More from the Green Gym

We have spent a fair bit of time struggling to remove the remains of a tree from our garden over the last few days. Last night we had some success, not in a small way aided by the use of a neighbour's felling axe!

The Green gym

If the Dales National Park is God's gym (which it surely is), then our (modest) garden is the Green gym. No running was done over the weekend, but a bit of walking plus five hours hard graft in the Green. I'd have to run all day to get blisters on my feet like those on my palms this morning. It all goes in the pot labelled Binman Fitness

My father was a coal merchant. He used to run up and down folks' drives, garden paths and ginnels with a half hundredweight of coal on his back. He never went to a gym in his life but he was like a bull. Andy Fitzpatrick's blog post has fascinated me since I first saw it. I'm as weak as a kitten, but not weedy. Getting fit is easy, getting harder / tougher, isn't but it might help next summer after 30 + hours on our feet 

Roses and a one hundred mile run

Stef and I bought two wonderful rose bushes from Otley garden centre last weekend. We were supposed to be going to the Lakes to recce the start and finish of the Lakeland 100 but for various reasons decided to relax at home instead. I've never had any interest in gardening but the roses are fantastic things with the most amazing scent; sweet but not overly so, subltle, almost nutty and to me reminiscent of authentic Turkish delight

The 100 starts at tea-time a week tomorrow and is likely to be a real 'suffer-fest' if the recent hot weather contimues! I've sorted out which shoes to wear (a pair of Inov-8 Roclite 315s; nicely worn in but not worn out) but guess the rest of my kit will be decided nearer the time