Week total 424 ~ Month total 1700=28:20hr/min

62min
Start 17.00
Was only planning on going out for a token half hour or so as did a fair bit of walking yesterday and today and just wanted to go out briefly to see how the fresh snow which fell on Friday and Saturday night was holding up on the fields. But one of my new running podcasts came on and there was a good streaky sky so I did a few extra detours to complete the hour till it was almost dark. The new podcast is an amateur one I found on i-tunes. Runners from different places around the world telling about their running sessions. At first I wasn't too sure if I was going to like it, but it does have a tremendous variety of voices, from those who are even slower than I am (which I find quite hard to believe) to those who do sub 3hour marathons.

Mooning about

107 min
Start 16.00










A huge full moon rising and some good music coming on mYpod made me do another circuit of the Eng, extending what had already become a longer run than intended. Stopped briefly to help up a woman who'd been pulled over by her enthusiastic 6 month old labrador. The road was slippy after a brief hailstorm that had had me heading directly and diagonally across the fields towards home earlier, but it was so brief that I could just brush the hailstones off and so didn't even really have time to get wet from them. Went out to the cycle bridge and back via the Klompenpad, haven't been out that way for a while since I discovered the shortcut to the Soesterduinen. Sun breaking through the clouds occasionally was welcome after the greyness of the day up till then. It's +5 degrees so just had 2 thin long sleeved layers + my luminous Egmond t-shirt on.

Going Postal

95 min
Start 15.00
Wanted to get out as early as possible this afternoon as more snow was forecast so ran round to the post office with a small parcel I had to get in the post, planning to just have a shortish run about the back streets before the lowering grey skies broke. But once there I fancied going out across the railway to the polder so chose one of the shorter circuits. After doing this the skies were getting heavier and darker but still no actual snow so did a round of the Eng. By this time I was actually enjoying my run and decided just to keep going till I'd done 90 minutes. Took in all the furthest edges of the fields, stopping briefly to warm my face and hands on various horsey muzzles along the way.

Going the Distance

100 min
Start 16.30
Just like the song says, 'The sun is going down and the moon is coming up'. By turning 180 degrees I could make these 2 photos this afternoon. Great run in -5 frost. Kept hat, gloves and top layer on even when going up and down the hills for 15 minutes.

Roamin' in the gloamin' (ach, it's Burns Day...)

60 min
Start 17.15
Just as I was starting my run about the fields there was an awful lot of bird noise and waves and waves of geese flew over. Bit late to be emigrating for the winter in January are they not? Anyway, it was another 'don't feel like going out' day but once I actually got going it was quite a good run. The snow means that the fields stay lighter for longer even though the sky was a dull and darkening grey. Stayed out for longer than I intended and enjoyed varying my speed to suit the music mYpod was trickling into my head as I tramped through the snow along the outer edges of the fields and then did another circuit of the main path.

Week Total 283

35 min
Start 16.00
Really didn't feel like going out into the snow but did have a brief run about the fields. The corn stubble fields were looking very well defined in the snow so took a photo of them to illustrate what I jump over when running through them. Someone was having a 50th party at the windmill and they'd built a fairly scarily enormous snowman outside.

Over the bridge

46 min
Start 16.00
Had planned to take the long route out to Baarn, drink tea on the ark and then run home before dark but it was so grey and miserable outside that I spent too long reading my book next to the radiator (I now have red stripes on my back...) and it was only because I'd already put my running clothes on this morning that I managed to drag myself out the door at all. Drove to Carin (using the excuse that I had to take a book and a film to her) then had a short run there before the tiny sharp needles of hail/sleet were getting heavy enough for me to decide to call it a day.

Did do some hill-training on the bridge over the Eem though so it wasn't a totally lazy and short session. Up and down the steps a number of times and then back via the slope.

First Light

73 min
Start 7.50
Out to the Soesterduinen before it was light. Was greyish dawn when I got there. Got 'lost' briefly when I veered off to the right instead of my till now usual direct route across to the hilly bits. Hard going but glad I got out early.

Rising Moon

60 min
Start 17.30
Didn't get to the heath in time to have enough light to run across to the hillier bits though there still was enough for it to be much lighter there than in the surrounding woods and streets. Really creepy sounding American crime-writer on Desert Island Discs on the way out and then some good bouncy music on the way back which had me racing along, sometimes in a 1-2-leap stride which probably looked fairly daft but certainly got my speed up.

Bum Bite

69 min
Start 17.00
Got home just as the light was starting to fade and didn't really feel like going out into the grey mist but I knew if I went in and warmed the house up I'd never get out again later so just got changed as soon as I was in the door and went straight out again. Got out to the Soesterduinen in the last of the light and ran across to the end of the sand and back. 2 dogs, a white German Shepherd and a black Belgian one ran up to me. I stopped to say hello to them and they were friendly enough, sniffed at me and then ran off to find their owner. As soon as she appeared over the hill they charged back to me and there was a definite collision of their teeth and my backside at one point. No actual damage but any 'normal' person would have been terrified. Stupid woman 'explained' that they thought it was odd that I didn't have a dog with me, whereas she shOUld have been apologising of course. She put the black one (who'd made the rather feeble attempt at biting me) on the lead and I ran off, only to have the white one jump up at me again, so she put that one on the lead too. Still not a trace of an apology. People like her give dog owners a bad name. Anyway, this little incident aside it was a good run. The ground is thawed properly now - when I went to run across the first ploughed field on the Eng I almost lost my shoes as the mud tried to suck them from me. Good heavy going. Took me a while to get going properly - maybe I should take some Ventolin when it's misty - but on the way back I had a few longish faster bits when good music came along.

Week Total 351

89 min
Start 16.30
Translantic running mates... One of my online chums from a running messageboard is doing her first half-marathon today in Phoenix, Arizona so I'd planned to co-ordinate my training run to begin at the same time as her official start. 8.30 her time, was 16.30 here. Sun set at 1700 today so it was a good time to get out to the Soesterduinen in the last of the daylight. It was a scorching +6C when I left and by the time I'd done the 20min over the Eng + streets to get there I already had my gloves and hat off. Another 10 minutes over the sand to get to the hilly bits and I took my outer layer off and hung it in a tree. Also went to take a drink from my waterbottle and discovered that I hadn't pushed down the easy drinking lip properly so most of it had scooshed out onto my sweater. Big wet patch on the back. Luckily it wasn't sO warm that I desperately needed a proper drink so the leftovers were enough to keep me going. Ran up and down the sandy hills for 20 minutes. Now that the frost is out the ground the sand is much looser so it's even harder work than it was yesterday. Met a huge harlequin Great Dane (well, I saw him coming from a distance and made a detour so as to make sure I'd meet him...) He allowed himself to be patted in that distant distinguished way that good Danes have and then trotted back to his owners. 2 ponies galloped past just as I was taking a photo of my arrangement of garments in the tree.

Hill Training

100 min
Start 14.00
It's about +2C here now and feels almost warm after all the sub zero snowy days recently. Snow is almost gone though there are patches here and










there still. Went back to the Soesterduinen this afternoon and really enjoyed running up and down the hillier bits for 20 minutes straight. Got so warm I even took my gloves off at one point, something I haven't done for weeks.

Soesterduinen

101 min
Start 14.15
Decided to take a new route this afternoon. This sandy 'heath' area is about a 20minute run from home. I usually tend to stick to the fields right behind the house or the route out to the river but I should really make the effort to go out to the Soesterduinen more often as it's one of the few places where you can be out for a while here without meeting too many people en route. It was quite 'busy' today as the schools are out on Wednesday afternoon and there were a lot of kids sledging. Good run, steady slowish pace most of the time with an occasional accelerated 3 minutes when some faster jumpy music came along. Good to get the some hill training in too.

Snowy Sunset

61 min
Start 16.30

Around the Eng, through some fresh ankle-deep snow at the bottom of the fields.

Week total 411

128 min
Start 9.00
Egmond was cancelled due to Health and Safety concerns... So went out for a run this morning of about the same length (in time if perhaps not quite in distance...) as I would have been doing there. The Klompenpad circuit in anti-clockwise direction + a circuit of the streets at the lower end of Soest + some variations about the Eng to complete the time. It was snowing for a while at the start but nothing too dramatic. Met a couple of Lakeland Terriers without the more usual 'Aeredale' markings, so one was totally black and the other grey. My new fleece gloves were much warmer than my old velvet ones. Perhaps even too warm. I also had one layer too much on top for comfort. I'd dressed with minus 7 and a force 5 gale in mind as that had been forecast for Egmond. But it was barely below freezing and windstill so my thermal vest + 3 thin layers on top of that (plus the standard 2 sports bras of course) was a tiny bit too warm. Mind you I wasn't going too fast because of the snow underfoot so it wasn't as if I was seriously sweating. The water in the ditches between the fields is no longer frozen so it looks like a thaw has started.

Snow-by-sea

64min
Start 16.30
Decided to have a practise run on the beach this afternoon to decide what combination of clothes will be best for the circumstances of Sunday's run. Sun was just under so I set out towards Monster and turned back after half an hour so that I was running towards the fading red skies above Hoek van Holland. Top half of the beach was white with its thin covering of snow. Had one of my (cheap imitation, but every bit as good) Buffs pulled up over my face for the first half of the run. Better than a balaclava as thinner and easier to breath through. It did get a bit wet after a while though, once I'd warmed up a bit I pulled it down - when I got home it had frozen. I also need slightly warmer gloves. Just got a mail from the organisation of Egmond and they've changed the route because of the paths through the woods behind the beach being too dangerous with ice and snow - so a new route has been set out with almost all of the race taking place on the beach itself.

Boat Race

95min
Start 16.00
Klompenpad circuit with a few extra bits of the Eng. Upped my speed on the stretch along the Eem as there was a huge cargo barge to my left and I was trying to keep just ahead of its nose. I suspect it would have overtaken me if it hadn't had to slow down to go through the narrow opening of the cycle bridge. It was good to have this motivation to go a bit faster than my usual plod. That's how the official races work for me - lots of other moving objects for me to try to keep ahead of (and very occasionally I even overtake a few, but mostly it's just a question of trying not to be last...)

6 feet in the snow

78min
Start 16.45
Dusty and I went out along the frozen snow filled path behind the riding stables. She had a good big full speed circle gallop when we got to the open bit and then trotted along demurely, deigning to greet 2 black labs and a retriever we met along the way before skipping off when they got too enthusiastic. Ran back through the village after reaching the polder as it was almost dark. Few sprints along the cycle path when some good music came on mYpod. Did the circuit back to the stables in 52 minutes then did some running about various streets to make up the time till Julia was finished with her lesson. Running with a dog is always better than running without.

Zeist visit

46min
Start 16.30

After delivering some stuff in Zeist this afternoon went for a run through the woods and streets there. There were more skaters than runners.

Week Total 406

76min
Start 16.00

Trying out a Garmin navigating device I discovered that my Klompenpad circuit is 8.9 km if I cross at the railway station both ways and that my average speed was only 7.1kph. Ok, so that was mostly on snowy grass and with a brief stop to climb a stile but it is a vEry slow plodding pace compared to the 10.3 I averaged in Amsterdam with the half. Even the Urk/Zwolle slog went faster than that. Ah well I wasn't doing any interval stuff and it's not really feasible to go faster when it's icy. I suppose a training run is always going to be slower than a competition.

Snow and soup

44 min
Start 16.30
Was home before dark so decided to get in a run to reduce the time I 'have' to run tomorrow. One circuit of the Eng, taking in all the far corners of all the fields to make it longer than the usual route round the paths. Bit of light prickly snow now and then. Had David Tennant on Desert Island Discs for some of the run. Funny to hear how he once met Tom Baker - 2 Time Lords meeting before one of them knew he was going to be one - sounds like a Dr Who story writing itself... I'd put on a pan of soup on the lowest heat source before I went out so it was good to come in to the smell of warm tomato and pumpkin.

The Eagle has landed in 2010

121 min
Start 15.30
Out to the cycle bridge after a diagonal run about the fields on the Eng. Back via the Klompenpad. Turned left through the industrial estate towards the end of this as I'd seen huge dark grey clouds of smoke in the distance when I was running along the Eem and was curious as to what was on fire. But as soon as I was in among the built up area I couldn't see the smoke any more so just turned back towards Soest. Past the Harley dealer and back via the Birkenstraat and then right through some streets I've never been in before and across the main street back to the Eng. Was thinking of doing a fast circuit as I haven't done one for weeks but the path there was still icy so just kept to the grass verge.