John Bunyan trail run 25th/26th May 2012

John Bunyan trail run 25th/26th May 2012

Richard Jones, James Handley and I will be running the whole of the JB trail on the above dates, starting at 6pm on Friday 25th May and finishing at some point the next day. Our hope and aim is that as many people as possible from the club will come out and join us for what ever part of the run that might take their fancy. This is not a race, it will not be timed, we will run it at a pace that allows everyone from the club to join us for what ever distance they want and most importantly, there is no pressure on anyone to do anything other than what they want to do. It is aimed at club members and their friends only and whether you can run one mile or twenty, we would like you to come along and try a section of the trail. We will be responsible for navigating the route, so you won’t even need a map (although you will have to get your self back to your starting point).

 The JB trail is a perfect run for our club. It winds its way up and down Bedfordshire through Ampthill, Flitwick, Westoning, Ridgmont, Cranfield, Bromham, Clapham, Shefford, Barton Le Clay and surrounding villages. The furthest point north it reaches is Pavenham, down to the outskirts of Luton, over to Shefford and up to . Every point of the trail is very accessible and easily reached. It is a great, historic trail and whilst some sections are a little undulating, on the whole it is a comfortable trail to run. We love trail running so much, that we don’t need a race or medal to get us out the door to do this. Our only wish is that people from the club who perhaps haven’t tried trail running before, decide to give it a go and come along. Please don’t worry about distance or speed. No one will be hassled into running a foot step more than they want and we will be taking it slow and easy, particularly I expect after the fifty mile point! The JB run is already a success, as after I first announced it James came forward and said he fancied giving the whole lot a go. As equally important to us though, is to get other people out to do one, five, ten or more miles. We are a running club, so let’s do what we all enjoy and run.Bedford

 We would particularly like to see people who don’t normally run together come out, get to know each other a bit and try the trail. The main aim is that we do it together. We are looking forward to spending time with some new faces and if we are lucky, opening up the world of trail running to more people. If you are worried about speed, firstly don’t, but if you are come and join us in the latter stages when we will be on our last legs. If you want to try something different, come and join us at midnight and run through the night. Watching the country go to sleep, running through the dark and in the early hours really is a magical time to me. Why not do two sections? Come out Friday night early and join us again on Saturday? There are lots of options and the best part is that it is down to you to choose what you want to do. All we know, is that it is a very long way to the three of us and we will be enormously grateful for your company.

 Set out below are meeting points at which we think we will be at different times of the day and night. We have calculated meeting points that have various distances in between, so that there is a choice of distances to choose from. The whole trail is around 78 miles give or take a few and we would hope to be able to complete it in under 24 hours, but the times below are guidelines rather than set in stone. We have estimated the time it will take to move from one meeting point to another, using a conservative pace,  allowing for stops for food and drinks and other factors such as night time running and navigating. It might be that we reach a given meeting point earlier than the time stated on the plan below. If we do manage to do that, we will not leave that meeting point until the allocated time. That means as long as you are at the meeting point that you choose to run from, say five minutes before the time stated, you are guaranteed to be able to find us. If we are later than planned, you will know we are behind time if you are there early and you will just need to wait for us to arrive. To supplement the plan below, on the day I will also be updating my facebook page as to where we are, so if you are interested find me on FB (via the clubs FB site is easiest) and join me as a friend. James also has a tracking device that allows us to be followed via google, details of which are to follow once we have tried using it on a long run.

 At the end of the run, we will try to enjoy a pint or three at the Queens Head Pub in Ampthill. We would like to also try to get as many people as possible to come and join us for a few beers, as this run is all about being social and this is an extension to that. Mind you, I might pong a bit so not sure how social I will be?  The whole idea of this run, is to try to encourage as many people as possible to come out and try a trail or even two, to run with other people from the club who they might not otherwise run with and at the end, to cement any new found friendships over several beverages. We really want everyone from the nice and easys through to the whippets to come out and join the experience. We have tried to set times which encourages people to try a few miles and we will not be running hard. In fact, we might not be running much at all towards the end!

The meeting points and route 

1. Ampthill to Harlington - estimated 8.3 miles. Starting at 6pm from the centre of Ampthill, meeting at the monument on the corner of Bedford Street and Church Street opposite the pharmacy and the White Hart pub, near the two mini roundabouts. We then wind our way over to Harlington, to the next meeting point at the front of Harlington . Aimed for finish time is 7.45pm. 15 minute break.

2. Harlington  Church to Sundon Hills country Park- estimated 8.3 miles. Starting at 8pm and then over fields to the Sundon Hills country car park on the Sharpenhoe Road. Aimed for finish time is 9.45pm. 15 minute break.

3. Sundon Hills country Park to Lilley - estimated 6.4 miles. Starting at 10pm and then over to the meeting point at the tall Village sign on the small green in the centre near to the church. Aimed for finish time is 11.45pm ( to take into account a fish and chip drop on route). 15 minute break.

4. Lilley village centre to Hexton Village Hall - estimated 6.7 miles. Starting at Midnight and then to the meeting point outside the village hall. Aimed for finish time is 1.45am. 15 minute break.

5. Hexton village Hall to The Church to  High Street Shefford - estimated  7.1 miles. Starting at 2am and then over to the meeting point outside the Church in Shefford High Street. Aimed for finish time 3.45am. 15 minute break

6. Shefford High Street to the Red Lion Pub carpark, High Street, Elstow - estimated 8.5 miles. Starting at 4am and then to Eltow High Street. Aimed for finish time 6.15am. 15 minute break.

7. Red Lion, Elstow to outside the Fox and Hounds Pub ( opposite the Suzuki garage), High Street Clapham - estimated 5.1 miles. Starting at 6.30am and over to High Street, Clapham. Aimed for finish time 7.45am. 15 minute break.

8. Fox and Hounds, Clapham to the Village Green, Molivers Lane, Bromham - estimated 7.8 miles. Starting at 8am and over to Bromham. Aimed for finish time 10am. Breakfast stop 1 hour.

9. Village Green, Bromham to the Swan Pub, just off the High Street in Cranfield - estimated 8.2 miles. Starting at 11am and over to Cranfield. Aimed for finish time 1.15pm. 15 minute break.

10. Swan Pub, Cranfield to the front of the Church on Ridgmont High Street - estimated 5.6 miles. Starting at 1.30pm and over to Ridgmont. Aimed for finish time 3.15pm.

11. Ridgmont  Church to the monument, Ampthill town centre - estimated 7.3 miles . Starting time 3.30pm and aimed for finishing time 5.45pm, but who knows?

12. Pub. Starting time 7pm. Aimed for finish time? For us, when the last one falls asleep, but for you?

 It would be helpful to know if anyone is joining us at any given point, as we may want to ask for the odd provision to be brought along, such as extra water, the odd sarnie or even flask of tea. We will be making arrangements for more substantial food to be provided at two main points for anyone doing the whole lot or anything more than a marathon distance. This will be via a fish and chip drop on route and a breakfast as set out above. Anyone going shorter will need to bring along their own provisions. As this is not being organised by the club, I’m paying for the food so you are going to have to work for it i9f you want some! If we do ask the odd person to help out say with a flask of tea that will be for the longer runners only, although everyone is free to muck in and bring along whatever they want for anyone else. We just don’t want to put pressure on anyone to provide cups of tea or food for lots of people.

 If are interested and fancy tagging along, please mail me on paulowen2@googlemail.com, post a message on my facebook page, the club forum page or collar me at training if you have any questions. Its not essential that you tell us, but it would be good to know. I can also then send you our mobile numbers as another back up.

Paul Owen

The post marathon run

Day 65 of the 366 days running challenge. 3 miles. Miles to date 409 After yesterdays marathon, I was only ever going to log my basic 3 miles today. I popped in 69 miles last week and hope to do something similar this week, albeit at a slower pace as the miles start to build. Having gone out to run before work today, I was able to come home and not rush out to log the miles. I enjoyed a nice nutritious sausage sarnie, before heading off to a production of Grease at the children's school. I spent the night trying not to burst into sing-a-long a dad mode in order to save huge embarrassment to Mrs.O and the junior O's. As I'm not planning to run until Tuesday night with my club, I have a whole 29 hours rest between runs. Yippeeee.

Cambridge Boundary Run marathon

Day 64 of the 366 days running challenge. 26.2 miles. Miles to date 406 After yesterdays JB trail run, I was a tad tired as the alarm went off. Luckily my old mucker Richard Jones was also fatigued having run 12 miles yesterday. Lightweight, I ran 12.3. Off we headed to Cambridge uni's boundary run. On arrival, we thought we were in fresher's week, as the glow of young, shiny eager faces meant we almost needed sunglasses. We toyed with just letting the whipper snappers just go and wander over to the start at some point or other, but decided to follow the pack to save having to map read. This was just an extended training run and it was more important to have time on our feet rather than time. We wound through the estates and paused as we reached a level crossing waiting for a train to go by! Those at the front must have had a hearty lead as a result of that stop. It rained from the start and the moment we hit the trails, we knew that it was going to be a very slow, wet, cold and muddy run. The constant rain turned the trails into a mud bath, with the down hills more suited to surfing than running. So much for England's green and pleasant land. At halfway, all those shiny young things stopped and headed for the local wine bars ( there was a half and a full ), which left what grizzeled old veterans there were that had entered. And me, a mere boy at 44. There was then just mud, mud and more mud. Oh, and rain. Lots and lots of rain. The field really was very sparse by now and we couldn't follow anyone. I was stuck with satnav Jones in the middle of fields somewhere around Cambridge, getting more tired as the miles past. Fortunately, the route had been very well marked by the Cambridge crew, with the flour arrow markers holding up despite incessant rain. We trundled in at 4;25, which on a wet, cross country, muddy and cold marathon was fine. Both of us are capable of running an awful lot quicker, but today was just about the miles and being able to run tomorrow. I've got a whole 17 hours rest before my next planned run. Happy days.

John Bunyan trail run Northern section

 Having drafted the plans for the seventy eight odd miles John Bunyan trail I'm going to run in May with RJ and James Handley from the club, I decided to check out the northern most point this morning with Fi and bow out from the SMC for a week. I'm running a marathon tomorrow and aimed for around nine miles. Fi and I went through the same pre run routine. Got up, had a bit of breakie, went back to bed, got up again, made a deposit at the porcelain bank, put on the least smelly running kit ( ok that was me - you trying running 62 days straight and see what that effect has on your gear), vaselined up and strode confidently out the door.

Me and Meggie before the run

Fi Fi looking keen

Me looking constipated

 We decided to run to one of the meeting points I have planned on the JB route, which was around four miles away. We meandered through our village and thought we would check out what looked like on the map a new route over to it. We ran along a quiet road towards a local nature reserve, hoping a bit further on there were bridges to take us over the railway, dual carriageway and river that has stopped us using this route before. We found bridges for the first two, which we knew were there, but stumbled on the third as we came to a ford in the river. It was marked as a bridleway and if we were on horses it would be fine, but Fi didn't fancy wading across as its still a tad cold.

 I tried to persuade her to just run along the river until we came to something going across it like the train line, but Mrs.Sensible said something about it being illegal to run on train tracks, so I caved in and wound back from whence we came. We reached our village and did a right turn, heading out the far end along the main road dodging traffic for half a mile until we were able to hit the trail again.

The ford 

We eventually reached a section of the JB trail which we were heading for, albeit a few miles further on from the meeting point. I know part of the route through a great off road marathon called the Bedford Clanger, which incidentally I'm doing in a few weeks. We ran across a few fields with a village on our left and open country on our right, following a well worn path. Back into the village centre where we joined the route for the Oakley twenty race, before a hair raising mile along quite a fast country road. Most of the cars pulled over, but all the way I was ready to dive to the right into the hedgegrow. We made it to the next trail point unscathed, when Fi came into her own and took charge. She has been over here before and I haven't, so I was very happy for her to take the map and plow on.

She loves trails now!

Fi taking the trail in her stride

Crossing the bridge into Oakley

 This was the best section of the route, as we ran along the river Ouse for two miles or so. We did take a slightly wrong path off the JB, but found it again in Pavenham before heading back again to the river front. I was by this stage having a ball. We were on a new route that was very scenic, Fi was running amazingly well without any niggles from her knee that has caused her gip in the past, the JB trail plan was becoming a reality and the sun was out. Fi has never run further than ten miles before and I knew early doors that this was going to be long, due to the river detour. At around the ten mile mark, I gingerly enquired how she felt and was relieved to hear great, lets keep running.

 We eventually ran into Stevington, past the windmill and met up with Megan and our border terrier, Daisy. They had run out to meet us across the fields to join us for the last few miles. Fi had brought out a doggie poop bag, but I said I thought I could make it back home this time. We trotted back to our local playing field and it was here that I broke the news to Fi. She had just smashed her mileage PB by over two miles, running on a country trail route that was undulating and twisty. She finished with a smile and was very happy to have got so far. She now knows that she is well on course for a great first half marathon at the Great North Run in Geordie land which is still over six months away. That was my first ever half and she is already talking of obliterating my time. Oh dear, I have created another running monster. Yippeeeeee.

Finding the JB route sign

Stevington Church

Stevington windmill

Trail back home

 The main casualty was the dog who needed a long lie down as soon as we got home. Mind you, I suspect Fi may be heading for the land of nod later. Come to think of it, that's not a bad idea. 

Daisy the Dog

AFF Time trial - 01.03.12

Mmmm, fish & chips

Day 62 of the 366 days running challenge. 3.2 miles. Miles to date 367.5 I ran in yet another new place tonight. I was under orders to pick up some fish and chips and be home to allow time to scoff and take Jimbob to scouts. I parked up and headed into Kempston against the flow of traffic going home, pelting away past various gangs of marauding children waiting for the inevitable mickey taking which duly arrived. The thought of f&c spurred me on to quite a quick run, followed by no stretching, straight into the chippy and buckets of perspiration dropping all everywhere. Nice. Having put most of the peeps off their food, I remembered that I'm doing a marathon on Sunday and perhaps a quick 5k wasn't the best idea, especially as Fi Fi has a ten miler planned for us in the morning checking out the John Bunyan trail. Still, the f&c were top notch. If f&c was good enough for Alf Tupper, the Tuff of the Track, its good enough for me

The flasher..

Day 61 of the 366 days running challenge. 4.1 miles. Miles to date 364.3

I decided to take it a bit easier tonight and enjoyed a comfortable trot with Leigh Pilgrim and Shaun Kirtley before the clubs 5k time trial. Having done so, I donned my all in one comfy superman outfit and wandered over to one of the corners, with my camera to take a few snaps. Leigh was directing the runners so I concentrated on taking snaps as all the runners came up the hill.
As I was messing around with the camera, I accidentally flashed it at a car coming quite fast up the hill. He slowed down, presuming I guess that I was holding some sort of speed camera. As he drew level, he saw me in my superman outfit in fits of laughter with Leigh and gave me an angry stare. That was it then. I alternated between taking snaps of the runners and flashing the cars. I'm not sure what was funnier, the cars slowing down or the drivers drawing level with me and noticing I was dressed in an all in one Superman outfit. Actually I know, it was the astonished faces. Very childish I know, but some of the looks I got were classic. Its kept me chuckling all night. I'm easily pleased.
For the club peeps, I will stick the photos on my blog in due course