Welcome to the fourth episode in the Out Of Breath series! In this feature, I'll share my Strava run details (at the bottom of this post) as well as a few pictures of the places I'm running through/by/in/past/etc. This run occurred 20th March, 2017 (yup, this is still delayed... I'll catch up eventually).
I've kept running since my last run in Barcelona, but not always tracking it on Strava. Mostly while we were in Bonascre I did a bunch of trekking, working on strengthening my knee and recovering from fracturing my shoulder during snowboarding.
I have a confession to make. This will be the first OOB post where the pictures aren't exactly where I was running. Most of the pictures in this post are from walks that Clo and I took around Ax Les Thermes, whereas the run on Strava is actually up in the ski village of Bonascre (a 10 minute gondola ride from Ax).
As you can see from the picture below, my running area was somewhat limited by what was in the sun and what was in the shade. The snow had totally melted in spots that were exposed to sun for most of the day, but in those areas that were shaded by the mountains it was still snowy. It made for a very refreshing temperature to run in!
Even in the end of winter, plenty of other people were out and about. This is heading east from Ax along the river L'Oriege, overlooking the Lac de Campauleil. The manor house you see there is rather run down and definitely not used year round, but still used as a vacation home for a few families (they were having a BBQ in their dilapidated back yard as we went past).
Going west from Ax along a different river (L'Ariege) is equally scenic. There are many small towns along the river and it's quite enjoyable to walk through them. At this time of the year they are only about 50% populated, since they tend to be very seasonable in terms of when people live here. They're certainly very beautiful though.
I can safely say this is one of the more scenic and naturally beautiful areas I've been running in (so far!). It was great to run at this time of the year, too, since I always started the run a bit chilly and about halfway through I would finally get warm. And never overheat.
Feel free to follow me on Strava if you also use it. It's a pretty cool tool for running/cycling/etc.