Running Oxford

(Fall, 2012) Despite the rain and clouded skis, the flooded paths and ankle deep mud, I ran through fields, water meadows, and over the winding country roads. 

The cross country trails, though guaranteed to leave my shoes brown and toes pickled, provided an endless source of running routes.  The main trick, though, was finding them.  And that's where friends came in...

While I was in Oxford, I sought out the area running clubs to train with, and much to my surprise I was able to train and race with Oxford's cross country club since I was affiliated with the university.  While there were a few grad students that ran in the club as well, I definitely felt like the old man in the room.  But, the few grad students that were there made me feel at home during our daily runs or weekend adventures. 

During our runs, they took me across rivers and through the deep woods as they often steered away from paved trails.  By the end of the term, I compiled a map of all the hundreds of miles that I covered while running in Oxford:

Click here to view the large version of the map.

Of course, it wasn't all bogs and water meadows that I ran through, though there were some memorable runs (such as Wytham Woods, Old Boars Hill, and Shotover).  My favorite places by far came with trails: Christ Church Meadows, the Thames River Path, the Meadows Lane/Barracks Lane loop, and the Roger Bannister running track.  For those of you that aren't familiar with that name, Roger Bannister was the first man to run a sub four minute mile. 

The English, understandably, are quite proud of the accomplishments of their runners.  The wall along the stands by the track (shown above) is plastered with images of Olympians from Oxford. 

During my three months in Oxford, I logged nearly 700 miles of training (a decent amount considering that doesn't include the two weeks in the states over Thanksgiving nor my time in Germany).  When I wasn't jogging through the mud, or running laps around the Roger Bannister running Track, I trained with the cross country club.  In the end, all of the hard work and determination to get in shape for Frankfurt paid off as I managed to make the Varsity team.  And thus, I finally had a collegiate running experience to talk about.

One more post about Oxford, then on to Paris.

Elizabeth in Oxford, Part 3

(December 15th, 2012: Oxford)  And now, the adventure.

Of all of the places that I had been intending to visit in Oxford, the Trout was close to the top of the list.  Not only had it caught my attention while out running through the outlying areas, but it had also been highly recommended by a few friends that had each independently visited Oxford.

To travel to the Trout from Oxford, it's a non-trivial affair, or at least at that time it was non-trivial.  In most years, the rainfall isn't excessive, but this wasn't most years.  As a result, the main route between Oxford and the Trout was quite inundated.  In fact, the route that I had been planning on taking there with Elizabeth was closed due to high water along the canal tow paths.  So, we went with plan B and started off through Port Meadows.

Port Meadows

Normally, the lake in the middle of Port Meadows is quite small, by my understanding at least.  From all of the rains that Oxford had received last year, though, it was swollen to three or four times its normal size, as seen above.  Trying to get around it in a clean manner proved a daunting task.  I now understand why most people in Oxford have galoshes.

We set out easily enough falling the well worn foot paths, but after going over a creek and through the trees, we came to our decision point: should we take the direct, potentially muddy way to Wolvercote, or should we go around our elbows to get to our thumbs, so to speak, adding on an extra fifteen minutes to our walk?  After explaining the two options to Elizabeth, she said, and I paraphrase here, 'mud schmud, let's go straight.'  Me: "Okay, but this might be a little bit muddy..."

Famous last words, right?

Seven years earlier, I had visited Elizabeth in Calgary where we went hiking through the Canadian Rockies for a few days.  Our first hike was up Mt. Indefatigable, which, like the other peaks in that area, was named after a British warship. 

The peak of Mt. Indefatigable.

The view from the base of Mt. Indefatigable.

That day, Elizabeth proved to be quite fatigable while climbing up Mt. Indefatigable (I've been waiting years to use that line), and, upon seeing me jogging up the side of the mountain through a skree field, asked "Matt, do you run up and down hills at home?"  Me: "Only for about 4 or 5 miles.  The rest I run flat."  At the time, 4-5 miles seemed like a crazy amount of running to Elizabeth, so she was both amused and baffled by my surplus of energy. 

Now, to tie this non-sequitor in, halfway through Port Meadows, Elizabeth turns to me and asks "Matthew, do you normally run through five miles of cow patties for fun?" Me: "No, 10-12."  This instantly triggered flashbacks for Elizabeth to the afore-mentioned episode.

Getting muddy in Port Meadows

After soaking our pants up to our shins in mud, we finally made it through Port Meadows and arrived at our destination, the Trout.

Inside was a warm welcome as we were given a cozy table near a fire.  The menu itself looked divine, and we settled ourselves in for a real treat...

 

First course: Boxed Camembert, Arancini Balls, Black Pearl Scallops, and Aubergine Hummus.

The black scallop pearls were the special of the day, they were served with parsnip puree, yam chips, and crispy pancetta. The arancini risotto balls were three-grain crispy risotto balls filled with mozzarella & roasted sweet peppers served with green chilli mayonnaise, the boxed camembert came with white grape and onion jam and rustic toast, and the aubergines (eggplant for my fellow Americans) were crusted with flatbread crumbs and dukkah with harissa paste infused hummus.  I could go on and on about how good everything was, but my sister's quote from that night sums it up: "Oh my God, this is so good that I can't even talk."  Yeah, it was that good.

Our main course was a large house salad with salmon (background) and a large duck salad in the foreground.  The duck salad came with crispy duck tossed with mooli, sesame seeds, carrot and cucumber in a plum and hoisin sauce, and the house salad featured green beans, orange, grapefruit, asparagus, beetroot (British for beets), pumpkin and sesame seeds, and pomegranate, topped with hazelnut dukkah.  To top things off, I had an Old Engine Oil (an English porter) to drink.  This was a fantastic night, and I heartily recommend anyone visiting Oxford to make their way to the Trout.

Afterwards, we headed down the supposedly flooded tow paths to another inn, the Perch, where we enjoyed a few more drinks before heading back to Oxford.

 

Night was setting early on this December evening...

 

Port Meadows from Wolvencote.

 The Perch.

The Perch was a quaint restaurant nestled on the opposite side of Port Meadows from Oxford.  The original building burned down a few years back, so this cozy location is the rebuilt location.  Quite charming, but we were so full from the Trout that we didn't bother trying any of the food before heading back to Oxford, just a few warm mulled wines.

Only two more posts about Oxford, and then we're on to Paris.