A beach of a run

By the time I had got up, got my nose together (my hayfever started with a vengeance subsequent to that gorgeous morning I took off Wednesday) and changed all the clocks this morning, I could have happily skipped my run.  But skip it I did not.

I ran from my folks and once again wore shorts despite a slight chill in the air, uncharacteristically complaining about the temperature to a couple of runners I overtook before I warmed up.  It was slow going and I felt that I had to work hard even going downhill to Rottingdean, let alone the drag along to the Palace Pier.  Several times I thought about turning round, but I wanted to do at least ten miles & couldn’t remember where the 5 miles marker was.

Strangely, despite the snail pace, I managed to get to the pier in 55 minutes, quicker than last week and an average of 6.8mph.  This changed my perspective a bit and wishing to do more than simply retrace my steps, I set off along the beach for a little additional work.  I paused to chat to Andy, Paula & Martina at the Martlet Kayak Club (for about ten minutes, in fact, though I didn’t make a note) before resuming my beach run to the groyne by the Marina.

From here I rejoined the top road, turning left at Roedean School to take the track that skirts the back of Ovingdean and climbs steadily to the racecourse.  From here it was a simple case of running down the Warren Road back to base.

Excluding the estimated ten minute chat time, I ran for about 1.55 and covered 11.1 miles, averaging 5.8mph or 10.36 minutes per mile.  I had thought that the 1.25 mile beach run would leave me legless, but it was okay… maybe it would have been different if Cliff had been forcing a little more speed into proceedings!  Overall a very pleasant & sunny run… and with no hayfever effects until I got back north of the Downs!