Training: Arthur's Hill (up Westgate Road)

So, a first run back that wasn't just stop-start. And given my phone was sucking the last bits of juice it would ever suck (thanks to a broken charging port), I was running without anything telling me how far I'd gone, what pace, or even what time it was. With that in mind, any sensible person would've run a route whose distance they know well. But I'm not any sensible person.

Yep, that was a gradient.

Heading out of the office and onto Grey Street, I ran up to Grey's Monument and then up towards Gallowgate. Seeing the towering (for Newcastle) skyline of the science/business park, I then figured I might head up there and weave around in the hope of meeting a former colleague who's just moved there, but that didn't last long. Instead, I ran alongside the old town walls for as far as they were discernible, which took me down to Westgate Road, opposite Tilley's and the Tyne Theatre and Opera House.

Cue a hard right, heading up Westgate Road as I sensed the chance to check out a green space that I'd not been into before. It would mean running up the hill past all the motorbike shops, but that was fine and would be a good workout. So, off I plodded up to the top of the hill, feeling I was going very slowly by the time I got to the top. The aim was only to go as far as Elswick Road, but by the time I got there and saw the underwhelming nature of the green space, the challenge of the continuing hill was calling instead.

On I went, aiming to head past Akbar's and almost up to the Gregg's Outlet. The hill had reduced in gradient a little, but was still a hill. I figured I'd go as far as what looked like the crest, only to find that, in typical hill fashion, it was a false summit. So on I went a little further until I finally did reach the top. I'm guessing that by this point, Westgate Road had become West Road, but I've honestly no idea where that transition really does happen. All I knew was that it was probably time to turn back and that it was nigh on 100% downhill from here back to the office.

And that was that. Mapping it all out on onthegomap.com again (I should get commission for these mentions!), turns out the final distance was a little under 4.5km and the elevation trace looks pretty pleasing. I'll leave my next run until Saturday, when I hope to get back to parkrun. I've missed 5 of the last 6 events, which has pretty much screwed my 30-in-a-year objective unless I attend 6 of the remaining 8 runs (I'm not counting the Christmas day run, which I'll probably never do). But ignoring that target, I'll just be happy to be marking some apricot-orange on my running calendar for once.

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