Half day skive

I booked a half day off work today, trying to use up my spare leave before the end of March - use it or lose it! So, to make the most of the time out, I packed my rucksack in preparation for another jaunt up the Simonside hills.

I knew the weather was going to be dry and bright, and particularly warm for this time of year. I picked a good day! I started at Lordenshaw's car park and headed up the first climb, veering to the left and aiming for Spy Law. The intention was to run part of the Simonside Cairns route. Having run the race before the route was familiar but I did tend to go off course on several occasions. There was quite a lot of standing water on the lower ground which didn't make it easy running, but I was out in the countyside away from the daily grind.

As usual it was quite breezy on the tops and I was trying to keep to the soft ground rather than the massive amount of paving there seems to be up there now. Could be quite dangerous with a bit of rain! (and tough on the legs)

I ended up running for around an hour and a half, approximately 8 miles. Great to be out there with not a soul around, apart from a jet flying so low I could almost touch it!

I intend to run the Brough Law fell race on Sunday so hopefully this will be a good training run. It's also the harrier league at Alnwick on Saturday but it's one or the other. I know which I'm going for!!