Introduction

Introduction

Mike Morgan
Intro

Why?!

I think this might be the third blog I’ve tried to write. My previous attempts in the past suffered due to lack of a proper theme, motivation; well the usual issues that accompany a chronic lack of creativity.

I think (hope?) this one might be a bit different.

I’ve been pondering a little running project for a few months, and I’ve finally got off my bum and started to plan it. My idea is a based on a book, ‘High Points’, which chronicles the adventures of a man who decides to walk up all of the highest points in the UK counties. Having recently moved to Cambridge, with it’s distinct lack of anything more than a few storeys high, I was in desperate need of anything that approximated a hill. The surest bet to find a hill is to leave Cambridgeshire. So, I thought why not try to run up all of the highest points in the UK counties?

That seems like a sensible idea Mike…

Of course there are rules, otherwise I wont do it, and that’s not really the point of setting myself this challenge. In the far distance I will have to run Ben Nevis, Snowdon and Scafell Pike, but there are quite a few counties before with considerably smaller hillocks, mounds and bumps.

The rules that I have set myself are:

  • The running route must encompass at least the highest in a single county, but can include more if they are close together (there are couple that lie close to county borders)
  • The distance must be at least 10km. If I’m going to have to travel to do this project, I might as well make it worth my while. Plus, I’m not sure some of the bigger hills would fit into less than 10km…
  • I will record the run (Endomondo, here’s looking at you)
  • I will bring back a momento from each hill. I’ll be honest, I got a little stuck here, but I think something simple like a small rock should suffice.

Those are the rules, and I don’t think they are so restrictive that I will struggle with them (unlike the running).

There is another reason that I’ve set myself this challenge, other than a chronic need to hills and mountains. In early 2016 I suffered a very stupid injury, through no ones fault by my own. I had lost my running motivation after completing the Edinburgh marathon 6 months before, and had a brilliant trip to Armenia in the same year. Work was piling up, as it does in academia (something about learning to say ‘no’…). I was sat working on my laptop on the couch at home; I had (have) terrible posture, and after a couple of hours crossed my legs and carried on working for a few more hours. When I stood up I felt something twinge in my back (it turned out to be a slipped disc), and spent the next few days progressively limping more and more. It finally reached a crescendo late one evening, and my poor housemates had to spend the night nursing me whilst muscles spasms racked my back. I have honestly never felt pain like it. After several days immobile with a cocktail of drugs that would take down a small elephant, started to slowly waddle around again.

For anyone who has suffered “back pain”, this is sadly an area that modern medicine has not been great at tackling, opening the doors for all sorts of quackery. It, unsurprisingly, turns out that being active is one of the best ways to rehabilitate; prevention is also better than cure in this respect.

To make a long story short, I spent ~9 months without any proper exercise, gained about 3 stone in weight and lost all of my running and climbing fitness. Fast forward to November 2016, when I moved to Cambridge to take up a new postdoc position. I told myself the best way to get my fitness back was to start with running, afterall, if I could run without any back problems then I should be able to do everything I used to do.

I’m writing this in March 2017, and I’ve lost a stone already, and I’ve pushed my distance to 10km. I’m slower than I used to be, but I feel that my recovering is making real strides. Given that, I thought I would set myself a big challenge to keep the motivation flowing.

So, 103 counties in England, Scotland and Wales, 103 hills ranging from 22m to 1344m above sea level.

Let’s go running.

comments powered by Disqus