A cross country run at Hartest Suffolk

Hartest

 To recap for anyone not aware Janathon is a free event in which you aim to run, cycle swim or walk and then blog about it everyday in January. Signing up at the Janathon site is easy completing a Janathon is a little harder. However today I did just that to complete a running streak of 31 days which is a personal record which I won;t be extending as I am having a rest day tomorrow.

pathway to Somerton

To finish Janathon I wanted to do something slightly different and I chose a cross country route at Hartest in Suffolk. Hartest is a village in what is known as "High Suffolk" because it is quite different from the flatter heaths, forests and fens in a large part of the county.

Two chairs in the middle of nowhere

I parked my car behind the Hartest Institute and set off up the Somerton Road. At the top of the hill there was a track which is known as Smithbrook Lane which I took downhill to a stream. The pathway was thick with mud and I did well to keep my shoes on my feet. From here I was running through fields or on the edge and either running up or down hill.  I was breathing hard but was making regularly stops to check on my map as there were often several choices of direction to follow. 

Hartest

As I approached a house called Manor Farm I noticed a dog hanging about at the entrance. My path took me straight past the entrance of the farm and I thought if I slowed down I might get past the dog without it worrying about me. Wrong! There was no chance as I climbed the hill towards the farm it spotted me and started to belt down the hill. I don't know what type of dog it was but it looked as if it wasn't at all friendly so I reluctantly did a u - turn. The dog gave up the chase and I gave it a couple of minutes before trying again this time aiming to walk past but same result and again another chase the dog thankfully giving up at some invisible boundary to its territory. 

Hartest

Of course the dog was only doing what it was supposed to do and protect its home but it was frustrating. All to often dogs which are not controlled by their owners present a problem to runners. Do you carry on past the dog and hope for the best or get bitten like Paula Radcliffe did this month on a training run in Monaco.  I tend to take the avoidance route.

With my plan out of the window there was nothing else for it but to concede defeat and do a u turn back to Hartest. So a bit of a sorry end to Janathon as I didn't complete my intended longer run out to Somerton. It was more of an out and back run for a total of 4 miles of stop start running.

With my run complete my stats for Janathon are

31 runs , 134 miles

Day 1 - 5 miles
Day 2 - 5 miles
Day 3 - 4 miles
Day 4 - 4 miles
Day 5 - 3 miles
Day 6 - 2.52 miles
Day 7 - 7 miles
Day 8 - 3.5 miles
Day 9 - 2 miles
Day 10 - 4 miles
Day 11 - 4 miles
Day 12 - 8 miles
Day 13 - 3 miles
Day 14 - 4 miles
Day 15 - 3 miles
Day 16 - 4 miles
Day 17 - 6 miles
Day 18 - 6 miles
Day 19 - 4 miles
Day 20 - 3 miles
Day 21 - 4.3 miles
Day 22 - 5 miles
Day 23 - 4.21 miles
Day 24 - 3.3 miles
Day 25 - 1 mile
Day 26 - 7.5 miles
Day 27 - 4 miles
Day 28 - 5 miles
Day 29 - 6 miles
Day 30 - 4.26 miles
Day 31 - 4 miles

Total 134 miles

Time spent running 20.3 hours.

Would I do Janathon again?

Yes it is a great way to start a new year with a clear goal and I lost a couple of kilos in weight. I will decide nearer the time but may well give Juneathon the sister event another go. I failed to complete it last year due to injury. It will be interesting to compare the two and decide which is the hardest. It has also been good though time consuming to record a blog post for every run. Best of all was visiting other runners blogs and seeing how they were doing with Janathon. I will certainly continue to follow those who made contact with me.

Whats next after Janathon?

A rest on Feb the 1st and a couple of white Russians to celebrate. As for running events I have nothing planned or booked at the moment. I will plan my training tomorrow for the next couple of months probably based on running 5 days a week with 2 rest days.

What did I talk about during January in my daily blogs ?

Running gives you time to think and subjects are often diverse. I talked about The United States Streak Association, Greene King Brewery, Bury St Edmunds, Ramblings with Clare Baldwin,Ouida,Pentland Hills,Jeff Bridges, White Russians,The Big Lebowski,Christmas Trees,Phedippidations, Frodo, Are Runners Respected , lower back stretching, The Suffolk Regiment, Slade, Inovite Shoes, Ickworth Park, Marathon Talk, Mt Kilimanjaro, Toby Tanser, Mombasa, Running from the Reaper, Sacking of Roy Keane at Ipswich Town, Fornham,Squirrels, Blackbirds,Cineworld, The Next Three Days , Russell CroweTonbridge Angels, kitchen gardens , Sir John Hervey, River Linnett, cross country, Energy foods for running, The Kings Speech, Tokyo Police Club, Jantastic, chickens, Rolf Harris, Running to Music, Audiofuel, YouTube, 127 hours,Buried, plantar fasciitis, The Green Hornet,flooding, Innocence Project, The Green Mile, Sam Rockwell,Hilary Swank,Conviction, 4 feet running, vinyl records, Ron Hill, hill running, IPOD, running with glasses, Neovite, Colostrum,Nathan Lowell, Podiobooks, The Morning Parade, Sicklesmere, interval runs and Hartest to name a few.

Well done to everyone who took part in Janathon, award yourself a medal, put your feet up for a day and don;t forget to celebrate with a White Russian.