Bearing in mind I was not in bed until well after 1am last night, the fact that I woke up before 7.30am seems crazy. But despite the torrential rain last night, followed by bright, clear skies, it was neither wet nor cold and it was the uncommonly bright morning that had woken me.
I supped on a banana & some espresso and read for a while and finally emerged from the house, wearing shorts (again), just after nine. Alas, after a bout of serious deck cleaning with a broom yesterday, I was not on top form and I decided early on that this would be a shortish run.
I headed out across the Common, where the duck pond was overflowing its banks and the slightest dip in the ground was full of water. I stopped to take photo’s at regular intervals along the magical path so that you can see what I keep going on about (watch this space tomorrow for the results) – although I’m sure they still won’t do it justice.
The path through Blackbrook Woods was also wet and it was at this point that I switched to wet style running… that is, running straight down the path and through the middle of anything in the way. Once your feet are wet, there seems little point in wasting time around the slippery margins.
As I headed south towards the Downs, my legs were already heavy and the thought of an extended run did not appeal. So I turned right / west at Hayleigh Farm and headed across towards Ditchling on a soulless farm road with the wind picking up into my face.
I snuck through Ditchling, up onto Lodge Hill and around by Oldlands Mill. Once again the path was waterlogged and the only other people I saw were struggling in wellington boots while I splished past them.
Once onto the Keymer Road, I turned off to the water tower and across to the railway line. The path that runs from here to the station always reminds me of Daren for some reason, probably for the visage of him disappearing kamikaze style ahead of me down a steep and extremely slippery hill… how he stayed vertical I really have no idea.
I reached the house in one hour 27 minutes after 8.8 miles… just over 6mph… and although I felt heavy legged whilst running, I feel quite sprightly now. Stopping to take photos obviously had an impact on the split time (out at 5.66mph, return at 6.5mph) so I hope that you appreciate the photos!
As I sit writing, the Japanese Maple outside my study window is such a vivid red right now – I’ve taken a stack of photos of it and none of them capture the intensity of the colour. This one is the closest.
Oh, and after a fine morning, the torrential rain has just started again… I’m really glad I got up when I did!