30/12=2.5: hillage ratio fixed (in new shoes) - now just need to not mess it up tomorrow... - Portishead, UK

29/12/25: Avon Way is a nasty addiction - Portishead, UK

28/12/25: bumping into the lads but carrying on regardless - Portishead, UK

27/12/25: parkrun #281: pacing 22’ on a windy bridge [OT: 21’42”] - Severn Bridge, UK

27/12/25: to parkrun - Portishead>Chepstow, UK

So, here's the thing...

...I was meant to be running High Peak 40. The Boys were off on Beaver/Cub Camp. The combination of those two meant that Karen (a Guide Leader) volunteered to go on camp to help...

...then I decided not to bother with HP40, due to a) £92/rtn train fare (and suboptimal alternatives), b) having already been twice Back Up North this month and thus seen all me relatives, c) seeing most runnerfriends at Chester in a fortnight and d) going back up for me 40th. However, K was not impressed... we could have had a day to ourselves, a rarity over the past eight years... instead she'd be out with The Boys and I'd be at home sat on the sofa...

...so I felt obliged to at least go out and run. As it happens, not far from where they are: at one point, anyway, when they were three miles away. Hence my look of surprise the other night when I asked Karen where they were going. She thought I was surprised they were going that far... truth was, I was surprised they'd be that close (to my planned route)!

Loved it. Not a great performance, but then maybe I should have taken two Cokes, given the effect the one I drank on the Avonmouth Bridge had. It wasn't about the performance. It was about the mojo after last week. And it sure as hell wasn't about mara training, as this is as stupid as it gets: not the run itself necessarily, but the impact on the next two week's training. Ah well: I knew what I was doing...

Hope you enjoy the piccies. I enjoyed taking them.

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Giacomo Squintani

19/09/15: post-sub 20' parkrun Ultra - Little Stoke, old Severn Bridge, Tintern Abbey, old Severn Bridge, Severn Beach, Avonmouth, HOME, UK

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30/12=2.5: hillage ratio fixed (in new shoes) - now just need to not mess it up tomorrow... - Portishead, UK

29/12/25: Avon Way is a nasty addiction - Portishead, UK

28/12/25: bumping into the lads but carrying on regardless - Portishead, UK

27/12/25: parkrun #281: pacing 22’ on a windy bridge [OT: 21’42”] - Severn Bridge, UK

27/12/25: to parkrun - Portishead>Chepstow, UK

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