I’m managing to keep to my goal of running 3 times per week. Weather is getting colder and darker, but my trusty route remains a solid place to run whatever the weather!
So here are some pics from my route through all seasons!
Some of my other routes are nicer in good weather, but become too muddy or too overgrown in parts of the year.
So I think everyone needs that one trusty route that stays runnable throughout the season.
Mine is a former train-line route. What is yours?
that looks lovely CBDB my routes are along the seafront (though it can get busy in summer and covered in shingle after storms)🏖️⛱️ or if it’s nice a trail run inland in West Sussex is a great alternative, especially if running with friends 🏃♀️🏃♂️👍
Seafront! I’m jealous! A bit landlocked here in the middle of the country, but I cannot complain too much. 👍🏽
Me too. Just as well we love green trails 🙂👍
Mine is a newish country park cum flood plain. It’s taken over 20 years to clean up the site of pollution. Trees and shrubs planted, reed beds, drainage ditches and such like, fenced areas for grazing marsh-tolerating animals. Wooden steps and boardwalks, and stoney trail paths. The site has suffered pollution setbacks but it’s cleaning up well now and the wildlife is increasing. Traffic free is a bonus 🙏🏃♀️ Nearby too so shoes on and go
What sounds like a really lovely place
"That" not "what" !!!
🙂 It’s all interesting with various routes that fan out over the site so plenty of running possibilities
dreamy! I’m drooling! 😛😋🤤 (runner’s route envy … it’s a thing!)
That does sound lovely! Just shows we should rather think in terms of decades, rather than years! Nice!
yep, it’s going to take time for the shrubs and trees to afford some shelter It looks pretty barren and windswept,but I’m loving seeing it change.
When it’s in flood it all looks so completely different 🙂
The ground is so horribly stoney though 😫😬. My borrowed dog wont’ go anywhere near it 😀
I have several regular routes. My two miler has a long section which was former farm tracks but was properly tarmac surfaced about five years ago. The rest of it is on pavements. It's ideal for all seasons.
I've even done my 10km route (with the clay path) in snow with several fallen trees blocking the path.
So do you use the two miler tarmac road a lot? I’m still avoiding as much road surfaces as I can, it just feels they are harder on my joints.
About half my runs are on that at the moment. If things work out tomorrow I'll be doing my 10km route which is about 50% pavement and 20% clay (cinder) path and 30% canal towpath (varying surfaces) and about 25m of cobbles.
I don't mind running on the hardest smooth concrete or tarmac. That's actually the easiest surface for landing on. The hardest on my system is actually the softest (eg. sand). Yes, it's counter-intuitive.
Did you by any chance see the post about forefoot running from two weeks ago? healthunlocked.com/bridgeto...
yes, I had cone across her before. Also on her YouTube channel.
I’ve always been a forefoot striker, but as you know only recently transitioned to zero drops.
Pretty happy with that. So I might not transition to minimalist shoes for running, although I have an entrance level pair that I use for indoor rowing.
Sand … yeah … energy intensive. Just yesterday I watched Göran Winblad’s latest video about a “Swamp Race”. Sand is probably a bit like that 🤣🤣
Video is this one and very watchable:
Not quite like that, but I have run through mud and along a track which was flowing with muddy water. (One of my half marathon distances which went through Pilsworth and Heaton Park.)
Mud race. 🤣🤣 Yeah, even my ex cross country running hubby (ex-running, not ex-hubby)has to admit when seeing this video: “this takes cross country to another level”. So now I will tease him about the tame British cross country tracks! 🤣🤣
Mind you, that swamp / marsh route looked pretty level and most proper British cross country routes have some hilly sections, besides the rivers of mud, right?👍🏽🇬🇧🏃♀️🏃🏽♂️🏞️
I like the woodland trails best. Much easier on the feet 🙂.
Me too. And here in Cheshire we actually have some marshes or mosses that would actually be quite dangerous to run through, as there is deep water underneath.
I did a half last September across Tetney marshes in Lincs We stuck to the marked path😀. Flat, desolate beauty Windswept on the day too
I hope to run it again next year. I wasn’t too well so didn’t take it all in 🙂
I absolutely love the idea of taking a picture through all the seasons. It makes a beautiful montage.
I’ve got a trusty route along a country lane that’s very easy to adapt to between 2 and 6.5km, and a loop comes off it with various options up to about 12km without needing to do a lot of repeating bits. If MrU will pick me up from the next village (so I don’t have to run back up a really steep hill!!), I can get to 16km. Over the year I’ve seen bunnies, deer, buzzards, kestrels, bats, pheasants, a few cats, two owls and a badger. Very lucky!
There’s also an old railway line near here which is a drive away but worth it. That’s a lovely place to run. Good coffee shops too!!!
That sounds like a beautiful trusty road! And the ability to add loops up to 16k is brilliant! I have managed to extend mine to 10k but did not need any more than that so far.
Love the photos of your route through the year. I have been less successful at maintaining my 3 runs a week but I’m never too far away!
Thank you. That’s great. My motivation for getting out there is based on pure fear of landing on the IC again 🤣😉. When I lapsed into 1 run per week, I had to acknowledge that it increased my risk of running injuries, so I really want to now be consistent in running three times per week.
Lovely selection of photos CBDB, I do have some photos of the main route I run, I posted a photo just the other Sunday when running Tim's Run, the half marathon.I run on 3 routes, one is in a park very near to where I live, the longest run I have ran there is 8K, the second place I run is around a small pond, it is exactly 1K around it, the most I have ran there are 3 kilometers, usually as a 3K maintenance run on a Saturday morning when I am not at parkrun, the third and main place I run is around a loch, there is a photograph I took during my HM on 27th November, that's the place most of my runs are, 5K, 10K etc, I only combined all three during that HM, so I have a reasonable choice of places for my runs.
Mine are the pre-work street route but more so the "vineyard loop" no matter the season there is stuff to appreciate and views to satisfy 👍🏻 mainly sheep field, grass, farm track and a tiny section of lane
How do you find/plan your routes
A new route - thank you lagatachocolate!
A huge thank you to everyone 
