Monday is long run day! 13k was scheduled and I dug out out a Coach Bennett 13.1k guided run to keep me company. Everything was going pretty well; down the avenue, onto an up hill stretch towards the village, turn off right at the farm, around the bend, up and over the hill (a mental wheeeeeee…as I descend) and onto the old railway line. Then the first scintilla of trouble. I caught my first glimpse of the cafe; it was closed! I hadn’t planned to stop at that point anyway; 🤞it might have opened by the time I came by at the end of my run. I sometimes do optimism; but not often.
My breathing was great, my legs felt ok, the sun was shining, so I needed peaked cap and sun glasses. If it wasn’t for the fact that it was freezing cold I could have imagined that spring had sprung.
Enter the Coach Bennett guidance! “Imagine that something has gone terribly wrong at this point and imagine yourself coping with it and still completing your run.” For a whole 15 minutes I struggled to come up with a scenario, but then fate intervened, in the form of two horses, only one of which had a rider. One horse was pointed north, the other south. The rider was holding a leader on the younger bigger riderless animal, but it was going nowhere! There were two young men on the scene, their bikes cast to one side, but they were steadfastly refusing to get anywhere near either horse. So the rider’s eye fell on the newly arrived clearly expendable little old me! She explained that she needed someone to lead her horse forward, with her sitting on it, so that she could turn the younger one and then get them moving in the same direction; the latter had been spooked by two large Alsatian’s which had come hurtling across the fields. (I have seen them on my runs; they are scary). Apparently the rider needed to get the horses to retrace their steps or they might have always refused to go past the point where they encountered the dogs.
So there I was, enjoying my 13.1k, going great guns, and then somebody wants me to lead her horse in the opposite direction to my run. I have never led a horse anywhere! Of course I grabbed the rein, said a few soothing things, whether to calm the horses, the rider or me I am not sure, and with quite a few stops and starts we reached the critical point on the path and I was free to resume my run. It probably only took about 5 minutes, but the impact on my heart rate was spectacular. I ran on, rather heavy legged, and completed 13.1 k. My pace measurement and heart rate readings are all junk (I didn’t think to pause my watch), and the cafe was still closed when I finally staggered past. But, you know what, I helped to resolve a crisis and finished the run…..so I did what CB ordered. That must be success of a kind!🤪
Time to walk Molly! Much safer…… The photo shows Roseberry Topping in the sun.
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Beachcomber66
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Good post from you Beachcomber66, that hill called Roseberry Topping has been compared to being a little like The Matterhorn in Switzerland 🇨🇭., well done on that run✅✅👍
Thanks Al: a mini Matterhorn maybe. You get a view of the industry lined River Tees and estuary looking eastwards and the North Yorkshire Moors to the west.
I intend to run my first 10 K of this year on Wednesday, running on the new path that's replaced the old one which kept flooding whenever there was rain, new path, new drainage, no more flooding. ✅👍
Good job Al. First 10k of the year should be steady away; no heroics required. Nice of them to repair the path for you! Look forward to reading your report.
Hi Beachcomber66 I think that’s a great run - you helped someone out of a difficult situation, made friends with a horse and finished as a happier person, pleasing Coach Bennett in the process. That’s a result in my book!🏃♂️👍
Have a lovely walk with Molly, hope you’ve got decent weather as we have at Bognor Regis today 🌞😎🐶❤️
Hi David. Thanks. Bright and crisp up here (I.e really cold!).
I might have to do something about the alsatians. I run past them, because I am pretty good with dogs and kid myself that I can assess the risk; backing off isn’t always the best solution. I think that there is bound to be an incident. The rider could have easily been unseated if she had been sitting on the spooky young mare. The footpath is very busy with kids, runners, walkers and horse riders. The farmer needs to put up a decent fence if he wants to let aggressive large dogs loose on his land.
Well done BC, there are times when the run becomes less important than the events around you. You helped that rider get out of a tricky situation and you still completed half a metric marathon, so what’s not to be chuffed about. Oh yes the cafe was closed. 😫 But an excellent run in my eyes and you showed you are a true gentleman. We had blue skies here this morning too, how different to the last few windy and rainy days.
I came across a pair of spectacles on the prom this morning so I handed them in to one of the vendors in case someone came back looking for them. Then I got cheered on by one of our young, speedy parkrunners, so that gave me a boost.
These brief encounters can often raise a smile! Last week Sheila picked up one of my gloves which I had lost in the snow about three weeks ago. Somebody had found it and put it in a prominent place.
In relation to the horse saga, the outcome would have been the same, but I would probably have been less happy about interrupting the last run of week 9 C25k! In those days the “must run from beginning to end” message was so strong. 13.1k runs need drinks mini walks anyway. We have matured ….for most of the time anyway 😉
What a Good Samaritan BC! Horses are canny beasts and I know all about the issues that rider was having; give a horse an inch and it’ll take a mile! The youngster needed to learn where it was supposed to be going, as it would almost certainly snowball into an issue next time she tried to get it past Scary Alsatian territory. (Big running loose dogs scare me too, so I don’t blame the horse on that count.)
Well done on completing your run too. I took Coach B on a very short comeback run this morning, but picked the wrong route to do it, and I disliked every moment! Next time I’ll have more fun, and next time hopefully you’ll have your cafe back. 🤞
The dogs are becoming a nuisance. I mentioned it to a retired CID friend this afternoon.😉
I don’t blame the horse or the rider at all. They should be able to walk along a bridle way without that sort of harassment. I thought of you when I got hold of the rein…..you would have been right at home. The main thing is that we sorted it out without injury. It was just funny that CB had set up the scenario so well!
Wow... well done you... win run, win making CB smile and win as hero of the hour... just fantastic! The loose dogs are worrying and you were brave taking the horse buy the rein. I love horses and have being with them, but am very cautious in situations like that.
Hi Floss. I felt pretty calm…just like dealing with a much bigger version of Molly! A few pats and kind words seemed to do the trick. May be a question of ignorance being bliss!
It was really kind... I would have been more terrified by the dogs: there are occasionally a coupe of dog walkers I have come across in the fields.. who have their dogs off leash but have no control of them.. the dogs are big and I worry that if they jump up they would knock me over! I always just stop running.. .
With dogs it is always a judgement call and you don’t know whether you got it right until afterwards! On the occasions when I have met these big dogs on the footpath I have been running towards them with the dogs being maybe 20 feet to my right. I felt that stopping in those circumstances might suggest fear, so I kept on running and ignored them. Had they been behind me when they started barking, I would probably have slowed off (so as not to appear to be running away from them). More art than science though; bottom line, they shouldn’t be there loose…too big and too aggressive.
Fabulous run Beachcomber66 ! I imagine those are the dogs you mentioned before? As you know, I've got no problem with large dogs, but it definitely sounds like the owner needs to sort out this particular situation.
Same dogs Cmoi. I have a big dog too. She loves people and is a star of the local cafe. She is great with kids, but we make sure that adults looking after them are ok with any contact. We keep her on lead in the area where today’s incident occurred and make her sit if anyone on horseback appears to avoiding spooking the horse. Always met with a smile and thanks from the riders.
Fab photo. Great story. You just never know what's around the corner, all's you can hope for is that you can deal with it. And you did 😊 The man finished his run 💪👍😍
Thanks Linda. One thought crossed my mind in the middle of everything. The Ultra runner who owns our local running shop was unable to run for months last year when her horse stood on her foot. I was very careful where I placed my feet!
Thanks JP. The closed cafe was the only situation for which there was a relatively easy remedy; I made my own coffee. Molly was miffed though; Monday is sausage day!
I do have an initial date of 12 April to see the consultant BC, which is good news. Of course I don't know how long after that the surgery will be, but it's a start.
To continue the horse theme, as you can imagine I'm champing at the bit to get running again!
15 days and then the wait for an op date 😬 That is worse than the ordinary running injury when each day brings hope that the problem might have fixed itself overnight! 🤞 for an early fix.
Well done BC for stopping to help. I hope the 2 guys who had refused to help were suitably chastened. Always difficult to pick up a long run if you’ve had to stop unexpectedly, but you completed it. Just a shame your flat white and brownie reward weren’t available!
🙂 I doubt that they were bothered Sandie…they didn’t use these words but “ me, do that? …you must be joking!” was the tone. They seemed to be genuinely frightened. They didn’t hang around to watch…they were on their bikes and away!
Gosh that was a bit of excitement BC! The hero of the moment 😇 Well done to you.
I’m not sure I could have done what you did as I’m frightened of horses (they're so BIG 🙀) and give them all a wide berth.
I see lots of riders around here taking two or three horses around and I’m always fearful if one of them gets spooked and tries to do a runner. What is the rider going to do? Leave one horse to me? 😱
Such a shame that you missed your coffee and Molly missed her sausages though ☹️
Hopefully the cafe will be open today…I am sure that Molly will settle for having sausages on the wrong day.
I think that I am conditioned (through work) to stay calm and deal with stuff and then freak out later 😂. Either that or I just lack imagination!
When I wrote the post I wasn’t thinking about presenting myself as the guy in the superman vest…it was the about the coincidence of Coach Bennett asking me to imagine a crisis I needed to deal with in order to the finish the run…and low and behold a real one presented itself to save me the bother! I hope that next week’s 15k is a bit less eventful. Maybe I will choose an earlier time ….
You never know what to expect on a run! Well done for handling the situation and going on to complete 13.1k. it would have been easy to not bother completing such a great distance. 🙂
Well done BC. I used to always find it difficult to get body and mind back into the groove if I ever stopped on a long run. Good on you for stopping to help though 👍
That was eventful Beachcomber66 well done for leading that horse! I remember doing the same CB run ages ago and thinking please don’t tempt fate, but luckily nothing bad happened. I’m sorry the café was still closed.
It turned out to be a one day cafe closure, so normal service has been resumed 😋.
It has been pouring down all day today, and tomorrow doesn’t look much better….maybe I will have to push a tractor out of the mud or something! All adds a bit of extra interest.
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Garmin fail !! And my first 10 mile 🥳