22/12/2015 – View from a Bridge

With Christmas firmly on the horizon, I wanted to get a solid weeks-worth of running in, if not a quite full one. Parkrun was off the agenda on Saturday as Palace were away at Stoke. Just too far away to manage a squeeze in a  run and shower. As it was I managed to arrive 10 minutes late for the game, due to parking issues and the slowest pub lunch ever. However, I’ve managed to digress even before I’ve started the blog… a new record surely.

It’s been a while since Jim and I had a swim date, so I was pleased to get a couple in this week. The routine of a gentle one mile trot to the Baths, a 1k swim and a 5K with backpack thereafter is not conducive to a speedy time, even if the tightness again seems easier. A wet and wild easy run came in at 33:40. The dirt path across the Country Park was particularly wet and an smelly encounter with a well-disguised dog turd (in my new shoes, too!) made we wonder whether I should perhaps switch to trail shoes or change the post-swim route to terra-firma.

Neither choice really appeals, so I stick to both shoes and route. With better, drier weather I manage 32:08. Not up to the heights achieved earlier in the month granted, but I’m happy with it.

There was some debate at Spoons Mansions about whether we would do a long Sunday run as we were staying with our good friends in Oldham. We’ve prkrun up there and also done a local 5k route, through woods and alongside the Rochdale Canal. The concern was whether we’d be fit to run after a night out in Oldham – they can get very messy – and where to run. The recent heavy rain in the area was likely to make canal-side running a rather moist experience. In the end we chucked in the clobber in the overnight  bag.

Sunday morning dawned bright and with the night out only registering a mild wobble on the Richter Scale, we decided to go for it. The ground-hopping geek within me wanted to explore FC United of Manchester new ground in Mostyn and came up with an 7 mile circular route from base camp and a way in which Sue could do her usual 10k by omitting the trip to the ground, otherwise known as ‘The Best Bit’!

It was just as well she did too, as early on she managed to miss the much-discussed left turn after the bridge of the canal (whose path was indeed waterlogged). She ended up detouring towards Rochdale before correcting herself meaning she also did 7 miles and didn’t even get to see the ground. She appeared to be less distressed about this than me, though.

The nice thing about running a new route is getting to see things from a different perspective, I’ve been coming to these parts since 1988, so nothing was really new as such, but I’ve mostly seen it from the inside of a car or train or bus (or pub).  Occasionally, something just stops you mid-trundle. First, it was the smell from the vinegar factory then it was the view over the M60 looking back across Oldham and backdrop of the Peninnes. I had to take a snap, although the picture below doesn’t really do the expansive view any sort of justice. By the time I wrestled my phone from my new running bum-bag whilst trying to trot along, I managed to obscure the view of the town with a warehouse.

A skirt around Broadhurst Park, the new stadium and the bonus of finding a quiet footpath alongside the railway before hitting Broadway back home. The time 1:17:11 was nothing to brag about (which is probably why why I’ve been wittering on a about a view and a non-league ground), but all miles in the bank and a nice pain-free run.