It was such a glorious morning and there was ice on all the cars so I dressed warm for a short run. The first thing that hit me when I went out into the sun was how warm it was. Odd really, as whilst all the shady parts were slippery with ice or crunchy underfoot, everywhere else had that look of Spring having arrived. And the depth of the mud attested to how unfrozen it was!
Still knackered from my Friday run and from refurbing all week, I fancied a short, unhurried run around town. I quickly revised my intentions when I realised how slippery the shaded pavements were, so I headed for a more forgiving surface… mud is always slippery!
I ran out towards Keymer and then round to the South of the town by Tesco’s. There was a rumour of a path being created so that people could walk right around the outside of the new perimeter road and a few months ago I managed to get lost whilst trying to discover where it went. That was August and uncertain whether the local Council acts quickly or slowly in these matters, I decided to try again.
The path has certainly been extended, but only as far as Gatehouse Lane, but I persevered by trying to get around the back of St Pauls School again, to no avail again. Chastened by the memories of getting caught astride a barbed wire fence last time, I sheepishly retraced my steps and ran along the rest of the perimeter road.
I continued through Sheddingdean Industrial Estate. I think it is such a shame when an estate such as this, with some excellent companies such as Sussex Sport KTM and the wonderful Earthworks, has so little self esteem as to allow an age old and decrepit sign to herald the entrance. Far worse still, it’s one of the first things that visitors see as they enter Burgess Hill. If anyone from Burgess Hill Town Council reads this and wants to understand how a few small (and inexpensive) changes might make a large difference to the feel of the town, please get in touch!
Beyond that, I ran past Burgess Hill Football Club ground and on through the tunnel to Valebridge Road. Here I was tempted to run through the twitten and up to Ote Hall, but to be honest, I was knackered, so I ran back up Junction Road instead.
In all I was out for one hour twenty minutes, covering about 7.4 miles at a sedate 5.55mph. I’m not sure where the boundary between short run and long run is, but it sure felt like the latter!
The day has turned grey now, so I’m really glad that I made the effort while the sun shone… and my Oakley’s were happy to get a breath of fresh New Year air too!
