8:43pm. I had a horrendous nights sleep or lack of it. I ate far too much yesterday and went to bed early resulting in my waking before the day was out and coming downstairs to play games on Facebook and drink some water before waddling back up the stairs to bed to stare at the ceiling.
Inevitably I woke later than planned after finally dropping off to sleep at some point and decided I must run this morning after struggling to move yesterday. So after a light breakfast I arrived at Penistone Country Park around 9:30am and set off on the Harbour Lodge road and the alternative way to Top Withens. I was conscious of my weight and lack of fitness and that I might have been suffering from some sort of bug as I’ve had a cold sore for at least 2 weeks so I feel quite drained at the moment and set a steady but manageable pace on the gentle slope up to the lodge.
To my surprise I felt ok going up the road and carried on running past the lodge and round the path around Harbour Hill a hill I have yet to climb because there is no path to it yet there is a collection of stones on the top of it that must be worth a look. I carried on this path as it connected to the Bronte Way and up to Top Withens before the short climb up to the trial to Alcomden Stones. And I did this all in one go, around 3 ½ miles and 750ft of climbing in one go without feeling tired and not wanting to stop once. After the past few weeks this was a massive achievement for me and I felt on top of the world.
I stopped at the stones as always and took my customary photos and said a pray. I felt a presence too but a welcoming one and one that was happy for me to be there. The views as always were stunning and Boulsworth looked especially resplendent on the horizon against the blue sky and I could see the rocky outcrop that sticks out where sacrifices where made back in ancient times. It felt special today to be at the stones looking over to Boulsworth and imagining what it must have been look all those years ago when one tribe looked over to another over the vast expanse of moorland separating them and wondered if they ever met or if they just looked at each other.
I took the path down the cloughs to Ponden Kirk and it felt good, really good. I did wonder if the stop at the stones would put an end to my momentum but it didn’t, I was still running well as I made my way over the technical trail to the kirk.
At the kirk I stopped and admired the view before taking some photos. It’s been a while since I’ve been here and I’ve forgotten how stunning the view is from the top of Ponden Kirk looking down Ponden Clough and Ponden Reservoir.
I ran down the side of Ponden Clough passing the trail that takes me to Crow Hill and down to Ponden Hall and Ponden Reservoir and Ponden Woods.
From here it was round the reservoir and back on the Pennine Way before joining Back Lane and up Enfield Side above Lower Laithe Reservoir and the Millennium Way and back to my car.
I uploaded my run and to my surprise I had five PR’s! I know PR’s aren’t the be all and end all of running but when you’ve felt poorly and your running has been suffering you get some PR’s after feeling strong on a run you start to feel better physically and more importantly mentally. A run like this makes such a difference to your mentality, you feel like a runner again and you know you can run and most importantly you enjoy running again.
Home and shower, food, shopping and the usual crap but buzzing from a good run the best in a long time and the feeling of being human again. How long it will last I don’t know as cold sores aren’t supposed to last days but I’ve had a good day and I’m happy today.
The Autistic FellRunner 