As an accountant the first week of any new year is always very busy. This last week was also the beginning of increased triathlon training. I didn’t do much towards the end of last year, what with illness, holidays and illness again. The end of December and Xmas saw a restart to exercise at at easier level. But this last week – it really and truly kicked in.

On Monday I did a 45 minute run as the sun was setting. Although it was a slow run, I was up against the clock as I ran down by the canal without a head torch, needing to make it out onto the road before I lost the light. Here you can see some beautiful views at the start of my run.

On Tuesday I spent an hour doing intervals on the turbo. It’s been a while since I’ve done indoor cycling and I had forgotten how much sweating is involved. It was hard but you definitely get that post turbo glow.

Wednesday was my first double day. An early rise to get in the pool at 6am before work and another hour on the turbo after work.

Thursday was an easy day with a 30 minute run and a 45 minute workout with my PT. Wait. Did I say easy? Emma never lets me off easy. It was hard work but I am getting stronger all the time.

I didn’t sleep well all week so on Friday I ditched my 2200m early swim in favour of a lie in and some much needed rest. Sometimes you just have to listen to your body.

On Saturday I dragged myself out for a really slow hour of running. It was a really cold morning and I was out early enough to come across some slippy patches of frost in the first half. Thankfully it all warmed up for the second half and I really enjoyed skipping (sorry jogging) along the canal.

Later in the afternoon my husband took me to his gym where we worked out for 1.5 hours. Below I’m lifting 6kg dumbbells for a chest press in my first set. By the third I lifted two 8kg dumbbells. Always aiming for more. No risk of developing huge muscles though. Look at those skinny arms 😂.

Today I swapped a longer outdoor ride in favour of 1.5 hours on the turbo. It was cold out and I was also recovering from a night out with my husband. We went to see the movie ‘One life’, which I can highly recommend. We also had a few drinks before and after, which on reflection didn’t help with the sleeping pattern.

I’m still getting used to the increased volume of training but was pleased to follow a group on Zwift for their endurance ride. Apparently someone saw Mr Thomas at the front of the ride but since I was near the back I wouldn’t know.

Once I started wheel turning the noise disturbed the cats sleep and he was not impressed. Here he is wearing his favourite diva expression!

I’ve not written for a while. I’ve found myself in between goals for a while. After the coast to coast I decided I would concentrate on improving my eating habits and get myself into bikini shape for our holiday later in the year.

The crazy thing about doing a lot of endurance training is the tendency to both gain weight and lose muscle. When you spend many hours running and cycling you need to eat a lot and its easy to get into bad habits. Furthermore it can be difficult to find time to do strength work or do it well as you are too tired.

So with a gap between the last adventure and the next goal I decided to focus on strength and diet for a while. The difference has been quite significant. I do not have a six pack and don’t really want to tbh but I’m definitely stronger, have more muscle, less fat and my clothes are all feeling looser. Most importantly I’ve managed to get rid of most of my bad eating habits, well bar one.

I’m a lover of lattes. I’m keeping that one. I guess you have to have one vice and thats mine. Well the cake that goes with it is also appreciated. Ok and a Gin and Tonic doesn’t go amiss either. Ok, so three habits then. 🤔

I’ve now reached a point where motivation is wavering in terms of my re sculpting progress. I’m pretty much where I wanted to be so I’m already thinking about the next endurance event and once again increasing the cardio.

I’ve trained in the past for an Ironman. Twice I think. Sadly I had to give up due to the pandemic and cancellations. I then decided to do the JOGLE thing instead and an Ironman later. So here I am and I’m looking at which Ironman to sign up to. I’m undecided as yet as it depends how long I need to train but I’d prefer something thats a little later on next year. This would also give my husband and I an excuse to go to Mallorca on holiday (“to train”); something we are both more than happy to do. A complete hardship obviously.

The recent drop in lbs and increase in muscle has given me a bit of a power kick and I find I’m hiking and cycling faster. I could probably run faster too but I tend not to bother so its hard to say. Following all the long distance running training I’ve done I’ve developed a bit of a slow jogging habit thats hard to change. It’s just such a nice thing to do.

I’ll probably have to do some faster training though if I want to do an Ironman. I will admit that I would no longer want to just ‘get around’ before the cut off. I would want to do my absolute best, the top time that I’m personally capable of. No idea what that would be yet but we will see.

My husband and I (gosh that sounds kind of royal doesn’t it) have recently done quite a bit of hiking which has been lovely. We’ve also been out on the mountain and road bikes together. Weirdly I find myself sailing ahead when we hike yet lagging behind when we run. I can keep up or even move ahead at times on a mountain bike (except on technical terrain) and yet find myself eating his dust on a road bike. What is all that about? So my goals have to be, to just keep up with him when I run and road bike. That’s not a competitive thing, it would just be a good indicator for me that I’m improving. I’d also like to get better at low level technical stuff on the mountain bike. That’s just because I really love it and it would give me access to more routes.

I’m taking a little bit of time out from long distance running. I still run ‘a bit’, cycle ‘more than a bit’ and do strength work ‘quite a bit’. For now though my focus is on carving out some kind of goddess like figure for myself for when I go on my hols. Not sure my goal is achievable but I always aim high 🤣. I may have been watching too much love island 🤔.

At the same time I’m leaning towards the idea of an Ironman next year. Not completely decided, but I’ve trained for it twice now, so it would be nice to actually do one. If I could find one later in the year I could get away with waiting until Dec/Jan to start the training. This is quite a nice thought.

In the meantime I’ve started going swimming with my step daughter, once a week. It gets me back in the pool and is a reminder of how much I enjoy it. I’m still not keen on the water sloshing around in my ears. But I do enjoy that feeling you get, when you are gliding through the water with ease. When the stroke is good and you feel like you are cruising and rolling along like a speedy yacht. On an off day it feels more like you are fighting with the pool whilst not getting anywhere quickly. but when it goes right its awesome.

Similarly with strength sessions, you have those where you feel great, feel strong and imagine you could sign up for the next instalment of SAS who dares wins grrrrr. Then there are those sessions where you are grunting like a tennis player, feel like you are going to puke onto someone’s shoes and sweating like a wrestlers jockstrap.

I guess like everything it varies.

I’m sitting outside under a brolly enjoying the warm weather and (immanently) an ice cream. The joy of just being able to sit here and do absolutely nothing – priceless.

Last week I cycled from Whitehaven to Sunderland and “ran” back again. I’ll get around to explaining the ‘running’ bit in a minute.

I was incredibly nervous about the bike leg. It wasn’t a large distance each day for your average club cyclist but for me it was a massive increase on the distances I’d done in training. I’d also never cycled that far alone before. I always get anxious before going out on my road bike and generally settle down once I get going. The navigation was playing on my mind the most.

I had a pretty good idea before going that I couldn’t read my wahoo equipment (on board mini gadget that shows you the route) whilst riding. I could see the little moving blobs (just about) but I couldn’t read anything else on the screen and I worried about going through towns and busier places using it.

Before I set off I’d also uploaded the route to my wrist watch. I can read this very well but only if I pull the glasses down my nose because they are prescription for distance.

Very early in the journey I confirmed that I wasnt going to be using the wahoo at all and would be lifting my arm up on regular intervals to look at the watch. This did indeed prove tricky whilst going through Keswick and Penrith and I even had to stop a few times just to check and memorise the next section. It wasn’t ideal but I managed and thats the main thing.

For the start of the coast to coast it’s tradition to dunk your wheels in the sea by going down a ramp. Unfortunately a) it turns out I was at the wrong ramp and b) the sea was out anyway. So wheels undipped, Clover and I set off heading for Sunderland.

The weather was more than fine. It was hot and most of all incredibly muggy. I had a few tracker issues in the first 20km. I knew that it has to see the sky but had thought my thin upper front pocket of my rucksack would be fine. I was forgetting that when you ride a bike you lean forwards. Once I’d moved it to the back of my rucksack it could see the sun and work effectively.

The start of the C2C is easy riding along fairly flat lanes. After that you start to undulate up and down before coming to the Whinlatter Pass which takes you up a steeper climb. Admittedly it didn’t look steep (an optical thing) so I was dumbfounded as to why I was in a really low gear and sweating a lot. I later found out that long stretch was 17%. Once I reached the top there is a lovely visitor centre and cafe although I chose not to stop there on this occasion.

Where there is an up there is a down and a few wonderful km of downhills led me to Portinscale for my first cafe stop. I had some yummy vanilla French toast, enjoying some extra carbs whilst I could.

Apart from the ride through Keswick which involved a lot of getting off and walking (the traffic was nuts – I was forgetting that Saturday is market day) – the rest of the ride was beautiful country lanes and little villages. I had a brief stop in Langwathby for a cola and a cheese and chutney sandwich before heading up the Hartside climb to the summit.

This was an easy climb with a gentle gradient on switch backs. It did go on and on though.

Finally at the top I had a lovely 9km of descent to Alston where I was staying for the night. My back started to feel sore in this section and I had to stop once or twice to straighten up before getting back into a low positions again for the descent. 110km done on the first day hazaah.

Alston is a pretty town nestled between hills, with a few pubs, shops and absolutely no signal (a feature of the trip).

After some downtime in the B&B I headed out for a pizza and returned for an early night.

The second bike day was harder (in my opinion). Although it was shorter at 97km, the climbs were all in the first half of the day and were much steeper than the day before. In particular the climb out of Stanhope to Parkhead station felt like a 20%. The joy of reaching Parkhead however, is to know that all the hills are behind you and you will be cruising downhill from there in, all the way to Sunderland. The rest of the journey was easy riding but I was held up by a dicky tummy and a short diversion just before the end.

I arrived on Roker Beach just before 4.30pm, much later than I’d expected, but none the less early enough to meet my husband at our hotel for a coffee and a double helping of brownies with ice cream :-).

The anxiety of doing the bike ride was of course all behind me now and was replaced by a new worry. I knew this next leg would be so much physically harder. The plan was to do the run in just 3 days averaging 70km a day, something I’d never done before.

Waking up on day 3 and day 1 of the run (at 4.20am) I had two porridge pots before waving goodbye to hubs and setting off walking down the coast before heading inland.

After two days of cycling my thighs were like rocks and this in turn had led to a sore IT band and tight hip flexors. The result of this was that I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to run at all. I decided to power walk for the first hour and see how it went.

After a while my legs started to feel a little better and the gradient although uphill all day was only ever 1/2% so I started to jog. It’s a very slow jog when you are carrying 10kg and I would find myself wondering if my power walk be the same speed. I decided I was still a bit faster jogging and in any case it was simply a more comfortable rhythm.

After a few stops at cafes, shops and parking my backside up on benches, I found myself on the Waskerley Way for the last 12km. The gradient picked up a little and the day got hotter. The way is beautiful and I saw many mountain and gravel bikers going up and down. Sometimes I would see the same person coming down who had passed me coming up, enjoying their speedy downhill and grinning.

The last 5km to Parkhead station took forever. I could see it in the distance and it never seemed to get any closer. I began counting to 100, singing songs, doing the A-Z game, anything to keep me distracted from the tired legs and mind.

Finally I got to the B&B and I knocked on the front door for the lady to let me in. She kindly got me some dinner and a drink and after lots of discussion on whether I could wild camp on the local moorland it was decided I could camp on their little patch of garden at the back of the house.

Her daughter took me out to show me the spot. It was a little bigger than my tent and there was sheep shit everywhere. I hope you dont mind the sheep droppings she said and please dont use a lighter as the fuel tank is just under there. Of course not. I confirmed I had no lighter or matches on me and I would simply kick the sheep poo out of the way.

Actually kicking the poop away was the easier job. The harder job was putting the tent up. I really hadn’t realised it was that windy but of course I was up on a hill in an exposed area. Every time I put down one end and put a peg in, the other part of the tent would fly up and wrap itself around me. I must of looked such a novice if they’d been watching. I bet the residents were looking out from their comfy bedrooms laughing their heads off.

In the end I placed some of my belongings on the tent to keep it down whilst I got enough pegs down to secure it. Job done I crawled inside and immediately wanted to fall asleep. It was only 7pm! It was still really hot though and the tent felt like a greenhouse inside. I couldn’t sleep in that heat so just lay there like a star fish chomping on wine gums until it cooled down a few hours later and then fell into a deep sleep.

My second day running was my worst day. It would be great to say it was wonderful and amazing and be really positive but I’d be lying. I had stopped on day 1 at 59km instead of the 65km I’d wanted to do so I was already behind on my original plan. I’d intended to do 80km on day 2 and already knew that I was unlikely to run that far let alone make up the difference I’d lost on day 1. With that in mind I was running along thinking about my route and where I would stop for the night as I was no longer going to stop where I’d originally planned.

Unfortunately I had no signal all day. It’s amazing how you might think this is great, away from everyone, peace and quiet yada yada but when you need to replan your route, know this will impact on your ability to get food and water and dont know where you are going to sleep……suddenly lack of signal feels like the loss of a vital life line.

I ran the first 9km well along a lovely trail path and carried on with a decent power walk for the next 10-12km uphill.

I ran through a village called Allenheads, which excitedly had a cafe and disapppointingly was closed. I saw a man outside a pub doing the garden and asked him if I could get some water in the pub. He said he only worked in the garden there and it was closed but he lived across the road and would pop back and get some water for me. Water topped up and feeling better for this kind gesture I set off for Nenthead, the next place with a possible cafe stop.

Arriving in the next village I found the cafe closed (this has been a theme of my JOGLE run and a theme of this run honestly). The village shop was open, however, so I ran in thinking about all the goodies I could buy to eat. Hmmm, tinned beans or entire loaves of bread, envelopes (it doubled up as a post office), staples…….. In the end I found nothing that was useful to eat immediately and settled for an additional drink, which I put in my waist bag.

Immediately outside the shop a guy was stood there drinking his cola and asked me where I was hiking. I explained what I was doing and he was interested to know more. He used to run and his girlfriend was a mountain leader. We stood there for a while chatting. It was so nice to have some company and conversation. I was busy explaining how I hadnt been able to get signal all day which meant trying to decide where to book in for the night was tricky. He said it was hit and miss around there and I should get signal once I’d dropped down the other side of Alston later in my journey. Ahhh right then. I could really do with using it now, I just need to check my route. It was at this point he suggested I could borrow his wifi as he lived a few doors down.

I know you are all thinking eek….risky… but honestly it was me pushing the point and I have fairly good instincts. So in desperation to know where I was going to be heading next and perhaps for the evening I followed him to his house and stood at the front door whilst he brought his wifi code across to me. Once I hopped on it was clear it was going to be another 20km to an expensive hotel or 30km to Langwathby where there was a pub/B&B. I quickly sent off a text to Chris whilst I could and decided to keep going for now and book somewhere later.

I set off again feeling quite happy, despite the exhaustion. You see so many bad things on the news and on social media and yet my experiences on adventures is that people are 99.99% lovely and want to help. It’s comforting and I’m not a naive person. I think its just you do realise how anxious you can get in this modern world and whilst being cautious is important so much of the anxiety is unnecessary.

7km later I’d climbed another hill and just as ‘Kevin’ had told me, it plateaued and I found a bench I could have a rest on. It was at this point I took off my shoes to have a look at my feet. I’d walked over some pathless bogland earlier and my feet/socks had become wet through. To my horror my big toe nail was raised and bloody. Hmmm. With certainty that was coming off at some point. Madly it hadn’t hurt until that point but donning some clean socks and pulling my shoes back on I was now aware of it and could feel some discomfort.

The next part of the day was the toughest mentally. I still couldn’t get signal and I was getting extremely tired. I simply hadnt had enough calories and a few snack bars here and there weren’t cutting it. Between that and the sore toe I was getting royally fed up and for the first time ever in a run/adventure or race I thought about giving up.

Why am I doing this? How is this fun? Why didn’t I just run 30km a day? Why didn’t I bring some bags of rice? What is the point of this adventure? The negative mind is a horrid thing and my mind kept spinning around and around in dark places.

During this time I came across a path I was supposed to go down only to find it completely overgrown. This is not unusual at the moment. Increasingly the last few years paths that used to be passable are no longer, not unless you have a machete in your backpack. Sadly I’d left mine at home 😆. I turned back and onto the road. Without signal or google maps, I was left to make decisions the old fashioned way. I saw a sign for Alston and although I knew I was supposed to bypass it on my original shortcut I felt I had no choice now but to go there and decide what to do. I’d stayed there on the bike leg and knew there were cafes/pubs. I could get something to eat and get WiFi.

Setting off up the hill I was also aware that this diversion was going to add another 6km to my day and I really didn’t have the mental or physical energy to get to Langwathby. As I took one slow jog shuffling step after the other I thought again about giving up. In this moment a car came by, stoppped and wound down the window. “Would you like a lift?”.

I dithered. Um, hmmmmm. In truth I really thought about it. I knew though that if I did, it was all over, as this would be cheating. I’d covered half the country already why give up now? I said no thank you and off the driver sped.

I then had a new thought. I will get to Alston and see if I can find somewhere to stop for the night. This will definitely mean I’m going to take 4 days to cross the country on foot rather than 3 but its still doable. The only real issue is my foot and how I feel tomorrow. I can always stop tomorrow if I simply cant go on. Hopefully though, tomorrow is better than today. I’ll decide later.

Arriving in Alston I found a room at the first pub hotel I walked into. I sat down to have some tuna sandwiches and phoned my husband. We had a good chat about the situation and he handled the matter of me stopping or carrying on with absolutely perfect responses. He didn’t push me to continue nor did he say its ok you can give up. He let me talk it out and make my own mind up. As we carried on chatting I was moving away from I want to give up to I might see how it goes tomorrow. Mindset adjusted – sorting out my toe seemed the remaining obstacle.

Just then the lady came by with my room key and I got up to be shown where my room was. As I stood up, a female hiker in the corner said “Sorry for eavesdropping…I didn’t mean to listen in…..but I kind of did….I just want to say that what you are doing is amazing….stay strong”.

How nice is that? I wanted to stop and chat to her about where she had obviously hiked that day (since I could see her hiking boots under the table) but the pub owner was waiting for me to follow her. So I expressed my gratitude and carried on upstairs.

Once in my room I discovered the cause of my pain was a blister that had formed under my toenail. This was forcing it up and off. Reading up on it on google (as you do) I set off (now at a hobble) to the local spar to try and get TCP and a sterilised needle. Of course I couldn’t find the latter but I did get the tcp. Back at the hotel I was able to pop the blister, clean it and bandage up the toe. The relief was instantaneous and a few paracetamol later I knew was going to be able to carry on the next day.

Get in.

Day 3 was a massive and wonderful surprise. I woke up after a great sleep and lots of food feeling really good. The toe felt manageable also. The first 9km out of Alston are all uphill but its gradual and takes you up to the summit at Hartside. I knew the views there were stunning having stopped there on the bike on the outward leg. It was early in the morning and I got to the summit by 7.30am, parked my bum on a bench and ate some brioche whilst enjoying the views all around.

The run down from the summit was glorious. I let my legs go and enjoyed a bit of faster jogging around the hairpins. I never sprint when I’m doing a long day as you will pay for it later but a faster jog was still doable and thoroughly good fun. Just as Kevin from Nenthead had said my 4G was back and I felt reconnected with the world. I could now look up how far away the next cafe was and what time it opened. Such a luxury! I found one in Melmerby and should arrive there just in time for it opening at 9am. Please be open!

It was!! I wanted to do a little jig and go and hug the people behind the counter but they would have thought me completely barking mad. I decided a big smile would do instead. I ordered a few rounds of toast and a pot of tea. Delicious.

The next 16km took me through Langwathby and onto Penrith where I had lunch and another rest. It was a hot day and getting hotter all the time. Leaving Penrith I’d covered 32km and had just 16km to go to a bed and breakfast I’d finally managed to book in the lunch hour. I’d tried contacting various campsites and had wanted to use the tent I’d been carrying all this way but irritatingly none of them would answer the phone or email. Pitch up also seemed useless as they either weren’t on it or only had large pods I couldn’t book.

I had a long lunch stop that day and so it was early afternoon when I left Penrith. I have no idea what temperature it was but it felt sweltering and my 16km run to Troutbeck, near Scales, was all on one country road that had zero shade. With 10km to go I started to feel slightly light headed. With 5km to go I was back to counting to a hundred and had to keep stopping and putting my hands on my knees to stretch out. It was tough but at last I made it and I lay out on the bed in the B&B with no desire to move for the next week. Sadly I had to get up at some point to shower and get food. Thankfully the pub was literally over the road and I headed over for a well earned vedgy burger, chips and pint of shandy.

On my last day I was up eating breakfast in the B&B at 5.30am. The lovely man that worked there got up early to get me some toast, cereal and a pot of tea. I had 54km left to go and I was focussing on the fact that I wouldn’t have to get up early tomorrow. I decided to celebrate every 5km of the day with a little dance and woohoo moment.

The run, my mood, my body. Everything felt right that day. Sometimes it just all comes together. I knew I had quite a few places to stop also so didn’t have to carry quite so much food on me. I settled into a good pace and got to my breakfast cafe after 18km. I even felt good enough to jog up the hill of Whinlatter pass to yet another cafe (you make the most of them when they are there!!) and after a large slice of cake enjoyed sailing down the other side.

After 30km of good jogging and great country lanes and trails I started to notice a pain in my knee. As time moved on, it became more prevalent and I had to take some painkillers. At this point I started to send my husband little videos of me doing my 5km ‘woohoo moments’. There was the 20km to go woohoo then the 15km to go woohoo etc. In all honesty the last 15km seemed to take forever and it was once again very warm but there was increasingly a nice breeze which made it far more manageable than the day before.

With just 10km to go I stopped for one last coffee and a piece of cake and tried (so hard) to enjoy the last stretch along the coast down to Whitehaven (despite the pain).

And then I arrived. I made it woohoo! The finish line was somewhat uninspiring with no one there and me just standing there going ‘hurrah’ to myself. (Note this is my own fault for telling my husband not to come).

After a few minutes a couple walked past me and took my ‘finishing picture’. Well thats that then. I started hobbling (amazing how once you stop running your body just goes ‘nope i’m broken’) to find my B&B for the night.

Just as was I setting off a man came up to me. “Sorry, I couldn’t help but overhear. Well done on your challenge and everything but did you know that ramp where you are standing is not the official end of the C2C anymore. There is a new ramp now. Just thought you’d like to know.?”

Do you know what? I really didn’t want to know thanks!!

Still it counts! I saw the sea on one side of the country, then saw it on the other and back again. Ffs. 😂

Well what now you might ask? Well for a while nothing. I’m taking a break from endurance and have even cancelled my upcoming Ultra. I need some time out. I am going to focus on strength/gym and getting bikini ready for Barbados later in the year.

As for next year though who knows…. 🤔

So this last week was my final ‘build’ week and should of included my longest run and longest bike. Instead I spent half the week in bed and the other half on the sofa. A lovely bout of sinusitis hurrah. Its all been very frustrating but I have to look at the upside. At least this didn’t happen in 3 weeks time.

Today I managed to go for a walk (ta dah!) and actually felt quite good once I got going, despite initially feeling like I was breathing through a straw.

At night you would think I was dying to hear me coughing so thats quite a turnaround from the day. I will hopefully get into see a doctor soon to get some evil but necessary antibiotics. After that I’m keen to get back running and cycling at some moderate level and hopefully just keep up some form of exercise until a few days before my event.

After my last blog I mentioned that I would apply for an FKT (fastest known time). This I duly did but unfortunately my request was turned down. I do understand it though. They have to consider whether anyone else will want to do the same thing and beat the time and then it gets set up as a known route and people can try it out. They’ve said mine is a bit niche and I guess they don’t feel there would many others wanting to do it. Ah well. I’ll be doing it for me.

So last Friday before the bug set in (thankfully) we managed to attend my nieces wedding, which was a really beautiful day in every way possible. We travelled home on the Saturday and were back quite early so I went out for a 20km run (as you do) in the afternoon. It was only an hour or so after that I ended up bed, where I stayed for the next few days.

This Saturday hubby and I went to an ice therapy/meditation workshop. It had been booked for ages and I wasn’t sure whether to go with blocked sinuses. Would it cure or kill me? In the end most of the 4 hour workshop was about sitting and listening or meditating so I figured why not give it a go. It was actually excellent and we learnt so much about the benefits of cold water and breathing techniques. At the end of all the learning they ask you to step into an ice bath thats probably 1-3 degrees and you have to sit down immediately and then stay there for two minutes. Before hand you are prepped by doing various breathing exercises.

I was amazed that we both got in no problem and it really wasn’t bad at all. My hands were extremely uncomfortable but the rest of my body was ok. After we were advised to do some slow warm up moves and we finished off by getting into dry clothes and doing 10 minutes of very basic yoga focussing on breathing. We both really enjoyed it and I would definitely do it again.

Initially I have to say I thought ‘wow I’m cured’ as I felt amazing after. Then the night came…..ok maybe not better yet. Still we are both keen to carry on with the cold water therapy and meditation. It’s really very good for the mind and body and I’m sure it will be even more enjoyable once I can unblock these sinuses. I wonder if a sink plunger would work??

I was thinking on my hike today about what makes me feel free/at peace/happy/comfy (take your pick). I think there are many things and many reasons why.

Watching a really good drama (been watching ‘The Gold’ or in equal measure a really bad reality tv show (thinking love island here) – I escape from reality for a while and immerse myself in whatever I’m watching. Yes I know – quite contrasting taste here 😝

Cycling/Running/hiking – I definitely feel at peace when I go out on my bike/for a run etc. I tend to alternate between a quiet mind/meditative state where I’m not thinking about much, listening to the birds, feeling the pace of my legs running; and having a busy mind where I’m solving problems or just thinking something through thats on my mind. I definitely feel free when I’m outside doing my sports.

I haven’t painted a picture for a while or tried a little singing but these things also have a calming meditative feel about them. They all take you away in your head for a little while.

This last week I was working at home one day and decided to take myself to a cafe in the lunch break. We are lucky enough to have one as close as the canteen is to my desk at work. I sat there enjoying my tuna toastie and latte and was thinking how free’ing it is sitting in a cafe. I can imagine I’m anywhere out on an adventure. There is something very calming about being on your own out for dinner or lunch or a coffee. I’m lucky that my husband is the same and gets this. He also likes to go camping on his own sometimes and will go to the nearby pub for a beer and a meal. It’s cool that we are both like this.

So how do you guys escape? Is it a hobby, a good book (oh thanks for the recommendations by the way!) or something else?

I took quite a few piccies this week. So here are a few.

After two long days of running on tarmac, I was relieved to see the start of a trail path I would take. The B7078 snakes its way down through southern Scotland criss crossing the M74 every now and again. I stepped onto the stony trail and smiled to myself. There is nothing like that feeling of being all alone on a trail, jogging along at your own pace, enjoying nature. After 33km that day, I had another 7km to run on this path, then 7km on the road until my campsite. Life was good.

The path was wide and comfortable to run on. To my right was a forrest of densely packed trees and to my left small mounds of grass, with occasional clearings you could pitch a tent on if you needed to.

I came to a section of the path that had been taken over by a wide stream. There were no stones to cross over on and it was deeper than my trainers. The sun was shining so I took off my shoes and socks and paddled across, enjoying the feel of the cold water on my feet as I made my way to the other side.

Setting off again I was looking for a cross roads of the paths ahead. The direct path ahead was called Old Road. It was marked clearly on my watch but also on google maps. I came to the junction and there was nothing straight ahead of me but trees. Lots and lots of trees.

To my right was a path which I tried out in case it led somewhere useful. It ended after just 200 metres with a pile of rubble and a digger. Ah, not too useful then.

To my left was another path. I couldn’t see the top of the path or where it went but I could hear cars in the distance. I had two choices. Go back 7km or go up the unknown path towards the sounds of the cars. I chose the latter. It was a steep climb but my frustration at potentially losing time meant that I jogged uphill. This was unusual on this trip as the 12kg backpack normally meant this was not worth the effort.

Reaching the top, sweating profusely, I found myself on the quietest A road I’d seen since the highlands. There was a recently mowed grass verge on the right to walk on but with hardly any cars about, I ran on the road, only stepping off onto the verge when I needed to.

I reset my route and my watch told me I had 9km left. Phew, the alternate route hadn’t added too much mileage then. After a few km I saw a viewing point on the other side of the road. Crossing to take photos of the views I realised this was the Devils Beeftub I was looking at. It was utterly stunning. As I carried on down the hill, I enjoyed beautiful views to my left as I jogged. Even when my jog turned into a painful hobble for the last few km, I was thankful for the missing road earlier on. If the road had been there, I would have missed out on these views – these moments. I was happy. I exhaled slowly and breathed in the views, the feeling of being here, being at peace, being content.

The idea of running JOGLE was in my head and my dreams for many years. The idea of running via the 3 mountains came about just two years before I set off. It was also around this time that work agreed I could take the time off and I set about finding the right coach for me.

Although I wanted my adventure to feel free and not too overly planned there was still a lot of planning that had to be done in the time up to the run. A rough plan of the route, an idea of timing, ensuring training and handover at work, practicing with kit and of course the actual physical training, running, walking, strength work and cross training. Thinking back I’m glad I did this over such a long period of time (1.5 years).

I set off on 3rd September from John O Groats with my husband there to wave me off. I didn’t want to let him go. The confidence I’d previously had, left me completely in the last hour and I found myself clinging to him tightly. So many doubts set in. What was I doing? Could I do this? Wild camping alone on my first night? I had very few places to get water or food for the first 3 days. I was carrying my water filtration kit and a lot of camping food and snacks. My kit weighed in at 12kg and boy could I feel it on that first day.

I finally let go of my husband, turned and ran without looking back. I couldn’t look. I had to just think forwards, onwards. Perhaps it was this mindset that meant I ran well or rather too fast on that first day.

I paid the price for going too fast and getting too giddy in the afternoon of Day 1. My stomach started to cramp and I found myself constantly eyeing up fields left and right for somewhere to take a rest stop.

I managed 47km on the first day and found somewhere perfect to wild camp. Snuggling up in my sleeping bag on that first night I felt my nerves gradually ease away. I’d done my first day. I was alone and felt completely safe and happy. I knew I had to find water the next day but for now I was relaxed and lay with my kindle reading Jenny’s Tough’s Solo; finally drifting off into a contented sleep under the stars.

My journey from John o Groats to Lands End took me through the remote highlands down to the Great Glen Way and onto Fort William. I met up with my husband there as we were going to climb Ben Nevis together. Unfortunately my feet had other ideas and struggling to walk at this point the idea of climbing mountains was abandoned. Instead I took a rest day, hobbled about Fort William and purchased a new waterproof poncho to go over me and my rucksack for the rest of the journey.

I was, and still am gutted about the mountains, but my feet were such a mess I was struggling to walk. At the time I thought it was the mileage. I later found out it was the trainers I was wearing. Unfortunately I found this out too late. I did, however, decide to keep the route of going via the mountains. I wanted this adventure to be unique – to be my own version of JOGLE.

I said goodbye to my husband in Fort William and set off to run the West Highland Way (which I can highly recommend) in new trainers. My feet slowly recovered (although I put this down to the trail paths at the time). Like the Great Glen Way it was utterly stunning and this definitely made the mileage and hills easier. In fact I preferred the hilly days as you were rewarded with beautiful views.

From the West Highland Way I made my way down to Glasgow and faced a new difficulty. The urban jungle. So many large roads and roundabouts, multiple pedestrian crossings. Lots of people and lots of noise.

Southern Scotland down into England was possibly the least exciting part of my journey. This was by choice. There are some very beautiful places you can run but I chose the shortest and least interesting route. It did make for swift progress to England though. Once south of the border I was excited as I was now going to head into the Lake District and over to Buttermere to meet my husband. Meeting up there on a Saturday morning in gorgeous sunshine, we climbed Scarth Gap and Blacksails Pass together heading for Wasdale Head where we both enjoyed a rest day together.

The day of leaving Wasdale Head was a difficult one for many reasons. I had to part with my husband again and get back into solo mode. I had to walk over Hardknott Pass and Wrynose Pass, which are incredibly steep (33% in some sections). I was back in the same trainers I’d worn in the first 9 days and realised after only a few km they were the source of my pain. At the end of this difficult day of hobbling, I made it to Ambleside where I walked into a hiking shop, bought some new trainers and threw the old trainers in the bin as I left. Goodbye instruments of torture!

The next week was one of the hardest of the journey. I covered high mileage every day and spent my evenings working on routing and finding places to stay/sleep. This would be a combination of camping, hostels and B&Bs. For the latter I was constantly contacting them and asking for discounts where possible. I had almost no rest time so would make the most of the running/walking time, when I could just let my mind wander and not think about route planning and admin.

After reaching Chester I knew I had some slightly shorter days ahead but I was now going to have to turn right and head around the coast of Wales. Part of me wanted to just go directly south as I could finish JOGLE in two weeks from this point. But I’d promised myself that climbing mountains or not I wanted my JOGLE to be unique. I still had to head around Wales to circumnavigate Snowdon.

My first day running along the coastal trails of North Wales was very very very wet. It was also really windy and my black poncho would fly up every few minutes. I’d lift my arms out, grab the flying poncho and yank it back over my backpack to keep everything dry.

On my first night in Wales, my brother and mum came out to meet me in Trelogan and took me out for a meal. It was so lovely to see them. My brother made me some make shift shoes out of plastic bags to where to the pub as my trainers were soaking wet.

This was essentially my fourth ‘support point’. My fifth point was near Snowdon where my PT/friend Emma was coming over to pick me up and take me to Anglesey for the night at her cabin. She dropped me off the next day at the same point. Other than my 5 support/kit exchange points on the journey I did the whole thing self supported. (Self Supported is where you may carry your own kit but also supplement this with getting food/water/accommodation en route. It can only be sourced in a way that is available to anyone taking on the adventure. In other words strangers can help you but a friend bringing you kit is classed as support).

The run through the rest of Wales was largely wet and hilly. That’s a reasonable summary of how it felt :-). It was, however, also so so beautiful. Most memorable was the mountain paths to Llandiloes from Machynlleth and from Llandrindod Wells to Talgarth. The sun came out on that second day and there were breathtaking views the whole day.

Leaving Wales and heading to England via the incredibly long Severn Bridge was so exciting. I’d had a great day so far that day. The sun was shining, I’d had lunch with Abichal from Ultrarunning World in Chepstow and I was finally going to be back in England for the last stretch to Lands End. It felt like the end was in sight.

The last 12 days took me through Monmouth, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. I had a day walking with my son, who came out to meet me. I was thrilled to hear him say that I’d inspired him to do something like this one day. What else could a mum want?

There are a lot of hills in Devon and Cornwall. I’d been warned about this so it came as no surprise. None the less my Achilles started to complain in the last week and I took to walking backwards up some of the hills.

On the last morning, I woke up in Penzance feeling giddy with excitement. I wasn’t sure what time to set off. I’d told my husband who was meeting me at Lands End that I’d get there at 12 lunch and not before. I didn’t know though if my legs would be tired knowing they would be stopping soon or if I’d have more energy than ever before. In the end I set off at a time that allowed me to make it not long after 12 if I was slow and I’d simply walk a little if I was too fast.

8km into my my mere 19km I realised I was going too fast. I allowed myself to walk for a time and enjoy the feeling of this being the last day. This is the last time you will ever have this moment. Enjoy it Lorna.

With 3km to go I found myself on the last stretch of the A30 heading for the end of my journey. I couldn’t believe it. How had I made it here? Obviously I knew the answer to this, but it just didn’t seem real.

In the last hundred metres I could see my husband on the finishing line. Standing near him was my son. I couldn’t believe my eyes. He was supposed to be up north at our house this weekend. I pointed at him and promptly started crying. Just as I started crying, I noticed my brother pop out from behind a wall on the left. I was so shocked and emotional. I ran over the finishing line grabbing my brother in a big bear hug, sobbing on his shoulder. Reaching out I gave my son a big hug and then hugged and kissed my husband.

The last hour of my adventure was filled with congratulations, photos at the signpost and a lovely mug of tea and cake in the cafe. I felt elated, happy and in a state of shock all at once. It has taken time for it all to sink in. I’m not sure it fully has yet.

There are so many photos and moments to share I couldn’t include them all above here. I’ve included a number of other favourite photos and moments below.

Hi all just to let you know all updates on my run will appear on my Facebook page and Twitter. I’m not updating my blog during the run. Please find links below 👇

https://www.facebook.com/Lornaruns

@LornaRunsJogle (Twitter)

To follow my tracker please see menu JOGLE Tracker.

For the charity fundraising please see menu JOGLE Fundraising

Cheers 😄

I (probably) won’t be writing blogs whilst doing my run (unless I get blotto on whiskeys and start rambling) but we (hubby or myself) will be updating Twitter or the Facebook page see below. If you wish to follow my ups and downs (eek) then take a look there. I also have a tracker which goes live on Saturday 3rd Sept. I’ll post this separately but it can also be found on https://lornatri.com/under JOGLE tracker 😄🙏

Twitter: @lornarunsjogle

Facebook: Lorna runs 3 peaks JOGLE

With just 8 days to go my tracker arrived this week and today I’ve been testing it out. The tracker will be used when I do my run so that anyone can follow me and see where I’m up to in the journey (see JOGLE tracker in the menu).

The tracker will go officially live on 3rd September. For now its in test mode (when I switch it on).

Today I’ve been out and about in the car and also walking here and there. Below a screen shot after I visited some shops.

You’ll see the tracker also has a donate button which links directly to the fundraising pages for Mind and the Menopause Charities.

Tracker location updates every few minutes.

When I start you can go to lornatri.com, find JOGLE on the menu and JOGLE tracker on the submenu. Click on the link there and you will be able to follow me as I go on my adventure.