Nice out…
A week of lows and highs
It’s the halfway point between my races – 44 days since the Chiltern Wonderland, and 44 days until the Winter Downs 200. The planning has intensified, with lots of map work and the timing spreadsheet is becoming a thing of beauty with night and day coloured sections. However, I am always aware of the saying “no battle plan ever survives the first encounter with the enemy” so the idea is to enjoy the journey and adapt as necessary!
The week started with a bit of a downer – but one that has played on my mind for a while. The common statement about Parkinson’s is that “you don’t die from Parkinson’s, you die with it”. To simplify, your life expectancy doesn’t shrink but you die from the other ailments that Parkinson’s brings. Yay, what a bonus that is.
However, when you follow the social media groups, something doesn’t ring quite true about the situation, and a new report in nature.com shows that the younger you are, the shorter your life expectancy. (Link to the report is here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41531-023-00588-9). For someone aged 55 who would normally expect, on average, to live another 25 years this is shortened to 14 years with PD. Happy Days, but to repeat myself, the plan is to enjoy the journey and adapt as necessary!
Making the most of what’s left, it was another recce of the Winter Downs 200 (fundraising link: https://app.collectionpot.com/pot/puckfarkinsons200/) with Budgie and Steve, who are part of my support crew. We travelled the southern half of the Vanguard Way, which links the North Downs and South Downs Way.
It was a wet day, and the amount of rain that has fallen recently became clear when we came across several flooded sections, and had to wade thigh deep at a couple of points. Hopefully we will get a dry spell of weather in the lead up to the race.
We did have a laugh as we splashed along which helped raise the spirits, and encountered some unexpected wildlife as a pig had escaped from its field. We also rescued two sheep who were trapped in a bramble hedge.
The route was twisty and definitely needs me to be on the top of my map reading game to avoid wasting time and unnecessary miles for the legs.
Facebook reminded me that 10 years ago I was taking part in the Original Mountain Marathon in the Cheviots, splashing around in muddy puddles. Some things don’t change…
50 days!
(scratching around for a blogpost title of a potted catchup of the past week…)
Having had a banging headache all day this is a bit later than planned (and probably sounds a bit jaded). I did try going into the office but trying to look at a screen was too painful, even with sunglasses. Consequently I haven’t taken enough meds today and typing this is…challenging. (Apologies for the typos). [update: it’s really frustrating with the tremor causing multiple duplications both of letters and deletions. The original title was 51 days…]
It’s been an interesting week. I went for a long run on Friday 13th, in the knowledge that the weather would be biblical, and it lived up to expectations. The run turned into a walk, with the footpath churned into a chalk stream and so slippery that anything faster than a plod left me skating like Bambi. Having fallen over on the last three runs I had no desire to add to that total. Eventually the rain stopped and the stars came out. I tried taking a video during the rain but the phone didn’t want to know! I did get to share some of the path with a badger as it headed into the woods at Kingley Vale.
I ran on the Friday because I was due my covid and flu jab on Saturday and I left the weekend training free just in case of a reaction. Good move, as with a jab in each arm, they got more painful as the hours progressed and also left me feeling flattened. I dragged myself down into Portsmouth on Sunday morning for the Great South Run. I was stationed at a spot near the charities corner (and their sound systems), Power Up Station (and its sound system) and the Batala drummers. It wasn’t quiet!
It was a lovely sunny morning for a run, and it was fun marshalling the lemmings (sorry, locals) as they tried to cross the road, sometimes when there was actually a gap between runners. It was also great to catch up with some friends who were helping out too.
The rest of the week was spent trying to fight off the effects of the jabs at work, and on Saturday was a trip to the Centurion Running shop for the final bits of kit for the long run in December (fundraising link here: https://app.collectionpot.com/pot/puckfarkinsons200/). The shop is excellent, and I made the most of the free tea, coffee and homemade flapjack!
After a 4 hour round trip (thanks to the A3/M25 roadworks) it was off for a run as I needed to get the legs moving again and keep practicing with the race gear to reduce time spent faffing, such as with putting on overtrousers etc. whilst wrangling the rucksack.
The rain had left the tracks near me a little damp…
The run to QE and back turned into a bit of an upper body workout too, with a large tree across the path meaning that I had to do some climbing.
Sunday was a quick bimble with Willow around QE, and a chat with Budgie over coffee and cake about our recce of the southern section of the Vanguard way this weekend. That just leaves the section at the start between Juniper Hall and the North Downs Way to check over as some reports say the route is a bit “vague”!
Owen Delany has produced another classic “map” for Centurion Running – to give you an idea of the route:
68 DAYS TO GO!
Winter Downs 200. 13th – 17th December
The time is flying by and the race is in just over two months. Eek! Last weekend was a run along the first half of the Vanguard Way, which links the North Downs Way and South Downs Way. Apart from run training, it was chance to explore that section of the route (which I’ve never been on before) and see what the terrain was like. It wasn’t flat, but definitely gentler hills than the Downs that it links.
It was also a warm and dry day – neither of which I expect in December! It was great to be running again with Budgie, my ever-reliable training partner. It’s been a long time since we’ve had chance to have a bimble together, and we definitely earned the ice-cream at Forest Row.
We’ll be doing the last part in a couple of weeks’ time so hopefully the weather stays fine (famous last words!)
Apart from challenging myself, I’m doing the 200 miles to raise funds for Parkinson’s UK and Cureparkinson’s, charities which care for those with the disease and also research into a cure. The link to the fundraising is here: https://app.collectionpot.com/pot/puckfarkinsons200/