Monday 23 March 2009

Dark Skies are upon us






Sunday, Richard, Peter and I went out for a Pentlands' run. Our remit was to go for 3 hours, so roughly the equivalent of 20 road miles.

I had a good plan of doing the last route I did in the Pentlands with Harbour Hill and Castle Law thrown in (also the hill between these two but I can't remember what it's called...roundy hill...).

It had seemed a little windy earlier in the day but we weren't prepared for the sheer fury of the wind on the tops. By the time we all came off West Kip we were battered and weary. When I got onto the path I realised that I was going to be rubbish for the rest of the run.

The only add-on to the run was to investigate a new board walk which had appeared on the left just at the foot of the steep hill on the road that leads back down to Balerno. We hoped that someone had thoughtfully put a nice board walk right round the reservoir and over the reeds but it led only a short way into a strange wooden bird-watching hut. We went in and were greeted with the sight of a fair number of stern-faced people in green jackets silently watching some bluetits eat some nuts in an orange net.

I moaned quietly, or maybe loudly for much of the 2nd half, having had enough and bewailing my sudden, drastic loss of form. My right foot had been taxed on the steep uphills earlier and now ached mildly but persistently. Despite my encouraging Peter and Richard to go ahead and go up Harbour Hill etc. to get their extra time in they chose instead to keep running back to me, letting me know just how slow I was going.

I promised myself an extra low mileage week to try and rest my heel and improve my energy levels. I cut back to 38 miles last week but it obviously wasn't enough. So tonight instead of running I'll be shopping and cooking, oh and doing the dishes.

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