As I’ve said previously 2018 has been a testing year for me but the tests have mostly been mental with lots of self doubt and negativity during the lengthy injury break I had through Spring and early Summer, but now I’m back and I’m feeling as good newand I’ve even booked some races! The first race that had to be booked was my ‘A’ race of every year, the Great South Run in October, it’s a big event but it takes place on the very roads upon which I clock up so many miles week in and week out here in Portsmouth and in particular Southsea. The crowd support is unlike any other race I’ve done so far and it makes for a great day for the family as they see me pass home around four miles in and then see me at the end, it was also my very first race back in 2014 so it’ll always be special to me. The other race I’ve booked is the Portsmouth Coastal Marathon on December 23rd, I have unfinished business with it because I was forced to DNS last year and it would be a great end to what has been a year of ups and downs for me.
Following four months off I was effectively starting from zero in terms of fitness and endurance at the end of June and in the early weeks of rehabilitation I was only concerned with getting back to my best irrespective of how long it took, but as I progressed up the distances I toyed with he idea of a December marathon and eventually succumbed to the temptation thanks to some supportive messages on social media and to quote a well known song (a little out of context I hasten to add) ‘If you never try then you’ll never know’. But marathons are not easy and the 26.2 miles of the race is in effect 
a victory lap following months of training in all weathers, often solo, often at the crack of dawn and so my mileage has been increasing bit by bit until today where I hit the magic twenty mile barrier which most training plans recommend as your longest run as you ramp up the mileage.
Running is only a part of my life and those who know me personally or via social media will know that I have a passion for transport which is largely manifested by railway travel and photography. Back when I was a very small boy I told people that when I grew up I wanted to work on the railway as a ticket man, fast forward forty five years and I’m precisely that and it’s every bit as good as I wanted it to be. It took a long time but I was determined to achieve my dream job and that same determination is what keeps me going forward on the days when my legs don’t feel like running and what keeps me running until I reach the finish line whenever I run a marathon or ultra. Two weeks ago I had a long run of around eighteen miles during which I had a short stint running along the former railway line between
Havant and Hayling Island which kind of spurred me on to today’s long run. Whilst the closure of so many rail routes in the 1960s and 1970s was in some respects short sighted it has at least left us a legacy of hundreds of miles of trails around the country where nature has reclaimed the old track beds which are perfectly suited to running given their gentle gradients and generally smooth surfaces. Not far from me is the Meon Valley Trail which last carried trains in 1962 and has been a target of mine for quite some time, largely as it’s a new route for me but also the fact that it’s a former railway line makes it that bit more appealing to me personally.
The only difficulty for me is that the trail starts some three and half miles from Fareham railway station which when added to the trail itself makes it a fourteen mile route so an out and back route would be longer than a marathon meaning that I opted not to do the whole trail this time. After following the undulating road from Fareham to Wickham the trail is easily found opposite St Nicholas Church and almost immediately you pass the site of Wickham station which is now long gone although one of the platforms is still just about visible, then the trail itself really gets underway and consists of plenty of tree cover for shade in the summer plus proper full size bridges both over and under the old railway. 
There’s no major roads nearby so the miles pass by with the peaceful and relaxing soundtrack of the countryside, on a weekday like today I passed the odd dog walker, rambler or horse rider every few minutes and before I knew it I was arriving at Droxford where the trail deviates slightly as the former station is now a private residence although a portion of the Fareham bound platform is clearly visible and intact. After Droxford I continued for another half a mile or so before turning back and heading west back to Wickham. The return trip is entirely downhill although 
as you would expect from a former railway the gradient is barely noticeable. Once I was back in Wickham it was time to tackle the hill to get me out of the village then follow the main road towards the M27 bridge after which I successfully made it up the very steep ‘North Hill’ in Fareham, nobody likes a steep hill nineteen miles into a run but I refused to resort to walking! And then I was back in Fareham with just enough time to get some stretches in before getting the train home again. What really impressed me was not only making the final mile by far the quickest of them all but also realising that each five mile section had been progressively faster despite not worrying about time at any point except the final mile.
I’ve done quite a few twenty mile runs in the past but this was the best by far, and a highlight of my running year, the environment I was running in, the new route, the ease (relatively) with which I ran all came together to make it a memorable one. This does mean however that my next run will probably be rubbish!
Suburban Jogger 