After 12+ hours of sleep I decided it was finally time to get my lazy butt out of bed and go for a run. I wasn’t sure how far I wanted to run since it has only been a week since the marathon in San Diego. I just knew that I needed to run. Running is one of my favorite activities in England, its part of what keeps me sane. I decided if I picked the right route it would help to remind me of how lucky I am to be stationed here.
I headed out my front door and did my usual warm up lap around the neighborhood, then headed for downtown Harrogate. I forgot how beautiful the town center is, especially that early in the morning when it is empty because most British people are sleeping off their hangovers. I then decided to head out of town and out towards the Ripley Castle. What better way to remind myself how great running in England is than to run by a castle? All I had to run by when I was at my mom’s house this past month was a sewer plant. Yes, a sewer plant. I think I ran by it about 5 times.
Anyway, as I headed out towards the castle I was reminded of how many hills Harrogate has and the many pastures of sheep that surround the town. It’s a beautiful place, and the hills are great for training. It felt great to run here again. I realized that I actually missed something about England.
Round trip my run ended up being just over 10 miles, which isn’t too bad considering I really didn’t plan on doing more than 8. As I ran I decided that I am going to gradually start building my weekly mileage up to run an Ultra Marathon in 2008. I will probably end up scheduling my leave around one that year, so if anyone has any suggestions for a good one to run please let me know. I would love to do Comrades in Africa, but I am thinking that is not a good choice for a first ultra marathon. Also, if anyone is planning on running one already maybe I can schedule my leave around it and run the same one. It would be nice to actually know somebody else doing the race.
Here's a pic of Ripley Castle...
No comments:
Post a Comment