Tribute to Geronimo Jim and the Morpeth lads
For those of you who don’t know Clare is a lecturer at New College in Durham, so last week was half term, I was lucky and managed to get cover for the shop and had some time off with her. The week before we saw an on line deal for a short stay at Linden Hall, so we took advantage of it and booked in for two nights.
Linden Hall is just outside of Longhorsely which is near Morpeth, I’ve driven past many times but I’ve never stayed, so I was looking forward to taking advantage of the spar, pool, jacquzzi, steam room, sauna oh!
And the golf course, perfect for running round.
Linden Hall is just outside of Longhorsely which is near Morpeth, I’ve driven past many times but I’ve never stayed, so I was looking forward to taking advantage of the spar, pool, jacquzzi, steam room, sauna oh!
And the golf course, perfect for running round.
After checking in we had a bit of a chill out and relax then put on our running kit and had an explore of the area.
The hotel has a fantastic drive, it’s about half a mile long, we checked it out then headed off on the country lanes and got a few more miles in before finishing off in the pool, sauna and jacquzzi.
Over the next couple of days we had a nice time visiting Morpeth and Alnwick and relaxing in the Hotel. I still managed to run twice a day, it was nice to run in a new area, but even better was the fartlek session that I did on the golf course.
The golf course is really undulating and soft underfoot. I did some good efforts, but my best were probably when I saw the grounds staff in the distance and switched direction and hid from them. I did ask the reception staff if it was ok and they didn’t have a problem, but I didn’t want to risk upsetting a groundsman with a rake! I got back to reception and realized that I was covered in mud, so I had to take my shoes off and stripped off to my shorts and dashed through reception to our room. I’m sure posh hotels don’t take too kindly to muddy sweaty runners messing up the place.
The hotel has a fantastic drive, it’s about half a mile long, we checked it out then headed off on the country lanes and got a few more miles in before finishing off in the pool, sauna and jacquzzi.
Over the next couple of days we had a nice time visiting Morpeth and Alnwick and relaxing in the Hotel. I still managed to run twice a day, it was nice to run in a new area, but even better was the fartlek session that I did on the golf course.
The golf course is really undulating and soft underfoot. I did some good efforts, but my best were probably when I saw the grounds staff in the distance and switched direction and hid from them. I did ask the reception staff if it was ok and they didn’t have a problem, but I didn’t want to risk upsetting a groundsman with a rake! I got back to reception and realized that I was covered in mud, so I had to take my shoes off and stripped off to my shorts and dashed through reception to our room. I’m sure posh hotels don’t take too kindly to muddy sweaty runners messing up the place.
On Sunday I’d met up with Terry Wall and we did our long run together. Terry doesn’t live too far from me, so I drove to his for an easy 16 mile. We hadn’t run together for a while so it was good to catch up, we’d both raced the day before at the Signal relays so it was good to have a bit of post race banter. We were running and chatting and the time flew by, I felt really comfortable until about fourteen miles then my legs started to tighten up a bit.
Myself and Terry are old school and don’t have a Garmin between us, so how on earth do we know how far we’ve been? Well to be honest, it doesn’t really bother me if I’m out by a small amount anyway, but as we neared his home we were on a familiar road which Terry uses for mile efforts, we timed ourselves. Once we knew how quick we were going and how long we were out for it was easy to work out roughly how far we’d been, (we were going a lot faster than we’d thought, that’s what happens when you get talking).
My legs were heavy for a few days after the run with Terry, I tried to do a session on Thursday, but I felt really rough, I started my session but after my first set I had to call it a day before I threw up, no point in doing a tough session when you feel ill.
I felt much better by Friday, so I headed off to Herrington to see how the National course was coming on. The officials and helpers were hard at it getting the route measured and taping out. I did a few efforts around the route, making the most of the hills, efforts up them and hard and fast down them, for the first time since Sunday I felt good. It was nice to be running on a cross country course again, it reminded me why I like cross country so much.
Myself and Terry are old school and don’t have a Garmin between us, so how on earth do we know how far we’ve been? Well to be honest, it doesn’t really bother me if I’m out by a small amount anyway, but as we neared his home we were on a familiar road which Terry uses for mile efforts, we timed ourselves. Once we knew how quick we were going and how long we were out for it was easy to work out roughly how far we’d been, (we were going a lot faster than we’d thought, that’s what happens when you get talking).
My legs were heavy for a few days after the run with Terry, I tried to do a session on Thursday, but I felt really rough, I started my session but after my first set I had to call it a day before I threw up, no point in doing a tough session when you feel ill.
I felt much better by Friday, so I headed off to Herrington to see how the National course was coming on. The officials and helpers were hard at it getting the route measured and taping out. I did a few efforts around the route, making the most of the hills, efforts up them and hard and fast down them, for the first time since Sunday I felt good. It was nice to be running on a cross country course again, it reminded me why I like cross country so much.
I’ve felt a bit frustrated since the Signal relays, I ran ok, but not as well as I’d have liked, the lack of training and speed took its toll on a short fast road race, but on the grass around Herrington I felt at home. The BMAF XC champs are here in a couple of weeks now, I feel happier now that I’ve been on the grass again.