A short run on a short day

Tomorrow is the shortest day, although at only 4 seconds longer today comes a pretty close joint-second.  With dark clouds and heavy rain it sure does feel like winter is about to start.  Which is what made it a perfect day for a hilarious run with Daren!

We met ‘upstairs’ at Jack and Jill, laughing at even the notion of running when there was enough water on the roads to kayak comfortably.  Perfect weather for clean trainers!

It felt cold to start with, especially with the rain biting at our faces, but soon laughter warmed us up as we dropped down past a difficult green on the golf course.

The path towards Pyecombe was a small stream and there was little point trying to keep our trainers dry… we just waded on through!

The path out from Pyecombe was probably less muddy than normal since it had been washed right down to the hard chalk layer.  Moreover, when we reached the point that is normally thick deep mud, someone had tarmacked it over since our last visit.  Odd.

We made good time up Wolstonbury but chose not to stand on the top to admire the (absent) view on account of the needling rain.  The steep grassy decent was always going to more interesting in this weather but we both managed to stay upright… with the help of some girlie squeals and aerobatic body movements.

A subsequent steep incline led to more squeals and one moment that almost undid me… my uphill foot was secure in a hollow while my downhill foot slipped inexorably away.

The end of that path as we approach Clayton is always a mud bath, even in the middle of summer, but today it seemed somehow easier.  Probably because we weren’t trying to avoid it in any way… we just waded right through the middle.

Eventually we came to the hard hill.  The ‘tank tracks’ take the scarp slope of the South Downs head on and require every ounce of resilience to run from bottom to top… neither would have made it alone today but together we managed to triumph.

And then we were back in the deserted car park, stripping off sodden clothes while the rain did it’s best to soak our dry ones.

6.3 miles in 1;14 works out to 5.1 mph, which is actually a little faster than normal… you were right Daren!

My trainers have resumed their dirty state but I’m now brimming with positivity ahead of the approaching winter!