A short trot to test my achilles

The weather has not been kind, although I did manage a 75 min dry run on Wednesday night at Street O. Sadly it also seemed to inflame my achilles all over again. Not running at all over the weekend would send me stir crazy and the promise of a run keeps me sane during the week. I told myself I needed to 'test' my achilles on a longer hilly run. It was due to stay dry til lunch time so I was up and out to make the most of the decent weather. I bundled up warm as I was not expecting to run fast and knew it would be worse up there than it seemed at home.

 Before 9 I was parked up at the Hare and Hounds and admiring the new houses. I am not sure I would want to live behind the pub but the views and runs straight out onto the moors would be great. It is a nuisance that I have to drive if I want to run along something other than muddy fields or the canal tow path. I set off slowly along the reservoirs and into Roddlesworth Woods.They were beautiful and quite empty. The overflow channel from the reservoirs was a cascade of water but the paths were fairly dry. My legs felt heavy and trying to keep up any sort of jog was not easy. I allowed myself a little walk up to the visitor centre and then jogged up towards Darwen Moor. This is one of my favourite running areas. It is very varied, has some amazing and mixed views - including Darwen, Blackburn and Preston.

 The wind was fierce up here so I took a bit of a detour before turning to head for the tower. At least the main paths were relatively dry. From the tower I reversed the Anglezarke Amble route in the hope of finding a friends lost camera. I could not believe how lucky I was with the weather- bright blue sky and sun! (I later found from Dad that Somerset was still being battered by rain and storm force winds).

 The moor was boggy and the ground frozen enough in places to be slippy and in others soft enough to break through to deep icy water. I took one tumble as one foot disappeared deep into the ground but no harm was done, except for muddy hands and knees.

My achilles had settled into a pattern of sort of OK if I did not push it. Turning back towards the tower with the wind on my back was a joy but I knew it would be short lived. I made the most of it and kept a decent pace one now icy free paths. The tower looked great and I laughed as I remembered how we had told the boys that it was Lancashire's rocket when they were little.  I just hope the weather is this kind next weekend for the AA event.

I abandoned my plan of the race route towards Slipper Lowe and descended to the woods again. It was muddy but more sheltered from the wind. I explored and had a lovely run round paths I had not run on for months and then decided that the weather was certainly going to turn, just as predicted. It was a slow and rather painful run back to the car.

 I had managed about 18 miles and just hoped I had not done too much harm. At least I had made the most of the day and really enjoyed my time out in the sunshine. I tried out the UD vest again and it was fine. Still not sure I prefer it to my NF sack or if I need to carry lots whether it will be big enough. I had been driving for less than 10 minutes before the rain arrived; perfect timing. I was quite happy to spend the afternoon indoors watching the wind and rain outside.