You may have noticed that it’s been a big week for Britain internationally with Article 50 and all that.

Croissants may well be off the menu in future, as the nation returns to Great British Bacon and Eggs (though try telling that to the East of England Co-op), and we may have to renegotiate our entry into Eurovision.

But on the flipside other international opportunities may well lie ahead.

And in that spirit, I thought I’d share with you something that I’ve noticed for a while – that Runnorfolk is being read by people across the world.

Brexit poll:

When Article 50 was triggered did you want to:

1.       Run away

2.       Run up the flags

3.       Go for a run

 

I’ve just checked and people from 34 countries have visited the site at some point, and thanks to all those who have been reading wherever you are in the world!

Here are the top 5 in terms of visitor numbers:

1.       UK

2.       USA

3.       Germany

4.       Canada

5.       Australia

But there have people reading from all over, including Cyprus, Mexico, Malaysia, and Japan as well as Austria (that’s my sister who lives there btw!)

Which countries would you like to run in and where would you go?

So it got me thinking, if I could run in any of those countries, where would I go?

I’ve only ever managed one overseas run – a half marathon through the vineyards of Beune in Burgundy, France with my running buddy Pagey. It was a few years ago, when my training was a lot more intense than it is now (sadly), and is where all the pictures in this blog are taken from.

We trained for it by doing loads of hill running around Mousehold, Ketts Hill, etc and a very tall hill as you come out of Sheringham – you should try it, long and steep, I imagine North Norfolk runners know all about it.

Anyway, it all helped as we finished strongly which was just as well, given the hills – and the great thing was they were handing out wine at the water stops.

 

 

Fantastic!

Seven cities around the world I’d like to run in

I’d love to do more and I’ve always dreamed of running marathons abroad, so my list would be:

1. Amsterdam (it’s a short hop from Norwich to Schiphol)

2. Austin (my cousins live near Houston, but Austin, wow what a cool city)

3. Stockholm – no reason just all those Scandi Dramas have got to me

4. Tokyo (I lived in Japan many moons ago, and would love to go back)

5. Seville (isn’t there a New Year’s 10km or something, or did I make that up..)

6. Vienna – Austria (stop off and see Big Sis and her family)

7. Berlin – went there once just after the Wall came down and just fancy going back

<If you have ever run in any of these cities, do me a favour and cheer me up by letting me know>

But back to reality in Norwich, and I’ve been venturing further afield too trying to add a bit of distance on the long runs – which are only about 40/45 minutes at the moment (a far far cry from those Beune days, I’m afraid) – I don’t know about you but I tend to judge my runs by time rather than distance.

I’ve managed three runs, including a slightly longer than usual morning run around (a bit of) the outer ringroad, but as a result my left knee is a bit twingy, and I thought my back was going to go into spasm.

And with all the fumes from the morning rush hour traffic I did wonder if I was doing myself more harm than good, but we’ll soon put a stop to that once we get back control of our air pollution.

Oh and I didn’t realise that you have to charge the Tom Tom up (there’s no battery in it)

But otherwise a great run!

So for now, I wish you a Schones Wochenende wherever you are, et un Chambourcy Nouvelle!