Tag: hills

3.2 ish miles at Bolton Abbey Estate

Jess Guth5 Comments

We were going to head out to the coast today and drive to RSPB Bempton Cliffs to see if the puffins had all already gone or if we could spot one or two before they do. However, we’ve had Kath’s mum staying with us because she hurt her back and couldn’t anything much, least of all stairs (we have a downstairs bathroom making life much easier for her). She went back home yesterday. My Dad arrives for a 2 week visit tomorrow. The house is a tip and we are exhausted. We decided therefore that we would have a potter sort of day at home, get the house organised and just spend some time together, too. The spending time together bit came in the form of a run at Bolton Abbey. If you are every around this part of the world, it really is worth a visit. We set off from the Cavendish Pavillion, through the Strid Wood, past the Bodger’s Camp towards the Strid. I didn’t really notice whether the Strid was in full flow looking spectacular as it often can or whether it was more of a trickle – I was too concerned about the upcoming hill. If I can run the Bolton Abbey Estate hills I can run at Disney World. RunDisney has no hills! Once I’d puffed my way up the hill, we kept going north following the path’s ups and downs – mostly slopes rather than hills at this point. My next concern was the Bridge – the Aquaeduct. I’m rubbish at running up steps. We walked. Once on the bridge I took a deep breath in, remembered to take a look at the stunning views and set off again.

I knew that on this side of the river (the Wharfe in you were wondering) the hills were a little more taxing than they had been – just slopes to start off with though. My legs were burning though, as were my lungs and that voice inside my head was screaming at me letting me know in no uncertain terms that I must be totally deluded to think I could get my fat butt round something like this. I had no idea how far we’d come and was absolutely sure that there was still far too much left to run.I absolutely, totally couldn’t do it. Just couldn’t. Except I did. The hills felt brutal but there was always a view, always something to focus on, always something to run to and always a sort of excitement at having made it round the next bend, up the next slope or safely down the next hill. I didn’t quite make the steepest of the hills. We added in an extra 30 second walk. Then, actually quite suddenly, there were only 4 more running intervals left. 4 more was possible, only just but possible. Then 3. Then 2. Ok I can do two, in fact I can do two without taking a walk break. I can do two at a pretty decent pace. Yes. Maybe. No? YES.

It was one of the hardest runs I’ve done and also one of the most stunning. I’ve forgotten the exact miles – It was 3.2 something at a pace of 13.47 minutes per mile. It was hot, it was hilly, it was – in some places- bloody awful but it was always stunning, I was always going to finish and it was fun having done it.

Happy.

The one where Jess has an outrageous idea

Jess Guth3 Comments

Sometimes I really wish the filter between my brain and mouth was a little more effective. Before I had really thought through the implications of my thoughts I had said them out loud: ‘should we try a completely different route today and go up?’ What an idiot! Should we go up!?! Go up! Seriously! Up as in uphill. You stupid girl.

So there you have it – we went up, we left our house and turned right rather than left at the end of our road. What an outrageous idea. It is seriously up. Not massively steep but relentlessly, steadily up – even when you are going down a little slope you are actually still going up. Why oh why can’t I keep my mouth shut. We walked up the first stretch and then we set off. As well as going uphill we also extended the running section of our run/walk routine to 2 minutes 30 seconds, what an utterly brilliant idea, yeah really. By the time we got to the end of the second run my thighs were actually burning. We kept going – slowly, in some sections probably running slower than we could have walked, but we kept running until the watch beeped and told us to walk. It was an utterly outrageous thing to do. I huff and puff enough on the flat and too much going up the little slopes that our ‘going past the sheep’ route has. Stupid.

But sometimes outrageous ideas are the best. The uphill route is an utterly stunning road to run along. There is virutally no traffic – it is a dead end for traffic and eventually turns into a track which is unsuitable for cars  – we didn’t get that far though. That would be another level of up at the end. Not quite ready for that. If you keep going you get to Ilkley across the moors. (It’s about 5 miles I think). As we set off there was a curlew on a drystone wall watching us as if it was waving us off. We saw cows and sheep and lots of birds, curlews mostly but also lots of smaller ones. There was lots to see and that kept me going for a bit as well as the fact that running uphill had been my idea so I couldn’t very well complain now.

As we got about half way through run number 7 we were heading up a steepish bit  and I felt my right calf muscle twinge a little bit. I was also completely puffed so I’m actually not quite sure whether my calf twinge was just an excuse to stop. We stopped and walked the rest of that run interval and the 30 second walk break and turned round.

Now we were essentially heading downhill all the way and even when we were going up little slopes we were still essentially going down. I got my breath back and settled in. The views are spectacular. We were minutes from our house really and in breathtaking scenery. Obviously I know it is there but most of the time I take it completely for granted and don’t stop to look. While running I was enjoying looking. I took the next walk break out and then the next and the next. I was looking around and taking in the view. Then we caught up with a dog walker who turned out to be someone we know  – she was walking really fast so we slowed our jog and had a  chat with her for a couple of minutes – but kept on running. Then we carried on and I was still running. It was odd, it was fun. We ran all the way home. We finished a little early but it seemed silly to run round in circles round our street for the sake of it. It made sense to just stop when we got home. So, we ran about 41 minutes and just over 3 miles with a pace of just over 13 minutes per mile.

We’ve been home about 2 and a half hours – we’ve had breaded cod pieces and sweet potato oven chips with a yoghurt dip for tea and I am about to jump in the bath – if I can move that is. My legs have had to do all sorts of new things today – go uphill far more than ever before, go downhill far more than ever before and keep going for far longer than ever before without a walk break – no wonder they are protesting a little!