Happy trail training :-)

I went for a really lovely run today. I ran a new route that I always think about doing, but today I finally thought, ‘why not, why haven’t I done this before, what’s stopping me?’ (Sounds quite dramatic haha) So, I’ve been a bit lazy on the run/ training front of late. I do a lot of weights and cross training stuff, but I’ve been a lazy runner. So, whilst I have been occupying my days with a mega job search (someone give me a job, please...), I have told myself that I have to run at least 5 miles a day, most days. This is good chance for me to get mega fit.

Alas, my Garmin is still broken (although I know some people don't like Garmins *cough*, George...) & so I have to ‘mapmyrun’ everything. This is okay and I had weaned myself off wearing my Garmin in most events and training runs, but it’s always good to have it on me because it’s so easy to see how far you ran afterwards. Anyway, I got myself out of the door and I went for a run. I’m glad I took my sunglasses with me, because I kept getting dive-bombed and kissed by June-bug type insects and flying things. So I ran to Hooton railway station & then I met up with the Wirral Way footpath.

The Wirral Way is a path on the track of an old railway that goes from West Kirby to Hooton in mid-Wirral offering superb views over the Dee Estuary to Wales. Originally the railway formed a circuit of Wirral and this is the missing link.

It is situated within Wirral Country Park. Wirral Country Park is a place of contrasts. Birds nest in the dense hedges or feed on the berries in winter, and you may see up to ten kinds of butterfly in summer. From the boulder-clay cliffs look out over the Dee Estuary across its 31,500 acres to the Welsh shore, 5 miles away, and on a clear day you can see the familiar outline of Moel Famau in the Clwydian Hills. The estuary's ever-changing light, broad vistas and westerly sunsets reflected in the mudflats and the sea are a constant delight.  (I totally stole this from the LDWA website: http://www.ldwa.org.uk/ldp/members/show_path.php?path_name=Wirral+Way ).

I think the reason I never run a lot along the Wirral Way on my own is because I get really paranoid about dogs...I am a bit of a scaredy cat. I know that I run all sorts of public footpaths on my own during organised events, but somehow I convince myself that this is somehow safer, because there are lots of us out there all at once. Anyway, I pushed this paranoia and scaredy-cat-ness to the back of my mind, put on my brave-girl face and went running.  It was a couple of miles up to where I joined the footpath and then I clocked up about 3 miles out-and-back along the path itself. I ran as far as Willaston and then I ran back. However, I got to thinking that I can run so much further along here. I could run to West Kirby or Parkgate; so many possibilities. And there were no scary doggies. It was actually very quiet along the path. It was lovely to get out there in the countryside, away from traffic and cars and really take in my surroundings. I very much enjoyed this run. Overall I did almost 8.5 miles, so I exceeded my ‘at least 5 miles a day’ target. Hurrah!

I was so hot and sweaty afterwards that I had a lovely orange ice lolly :-) Happy Friday everyone...