Maxine's Walk

Running to music

This morning I had one of my best runs ever, I covered about 8.5 miles through the Cheviots at a good steady pace and the reason for this? Music! I have always struggled with maintaining a rhythm in my running, I start to feel tired and then walk for too long before getting going again. I know other people run to music but until now I always felt I should be enjoying the scenery and that included hearing the sounds of the birds etc. But I thought I would give it a try so I bought a tiny ipod shuffle, uploaded some songs and away I went. What a difference! I have been flying along this morning - I put on a bit of a mix including Amy McDonald, Take That, The Baseballs and the best one for my running pace 'You can't stop the beat' from Hairspray!

My route today started from just west of Wooler up over Gains Law along the St Cuthberts Way past Tom Tallon's crag. I then turned right and took the path up Yeavering Bell, a bit of a climb but the views from the top were fantastic - it was also really windy. I ran back down with the wind behind me and took the footpath up to White Law and then along to Gleadscleugh. The last bit was along the track round Humbleton Hill and then back to the car. A total of 8.5 miles which was a good training run for the Kielder Marathon just two weeks away.

A wet day in the Cheviots

I knew the weather was going to be a little drizzly today but it was my only day off this week and I was determined to get a days walking in the hills. My friend Anita had agreed to come with me, and we met up just outside Wooler, for a 7 miles walk in the Cheviots. At first we only got some light drizzle as we made our way up the track towards Broadstruther (the same track from the beginning of the Ultra a few weeks ago). The cheviots are still looking glorious although the heather is now reaching the end of it's flowering time, we had some lovely views although the hill cloud wasn't too far away. Just before reaching Broadstruther we took the path north up and over the hill before dropping down to cross the burn just below Commonburn Farmhouse. There is a footbridge just a little further down from the path but we opted to step across the fairly shallow river - afterall our feet were already soaked from all the wet ground we had been walking across! By this time the rain had now become quite heavy so we opted to follow the track back to the cars. We got blasted by the rain but we both had good waterproofs so were dry underneath - shame the same can't be said about our shoes and socks!