Not posted for a while as been really, really busy at work. I'm still mountain biking (cycle commuting has unfortunately had to be knocked on the head for now) and running, mainly on the trails as I have a 9 mile hilly trail race/run on the 6th of October. I'm away for a weekends mountain biking this weekend so Saturday was my last chance for a long offroad run. It was a nice day which mercifully clouded over just as I was setting off or I would've boiled, I decided to tackle two siginificant "climbs" and "descents" in my run as that's what I think the trail race has and up til now I've been doing effectively a long climb followed by a long descent. I wanted my legs to be able to run (or just move actually) upwards again after a punishing descent. All was going well, did the first climb and conditions under foot were pretty wet and boggy, lots of hopping over suspect muddy sections, topped out on the first climb and headed off confidently expecting to pick up a defined path as per the map - erm nope, there was a sheeptrack that petered out into nothing . So turned round and started running along a flagged path which was horrible for running on (but I overtook a guy on an MTB who shouldn't have been there as it was footpath but hey ho) expecting to find another path as its a popular walking area. I realised I was just heading well away from where I should be and the options were to head back along the horrible path or go off piste and pick up the path I knew was there somewhere. I took the latter (it really was a horrible path) and spent a very cautious twenty/twenty five minutes or so picking my way across the ankle breakingly tussocky moor, it would go well for a while then all of a sudden I would step into a hole and be up to my armpits in the grass , which is funny now but I know there are bogs you could lose a horse in on those moors so I was very relieved to pick up the path again.

Suffice to say my legs were knackered by the time I set off up my second climb but I shuffled up and continued the run - 13 miles and 1700ft of up/down . The trail race has similar ascent but is obviously shorter (which means the climbs are steeper ) so I'm hoping the extra distance will help me cope with it. Its my longest run ever and I'm looking forward to a couple of weeks of shorter runs after the trail race.

Did 5 miles on the trails again last night after work, I was tired but the light conditions were amazing on the tops, the view was spectacular which made it all worthwhile. I could also see the heavy rain that was heading my way and managed to get back to the car just as it started to lash down, result! I'm only going to be able to do after work trail runs for the next couple of weeks as the days are shortening fast . I'll do a short road run on Thursday then MTBing all weekend.