Now here's a rare thing, running long distance on a Saturday, especially after 18 miles on Sunday, but we are due to go to a friends party in Nottingham this evening so it may not be a good idea to plan to run 20 miles tomorrow....hence today.
The only member of the usual crew are signed up for this outing is Mark as Richard has family commitments & Sue is working. We are tagging along with Damian as he wants to do a run from Oakham to Uppingham XC and a bit further depending on what we need to achieve today. The program says 20 miles but I've planned an XC route back from Uppingham which is almost as hilly as the outward leg so I think we can settle on slightly less distance and still achieve the program aims.
The day does not start to plan as Judith (who is meant to be joining us on the Oakham to Braunston part of the run) fails to show up in Braunston to dump her car. This means we leave for Oakham 15 mins late and when we get there (the same time as Mark as he has also been given the 'Judith run-a-round') we find Damian has already left. A few frantic phone calls later & we all meet up in Egleton & start our run from there.
We are following the route of 'The Rutland Round' which takes us XC to Braunston and then by trails via Leighfield Lodge to Belton-In-Rutland. David & Kate (his dog) leave us at Leighfield to do a shorter run and the remaining trio head off up the hill to Riddlington ridge. As if by a pre-arranged signal we all walk the steeper parts of the hill up to the ridge and then trot down into Belton. From Belton we cross the undulating section to the A47 where we dip quickly in and out of Wardley village and then it's off into Wardley Woods. Amazingly this year there is NO MUD in Wardley Woods, which just goes to show how little rain there has been this year, as in previous years you could always find mud here even if it had been dry for weeks at a time. We climb out of the woods to arrive on the outskirts of Uppingham and start our return to Braunston with a short jog along the (fortunately very wide) verge of the A47 which is quite busy. Soon we turn off on a field track back towards Riddlington and peace and tranquility return. The sun is also now making it's presence felt and it turns out that we are running on the hottest October day for several decades. We rejoin the ridge track where the metalled road from Riddlington ends at a farm, and head off back in the direction of the barns at the top of the hill from Leighfield. We run past the barns & follow the ridge to it's conclusion and then head downhill towards Top Windmill, but turn off to the left before then and take the uphill path through a small plantation to end up on the ridge above Braunston. Because we still need a few more miles we head away from Braunston and towards the top of The Wisp before turning right and dropping down to the trail which leads through the middle of the valley back to Braunston, ending up in the church grounds. Mark is keen to get closer to 20 miles so he and I do a lap of the village, while Damian (who already has an extra mile+ on us having started his run from Oakham rather than Egleton) heads off to our house in the village.
In total Mark & I run 18.7 miles and decide that's quite enough given the terrain (not to mention the heat).
To finish we all sit with our legs in the swimming pool (water temp 18 degC) which acts as an ice bath in an attempt to kill off any lactic buildup. Looking forward to a lie in on Sunday mroning...lets hope I manage to stay awake for tonights party !
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