I've been really very unimaginative with my runs since moving house, I've just been extending a loop along the old Union Canal that runs out of Edinburgh towards the Pentland hills. I will of course go back to my old much-loved run routes too (I'm only a mile away from my old home!) but it's quite exciting going in a different direction. The only issue for me is the horrible flipping aqueduct I have to traverse to get out of town 😅 I don't like water, that's quite well publicised now, and am really quite irrationally phobic about it sometimes...and this aqueduct makes me feel very wibbly in the legs. By all accounts it's quite a nice one, built in 1822 under the careful eye of Thomas Telford, but it's just so cobbly and narrow, coupled with being up in the air like that...eep, it's a peculiar feeling. I'm very brave and just get on with it, but my pace does quite often quicken just to get me to the other side! The picture up there is taken from a cyclist's video, if you want to experience the abject terror of it all. (Fine, fine...it's not terrifying for anyone else, I know...) youtube.com/watch?v=DCoN_dw...
Have you encountered anything on your runs that makes you feel a bit nervous? Cattle grids, night running, being alone, being in a crowd, animals in fields, big high up rivers in the sky...anything at all. And if so, how do you overcome it? I'm intrigued, and am slightly hoping that I'm not alone in my feebleness 😆
And of course even if you are braver than me and nothing makes you feart, we still want to hear all about your plans for the week, and how they go!
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Happy running!
Sqkr & roseabi
XXX
(Edited because I can't spell 'aqueduct'...)
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Sqkr
Half Marathon
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There is a path made from a disused railway that I run sometimes - it's between Shoreham and the South Downs Way, and goes along the River Adur. It actually runs along a busy road, but itself is very secluded with huge hedges on each side, passes a creepy bus depot (or sort of large vehicle graveyard - I'm really not sure!) and a disused factory. There's always a fair few friendly cyclists and dog walkers about at the times I choose to run it, but it gives me the heebie-jeebies a little bit, because my imagination runs away with me. So I just plod along it, thinking Ninja thoughts 😊 There's a picture of a bit of it on this Strava entry - labelled "Uber autumnal!": strava.com/activities/18852...
I did all the stuff last week - pull-ups, swimming, 16 km run, run-bike-run, windsurfing (got stranded at sea on Sunday!). I'm a bit knackered today, actually 😄
I was running along there one time and a deer jumped out of the hedge up ahead of me. I stopped dead still, and it started running towards me full pelt! A bloke on a bike showed up and scared the deer, so it ran away from us and then back into the hedge - happily in the direction of the river rather than the road. The blokey said he'd never seen a deer there before 😊😊😊
I can understand why that would make you nervous. Slippery and oh-so-near the watter! What could go wrong. Avoid it in winter !
I run over a fly-over across a local dual carriageway. The side railings are really quite low. the bridge itself rises in humpback style. Very weird feeling running over it. I go more slowly over it.
Decent running week last week. Bit less distance but gearing up for another long run this weekend of 21.5k Got incoming family this week too, plus the dog on a couple of days, and running of course, so it's going to be busy. Taking the children to the park so that will be some good exercise
I ran this morning with the blisters but they felt much better. Thank goodness
That's beautiful! I'd swap your aqueduct any day for some of my cattle fields or horse fields.
I'm getting better with cows (quite proud of my progress) but I do not like loose horses (having been in dentistry and seen too many horsey folk come in with their faces bashed in!)
I just steel myself and keep doing it as much as I dislike it! I switch my music off, sing to myself to calm myself a bit, and hopefully scare the buggers off 🤣🤣
Night running can creep me out a bit... a field of glowing sheeps eyes can be most odd!!, but I can usually laugh off the night creeps!
Not sure what my plans are this week apart from keeping to 50k to keep the moon distance up! 👍🏻😁
Always wise to be wary of cattle. Several people a year are killed by them and they can be aggressive with young at foot. I used to blithely walk through fields of them, but |'m more careful now. Proceed with caution.
That looks a very narrow path to be so close to a waterway. Wuoldn't want to have to cross on the outside.
A little bit more midweek mileage for me. I have been following a steady routine over the summer, but will be on holiday at the end of this week so am hoping for a bit of running tourism. Running gear will be packed with the best intentions.
Whoa, there’s no railing? I don’t mind heights or water, but I need a barrier in between! 😱
I’m creeping my way towards HM distance and made a good leap forward this week by doing a solid 19k. It was enjoyable for the most part (those last couple of kms though 😩) as it was pelting down, just how I like it! 🏃♀️💦
I also did PR and belatedly marked my C25K graduation runniversary there by revisiting W1R1 (jogging/running) with MJ back in my ears! It was so much fun I did it again this morning actually. I didn’t make it to 5k in that time I hasten to add - I was running in silence to make up the difference - although I went further than the real W1R1 - imagine if I hadn’t! 🤦♀️
Anyway, a week tinged with sadness as I had to have one of my pet bunnies put to sleep. A sweet girl, and I dedicated my 19k to her. ❤️❤️❤️
1. Horses... I'm not scared of horses but 5 horses in a field made me question if I was on the correct path, I thought I was on private property so I turned around.. Great story I know.
2. A Bull... I am scared of Bulls. I was running with my dog and there was a Bull on its own in a field, my dog started barking at it, so I ran in the opposite direction . Probably shouldn't do that, but I did.
3. Pendle Hill on Halloween... Me and some friends went up Pendle hill at night with head torches, on Halloween...(yes, we're grown men) It was like the Blair witch project. I'm not scared of things like that, but I must admit it was eerie, and I understand why it gets its reputation.
It was crystal clear at the bottom of the hill, a perfect night. As we climbed the hill, it started to get REALLY windy and we were engulfed in thick fog; which was quite bizarre. The wind was so strong that I couldn't hear what anyone was saying, and the fog was so thick I couldn't see more than a couple of feet in front of me. Then I saw my friend walking towards me...He shouted
"We're going back down, we're not dying on a hill... we'll never live it down"
I've gone eighty miles out of my way not to cross one narrow and high bridge over a river near here. Can do it in a car, but I sweat bullets when on my motorcycle going across it when I absolutely have to
On my runs - going downhill makes me very nervous. I keep thinking my foot will slip and I'll take a godawful tumble. Because of my screwed footbones, I only have two "speeds" going downhill - walking and "semi-controlled flailing lolloping". My feet cannot take the "brake forces" that would allow for a slower stride.
As for particular location...
There's an old Manorhouse in Ireland that not only will I never -ever- enter again, I don't ever want to even be on foot - running or not - within sight of it. Three times in my life I've been profoundly scared and that place was one of them.
Urm drunks throwing peebles on the undercliff. Also large scary guy , who looks like Hagrid from Harry Potter, who shouts and screams whilst kicking peebles.....I haven't seen him for awhile. Also doggie poop, quite slippery.
Ooh, I was running an out-n-back along the Undercliff one time. After my turnaround, at a spot where I'd been not 10 minutes before, I saw a very recently dead rabbit on the path. I could only think it must have been dropped by a hawk. Imagine if I'd been there when it fell 😲
I could not run across that. Creep across while holding onto the rails hand over hand, maybe. Otherwise, running through the woods can be spooky. Odd sounds, looming shapes out of the corner of my eye, sudden mists. Never actually encountered anything scary though. It's usually a bird, or a deer, or a tree stump. Or someone's flipping dog off the lead 😁 Someone was walking a great Dane a few weeks back, that did look a bit scary moving through the undergrowth. Blooming thing was HUGE.
There are parts of my field runs which make me uneasy... and today in a secluded but not remote place I was convinced someone was in the copse of trees watching...I could hear movement.. too big for an animal, saw no one.... but it did make me run faster
Also, a lonely lane where I did have a scare one winter... always makes me uneasy on grey wet days... !
Now I am back up to 10K after injury.... I am working on getting some longer distances in... and preparing for a race.. only a 10K on the 1st September...but I want to be strong for that
It occurred to me on my last run that, before I started running, I would have been too nervous to even go for a walk on my own in the places I now happily run. Like you say, just keep running 😁
I’ve always wondered what it was like going over an aqueduct. The water wouldn’t bother me, but I think the height thing would, being on such a narrow, high structure with a low guard rail. Well done you for confronting your fears x
I can understand the uneasiness you feel running across that. Eek!
I had to alter a run a few years ago when we were out on the lake houseboating. I was going to run through the hills, came over a hill and was following an animal trail when I came across a herd of cattle. They didn't look too impressed with me invading their area, so I skirted around them. I may be a vet, but my cow experience is limited to what I did in school.
I get nervous running at night as well, especially if I see others out on this one road on the edge of my community with poor lighting. Soon, it will be back to night time running again though since the days are getting shorter 😢. But when I run at night, I keep my music low and only use one ear bud.
I used to be worried about ticks and snakes on my trail runs, but having to run by myself this year, I have gotten over it. Exposure, exposure, exposure 😂. I still make lots of noise when I pass through the few little forested areas to let any deer, moose, etc know I'm coming through and check my legs for ticks whenever I go through areas with taller grass or shrubs.
I'm back from holidays now, but am hoping to head out to the lake Friday morning before I go on call for the weekend and run the full 20k course for my race next month.....then the taper will begin. My legs have been tired and mentally I'm drained, so will be scaling things back after this. I'll likely do an 18k run the next weekend, then am away for a conference the following weekend where running outside will not be safe (ugh, I'm going to try running on the hotel's treadmill that weekend so will just do whatever I can manage keeping things easy), then it is race weekend. I can't believe it. Summer has flown by and hasn't really felt like it ever was fully here 😢
That is really quite scary - well done for running over it! For me, it's tunnels. I hate them. There are several on the trails round here It's not quite so bad if I have my headphones on and music playing, but if there's just me running through them - bah! The horriblest one at the bottom of the Tissington Trail lets you get halfway through and then starts playing spooky train noises at you
Where to start? The aqueduct looks scary, not so much the water but the height and the lack of solid side. I generally don’t like high bridges or anywhere I can see a big drop from. I don’t like (can’t run down) slopes. Fortunately I live somewhere nice and flat and a sea level!
Not sure I could get over that so well done. I have to run under the motorway through a cattle tunnel on one of my regular routes. As soon as you hit it the noise of the motorway disappears and it's just the sound your feet as they hit the floor which is slightly creepy. I have been known to look back over my shoulder on many an occasion. To make matters worse most of the lights don't work which is fine on a bright sunny day but means I stop running it from about the end of September.
Not sure I could do that with speed either. Poole parkrun goes around a lake and the narrow path is right next to the water . People were running two abreast and I was not going to be on the inside.
Hi all! I'm back home now, after leaving the Isle of Wight and travelling to Dublin - which has become a very busy city in the 9 years since my last visit. Running in the city centre wasn't easy. I thought the Grand Canal would be a good idea, but you keep having to stop for street lights. You asked about what makes us nervous - well a heron standing on the footpath freaked me out. It seemed completely relaxed, though. I got lost at the end of that run, and ended up running along a nice quiet path along the River Dodder, so I can recommend that to others visiting Dublin. I also had a good time at Fairview parkrun.
I developed a lot of hip pain during my long run, so I cut out a few of my runs after that. I finally decided to tell the Oslo Marathon people that I only want to do the half, which was good. I was tempted to go for the Amsterdam Marathon, but am going to focus on improving my HM work instead. I did a decent long run today - out for 2.5 hours. I just wonder what my GPS was up to. It claimed that I'd run the second half somewhere pretty far from where I had been, which also messed up the distance it recorded, but it doesn't really matter.
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It's not quite so bad if I have my headphones on and music playing, but if there's just me running through them - bah! The horriblest one at the bottom of the Tissington Trail lets you get halfway through and then starts playing spooky train noises at you 
