Tuesday Night Run - 25/05/2011

Tom at the top of Mott's Road. Andy's lurking.
Sorry ladies, I should know your names but don't.

Well, Tuesday came around satisfyingly quickly this week and after a chat with Terry and a warm up on the Rectory Field, it was down to business...

We went off up Carding Mill Valley, taking Mott's Road up to the Portway. It's steeper than you think this way and I think pretty much everyone had a walk at some point up here (OK, Ruth, I never saw you walking, not once, but you could have sneaked a quick bit of pedestrianism in while I wasn't paying attention). The Houseman Hundred aspirants all seemed to be there, but only in body. There certainly wasn't the usual dose of speed about.

A quick discussion at the top, and we turned towards Haddon Hill. I put in a couple of good efforts on the short rises here, talking to Andy Davies (shows how hard he was trying, and I could only just keep up!). At the top we decided to go down the LMV descent to the bottom of Jonathan's Hollow.

Where shall we go next? Top of Haddon Hill

I tweaked my right calf slightly on the way down - probably a result of going too hard on the Haddon climbs - but not too badly. Tom and I loitered at the back on the way down the Batch, and got some extra climbing as punishment when Ruth and Adrian headed up Cwmdale rather than going down into All Stretton and back through the fields. I stopped on the way back bast the golf clubhouse to take a couple of pictures, then we were all together again in CMV, jogging back to the Co-op.

Cardingmill Valley and Burway Hill

Church Stretton

Happy band taking it steady back into town.

This was a shorter route than usual, 6.2 miles with about 1,500' of ascent in a leisurely 1 hr 20 mins. It was particularly nice to be able to welcome one of our juniors tonight.

Good luck to all the Houseman Hundred guys - JT, Noel, Sandy, Terry and Andy (hope I haven't missed anyone) - I hope you all get round and it only hurts enough to give you a sense of achievement...