It seems like a year since I last went for a run, but in reality it was probably no more than 3 months ago – though that was the first in 3 months as well. I’ve been inspired to go out by a number of things: a) my cycle ride on Saturday was along my favoured marathon training route, b) Janerunswild’s blog, c) the sunny weather and d) the need to lose a few pounds.
I live in hope of completing all of the Swiss marathons and, having completed the Geneva, Lucerne, Lausanne (twice), Jungfrau and Swiss Alpine, I think I’m now over half way there. I also plan to do the Sierre-Zinal race one day. Also called the Race of the five 4,000s, it’s considered to be one of the most beautiful mountain races in the world. (For info, it’s 31k / 19 miles long and climbs from around 500m to just over 2,400m, passing the famous Weisshorn Hotel en route).
With this in mind, today I ran for around 45 minutes. It felt like a 10k (6 miles) but in fact it was nearer 8k (5 miles). So I have a lot of work to do if I’m going to enter and complete that race.
I never take my camera on my training runs as it’s extra weight and would mean stopping. So the photos below were taken at the end of the run and in the fields near our chalet. (I thought these might add a bit of interest for any non-runners ! 🙂 )
Alittlebitoutoffocus 
Wow, those flowers are beautiful. I wonder what are they called.
LikeLike
Hi. Many thanks for your kind comment. The title or name of each is at the bottom left – that is while viewing in gallery mode. Maybe I should also add a caption to make it clearer what I think they are. Note that I’m not an expert, so I could well be wrong, but I believe the pinky ones are Spring Crocuses. (We also get Crocuses in the Autumn here, which look very similar, so maybe they are simply Crocuses). The maroony/purpley one is (I think) a Pasque Flower or Pulsatilla to give it its (sub-)genus name.
Wiki says:
The genus Pulsatilla contains about 33 species of herbaceous perennials native to meadows and prairies of North America, Europe, and Asia. Common names include pasque flower (or pasqueflower), wind flower, prairie crocus, Easter Flower, and meadow anemone. Several species are valued ornamentals because of their finely-dissected leaves, solitary bell-shaped flowers, and plumed seed heads. The showy part of the flower consists of sepals, not petals.
The genus Pulsatilla is sometimes considered a subgenus under the genus Anemone or as an informally named “group” within Anemone subgenus Anemone section Pulsatilloides.[1]
The flower blooms early in spring, which leads to the common name Pasque flower, since Pasque refers to Easter (Passover).
Pulsatilla patens is the provincial flower of Manitoba, Canada[2] and (as the synonym P. hirsutissima) is the state flower of South Dakota, United States.[3] Pulsatilla vulgaris is the County flower for both Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire in England.[4] Pulsatilla vernalis is the county flower of Oppland, Norway.”
Although the above suggests that the Pasque flower might only come out in the Spring, I did capture some Alpine Pasque flowers last June & July. Though that’s probably because ‘Spring’ is a little later at altitude due to the receding snow and cooler temperatures. Please have a look at the following posts:
https://alittlebitoutoffocus.com/2015/06/25/walk-18-arolla-to-the-aiguilles-rouges-hut/
https://alittlebitoutoffocus.com/2015/07/03/pic-dartsinol-walk-22/
You might also like to browse around some of my other ‘Walk’ posts last year, as you will see quite a few wild flowers featured. Again, I may be wrong with some of my identifications, but I try my best ! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for such informative response, I really appreciate it. I love pulsatilla, such a lovely very colour. I would love to explore the mountainous area and search for the wildflowers.
LikeLike
You’re welcome. just in case you didn’t know, my wife and I run a B&B, http://www.chaletlescriquets.com , you’d be very welcome to come and explore the mountains and wild flowers. The end of May and June are good months. 🙂
LikeLike
Marathon Mike! Fantastic! I’ve only managed one marathon and a couple of halves. I’m in awe of people that can do so many. Looking forward to hearing more about your training/ runs.
LikeLike
Well done to you too for completing even one ! Which one was it ? I’ve only done about 15 road marathons. This might seem like a lot but I once sat next to a guy on the way to the start of the Edinburgh marathon who was doing his 200th ! If that wasn’t impressive enough, he was in his 60’s and had only started running marathons seriously about 10 years previously !! Though I did used to do a lot of Long Distance Walker Association (LDWA) events, which were off-road and always over 20 miles. I found it good training for the road marathons. 🙂
LikeLike
I did the Zurich Marathon in 2006. Last year I managed the “Lidingöloppet”, a 30km cross country run in Stockholm. But due to the amount of training time I needed I think I’ll stick to halves marathons when I need a challenge. 🙂
LikeLike
Well done ! Zurich is on my To do list, along with Zermatt and the Winterthur, plus Locarno of course… I’d better get training !
LikeLiked by 1 person