zaterdag 30 april 2011

Month Total 1080

11hrs 34min behind schedule now so starting to catch up a wee bit.
Still need an average of 86.75 min a month extra to get properly back on track but at least I feel I've made a start now.

Queen´s Day Run

35 min
Start 20.00
With the near gale force wind and the high pollen count my lungs were having a hard time of it and I gave up after a short run, using Sproet being tired as an excuse not to push it any further. Felt pleased to have got my month total target completed for the first time in a while so glad I at least got out for this short pre-sunset run.

vrijdag 29 april 2011

Week total 354

Good catch up week.

donderdag 28 april 2011

Dead Fish and Levi's

84 min
Start 5.45

Well that´s my month total more than complete and still 2 April running days to go. So even if I don´t manage to get out, what with Tanya being here and the various Koninginnedag outings (Queen's Day here, but nothing to do with the UK royal wedding which Tanya is coming here to flee from) I'll still have made a good start in paying back my deficit running time.










My found-in-the-charity-shop good-as-new nice flat Levi's shoes felt fine on this first test run. Well actually I totally forgot I was wearing them so didn't really notice how they felt so that must be a good thing. Couldn't find matching shoe laces for them, must have a look in my travel stuff, I'm sure I had some in my rucksack in Marrocco.

woensdag 27 april 2011

(not quite) Dawn Run

92 min
Start 7.00
Couldn't drag myself out of bed in time for the pre-dawn light despite the voice on my phone repeatedly politely nagging me to do so. So the run was less interesting than it might have been an hour earlier but I got out the door eventually all the same so that's the main thing. Took a banana with me for 20 minutes into the run (somewhere along the way I've picked up that this is the best time to eat to fuel the muscles in the morning).

maandag 25 april 2011

Cows at Dawn

88 min
Start 6.00


































No, the dark bits of sock aren't caused by sweaty feet, the light bits are caused by all the pollen that came off the grass I was running through.

zaterdag 23 april 2011

Tulip Fields

90 min
Start 19.00
Started off by customising my old Asics-with-the-worn-right-toe. Cut out the toe pieces completely for summer ventilation.
Headed out to the tulip fields as I thought this must be the right time for them to be in bloom and yes, the great unnaturally bright swathes of colour were there in all their multi-colour glory once again.




vrijdag 22 april 2011

Week Total 346

Finally! A week (more than) up to target. If I can keep this up next week I'll even manage to drag the whole month of April up to speed. ('Don't count your minutes before they're run...')

Red Sunrise

62 min
Start 6.00
Fairly heavy going. My lungs are not co-operating properly with my legs (and I forgot the asthma drugs before going out again) so I had regular photo breaks and never really got up to speed (apart from one short AC/DC burst on the home strait). Listening to the Slow Runners Podcast most of the time.













No proper pre-sunrise light show due to thin cloud cover on the horizon but this did mean that when the sun was finally visible it broke through as a wonderful red ball in the middle of the grey. Had a brief dither at the crossroads trying to decide which way I wanted to go but in the end the direction of my run was dictated by my wanting to keep the spectacular rising sun in sight for as long as possible.
Afterwards an item on the news made me realise why I'm probably having more trouble than usual with my exercise-induced asthma-lite at the moment - the high pollen count could be irritating my airways. I'm glad I've realised this as an external factor is always less worrying than the possibility that it's getting worse for some internal reason.

woensdag 20 april 2011

Red Run

88 min
Start 19.00
Ran out to the houseboat in Baarn, passing lots of rampantly blooming bushes on the way. This crimson rhodedendron-type creature was the most spectacular. Once there made a photo of my redhead shop model who's been there for the past few years to send to Anita to ask is she can find room for her when Carin moves. Run out was a bit of a plod, with Howard Jakobson and Jon Snow's Desert Island discs on the go. Way back ended well with AC/DC - I always find myself clicking through to them when I want to get moving properly.

dinsdag 19 april 2011

Beukbergen

106 min
Start 5.45






zondag 17 april 2011

Dangerous Woodpiles at Dawn

90 min
Start 6.00
Dragged myself out of bed when the alarm went at 5.44. Sunrise is about an hour later than that here now so I thought I might catch some of the best pre-sunrise lightshow. Grey skies meant that there wasn't really much of that to start with but never mind I was out and running, which is the main thing. One of my photos is of a road crossing which looked sO different from usual as there was no traffic at this time on a Sunday.

vrijdag 15 april 2011

Week total 243

Finally got going again after my headcold had me too pathetic for running at the start of the month. Not quite up to speed yet but hopefully going in the right direction.

Red Sun (No Camera...)

68 min
Start 19.30
Forgot to take my camera out with me. The setting sun was a perfect red ball in the otherwise dull grey sky. Went out for 22 minutes with The Slow Runners Podcast first and then had an Archers pause to start getting food ready for my return later. Second part of my run went really well. Scotland Introducing podcast gave me enough reasons to increase my tempo regularly while running randomly about the streets. Spotted my first electric car on a charger. Dropped in to see if Joep was home as I saw lights on in the house but he doesn't come back till tomorrow.

donderdag 14 april 2011

Sheepish Tulips

81 min
Start 17.00





















First 55 minutes in the polder and then back to check on food which I´d left on low so that it would be almost ready on my return. (Don't tell the sheep but it was possibly family...) Then out for another circuit.

dinsdag 12 april 2011

Dead Daffodils

54 min
Start 17.00
So what killed them? Was it the digger? The train? The threatening thundercloud?



Ok, I'll admit it, the dead daffodils I came across at the end of my run weren't the same ones that were alive at the start (or were they...? Maybe someone picked them and discarded them a few fields later - I'll have to check tomorrow now that I've thought of this).