Day 180 - 04 May 2011

Wednesday
6.5 miles.  5 miles running and 1.5 miles walking briskly

I fancied a long and fast session this evening, so with Mr Stewart by my side, we headed towards Hengistbury Head - which is about 3/4 mile from where we live.  Usually when walking this route, I'm happy to walk to the summit which is pretty steep.  But as I wanted to focus on running and more importantly, focus on my running form, I chose to run the perimeter of Hengistbury, which has a few hills, but nothing like climbing the to the top.

Looking at the summit, with the sea to the right and (not shown here) the harbour to the left

With the help of Ian telling me how I was running, we agreed that wearing a baseball cap almost forces me to look down, which means that I start to 'hunch' up.  This isn't good for lung capacity (as discussed in an earlier blog), so I took the cap off - which was great anyway, as it was so hot this evening! - and I tried to look ahead by 20-30 yards.  It's hard for me, as I'm so used to staring at the ground directly in front of my feet.  But practice hopefully makes perfect. 

We continued until we came to Mudeford Beach before turning around to come back again. 

These beach huts are some of the most expensive in the country - £80,000 - £90,000!
But you get the harbour in front and the sea behind you.  Perfect.

On the way back, we go through a wooded part of the route, which was lovely, apart from the midges - lots of them!  It could have been summer and it was odd to think it's only the beginning of May. 

This is the view you get as you near Mudeford Spit

I was very pleased when we got back home to have completed 6.5 miles at such a pace after a day's work

Job done.