The Rowallan Rosebowl Trophy A Run of Many Loops
Tonights run isn't one of those fun filled runs that takes me out into the countryside or even through some interesting parts of town, NO toights run is done at the running club. The route we took consisted of 3 loops of what we call 'The Rose Bowl'. For those interested The Rose Bowl is an octagonal (8 sided) bowled trophy, that has been an important trophy within the club for several decades, it is still a highly sought after privelage to get ones name on the trophy. More about this event in coming months however as it has yet to take place this year.
So back to tonights training, which will see me run this course 5 times; thats 5 laps of this course.
Lap One of this Loop
Starting any run half way up a hill isn't easy at the best of times and tonight is no exception. We used to start this run on the level, when we ran from our old home at the old cinder track, but now we have a new home and a new track which has moved over several hundred yards, the loop start is on the opposite side of the course and thus we start half way up a hill and sadly the top half is the sharpest and steepest part..
So with feet and legs struggling to get started I feel like; and probably look like as well; one of them wee cartoon characters that start to run on the spot and then shot off, only difference is, is that when I get started I dont actually shot of as more lumber forward. Moving along I finally find a stride that gets me up the hill and round the bend and over the top, brining me nicely to the downhill slope, which is for all intents and purposes just a slip road with a footpath at the side which takes us down and onto a gravel access road. However to get to the road one neds to either negotiate a kiss gate or a hole in the fence which is patrolled by over hanging howthorn trees, o the choices one has. I negotiate the hole in the fence by doing a dance that wouldnt look to out of place as a move in the Time Warp, yu know the one, 'Its just a jump to the left, then a step to the right' well here its a Jump to the left, a steep to the rear, watch you dont loose your sight, put your hands on your ears and bend your head just in time' After ma dance I find ma feet on the gravel path and jump and weave to avoid the ruts and potholes that are there, after about hundred yards its onto a tared road, with playining fields on either side. Being a nice warm sunny well light night tonight everyone is out in force, we have football matches going on, folks playing kick about with a ball and on the other side folks knocking golf balls around. To top of that we got every dog walker in the town out alking their dog, which isnt an issue in itself, if they would just keep them under control, or realled in on them damned extendable leads, especially when you hearly get tripped with them and your run turns into a hurdle session, but not only that the owner suddenly wakes up and tries to reel the dog in, which only makes things worse as the dog is no directly in front of you and you have the added distress of maybe hitting the dog if the jump goes wrong. All this excitment and i aint even halfways round the first lap yet.
Heading further on I pass the female football team with the subs sitting at the side of the park waiting for their turn on the pitch and their claim to fame. As I get nearer I hear a few having a wee snigger and making some snide remarks, but cant quite hear what they are, then i hear one of them say, 'actually I wouldna want to be running after him, he's fair movin' '
I head along the road and pass a bloke sitting at the side of the road, I recognised him from earlier, he was the fella that was sitting in the middle of the cycle path, whom I nearly ran over when I was heading to the club, he seemed fine and none the worse for wares.
Heading on I climb the hill and finally reach the end of the first loop with no more interesting tales to tell. I push on through the start point and into my second loop.
Loop Two for me - and for you
Pushing through into lap two I try to maintain the pace and force my way up the second part of the hill, the bit that always catches you of guard no matter how on guard you are. Managing to keep the wind blowing in my sails I encounter one of the ever friendly dog walkers that us runners encounter, sadly this was one of them that didnt know how to keep their pooch under control and once again I find I am the one having to jump left and right in order to get the doogie oot from under ma feet. I decide to take the safer option and resort to jumping onto the road and running up the edge of the road. Emergancy overted, I push on and get over the top and head down to the gap at the bottom. I manage to negotiate the gap and keep ma hearing, head and eye sight all intaked and not a sign of any transvestites from transelvania in sight.
Heading back round along the road and I hear the voices from behind the hedge, its the folks playing kick about, one of them says 'here they come again, lets fire the baw ower the hedge and see if we can get them', instantly they all go into a fit of laughter, probably at the thought o me gettin' a baw in the back o the heed and hittin the deck like a ton o bricks. I am pleased to say that on this occassion the baw never does come ower the hedge.
I pass the grils football team again and I hear them say 'hell here he comes again', moving along I think to ma self, shit i will be passing you a few more times in the course o the night.
As I move on I suddenly find that the fella that was sitting on the roadside has moved and is now staggering along the road sounding like he is drowning; for those that know of Billy Connelly and can recall his album Big Banana Feet, well remember the drunkman sketch on that, thats what it sounded like. To top this off he is deciding that it is a fun idea to wonder in front of me as I move towards him, now being the nice guy I am I move out his way, but this guy thinks he is ma mirror reflection and so moves with me, a burst of speed and a sudden swerve and I am clear of the obstical without disaster. Heading on I turn to head up the long steady hill towards the start point and once again I come across my friendly neighbourhood dog walker. This time i just move out and give as much space as I can, and still they don't get their dog under control. It dont bother me dogs off leads, I had one as you all know from previous blog entries and she never went on a lead, but 1 I had her trained to run beside me and 2 when she did run on a bit, when someone came I would shout her back if I thought she was going to get excited and want to play. Why cant others do that?
I push on and up the hill, past the start point and into lap 3 of this loop.
Three, Three alreadee
Heading into the third loop of this session tonight I suddenly realise that I have found my groove and I feel really comfortable as I trundle along. I plow up the hill in what feels like an easy flowing motion and head over the top down the other side and negotiate the Time Warp Hole at the bottom without losing any time whatso every. By this point I have cought a few of the other runners in the group who give me an encouraging 'well done' and 'keep going, you're looking good', these lovely comments from lovely people all add to the good feeling I am having. I admit though that the night is warm and the air just as warm and every breath in makes the back of my throat rasp and feel like it is on fire. I head round the track and onto the road, passing the folks playing kick about and a few folks playing golf as before, but this loop must have the strangest sight I have saw to date, not quite standing in the middle of the open field as such, but he could have been a bit more hidden, a bloke taking a leak, with no shame on his face, I guess when you gotta go you gotta go, lol.
Passing the girls football game again, they are still sniggering and gigling etc and once again it is commented that I have been passed before as they say 'bloody hell, theres that bloke again and he's still movin' ' Taking a litle smile to myself I push on along the road meeting a couple with a wee dog, at least they have the wee thing on a lead and under control so there is no worries. Further along I pass for the third time; clearly as they cant move anywhere; the two 5 litre milk cartoons that are sitting at the side of the path, one is half full of white liquid; would take a good guess it was milk; and the other is half full o pink liquid; strawberry milk?, as much as my throats on fire I wasnt tempted to try them and find out, but for that split second my mind was diverted away from my run, my pace, my training and onto something trivial like 'whats in they cartons sitting there' I dont know if its cause I was board, struggling or just so deep in the groove that my body was in control and didnt need my mind for that short spell. Rounding the corner at the end of the road and I start the assent towards home and the end of this lap, I push on up the hill and enter my fourth lap.
Lap Four, then its Just One More!!!
By this point I am catching and passing others who are in the other groups who have started off behind us, I am using them a short term targets, not treating it as a race but just using them to pull me along and keep me in the zone as we say. Each one i pass gives a welcome and encouraging gesture and/or statement; usually through broken breaths and sentances, but like them being a runner I fully understand what they are saying. Onwards and upwards passing the people kicking about and the guys playing golf, thankfully this time no persons who appear to be cought short. I pass the girls playing football and the subs sitting at the side and yes they had a comment about me going past yet again. I was tempted to tell them that i would be past yet again before the night was out, but to be honest even though I was running well and in control, I didnt have enough breath to waste on unrequired speach.
I stride out eating up the lap as i go and once again I pass the two peculiar milk botles and their even more peculiar contents and I once again find that my mind has wondered over to wonder what the contents actually is, paint, milk; which I thought last lap; or some other strange content. I round the corner and head on up the long dragged out hill and finish this lap in good time. I start my fifth and final lap.
Finally the Finale
Entering the final lap I push on up the hill, wondering if I will be able to push on through to the end. I doing so I pass a dog walker whom I have already passed a few times on previous laps of this route. It would seem to be that they cover a quarter of a lap for every full one I cover. I push down the hill and have to dodge my way round another two walkers, taking a step onto the slip road in doing so I almost lose my ass to a passing car, would know what type of car it was had it took away ma ass that night as it was going so fast I never had a chance to recognise it. Happy ma ass is still in place I time warp ma way through the hole in the fence and zig zag the ruts in the gravel path for the final time tonight. The ball kickers are still there, the golfers have gone off somewhere else by now, the girls football are still playing away with the subs sitting on the grass looking bored as anything and by now it would seem that there only high light to their night is me running past as they make another comment about me passing by and they are all laughing and now I even get a few whistles; same I aint gonna pass by again who knows what I might get. So I push on knowing that this is my final lap of the night and again the strange bottles come into view and like the last few laps my body lets my mind wonder off to ponder what the hell is in them bottles, I really dont want to know or I could have easily stopped and had a look, but then that would have broken ma stride.. No exciting happening, if there have been any thus far; come between me and the point at which I started and so it is with a full stride and a push to the end that I finish tonights training session.
Tonights total is 6.10 miles
Weekly Total is 12.52 miles
Moggie's Mony Money Miles Total 73.44 miles
Tonights run isn't one of those fun filled runs that takes me out into the countryside or even through some interesting parts of town, NO toights run is done at the running club. The route we took consisted of 3 loops of what we call 'The Rose Bowl'. For those interested The Rose Bowl is an octagonal (8 sided) bowled trophy, that has been an important trophy within the club for several decades, it is still a highly sought after privelage to get ones name on the trophy. More about this event in coming months however as it has yet to take place this year.
So back to tonights training, which will see me run this course 5 times; thats 5 laps of this course.
Lap One of this Loop
Starting any run half way up a hill isn't easy at the best of times and tonight is no exception. We used to start this run on the level, when we ran from our old home at the old cinder track, but now we have a new home and a new track which has moved over several hundred yards, the loop start is on the opposite side of the course and thus we start half way up a hill and sadly the top half is the sharpest and steepest part..
So with feet and legs struggling to get started I feel like; and probably look like as well; one of them wee cartoon characters that start to run on the spot and then shot off, only difference is, is that when I get started I dont actually shot of as more lumber forward. Moving along I finally find a stride that gets me up the hill and round the bend and over the top, brining me nicely to the downhill slope, which is for all intents and purposes just a slip road with a footpath at the side which takes us down and onto a gravel access road. However to get to the road one neds to either negotiate a kiss gate or a hole in the fence which is patrolled by over hanging howthorn trees, o the choices one has. I negotiate the hole in the fence by doing a dance that wouldnt look to out of place as a move in the Time Warp, yu know the one, 'Its just a jump to the left, then a step to the right' well here its a Jump to the left, a steep to the rear, watch you dont loose your sight, put your hands on your ears and bend your head just in time' After ma dance I find ma feet on the gravel path and jump and weave to avoid the ruts and potholes that are there, after about hundred yards its onto a tared road, with playining fields on either side. Being a nice warm sunny well light night tonight everyone is out in force, we have football matches going on, folks playing kick about with a ball and on the other side folks knocking golf balls around. To top of that we got every dog walker in the town out alking their dog, which isnt an issue in itself, if they would just keep them under control, or realled in on them damned extendable leads, especially when you hearly get tripped with them and your run turns into a hurdle session, but not only that the owner suddenly wakes up and tries to reel the dog in, which only makes things worse as the dog is no directly in front of you and you have the added distress of maybe hitting the dog if the jump goes wrong. All this excitment and i aint even halfways round the first lap yet.
Heading further on I pass the female football team with the subs sitting at the side of the park waiting for their turn on the pitch and their claim to fame. As I get nearer I hear a few having a wee snigger and making some snide remarks, but cant quite hear what they are, then i hear one of them say, 'actually I wouldna want to be running after him, he's fair movin' '
I head along the road and pass a bloke sitting at the side of the road, I recognised him from earlier, he was the fella that was sitting in the middle of the cycle path, whom I nearly ran over when I was heading to the club, he seemed fine and none the worse for wares.
Heading on I climb the hill and finally reach the end of the first loop with no more interesting tales to tell. I push on through the start point and into my second loop.
Loop Two for me - and for you
Pushing through into lap two I try to maintain the pace and force my way up the second part of the hill, the bit that always catches you of guard no matter how on guard you are. Managing to keep the wind blowing in my sails I encounter one of the ever friendly dog walkers that us runners encounter, sadly this was one of them that didnt know how to keep their pooch under control and once again I find I am the one having to jump left and right in order to get the doogie oot from under ma feet. I decide to take the safer option and resort to jumping onto the road and running up the edge of the road. Emergancy overted, I push on and get over the top and head down to the gap at the bottom. I manage to negotiate the gap and keep ma hearing, head and eye sight all intaked and not a sign of any transvestites from transelvania in sight.
Heading back round along the road and I hear the voices from behind the hedge, its the folks playing kick about, one of them says 'here they come again, lets fire the baw ower the hedge and see if we can get them', instantly they all go into a fit of laughter, probably at the thought o me gettin' a baw in the back o the heed and hittin the deck like a ton o bricks. I am pleased to say that on this occassion the baw never does come ower the hedge.
I pass the grils football team again and I hear them say 'hell here he comes again', moving along I think to ma self, shit i will be passing you a few more times in the course o the night.
As I move on I suddenly find that the fella that was sitting on the roadside has moved and is now staggering along the road sounding like he is drowning; for those that know of Billy Connelly and can recall his album Big Banana Feet, well remember the drunkman sketch on that, thats what it sounded like. To top this off he is deciding that it is a fun idea to wonder in front of me as I move towards him, now being the nice guy I am I move out his way, but this guy thinks he is ma mirror reflection and so moves with me, a burst of speed and a sudden swerve and I am clear of the obstical without disaster. Heading on I turn to head up the long steady hill towards the start point and once again I come across my friendly neighbourhood dog walker. This time i just move out and give as much space as I can, and still they don't get their dog under control. It dont bother me dogs off leads, I had one as you all know from previous blog entries and she never went on a lead, but 1 I had her trained to run beside me and 2 when she did run on a bit, when someone came I would shout her back if I thought she was going to get excited and want to play. Why cant others do that?
I push on and up the hill, past the start point and into lap 3 of this loop.
Three, Three alreadee
Heading into the third loop of this session tonight I suddenly realise that I have found my groove and I feel really comfortable as I trundle along. I plow up the hill in what feels like an easy flowing motion and head over the top down the other side and negotiate the Time Warp Hole at the bottom without losing any time whatso every. By this point I have cought a few of the other runners in the group who give me an encouraging 'well done' and 'keep going, you're looking good', these lovely comments from lovely people all add to the good feeling I am having. I admit though that the night is warm and the air just as warm and every breath in makes the back of my throat rasp and feel like it is on fire. I head round the track and onto the road, passing the folks playing kick about and a few folks playing golf as before, but this loop must have the strangest sight I have saw to date, not quite standing in the middle of the open field as such, but he could have been a bit more hidden, a bloke taking a leak, with no shame on his face, I guess when you gotta go you gotta go, lol.
Passing the girls football game again, they are still sniggering and gigling etc and once again it is commented that I have been passed before as they say 'bloody hell, theres that bloke again and he's still movin' ' Taking a litle smile to myself I push on along the road meeting a couple with a wee dog, at least they have the wee thing on a lead and under control so there is no worries. Further along I pass for the third time; clearly as they cant move anywhere; the two 5 litre milk cartoons that are sitting at the side of the path, one is half full of white liquid; would take a good guess it was milk; and the other is half full o pink liquid; strawberry milk?, as much as my throats on fire I wasnt tempted to try them and find out, but for that split second my mind was diverted away from my run, my pace, my training and onto something trivial like 'whats in they cartons sitting there' I dont know if its cause I was board, struggling or just so deep in the groove that my body was in control and didnt need my mind for that short spell. Rounding the corner at the end of the road and I start the assent towards home and the end of this lap, I push on up the hill and enter my fourth lap.
Lap Four, then its Just One More!!!
By this point I am catching and passing others who are in the other groups who have started off behind us, I am using them a short term targets, not treating it as a race but just using them to pull me along and keep me in the zone as we say. Each one i pass gives a welcome and encouraging gesture and/or statement; usually through broken breaths and sentances, but like them being a runner I fully understand what they are saying. Onwards and upwards passing the people kicking about and the guys playing golf, thankfully this time no persons who appear to be cought short. I pass the girls playing football and the subs sitting at the side and yes they had a comment about me going past yet again. I was tempted to tell them that i would be past yet again before the night was out, but to be honest even though I was running well and in control, I didnt have enough breath to waste on unrequired speach.
I stride out eating up the lap as i go and once again I pass the two peculiar milk botles and their even more peculiar contents and I once again find that my mind has wondered over to wonder what the contents actually is, paint, milk; which I thought last lap; or some other strange content. I round the corner and head on up the long dragged out hill and finish this lap in good time. I start my fifth and final lap.
Finally the Finale
Entering the final lap I push on up the hill, wondering if I will be able to push on through to the end. I doing so I pass a dog walker whom I have already passed a few times on previous laps of this route. It would seem to be that they cover a quarter of a lap for every full one I cover. I push down the hill and have to dodge my way round another two walkers, taking a step onto the slip road in doing so I almost lose my ass to a passing car, would know what type of car it was had it took away ma ass that night as it was going so fast I never had a chance to recognise it. Happy ma ass is still in place I time warp ma way through the hole in the fence and zig zag the ruts in the gravel path for the final time tonight. The ball kickers are still there, the golfers have gone off somewhere else by now, the girls football are still playing away with the subs sitting on the grass looking bored as anything and by now it would seem that there only high light to their night is me running past as they make another comment about me passing by and they are all laughing and now I even get a few whistles; same I aint gonna pass by again who knows what I might get. So I push on knowing that this is my final lap of the night and again the strange bottles come into view and like the last few laps my body lets my mind wonder off to ponder what the hell is in them bottles, I really dont want to know or I could have easily stopped and had a look, but then that would have broken ma stride.. No exciting happening, if there have been any thus far; come between me and the point at which I started and so it is with a full stride and a push to the end that I finish tonights training session.
Tonights total is 6.10 miles
Weekly Total is 12.52 miles
Moggie's Mony Money Miles Total 73.44 miles
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