Redbush Runner

It's good to adapt and tweak your regular running routes now and again.  My runs have got a bit boring and I definitely needed a change, so a couple of days ago I decided to incorporate a former railway tunnel into my 10K morning run.  The Thurgoland Tunnel is quite a local landmark, situated on the Upper Don Trail (part of the Trans Pennine Trail) between Penistone and Wortley.  It was built in the late 1940s when the Sheffield to Manchester line was electrified and it operated until the line closed in 1981.  Since then it's been part of the trail through which walkers, runners, cyclists and horse riders regularly pass.  (I understand there was also a second tunnel, now blocked off, running parallel to the existing one, but I haven't explored this.)  It's a remote, quiet spot anyway and it's quite easy to scare yourself stupid if you start thinking about what/who could be lurking in the tunnel.  (An online friend who ran through this tunnel the previo...

There are few things that brighten a runner's day more than a flying feet photo.  There's something about seeing yourself with both feet off the ground that makes you feel like a proper athlete.  No matter how slow it might have felt at the time, the photo seems to suggest that you were going great guns.  Yes, we all know that a flying feet photo is really just a matter of chance and, I suspect, as much about the photographer's skill as your own running prowess, but it's heartening for a few moments to bask in the glory of a decent race photo, because, let's face it, they are quite a rare thing. After this weekend's York 10K I was impressed to find that I had over 40 photographs waiting for my perusal but of course it didn't take me long to realize that the vast majority of these were a tad unflattering, to say the least.  There's always at least one (and you're probably lucky if it's only one) where you look like a dug-up corpse, where your mout...