I awoke from my dreams at 7.55am and whilst it was not the sunny morning I had envisaged, I was rearing to get my trainers on… after a very large expresso, of course.
The sun was straining through light but wet clouds as I ran up the road and as it was also wet underfoot, I chose not to follow the mud-fest route that Daren, Nick and I often take. I was in the mood to explore, happy to follow my nose and see what there was to see. This took me to the south and east of the town where I discovered that the council was in the process of extending the path across an area where I had often wished there had been one. That they had not completed the aforementioned became apparent as I ran around the boundary of first one large field, then another, a third and a fourth, in search of the exit.
It had been lightly raining with big drops of warm water, but around this point there was a deluge, almost accentuating that I was going in the wrong direction.
I eventually came to the boundary of the golf course where there was a gate of the locked variety and no clear route through the golfers playing in the rain. I soldiered on finding a farm track heading in the right direction, but blocked by a farmyard with some impressive looking security gates on the other side. I hedged around the boundary and came to a point where a low barbed wire fence and six feet of driveway stood between me and the route onward.
I almost hope that the owners of the house did see me step over the fence because I can imagine them smiling as my shorts snagged a barb and I was left pinned to the fence for a few embarrassing moments until I figured out which way I had to pull the material to free myself.
I ran onward, back up through the eastern side of the town, smiling back at the dog-walkers and on back to the house. Here, a glance in the mirror confirmed that I was a sodden, bedraggled, mud covered monster. No wonder they smiled at me!
Eight miles in one hour forty. Not exactly speedy (Nick and I ran just over six miles in 55 minutes two weeks ago, although I did nearly throw up afterwards!) but passable for a wet Sunday morning escapade.
And the sun is now burning through the clouds. Better late than never!