Soggy Beautiful Lake District

Coniston, Cumbria

Oh the joys of camping.

Roughing it in a tent with a tiny gas fire to cook your meals under the stars, where making a simple cup of tea turns into an adventure. Boiling the kettle on a gas fire takes nearly 30 minutes or alternatively, you opt for a luke warm cup of tea if your gas canister decides to run out of gas midway through boiling it! When it is finally done it is a lovely cup o’ tea.


A thin layer of waterproof material(aka: the tent) is all that protects you from the elements, rain, rain and more rain in this particular case. The rhythmic pitter-patter lulling you to sleep in the evening and the glow of the sunrise gently nudging you awake at the crack of dawn (if your bladder hasn’t already woken you up demanding that you to head to the toilet block).


Tarn Hows, Cumbria


Bed consists of a slightly stinky sleeping bag that just never quite feels dry but it makes the most comfortably cosy place to sleep after a long day of walking, exploring and breathing in the fresh country air.


From the tent pitch, the view is a beautiful landscape and the surrounding countryside is dotted with the cutest little sheep which makes it absolutely out of the question to choose roast lamb at the pub meal that evening since they're such cute little things.


The sky is full of fluffy white clouds switching quickly to giant streaky grey ones and back again. There was a great deal of rain coming down over the weekend in a combination of torrential downpours and light drizzles.


Driving North

 This may put some people off camping in the Lake District, but to quote a wise individual: there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad choice of clothing. Or something along those lines.


So really...what’s not to love about camping in the Lake District?

Stink-tastic!



(Tenuously linked photo)
Ruti sat within the coffee table on top of a pile of Runner's World magazines.

Today’s park run was a tough one for me. For no particular reason I found myself really struggling towards the end but I managed to make it through the finish line without stopping at all which is my primary goal.



On my way home, I stood on the Metro listening to my favourite choice of cool down tunes (a bit of Arcade Fire) and had an amusing epiphany of the aromatic variety.


I noticed a niffy whiff of stale sweatiness and slyly looked around me to see from where this rather manly scent was emanating. Subconsciously I realised I was placing the blame on a middle-aged man standing nearby until it dawned on me that the sweaty stink was really my own, tee-hee!


After the initial moment of embarrassment, I was actually very proud cuz hey.... I had worked up quite a sweat and had my very own potent Eau d’sport to show for it. Thankfully I was still wearing sporty clothes which gave me an excuse to be slightly stink-tastic, right?


Motto of the moment: Be proud of your athletic aroma, yay for sweat!

Unofficial Pacing & Cat Naps

Today is Saturday so that means of course that it’s a park run day! It was a warm sunny adventure in cow pat dodging at this morning’s run on the town moor (there were some especially fresh splats on the path at the start, bleurgh!). We had fantastic shorts & t-shirt running weather with the temperature around 55 F, or 13 C, with a not too harsh bit of sun to soak in a good dose of Vitamin D and a little dainty breeze to keep us from melting along the way. You can’t complain about those conditions one bit (unless you stomped through a pat, hehe).



I had an especially enjoyable run today because I had an unofficial pacing buddy. I latched onto her midway through the run and it helped me hugely (big thank you to her!). It was such an encouragement to have someone just ahead of me almost pulling me along towards the finish. We ran side by side for a bit and when she’d pull ahead it spurred me on to kick in that extra 10% and try to gain even standing again.


Through funnelling all my energy just to keep up with her, my mind was focussed on this goal alone and in turn this kept me from dwelling on any negative thoughts. Any momentary ideas about lack of energy, aching legs or the beginnings of a stitch niggling its way into my ribcage were banished. Negative thinking be damned, I was going to be her shadow, to stick to her like glue or linger like a bad smell!


We finally spoke to one another after the run near the finish line and I enthusiastically explained that, perhaps unbeknownst to her, I had attached myself to her pace and that it was her pacing that had helped me to finish well. I was happy to hear that she enjoyed the extra push as well. It seems that my determination to stick to her kept her on pace through to the end of the course too. Our unspoken and unplanned teamwork paid off in a true win-win style. Who knows, we may have the chance to help each other again and that may even be the winning combination to my achieving a new Personal Best!


After all that exertion of energy I’m feeling the need for a lil’ Saturday afternoon cat nap, or perhaps that’s just my cleverly constructed segue to allow me to include a photo of Zoot taking a cat nap in this post, you decide.

Either way, here ya go:

Zoot's Nap Swirl - disturbed from his slumber by the papparazzi