The other guys, the ones who said yes, must think I’m completely crazy, huh?
Alas, they are right and I am crazy! For the lowdown on the morning, click here.
Yes?
Do I look crazy?
Yes, I guess I do, and as you know, I am!
I have to confess that the motivation to run came from Kim this morning. I was contentedly supping on my quad-spresso this morning, tucked up in my reading chair with a truly excellent book (The Lost Village, by Richard Askwith – more of which later, I’m sure) when she announced that she was going for a run. Despite the fact that she drove to the gym to do this, I still felt I couldn’t just sit there and relax. Although it was a close run thing!
The only additional bits of kit that I took with me this morning were a neckie to keep my nose warm and Kim’s warm gloves, both of which were needed. The other things that were very welcome were my Gore jacket (with only two layers underneath) which was toasty and my Thurlo woolen socks, without which my feet would have fallen off several times over the last few months. The really great thing about the Thurlo’s is that even when you splash through a muddy puddle and your feet get an ice cold blast, they warm straight back up again. Totally priceless!
So, the going was a little slippery on the pavement as I set out, but once I got out into the country the going was… a little more slippery still! Not from the snow, you understand, but from the mud. Oh glorious mud! It rained a lot yesterday before it snowed today, so there was lots of it, with a covering of snow to disguise it for the unwary. It even caught me out once or twice, giving me a good excuse to laugh out loud as the icy cold enveloped my feet!
My route this morning took me across the common, past the Royal Oak, up through Hundred Acre Woods, right across to the water tower, the railway and the then home. Unusually, I met three other runners out enjoying the conditions… well two of them were anyway. One lady was wearing her brand new trainers and was clinging to the foliage along the edge of the path in a vain attempt to keep them dry. To be fair, she and her husband had run six miles and the trainers were no longer particularly clean, but there was a stark difference between her progress and mine, as I sploshed down the middle of the path!
Back across the common, the snow was in abundance, as can be seen in this short video video000a.mp4 (and note that it’s quite difficult to press the off button wearing gloves on cold hands) while beyond the water tower some snowmen and their dogs were out playing with the locals, which you don’t quite get to see ahead of me in this short video video001a.mp4.
It was a joy to be out in the weather and my run lasted one hour and five minutes. covering 6.4 miles… a speed of around 5.9mph or 10.15minute miles. Ironically, about the same time and distance that Kim covered in the gym and strangely, she felt colder than I did by the time she got back!
Get on out there!
I was helping lay the concrete base for a barn this morning so I didn’t go running, but I thought you might like to get a sense of what it’s like to be in my shoes from the following short video, taken on Monday. And for all of you that have been putting off going out running… get on out there, the weather is lovely!
Barbie returns
I suspect that you already know that the longer you don’t run, the less you feel like running: while I last ran only a few days ago, it was this feeling I had when I woke up today. Leaving nothing to chance, I donned my running gear from the getgo, ate a banana and downed my usual quadruple espresso… and closed the door behind me on the way out.
Now I either had to run, or alternatively look silly standing around on my street while my neighbours go to work. As a portfolio worker (as in someone who has the good fortune to have a number of work interests) they already think I’m weird, so I figured I’d better get running.
The aim this morning was to take the photograph above for an earlier post, so I quickly worked out a convoluted way to pass there and was delighted to find that there she was, still walking around harmlessly and without a care in her head. Wherever it was.
The downside of going this way was that I once again ended up falling off the edge of my map and my word, it’s muddy over there! What can I say other than ‘don’t stray orf the map!’ When I finally get around to buying the next one up (which may end up being the two maps, as I think the bit I need falls right on a vertical join) I won’t be at all surprised if it’s all mud (and planks, see the pic below), as far as the legs can run.
So what else can I say? From an unenthusiastic start, the different route with its more than liberal helping of mud helped to re-engage me and by the time I returned, I was running well. It was warm enough that I had to take a layer off (the middle one) and tie it around my waist. I also had to take my gloves off, which since there’s only one place to put them, may explain why I got a few more smiles along the way than normal. Barbie certainly seemed pleased to see me, although she bent over backwards to hide her blushes.
In all, I was out for one hour 18 minutes and covered 5.5 miles according to my map. Though exactly how much further I covered off-map I’m not exactly sure. It could be a good time to buy shares in Ordinance Survey!