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"Bad Hare Days" by John Fitzgerald
"Bad Hare Days" by John Fitzgerald, about the anti-hare coursing campaign in Ireland and its impact on the campaigners, is now available as a free e-book.
One man's fight against a cruel blood sport!
Download "Bad Hare Days" (pdf 7.6Mb)
Amanda, running to raise awareness of Hares
I come from Perthshire (central Scotland) which is known for being purely agricultural in nature. It is a microcosim of Scotland so we have a wide variety of landscapes from lochs to glens. I am an Admin Assistant working in London within the Arts, in my mid-30s.
I am originally from Scotland and come from a small village. As a result, I have a great love for our native wildlife as I would watch the deer crossing the fields next to our house to enter the wood, as well as having the annual joy of witnessing our local hares boxing in the same field in Springtime. I am very saddened by the decline of the Hare population in the UK and hope to raise public awareness through my run.
On the running side of things, I am still very much a beginner runner who began running just under a year ago as a means to lose weight but then found out I actually enjoyed it! The Great Scottish Run will be my first 10K race as previously I have run only 5K in distance. I am now in training to increase my distance, which I will build up over the next 6 months.
If you would like to sponsor Amanda in her run for the Hare Preservation Trust please donate using the button below. Thank you!
Read Amanda's Blog below!
Blog of an Aspiring Runner:
September
Run Complete!
I completed the run with the time 1:22:07 which in translation means I ran the 10K distance within 1hour 22 minutes and 7 seconds. This was a personal best for me especially since it is the first time I have done 10K run so I am pleased.
The adjacent photo of myself is one that my husband took at the end of the race with me wearing my medal and of course in the Trust t-shirt.
Blog of an Aspiring Runner:
August
As with all run-ups (excuse the pun) to a race there are trials and tribulations. I decided to go for a long run at the weekend and on looking out of the window noted the dark cloudy skies and donned my waterproof running jacket over my running gear. It had tipped it down in the morning so I was safe in the thought that I would now be protected for any further deluge. After 5 minutes outside the heavens broke into ... blazing sunshine!! Yes I could not believe it and after a further 15 minutes of my run I was wilting under my jacket. I duly peeled off the offending article of clothing which was now no longer a faithful friend but had turned into an unwanted foe. Worse still I had no-where to stash the jacket as I had decided to go on my run without my running waist pack (bum-bag to those of you who use 80's terminology). I was now left with the only option of running with it in my right hand along with my running water bottle.
This slight nuisance put a dampener on my enthusiasm somewhat and by the time I reached my half way point in my run I had decided to take a bit of a walk rest. To back-up my now increasingly dejected mood, Mother Nature decided to conspire against me and the skies began to look dark and foreboding again. I even fleetingly resented the cricketers that I passed who were happily involved in an idyllic match while I plodded past. I spurred myself into a trot and set my sights on the 30 mile an hour limit sign up the road as I knew that was the edge of the next village, and my half-way point for the turn-around to go home! I was feeling far happier once I had reached the said sign and decided to perk my mood up even further by setting my running music to Level 42’s 'The Sun Goes Down'. The power of music is a wonderful thing! My now restored and more buoyant mood meant that I covered about a quarter of my run in one constant jog even though it was starting to rain. Irony of all ironies, the heavens opened just as Annie Lennox started to belt out 'Here Comes the Rain Again' on my nanopod. I carried on the rest of my run with the occasional walk break to even more classic 80s songs such as Dollar's 'Mirror Mirror', Bucks Fizzs' 'Land of Make Believe', and Nik Kershaw's 'Wouldn't it Be Good' with the smattering of more modern tracks such as Kylie's 'Wow'. I am now geared for the race in Glasgow and will be armed with my running tunes to accompany of my route as they are now old and familiar friends who I can now call upon to bolster me along. Here's hoping that the weather will be a bit more consistent on the day of the race.
Signing Off!
An Aspiring Runner
Blog of an Aspiring Runner:
July
After my recent rural runs I decided to alter the scene a bit and do an urban run for a change to spice things up. In my infinite wisdom and slightly over-adventurous spirit, I came to the conclusion that I would tackle the run from work to my train station home. At a 6K distance this would not be a stretch in a challenge, however the addition of my running rucksack on my back containing my work gear would certainly up the ante and make the going a lot harder on me.
I duly changed from my work wear into my running gear in the work toilets and emerged looking rather like a pink and black clad Anneka Rice wannabe (anyone else remember Challenge Anneka?). I tossed on my even pinker waterproof running jacket (waterproof being used in the loosest term) and wrestled to put on my now weighty runners rucksack (felt at least 2kg). I was now ready to brave the wet and rainy journey to the station.
The first thing I noticed was that tourists really do not expect runners to be on the pavement with them. I had a few near misses of collisions with tourists who were too busy hiding under their umbrellas to protect themselves from the now persistent shower of rain. I was observed by rather nonplussed policemen outside of the Houses of Parliament who are very used to runners passing them, however considering the level of rain that was now starting to come down I think they were probably deeming me rather insane in my mission. My next section along the Embankment went more smoothly as there were less people walking around, twinned with the fact that the pavement was far wider thus allowing me to slalom between my fellow pavement dwellers with ease. I took walk breaks to allow myself a chance to catch my breath especially since I was frequently interrupted by junctions with traffic lights showing the little red man.
I finally gave in to the rise in my body temperature and peeled off my waterproof jacket and waterproof running cap, and stuffed both unceremoniously into my rucksack. By this time it was a steady downpour and I was getting very wet, though admittedly becoming gradually cooler.
I passed several bus-stops on the way and I confess I fleetingly considered grinding to a halt and jumping onto the next bus to save getting anymore soaked to the skin. Luckily the rain started to ease off again and I continued on my journey noting the next bridge that I was going to be coming up to. On my approach to Blackfriars Bridge I took a dog-leg turn up towards the city with a quick glimpse of the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral on the nearby roof-line. I trotted past yet another tube station, this time Mansion House, noting to myself that I had never got off at that stop ever and continuing to note that by the looks of things would have no rushing desire to do so in the future either! Saying that it was nice to put a face to a name so to speak, as I had only ever seen that stop on the tube map. This run was becoming a geographical education! Here things became tricky as I entered towards Bank as the pavements became narrower and more populated. I was tickled by the fact that the road I was passing was called Poultry and had a visualisation of chickens processing down it (clearly the rain had got to me by this stage). At one point, I overtook some Spanish tourists only to have a woman walk across my path and pinball me off in another direction and nearly missing a collision with an oncoming city worker. I spent the last 10 minutes of my run concentrating on keeping the Gherkin (Swiss Re skyscraper) firmly in my sights as my landmark and avoiding any more pavement mishaps! I reached the station in one piece and ambled into a walk. It is easier to get the tube but it was far more enjoyable to view some of London’s famous sights while on the run (even at the cost of getting decidedly wet).
Signing Off!
An Aspiring Runner
Blog of an Aspiring Runner:
Mid-June to Late June
The Trail Training Attempt:-
As every runner will tell you, you do tend to get bored of doing the same route time after time, so I made a promise to myself to try and add variety to my runs whenever I could. An opportunity came up for me to go away for the weekend with my husband to a part of Kent that I know well. I have run in the area before however only on the local B roads, but this time I was determined to do something a bit different and challenging to help with my training. Oh yes I was going to give 'trail' running a whirl!
To those of you who are not runners let me explain that 'trail' running is. It is exactly what it says on the box! You run across country, off road following a trail (ideally). Now this may sound a lovely care free way of running compared to running on the hard tarmac of a road, however there are pitfalls. This type of running introduces very uneven ground that can play merry hell on your ankles and knees after a while. You may also befall the misfortune of stumbling into a hidden fox hole if you aren't careful (among other things).
However, in my case I was going to do a 5K circuit that covered woodland with good tracks. Bright eyed and bushy tailed, and armed with my mini map of the walk route (or in my case running route), I marched across the large grass field to join the wood edge and commence my run. My zest did not last long! The initial start of my run was to scale a steep uphill slope to get just onto the trail. My poor hips ached by the time I reached the path. Undeterred (though now aching) I gathered my remaining enthusiasm and decided to start a brisk-ish walk to my music. To be honest the brisk-isk walk was more of a strained amble as my still aching (and still not warmed up) hips were complaining about the torture they had just been subjected to.
After about 5 minutes of enjoying my surroundings, I decided to break into a gentle jog as my calf muscles were warming up nicely to the undulating path that I was on. It was unusual to be surrounded on either side by tall trees and to be focused on the path ahead that was turning and winding out of my sight so I was not sure what I was going to come across next! I had a squirrel shoot out in front of me and I am still not sure which of us was more shocked at the others presence. Disaster struck 15 minutes into my run as my nanopod ran out of batteries! My musical motivation had just been robbed of me. I've never run without music ever as I have always needed the distraction from my tired muscles and waning mental attention. This was now going to be a real challenge running with no music what-so-ever. To my joy I found that the woodland birds made a nice backing track to my running. As I carried on, I discovered that there were several small hills along my route that had been cut into steps of about 9 inches high. I had to resort to walking at these points as my little legs did have slight problems negotiating them. It has to be said that my general progress round the circuit was hindered somewhat by these intervals of steps and steep gradients, twinned with loose gravelly soil. I was endeavouring to run in these conditions in my normal running shoes (I don't own trail runners) and was losing the battle at points.
I reached 3/4 point on my route and came across the pond I was looking for as a landmark. A lady was enjoying walking her 2 spaniels, to the point that one was gambling and swimming around in the pond proudly carrying a stick in its mouth. I reached a momentary impass as the path in front of me forked into two, and there was no marker to indicate which way the trail was now going! I did a mental flip of the coin and chose the fork to the left only to find that after a minute the trail was circling round behind the pond. I back-tracked and decided to brave taking out my map for reference only to hear a clear and crisp woman's voice chirp up behind me "are you lost?". Yes, the lady dog walker was still hovering at the pond trying to retrieve a determined and persistently paddling dog from the water. I sheepishly asked if she knew which way the 'red route' went and was told that I had been going the right way after all (much to my own annoyance). I started off again and retraced my steps and came across my last set of steps on the route. I finally reached my starting point and felt quite elated at the though that although the 5K route had taken me a whopping 1 hour to complete, I had in fact been dealing with new and far more challenging conditions compared to my normal runs. Before I went out on the run, one of the local wardens told me that the route I was going to do was far from easy, and that if I could handle the circuit then I would surely be able tackle a 10K city run easily. Here's hoping he is right as it certainly was good training for me, plus I surprised and amused quite a few walkers on the route (I suspect that I am the only mad runner they have ever encountered handling their regular Saturday woodland walk).
Signing off!
An Aspiring Runner
Blog of an Aspiring Runner:
Mid-May to Mid-June 2011
My husband and myself ventured on holiday to Bali in mid-May. I had already decided that I wasn't going to be able to go running due to the heat so hadn't packed any of my running gear whatsoever. To my surprise, the small spa complex we were staying at hand a tiny gym with 1 treadmill. After Day 2 of our stay, the temptation became too much and I succumbed to the to the idea of a run in the evening. I decided that I could run bare foot in the black Indian style jumpsuit that I had packed to lounge around in. To my great surprise running barefoot on the treadmill was not painful but my soles did get a tad hot from the friction created. After a 20 minute stint I finished feeling quite chuffed that I had braved the humidity while actively viewing the sun go down over the sea. The next day I took a rest but the following day I decided to brave the treadmill once more but this time during the day. This run was a little less successful as it was a hotter time of the day (no air conditioning in the gym) and after 15 minutes my calf muscles were complaining of the conditions I was subjecting them too. However, I was still proud of the fact that I had endeavored to run in unfamiliar environment plus I am convinced I am one of the few people to jog looking out onto the view of the Flores Sea. Sadly the rest of our holiday was spent in a villa where there were no gym facilities and the surrounding area was not running friendly.
On our return to wet England, I took a few days off from running as I was being tired out by the return to the daily grind of work and commuting. On the Sunday, I ventured out for the first time to my old running route of a country road not far from my house. This route is a 5k round trip however I decided on the outset to push my distance boundaries to nearer 6k. As soon as I reached my pals the 3 white goats in their paddock (my usual point to turn round and return home) I decided to push on. I was decidedly damp by this point as it was raining and my waterproof jacket is only shower proof! I carried on up towards the dual carriageway that intersects, and somewhat disrupts, what would be a nice country road. I had to jog on the spot for a few minutes while waiting for the green man to show. I began to get jealous of the people sitting in their very warm cars peering at me with curiosity and incredibility. I resumed my run and carried on through the very tiny village (8 houses) and aimed for the sign writers house which I estimated would be about just over the 3k mark. I was quite chuffed with myself when I reached his house and immediately turned round to head home (probably much to their bemusement if they were looking out of their window at the time). On my return back to the main junction, I had the joy of an inconsiderate motorist ploughing through a giant puddle and soaking me from my shoulders downwards. Now completely soaked, I carried on home and finally traipsed in rather bedraggled. My round trip was just under 7k in total. This boosted my confidence somewhat and although this was done in an interval training format (where I run for 6 minutes and then take a walk break for a minute) this has shown that I do have the stamina for longer distances.
The next time I went out I was worn out from a hectic week at work. On these occasions, I don't push too much on the run as it is just simply enough to have gone out and made the effort to run. However, it was enough to do my usual 5K route and see my goat pals and pop in briefly to say hello to my friends at the riding stable where I take lessons. My goal this weekend is to do the 7K route again and see if I can retain the stamina. Once I have that cracked this I can up my mileage again.
Signing off!
An Aspiring Runner
HPT Blog
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Repeal of Hunting Act
We expect an "indicative" vote in Parliament within the next few weeks where MPs will be asked to say whether they wish to have a free vote on a repeal of the Hunting Act. So it is crucial that MPs are reminded that the vast majority of the British public to not wish to see the re-legalisation of barbarity in our countryside. MPs also need reminding that this is not just about foxhunting, but also hare hunting, hare coursing and deer hunting.
Animal Aid is running a postcard campaign to MPs and supplies can be obtained from info@animalaid.org.uk. We are delighted to note the campaign places equal emphasis on foxes, hares and deer and urge everyone to support it by sending for cards to distribute to friends, relations and work colleagues.
HPT Bulletin
Keep up to date with all the latest news with the HPT Bulletin. This is sent out to members approximately every two weeks.
Example Bulletins
Bulletin 77. 1st December 2009
Bulletin 80. 15th January 2010
To keep up to date with all the latest hare news please join us to receive the bulletins.