them on they felt good. So I was ready to go.

I wasn't really feeling it initially, but after a few kilometres, as I expected, I started getting into the swing of things. And on my fancy shoes and in my fancy vest I was happily trundling along! And on the way back I even made some serious speed in some places.

It was a glorious day 

Happy in my vest

Good views, always

When I got home I was happy with both. The shoes were comfortable. I intend to wear them on more demanding runs like roadraces. But I still want to keep using my old Asicses. Running shoes are bad for the environment, and this pair should help me deal physically with races. My body matters too! But when I'm only doing a bog-standard training run, I can still do this on lower-quality second-hand running shoes which may not be as comfortable, but which have rather thick soles, which makes them relatively durable.

The vest was comfortable too, in spite of everything I was carrying in it. No rub anywhere! So I thought I was ready for the fell race the next day, vest-wise, and ready for the road race the week after, shoe-wise. Success!

Thursday hill training: Waunfawr

I might just admit that I am likely to blog about every single Thursday hill training there is! But we are coming towards the end of the season anyway. Soon it will be too dark to be running through the hills in the evening. But for now we are persisting.

I was a bit nervous about this particular training! I had slightly rolled my ankle only a few days earlier, and I also had an off-road race coming up. I wanted to do this training to see if my ankle was good enough for such a race. So I taped it up, was of a firm mind to mind my step, and then hoped for the best.

We gathered in Waunfawr. The meeting point was busy! And I ended up talking to a bloke in a Steepest Street in the World Race (SSitWR)T-shirt. I told him it was my favourite race and I was sad it wasn't run anymore. He thought one of the other runners would know why, but that wasn't the case; he said the Harlech triathlon had lost its access to where they did the swimming, and if the triathlon isn't happening, it’s not lucrative to do the SSitWR. But this year there was a Harlech triathlon, but no SSitWR. So I'm none the wiser! Maybe one day I'll find out why my favourite race was binned. 

We set off, and within 100m we were in a field with no discernible path. This was going to tell me if my ankle was good enough. But soon we were just walking. The path was really bad! A lot of clambering over tree trunks, threatened by brambles. All festooned with some generous bogginess.

The fields early on

The path deteriorated 

It seemed to take forever until we were out of the woodlands. And then it looked like we could really run! And it was about time; by then it was 7 pm. And we set off at speed. I ran as fast as I dared, as the path was quite slippery, and there was plenty of opportunity for injury.

After a while, a delegation peeled off. Two of them were our medical couple, as the bloke had a shift at 9 pm. We the others carried off in another direction.

As usual, the scenery was fantastic! It is so beautiful there. And it was a beautiful night.

Spoil heaps of Alexandra quarry in the distance 

We were on the Slate Trail for some of the route

Gorgeous ruins

I was running on a different slippery path when I suddenly heard a sound behind me, and when I turned around, I saw one of the runners flat on the ground. That doesn't have to be serious! Everybody who saw her stopped and asked her if she was okay. She wasn't immediately sure. She got up and thought she might be able to walk to where the others, who by now had clocked there was something wrong, were waiting for us. But after a few steps she realised that might be a bit ambitious. And another lady said that her sister lived very close by. We could see an asphalt road not far away; I was sure the injured lady would be able to get there with some help. And then someone from the aforementioned sister’s household could pick her up and bring her back to her own car. So that was the plan! And I wasn’t needed for it so I went back to the others with another runner. We intercepted Dyfed, who leads the Thursday evenings, and updated him. He made sure there was someone who knew the way, and then made his way to where the injured lady was. And we continued our way. 

The route took us over Moel Tryfan and Moel Smytho. It was starting to get a bit dark! When, close to Waunfawr, we ended up in the woods again, some people got their head torches out. It was getting hard to see where you were going! But soon we were back on the road, and then at the cars. And almost immediately after, the car with the injured lady appeared. And not much later, Dyfed and another runner, who hadn’t fit in the car, on foot. Everyone was accounted for!

The top of Moel Tryfan in twilight

This run had not gone as intended, but at least my ankle had held. And although the running vest hadn't quite done what I hoped it would do, at least it hadn't rubbed my skin off. So a successful night! And I hope that the injured lady will recover swiftly, and join us again before too long…

Trying kinesiology tape

When I stepped clumsily on a tree root during my last run in the Netherlands, I did something unpleasant to my ankle, but to my relief, it wasn't so bad I couldn't just keep running. I was just very careful with tree roots from then on!

It was only a few days away from a major trail and fell run, so that was a bit of a worry. It is easy to sprain your ankle during one of those. And before that, there would be a Thursday training. I really wanted to do that, only to see if my angle would be up for the race. But did want to take precautions.

I sprained my ankles a lot in my youth. My standard solution to that was a bandage. But bandages are quite bulky, and I didn't think it would be comfortable have a bandage in your running shoes. But people have invented other things since; nowadays, mild sports injuries like that tend to be sorted with tape. And to be more specific: kinesiology tape. I figured I'd give that a go.

On the way home from the Netherlands I popped by a chemist and bought some. And I taped myself up on the Thursday morning. It seems you can wear the stuff quite long, because it breathes, and then I could use the day to feel if I figured I'd need more support.

The artwork

I decided I could do with a little bit more before running, so in the office I added a bit of tape. And then I went! And the run itself again merits its own blog post, but an evaluation of the tape is: it's not uncomfortable to have this addition in your shoe, and I came out of the run unscathed. And the tape came off without issue. That matters too...

Didn’t look so elegant anymore afterwards

I consider this a success! I will never know to what extent this was due to the tape and to what extent it was just me, but that's okay. I had several instances where I took a bit of a knock with my left foot. But clearly, no further damage was done. I think I am ready for that race. But I will be taped up again!