Author: MarathonMannUK

In my blog, I have probably gone on many times how hard it was (and is still) for me to get back to full fitness after an illness in February of this year.  This is because it has been a real struggle!  Getting back into sufficient shape to run the London Marathon was quite an effort and achievement, doing the Marathon did take a lot out of me and recovering from it was another struggle in it’s own right.

I am now getting to the stage where I feel the right to be a little impatient.  I seem to have got into a bit of a rut where whatever I do, I can’t seem to improve.  Towards the end of last year, when my training was in full-swing I was doing parkruns at a little over 23 minutes; now I can’t even get under 25.  I recall how much I enjoyed running the Temple Newsam Ten in January and now I even wonder if I could keep going for 10 miles non stop.

What I tell myself I need to remember is that while on Holiday in Slovenia I ran-walked up and down the awesome Vršič Pass, a three hour epic that surely is on a par with a Marathon in terms of sheer effort.  We didn’t get much opportunity to recover from that because we were off walking most days.  I really hope my problem is me simply over-doing it but since I suffer from hypothyroidism, I have made an appointment with my GP just to be sure.

Since last Wednesday when I really struggled through the hot Priory 10 and produced what surely must be a personal worst, I haven’t run at all and I am really hoping that rest is the answer to my woes.  Fellow runners will know how hard it is to not go out running when there isn’t anything obviously wrong with you but I am determined to keep it up for another two days.  In a few weeks time I’ve got the Flat Cap 5 mile trail race, hopefully I’ll feel better then and put up a reasonable showing!

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV

Fountains Abbey is a World Heritage Site.  This puts it on the same list as the likes of the Taj Mahal and the Pyramids of Egypt marking it out as having global cultural and historical significance.  It is owned and run by the National Trust which usually collects an entry fee for non members.  Yet each Saturday morning parkrunners are allowed to enter for free and enjoy the stunning grounds as they participate in a weekly 5K run.

It was my first time at Fountains and the first run after my holiday in Slovenia where we intensively participated in mountain runs and walks.  Needless to say, the alpine exploits of Helen and I had taken their toles and we both found this simple undulating 5K really tough and we both were disappointed that we weren’t at our best.  It is surprising how much this sort of thing takes out of you!

I went for an easy flat 5 mile run today but now I will be resting until the 10K race we have on Wednesday which is at another National Trust property, Nostell Priory.  My physiotherapist advised that sometimes less is more and I think rest days are certainly the order of the day now.

‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’  Matthew 11:28-30 NIVUK

Where do you like to go on holiday?  This year we decided to have a mountain holiday in the Alps so we went to the wonderful little resort of Kranjska Gora in Slovinia, just on the borders of Italy and Austria.  What was the most demanding mountain trek on the itinerary?  Well, there is a mountain pass known as the Vršič, which climbs over 800 meters (relative to the town) and is around 7 miles to the summit.  It is popular with cyclists, at least the macho ones who fancy themselves as “King of the Mountain”!  There is an organised group which leads a walk up to the summit which takes 3.5 hours to get up and 3.5 hours to get down plus some time at the top to admire the view and eat lunch; a gruelling 8 hour day!  We didn’t fancy that so we had a thought: why don’t we run it? (Or at least being realistic, run-walk it).

I guess the simple answer to that question is: “because it’s a stupid idea”,  but we asked the local guide for advice anyway.  She reckoned that the best bet would be to run up the road rather than the mountain paths because they might be too treacherous for running (and after experiencing some of the alpine trekking “paths” I can well believe it).

So on Saturday morning we set off, with a small backpack each containing water and lunch (although to be honest there are plenty of places up the pass where you can buy refreshments).  We knew it was going to be a 7 mile slog uphill but surprisingly we made good progress up to the 3.5 mile point, around half way.

Then we began to feel it as the pass “proper” got really underway with numbered hairpin bends (going up to 24 although thankfully we didn’t know that); I guess the temperature was north of 25 Celcius and the sun was shining!  There was a great sense of shared suffering with the cyclists as they made their painful way up the same route and we even encountered another couple of runners, one going down and the other overtaking us going up!

The views going up were utterly stunning and so we had to make time for a few photos.  There was one spot where there were hundreds of little rock piles which are obviously added to and maintained by passing tourists.

Finally, after just over two hours and the last few hairpins , we reached the highest point and were able to relax for a bit, admire the views and eat our light lunch. We were treated to a shot of schnapps by a lady running a kiosk where we bought some diet Cokes and ice creams.  What a busy place, with loads of cars joceying for limited parking and a collection of very exhausted looking cyclists!

I must confess that I was a bit apprehensive about the run down because I wasn’t sure how our legs would cope.  However, it wasn’t as bad as I thought and it was a blessed relief to be going down-hill for a change.  As we navigated and counted down the hairpins, the overwhelming emotion was “how on earth did we manage to get all the way up through this?”.   We had to keep our wits about us to watch out for other traffic; cars and coaches going up and above all, cyclists doing warp-factor speeds down.

Eventually, things levelled out a bit and we had to cope with a few sections of gentle up-hill; man that was hard!  The final 1/2 mile was from a place called Lake Jesna, downhill to our hotel in Karanjksa Gora which was a nice relief.  All in all our return trip was a little over an hour; not bad going.

I am writing this the day after and I have a couple of achy legs but a great sense of achievement that we managed to get all the way up and all the way down in less than the time it takes a walking party to go one way.   We hadn’t planned this as part of our holiday but it was a brilliant experience!

‘Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.’

Philippians 4:8 NIVUK