I’ve had a really interesting week, but it’s been infeasibly cold for April… bleak grey skies, snow flurries, Siberian winds. In fact it was a great week to have good excuses to be inside… and I was particularly glad that a walk down amongst the Seven Sisters was postponed at the last minute!
Yesterday we were treated to a sibling visit, with Debbie and John arriving in style… on the back of a low loader!
It was really nice to see their smiling faces emerging from the truck… they took the whole incident very well, despite a two-hour delay to their arrival and a £200 bill for emptying £20 of petrol from the diesel tank!
By the time we woke up this morning the sun was well in control of the day and though it was still chilly, I couldn’t resist a run outside.
Two layers was not really enough, though I’m not sure whether this was for the obvious reason, or because I was sweating and the cold wind was supercooling me as a result. Either way I resisted the temptation to don the jacket I took along for spare.
I headed out to Oldlands Mill along a path with mud the consistency of chocolate icing. The lovely panoramic photograph I took is unfortunately too big to upload to this site… you’ll have to take it from me that the white windmill looked beautiful, while the view to Jack & Jill across the Weald was lovely in the sunlight.
From there I ran down into a bustling Ditchling and up towards the Beacon track. The track itself seemed really steep after so long away whilst the top layer of permafrosted ground had melted to make the surface very slippery in places. Despite this it was great to be back and I managed to reach the Beacon without stopping.
Running back down the track was harder work in some ways, since the brakes had to be full on to offset the questionable grip, but I made it down without incident.
As I retraced my steps I reaped the benefit of all those recent magic carpet sessions… despite the additional distance, gradient and rough ground, my legs felt really good. I even managed to increase my pace towards the end.
So 10 miles in 1:44 (53 minutes out, 2 mins taking photos on the trig point and 49 minutes back) gives an average of 5.77mph.
One odd aside… I’m not sure when I last had a pair of scales in the house (at least 20 years ago), but our new scales show that I lost 2 pounds during the run, despite drinking half a litre of water en route… no wonder my shirt felt cold!
As a further sign that Spring is nigh, Kim and I then sat outside to eat brunch… it wasn’t spectacularly warm, but warm enough while we ate. Though as I write this we are admiring the sunlit garden from inside with the doors closed!
I’m inclined to make the most of it as the forecast for the rest of April (starting Tuesday) is for as much rain in three weeks as we normally have in four! Spring ahoy!