Monday 31 January 2011

My Shakespeare Country run by irenepoon88 at Garmin Connect - Details

This past weekend I visited the land of Shakespeare with three good friends - Jess, Mal and Dutchie. It was meant to be a total road trip where we wouldn't make any plans other than drive up to Stratford for the weekend. No hotel bookings, no tours, nothing other than us, a car and a few google maps.

Two days before the trip, I crumbled and went through a frenzy of google searching and trip advisor research and booked us into a self-catering cottage called Weston Sands. They laughed, but my control freak nature wouldn't let me just show up with no plans. And besides, it turned out to be an amazing place for a great deal. Three bedrooms, all modern mod-cons, comfy couch and a big flat screen tv. Plus we were in the middle of the country... it was gorgeous.

Anyway, I debated on whether or not to bring my running gear, but in the end, the thought of having to run 10 miles on Sunday night, or even worse, Monday morning was too dreadful and I made room in my bag. It turned out be the best decision as I managed to find a trail cutting through the rolling fields straight into Stratford Upon Avon. Below is my run... you'll notice a bit of back and forth near the end, that's because I got back to my starting point and still had another 1.5 miles to run.

While I'll always be a city girl at heart and the thought of living in the countryside strikes fear in my heart, I have to say that running in the countryside definitely outweighs running in the city. For one thing - no stop lights... also, people are so nice when you run by. I've never smiled and waved at so many people while running. And when I passed by a couple who I had ran past earlier, they actually made eye contact and gave me a thumbs up.

You'll be happy to hear that despite my history of (ahem) navigational mishaps, I managed to stay on one path and not run around aimlessly in Shakespeare's country.

My Shakespeare Country run by irenepoon88 at Garmin Connect - Details