This morning I drove down to Stamner Park to go for a run with a bunch of friends… Cliff, Andy, Paula, Nikki and the ever elusive Daren, whose head I seem to have squished in order to get Nikki & Cliff in!
You’ll notice a couple of things from the photos below… Cliff is wearing a red shirt to match his red shoes , whilst twins Daren and I apparently share the same tailor… and quite independently bought new Omni 8’s from Kurt at Run yesterday.
Also of considerable note is the sheer girth of my leg (in the white socks) compared to skinny Daren’s! How totally bizarre!
We six ran out of Stamner Park, around the back of Sussex University and on up the hill past Granny’s Belt, through Moon’s Bottom and up to the dip between the Brows of Western and Home on the top of the Downs.
We then passed Ditchling Beacon and turned left to North Bottom… which is a very deep bottom indeed. Here there lies a steep hill, which Andy ended up pushing Paula’s bike up, having persuaded her that Cliff must have been pulling her leg when he suggested she stick to the contours and miss out the big hole! Freud may have had something to say about all that, but he didn’t make it along today.
Then it was back along a grassy sprint and into Stamner Park, with it’s long gratifying downhill section back to the cars.
Of course, at this point Andy & I turned around & ran back up that very same (now) not so downhill section to the limit of the park, where he carried on along the Downs back to his house. I meanwhile turned around yet again and dropped down into Stamner Village (where I mourned the fact that I had no money for an ice cream) and ran back down the park road to the car.
11.1 miles in two hours and two minute s is not the fastest time in the world, but it was such great fun running with a bunch of old friends.