The vista outside was beautiful this morning, with sun, crystal blue sky and glistening white snow. Although at somewhere close to zero on the thermometer, it wasn’t really calling to me running-wise!
But having had a couple of weeks off, I thought I had better get out and do something, even if it was to get some fresh air in my lungs.
I got all my normal gear out and then found an additional layer to boot… extra track bottoms over my longs, extra t-shirt, extra beanie hat, extra gloves and my orange runners for both warmth and additional traction. As I skated off down the road, I was prepared to be very chilly, but within 15 minutes I felt a little like a turkey… well stuffed and on a low heat.
Normally I would have unzipped or removed clothing, but this was not a day to mess around. Despite the sunshine and the stillness, it was better to be slightly over-warm than let to the chill in.
I had decided to run my old default circuit… Royal Oak (which looks to have been refurbished, by the way) Wivelsfield, up through West Wood and back down the Magical Path & across the Common. The going underfoot was largely crunchy with mini-puddles in the muddier areas, but anything that didn’t crunch was perilously slippery… not a surface I wanted to fall over on as any limb striking it directly would be a good candidate to break, so I probably looked like a real ninny crossing the road!
The temperature was such that the slight perspiration from running up the one gentle hill gave a considerable face ice-pack effect running along for five minutes afterwards. But all was forgiven… it was gorgeous out there!
And despite the two-week break, I was running well… such that when I got back to the Common, I happily decided to go around the circuit a second time!
Last time I ran this double loop was on 17th May and the time today did not compare favourably… but then I was concentrating quite hard on not sliding over in a number of places. The first loop of 4.4 miles took me 47 minutes (against 39 minutes in May), whilst the second half was only slightly better at 45 minutes. 8.8 miles in one hour, 32 minutes, or 5.74mph.
From the state of my treasured socks, it’s clear that I haven’t been to Run for a while! I really must put that to rights in the next couple of weeks!
