102 posts! The 100 post milestone almost slipped past me!!

I was surprised to note that the last of the recent batch of blog posts was the 102nd entry, so I thought I should do a brief look back over this.

This blog was created back in April 2015 when I started my training for my maiden Ultra (100km Race To The Stones), and during those four months to July 2015, it is clear I was highly focused and fired up, hence 62 posts and 1.6million steps done at an average of 13,250 steps a day.

The effort to achieve this saw not a drop down  to a steady state of running and exercise afterwards but a complete switch off as for the following eleven months, the average step count drop to 7,350 with some months being as low as 5,800.
There were attempts to achieve 10k average in a month but it was half-hearted, without purpose and unsustainability in the way I was trying to achieve it.
Blog posts in those eleven posts was just 29 and a lot of those were talk of getting back to fitness etc but not much action in reality.

This month with one week to go, I have done 12 (including this one) blog posts, I will produce the most steps in a month for the last twelve months with a distinct reality of beating the my fourth highest (April 15) monthly step count.

The last twelve months have been extremely challenging for me personally as factors beyond my control have spiralled out of control, taking me to physical lows and stressed to the edge.
The Miracle Morning book made a big impact on me, and it allowed me to draw a line and start again but with purpose and more drive to achieve my aims.....I am not out of woods but I am moving closer to getting out of those woods.
Another thing that has kept me going is a blog by a friend of mine, Grant, who actually was inspired to do so because of my blog during the Ultra training, so it is ironic that his blog has been since inspiring me to keep on trying through to the successes of this month.
Grant runs, does triathlon, and recently did a half-IronMan which quite frankly is amazing - I well recommend following him as he continues on his own fitness journey - http://runtrisleep.blogspot.co.uk/

The Road To Thetford - Day 21 - Hot and knackered but I did it anyhow

My original plan was to be up for 5am and be out of the house by 5.30am but I was not committed enough to get up at 5am, so when I did get up at 6.30am and out of the house by 6.45am, the sun was burning through the last of the mist that would have kept things cooler for me in the early stage of today's long run.

The route I took clipped the edge of Moulton St.Mary before skirting the edge of Beighton, popping out at South Burlingham, into Lingwood, then Buckenham, Hassingham, edge of Cantley before returning to Freethorpe - about 11.5 miles and three hours.

It was clear early on that the fatigue from yesterday's 6.5mile run plus the harsh heat of the morning sun was going to make today's run tough both physically and mentally - far more walking than I wanted and because I had decided that today's run was 12-14 miles or a max of three hours, the time limit was applied.

It would have been so easy to stop after a couple of miles and head home but I choose to push on accepting it would not be a great long-run but life is not about easy, its about what we do when the going gets tough - now you'll have Billy Ocean ear-worming for the rest of the day.......

Beighton Church which is far walk away from the main part of the village and due to being surrounded by farmland and a few  well-to-do homes, it is not easy to get a full shot of the church itself.

I passed an alpaca farm and these were the best shots I could get.

Shaun the Sheep!

South Burlingham Church

There is a lot of wild flowers in bloom at the moment in the countryside.

A footpath from Buckenham/Hassingham Road to Wood Lane although there is point that you get into the woodland and you wonder if you are now trespassing but the dark wooded area was cooling.

From Wood lane another footpath takes you to School Road - I came across two people riding their horses here.

Mini square bales - the area seems to mainly go for round bales rather than square bales.

Church in Buckenham (and round bales.....)

Church in Hassingham.

Another footpath but the entrance is so covered in stinging nettles that I choose to stick to the road.

The the second of the three-field public footpath, had been baled up so I was able to get a close up as I walked through the field back to Freethorpe.

The Road To Thetford - Day Twenty

For a six mile run, I didn't have many photos that were different to recent ones.

Tomorrow I am aiming for a twelve to fourteen mile long run - with temperatures set to 25 degrees centigrade, I am also aiming to get up early early to avoid too much traffic.

Combined with some walking I did with my daughter (wanting to do Pokemon go) I racked up over 20k of steps today.

The Road To Thetford - Day Nineteen

After no running for four days, I did three miles this morning including the three-field public footpath

Good sunny day.

The Road To Thetford - Day Fourteen - Take the Shortcut

So I set off to do 10 miles heading to Reedham, and along the Wherryman's Way to Berney Arms and then from there via Weavers Way to Halvergate before heading home - well at least that was the plan.....

Heading to Reedham I have duly noted the beer festival happening next weekend.

Get to Reedham and as soon as I was on the Wherryman's way route my shoes were soaked from the water in the long grass that is the path.

Below is the reeds in the river.

There were loads of these butterflies as well as dragonflies and some annoying horseflies.

Must be really peaceful to live here.

From Berney Arms, there are two routes back to Halvergate and last year I only ever did one of them as it was mainly hard-surfaced based with fantastic views.

On this day, I decided to explore the other route that starts at Berney Arms train station and duly noted the warning of standing water being on this route.

It was all on fields but well sign-posted with Weaver Way signs.

Lots of muds, cows, cowpats, and standing water as promised with some parts so waterlogged that there were planks to help you across.

Moo!

Now I thought this route would be quicker than my normal route but it snaked it way along the edge of a number of fields, winding back and forth, so in the end I did an extra 2.5 miles than planned but also spent an extra 90 minutes as a result because a lot of that route was not really suited to running.