I’m in Ireland at the minute and yesterday I drove to Lough Neagh where I had the most gorgeous leafy, muddy trail run and it reminded me of how good I feel when I run somewhere different 🤗 I think I’m so interested in what is around me that I don’t pay much attention to the running thing and the time flies! That’s another reason I adore holiday running 😍
Probably like many of you, I have a selection of regular routes that I can run straight from my front door although there are also a few where I have to drive to. But I love venturing down different paths and roads and see where they take me. Sometimes it’s a dead end or nothing at all interesting but other times I discover something wonderful. Yesterday’s run reminded me that when I get home I need to do more exploring and keep looking for new routes!
What about you? Do you prefer a routine of regular routes or do you try to find new ones? How do you find new routes? By accident or through meticulous planning? Tell all in the comments. And let us know how the running (or non-running ☹️) is going too.
But whatever you do, have a great week.
From the Marathon Team xxx
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Sounds delightful IP! Hope you’re enjoying your trip to Ireland 🥰
Yes, holiday running is such fun. We’re in France at the moment and we’ve been doing lots of walking round the lovely rowing lake which includes a short stretch of wonderful woodland trails. I’ve also run the route twice, and you’re right, when venturing out somewhere different, your mind is taken off the running entirely.
I often wish I could run straight from my front door at home, but the fields and woods behind us are challenging even to walk 🥵 ! So my go-to stomping ground is my little common, about a mile away. I take the car because our road has no pavement (the one benefit of lockdown meant I could run there though 😀) It’s where I do 99% of my non PR/race running because Flossie can run off lead with me. 🐕🥰
My runs are usually variations on a central theme, the constant bit being a stretch of woodland trail; a former railway line which links to my source of flat whites and assorted goodies!I can add on a road run or a hill run or just do an out and back along the line. The setting is woodland leading up to the vast North Yorkshire moors. All of that starts a five minute warm up walk from home.
I love running on holiday; the Isles of Scilly being our place of choice. Again there is a choice of road with hills or trail with sea views as an added bonus. An amazing place with wonderful people….and great flat whites!
To my regret I have to admit I always run the same route. Both at home as at the coast (our second home). I know that can be dangerous for a woman on her own, but I just don't see any other option for routes that are not even more desolated or just over the pavement of regular streets.
IrishprincessAdministratorHalf Marathon• in reply to
Sometimes there is little choice but you can always vary your days and times perhaps.
We can only try to be as safe as possible and with the thought that an attack or worse are very rare.
Not a lot of change possible in time and date either unfortunately. Always right after work or 2 hours after breakfast on weekends, otherwise I have no possibility to go run. But I do have a whistle on my hydration vest, which I always have hanging in easy reach.
I've started to vary my routes again, even the "front door to front door" ones.
This weekend just gone I was away visiting my parents, and did a run there on the back lanes of NW Wales. Quite a contrast to my usual canal towpath plods.
I always run the same route’s mainly along the ocean. This year, my husband has started running with me, so I’ve been more adventurous & taken up trail running! I’m not very good at it 🤣
We were running a trail on Friday, chatting and I lost focus, stepping on a rock, and turning my ankle. I’ve had a couple of days off, and swelling has gone, so I’m hoping I can stay on my HM plan. A gentle 3 miler was okay today.
If I'm at home I always run door-to-door. However, I vary routes all the time, particularly since I rarely decide where I'm going to run before I set out.
Quite often, too, I just let my feet decide where to take me, and end up doing something completely different to what I'd originally had in mind.
I'll also head down random paths or roads when the mood takes me, even though I'm apt to get lost or end up doing a whole bunch of extra km in the process.
Yes,after a while I get bored on the same routes. Although, like you, the vista of Liugh Neagh is ever changing, so a lough shore run is always a good bet. A night time run even better!
A view over Lough Neagh with the full moon reflecting on the water.
I always run from our house as it’s just too much hassle to get the car out and, as our village has 2 main roads not far away where I wouldn’t dream of running, I tend to stick to a couple of routes with minor variations depending on distance. I loved joining the local social running group in France this summer and finding lots of new routes and terrain (including hilly bits that I would have avoided if I’d planned them myself 😂) Running by water is definitely a favourite though.
What a gorgeous photo! I too love runnjng by water and running through trees or fields. Nit so keen on uneven ground though which limits possibilities near me. Most runs I run around the houses from the front door, but there are lots of nicer areas within a short car ride. Running somewhere new is always a big treat though. I'm stil not running much because my hip/leg isn't quite right yet; but I've been so busy it hasn't really been an issue 🙈 This is the first weekly chat I've managed to respond to in a while - I'm going to take that as progress 😍
No, I haven't been to a physio. It seems to be close to being better, but maybe I'll think about that when I stop work for the winter in a couple of weeks. I haven't had a minute to consider me for a coupke of months now, so it hasn't even been on my radar since it obligingly managed to do the Oxford half 🙃
Most likely the rest did the trick. I think that’s what cures most in juries anyway, we just need a magic treatment from a physio to make us feel better 🤣
How nice to be in Ireland! My partner’s from Dublin and we need to head over there at some point soon, but I don’t know if I’d fancy Dublin’s incredibly busy streets 😁.
Routes are a funny old thing. I remember when I started, I liked to keep really close to home. But I think as the running (and distance) improves, we have to push ourselves outside of our route comfort zone. I was so pleased to find a bit of route that isn’t that far away but I had no idea existed recently. Mind you I hadn’t expected the nasty hill, but it’s all part of the adventure!
I keep meaning to drive out to a country park and have a bash there. It would be more like trail running so would need to be careful - I haven’t quite plucked up the courage yet! We shall see.
Oh, you’ve got to go to Dublin some time, it’s such a great city! There are wonderful parks so you could run there and still be in the middle of Dublin.
I think you’re right about pushing ourselves when we up the distance. You’ve got to venture further just to get the miles in. There are still places I haven’t explored and that’s all part of the fun isn’t it?
A country park sounds gorgeous. You should definitely give that a go 🙂
I'm just sorting out Christmas, so I need all the calm 😂
I often run the same route along the sea front, but I love new routes too! I'm most definitely a planner though, it's part of my personality but also I like to know that I'm not going to end up many kms from home at the end of my run!! So I use something like the OnTheGo website to rough out a route, and then off I go 😊😊😊
I've been ill with The Cold From Hell, and didn't run, bike, or swim at all last week! I did manage a bit of strength work though 😁 But this week I'm back!!
I am becoming a creature of habit and this post has reminded me that it’s about time I changed things up. My osteopath, who is also a runner, has advised that I focus on softer ground running during my recovery. I am going to try Stanmer park which is nearby and also get back out to Ditchling Beacon as I haven’t run off road door for so long now.
We’re all different (thank goodness 🙂) and some people prefer a routine. But I think running the very same route all the time, no matter how beautiful, would get boring eventually.
Enjoy your expeditions Brian and let us know what treasures you find!
We are very lucky that there are lots of different safe (flat) running routes available to us on Portsea Island and a short drive in the car we have woodland trails and a disused railway line. I do like a variety of runs. Although I do a warm up routine before leaving the house, I still do a warm up walk before starting my run. An old habit from C25k which I cannot break.
Hi IP, a great photo and a thought-provoking post. thank you.The straight from the front-door routes are good for me both in terms being easier to find time for a run (work keeps me busy), but also because familiar routes are less stressful. At times I'm lacking in confidence and during a run I can go "ooh, this is hard, I'm not good here, I think I need to stop". Well known routes help in overcoming this. If I vary things it's usually slow and incremental. (It's funny, until I started writing this I hadn't realised quite how stuck-in-the-mud I have become - and I always thought of myself as quite free-spirited!)
But I also like the buzz around parkrun tourism and one-off events. So, whilst it's back at my local parkrun this weekend for a 5K Your Way meet-up, I'll be looking forward to December with a couple of cross-country races (others will race - I will be happy just to survive - the next one has a water jump!) plus new parkruns whilst visiting family.
Running wise things have been going OK, the monthly total for November will probably be the highest of the year for me and I'm roughly on track as regards moving up to a HM next year.
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