It was a really good start to the year… waking up about 30 seconds before my alarm went off at eight. Not that early I know, but too early for most and a great time to go for a run.
The morning was mild , quite still and slightly misty and sound seemed to be deadened, which meant that I probably scared the tails off about 20 squirrels. As I ran out towards Ote Hall there was no-one around and the first person I saw was a farmer going about his chores. There were a couple of cars on the main road at Wivelsfield, but I could have crawled across on all fours with no danger.
The Alpacas eyed me hungrily but I made it past both them and the sheep in the next field without becoming a tasty new year snack. I passed a cheery family out for a walk as I dropped down into the village centre and then I headed out onto Hundred Acre Lane where I saw the bunny-rabbit tail of a red deer bounding into the undergrowth… clearly a relative of the Bok. Down through the wood, a slight detour around a field looking for the exit and then back up into and through the wood along to the end of Spatham Lane.
From here I cut across the Common, over the railway line and down to Wellhouse Lane, past the water tower and over to the other railway line. There I following the path alongside it to the station, stopping en route to take the weird photo above, before pushing up the last hill to the top of town and back down to home.
In all, I was out for one hour twenty-nine, covering 9.125 miles (or so!) at a speed of 6.08mph. I was very happy with this, despite the fact that Nick had emailed me to quite frankly, er… gloat, that he had run nearly 6 miles in 45 minutes… a speed of 8.57mph. I always said he was faster!! Way to go Nick, although that was technically last year!
The rest of the day was spent relaxing in front of the… that’s rubbish, of course… we’ve been working our little socks off lately doing up Kim’s flat and today was no different: cutting down an old cupboard-side that I just cannot remove as it’s had the gas pipe and the dist-board for the heating system carefully woven through it; cutting the kitchen worktop (and pulling the muscles in my back trying to test it for size… which I didn’t manage to do!); working out where the tiles will go in the bathroom and fixing the first couple of rows; getting the bathroom door-frame ready so that I can hang the door on the other side; failing to remove the skirting and having to rebuild it (work in progress… sorry Kim!); drinking tea and occasionally swearing… though these latter seem to be the only aspects of being a builder that come naturally!