10 miles and dinosaurs

I think this was a pretty perfect weekend. First I went for a nice 10-mile run on Saturday morning. Mrs Noel had already been out for about an hour running and when she came back, she informed me 'it's not cold'. Luckily I know she's made of sterner stuff than me so I took my hat, gloves, thermals and fleecy buff. I needed them all, as the picture shows. This is the back of Shutlingsloe.

Luckily the sun came out, and despite the ankle-deep snow I got some beautiful views from Wetstone Ridge. You can really feel like you're out in the wilderness from up here. I have just realised how daft that statement is, given that I was running on a bridleway next to a fence. But you see what I mean. Note how the frost on the fence has detached from the fence and made a frost fence just next to it.

Then on Sunday, we awoke to even more snow. This was an excuse to rope my parents in to helping me (ahem... I mean the kids) make more snow sculptures. This time we went for a dinosaur theme. Here is the T. Rex. Unfortunately, his teeth kept thawing out and he later collapsed. I've realised it's hard making animals that rely on counterbalance to stay upright.

The stegosaurus, however, is still standing a day later. I think in future, I would advise against two-legged snow dinosaurs. I was contemplating a sauropod, but the long neck was too tricky to think about.

After all this exertion, we also built a large snow chair. It was pretty comfy, but slightly on the cold side. I was planning another training run, but instead had to make do with a new form of hill reps. This involved sledging down a slope and then running back up carrying my youngest. He seemed to like the idea too.

The best thing about this 4 inches of snow was that it melted from the roads in a day. This meant we could get out to see the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain who were playing at Buxton Opera House. For those who haven't seen them, here is one of the songs they played: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW0ACEOEq6w&feature=related

More chasing Dave

I made the mistake of going out for another training run with Dave. This is another small installment of my attempt to get back to running fitness (Wolf Spit is 4 weeks away). I thought this run would serve as a gauge to where I am.

I should explain something about the peculiarities of going for training runs with Dave. Most runners run more slowly uphill than they do on the flat, and run more quickly downhill. However, Dave seems to fly up hills, only to then run a sensible speed on the flat and run downhill at recovery pace (although he's getting better at this). Unfortunately, the run largely involved running up to Stanage Edge from Hathersage, so it was mainly uphill for the first two miles.

Once again, here's a picture of Dave leaving me behind. He's the small black dot in the middle.

It's strange getting running fit again. My legs don't get tired - it's all lungs. I get that aching "my lungs aren't big enough" feeling which I used to get when I first started fell running. I'm hoping my lungs catch up soon, so I can start giving my legs some hard work.

After yesterday's exertions, today, I did a slow recovery run. This was also intended to keep up my mileage a bit. I think it was about 6 miles. It follows most of a course that would be my best attempt at what would constitute a good fell race. It even has all the sensible bits, like facilities at the start, no major road crossings, doesn't share any ground with other fell races, etc. Here's the incongruous chimney (I think??) in the middle of the moors at the far point of the 'race'.

Pretty cold weather

It was very cold and also very picturesque today. Ideal running conditions, if you've got nice warm kit - which I have.

The snow has nearly all gone now. I can't remember a time when snow has lasted for a month. Normally it's gone in a week. Here's me obeying all the rules of photographic composition while taking a photo of the snow.

The nights are getting longer which augurs well for evening runs in the not-too-distant future. I was out at 4:30 today and it was fine. The longer evenings should also allow me to get some road bike miles in - I'm planning another 90-miler in about 2 months' time.

For those not aware of the winking man. Here's a link: http://www.winkingman.com/pages/where.php

I found another slightly winking could-be-a-man-if-you-have-a-good-imagination, and the sun was behind it which made for a nice photo and an excuse to stop again. Looking at it again I think the man would have to be wearing a very elaborate hat.

This blog is probably playing havoc with my training as I keep stopping to take photos. I'll try to get serious and just post GPS traces in the summer.

On the way back I found these icicles, which also amused me. I thought they looked like the top of some monster's mouth about to bite down.

Two days - two runs

This feat might seem trivial, but it's a big step in the recovery from my seasonal malaise. After running yesterday, I wasn't sure if I was going to go out today as well. But this was decided in Buxton's excellent art cafe in the Pavillion Gardens. After ordering two veggie breakfast for the kids to share with me, it became apparent that they only wanted the egg. So I was forced to eat my own weight in hash browns, veggie sausages, beans, toast and tomatoes. In fact there was so much, we had to give the ducks and pigeons the rest of the toast.

So after this feast, I felt I better do something energetic so went out for a 5 mile run. As you can see, there are still some large dollops of snow about. Especially on footpaths sheltered by walls. It might be gone in a week or so.

Also [news flash] after proudly announcing in my last blog entry that Cloud Nine will be my comeback race, this now clashes with something. So it'll be Wolf Spit (really called Wolf's pit - but that's not as funny) instead; which is the week after.

The long road back to fitness

A few weeks ago the idea of doing a fell race seemed completely alien to me. However, yesterday the FRA yearbook (that shows the calendar of fell races for the year) was delivered. This always gives me a bit of a lift, as I plan which ones I'd like to do.

My first race back will probably be Cloud Nine. This is at the beginning of March, so I've about 6 weeks to get running fit again. So today was my first run of the year. To be fair it was more of a jog, although I can partly blame the snow for that. Here's a photo of Max nagivating one section of snowdrifts.

I plan to work up slowly, but hope to be at about 20-25 miles per week by early March. Fingers crossed I can keep up some sort of momentum now I have a training goal.

Snow fun

The good thing about having kids is that you can spend hours making snowmen and going sledging without people calling you childish. Yesterday "the kids" made two 6-foot snowmen, a snow dog and a snow doorway.

We've also spent about 3 hours sledging in the last few days. If I get to the top of the slope before the kids, I can "test" it for them. I'm hoping the snow persists until a sudden thaw tomorrow, because Mrs Noel needs to get to work on Monday.

Jack and the beanstalk

We were visiting a relative in Oxford and all took the kids to see the pantomime. They loved it, and even the grown-ups enjoyed it. It was directed by Peter "spare me the madness" Duncan from Blue Peter. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so I'll try to paint a mental image that captures the whole thing. Imagine a ten-foot tall, demonic, green cyclops singing a duet with a man in drag, while 300 children scream at them. Actually, the more I think about pantomime, the more I realise what a bizarre artform it is.

Meanwhile, as I was sunning myself in Oxford, and escaping from the world's largest hedge maze that's shaped like a cannon, my mate Dave was setting a new me-or-him record in the Percy Pud (10km race near Sheffield). "Oh no he wasn't" I hear you shout. But he was. Had I have run as quickly as I did two years ago I would have been confident that people would have shouted "he's behind you". But they would have been wrong.

Despite Dave's V40 status, he put in his best Peter Pan performance to show there was still Aladdin him. It was very wet (unlike a few years ago when it was snow white on the day), but Dave didn't want to make a fuss in boots, so wore his normal running shoes. He'd left his wife and babes in the wood, but went to see them again afterwards. With this result, I'm quite sure he'll have thought, after waking from sleeping, "beauty!"