Wanted to do 42 or 43 today – as much as anything to reassure myself that my knees were OK, or what passes for OK now, following their unplanned exertion on Monday night. I really wanted to do Stoney and back again as that’s my favourite 40+ route at the moment, but I’m on call today and that would have taken me a long way from home at the most distant point. Shame as it was nice enough weather and with the footy on 5 Live that would have been bliss.
So I thought I’d do a run up to Belton and back, turn homeward, then tack on a run down through Twycross and Sheepy then back the same way. That had the advantage that I’d be able to get my distance fairly precise, since I’ve memorised the distances to home from a few landmarks down that way.
So – I did that, but I decided it would be more interesting to turn left along Watery Lane toward Bilstone and come back that way. So I had to sort of busk it from that point to get the right distance.
Stopped at the wooden bus shelter at Odstone having done about 34, had a break and consulted my offline map with landmarks and distances. The bus shelter was 4.7 miles from home by the usual route. So I decided to take a long, looping route home that would allow me to cut across quickly if I got a call, but should see me home on 43-ish. Or so I thought. Actually it was 45.60.
A few more than I wanted then but my knees coped OK and I’m fairly reassured. I didn’t get any calls and actually the challenge of getting the right distance, albeit I didn’t manage that particularly accurately, was a bit of fun.
Lucky to have a dry day today, it’s rained pretty heavily here for the last few days and there were a few puddles so I took the Boardman. I was itching to take the Tarmac out for a run but that will have to wait. And actually the weather looks fairly wet for the next week, according to the forecast.
I wrapped up a bit too warm overall – legs out but three layers on top – and was a bit sweaty in the sunshine, but comfortable enough during cloudy periods.
https://www.strava.com/activities/2436494822
Just noticed that according to Strava I did more than 2,000 ft of elevation, and it’s been a long time since I did that. More than a year apparently.
That’s 136 this month, 1492 this year.