Finding our way

“Remember what Bilbo used to say: It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.” – JRR Tolkien

Some sort of route planning was necessary so that we knew when to start and so we could tell people who were joining us en route where we could meet. There is no set route for Land’s End to John O’Groats. Several former Lejoggers had talked about their routes and I had four route guide books plus many websites for reference. It didn’t really help: so much choice was just too confusing so I asked Judy to come and help.  She did. I have never had any one help me get so confused so quickly.

To help clarify matters I had bought two identical copies of a road atlas from which we cut the relevant pages and stuck them together. It did stop us diverting to Norfolk (very flat) or Butteriwck (very good potatoes) but the choice of routes was bewildering and we are very easily bewildered.

I wanted to go via Launceston, Darren’s home town, and come through Bristol, our home town. This is very easy if you travel by car: you just stick to the A30 and M5, but less good on a bike: scary at best, lethal at worst and/or illegal. After much deliberation we ruled out staying in Bristol overnight as it seemed to mean that for the next ten nights we would end up far from civilisation, with the possible exception of a night in Runcorn. We decided, though, that we will aim to arrive at Ashton Court at 10am on our first Saturday as post-parkrun cake would be guaranteed then we could have lunch before crossing the Severn Bridge in the afternoon and heading for Monmouth. The “post-parkrun” refers to everyone else: we just plan to be a cheering party for the last runners. All this planning does mean I can indulge my stationery habit, though, and am developing a colour-coded annotation system for the route.

6^th February
A cold laid me low last week, coinciding neatly with my days off, and I had full days at work, plus a day working in Milton Keynes yesterday. It’s meant that my training has gone slightly haywire. On reflection, you can remove those last two words and it’s very accurate. I need to get a firm grip on my training programme and be tough with myself. Fortunately I have several other people who will remind me to keep focused on the end result so I did a spin class this morning. 45 minutes of hard work: screaming leg muscles, tired arms and the single thought of “What on earth have I let myself in for?”

I’ve done fifteen marathons and one thirty-five mile race. I can do this.

                                                               Any excuse for Post-its.