Rain, rain, rain

Its been enforced running for the last two days. The rain keeps falling and I find myself back in winter mood. I can't wake up. I'm always hungry. I vascillate and can't make up my mind to do anything. So last night we went out a hard 10 miler round and about Arthur's Seat. Peter hated it but once I was out there was things about it I quite liked. The foliage and weeds are just so green and furry and the birds are pretty happy with it all.

This morning when I finally rolled out of bed and saw the dark skies and the rain still falling down I could think of nothing I'd rather have than a curry, a naan bread and a pint of beer. I didn't do it though. Porridge and coffee since you asked and then surfing around morosely and pointlessly on t'internet. I've got the 7 hills race tomorrow  so didn't want to do anything too strenuous. Peter's going to cycle it and take pictures to spare his foot. What could we do today then? We drove the 2 miles to Inverleith Park and I set Peter the challenge of running round 5 times in the time it took me to run round 3 times at recovery pace. This wasn't a very fair challenge in actual fact but I hadn't thought it through - and the point wasn't really to do it but to have an aim and get out there. So out there we went in the unprepossessing hard rain and a cold NE wind just to hammer the message home. Hell's teeth.

I was a bit stiff from last night's 10 miler but not too bad. Again the world wasn't a BAD place. The best thing, we both agreed afterwards, was that Inverleith Pond is full to the brim and the gulls and coots were standing on the stepped side of the pond and you could see their feet just under the water. I've seen a gull's feet before but the coots' feet were a revelation! Like big white star-fish! No camera along sadly.

Peter took to the roads to save his new road shoes from the mud of the park so he claims he lapped me but I didn't see him and am too lazy to figure out if that was possible from our respective times. The park is pretty much 1.2 miles in circumference. I did my 3 laps without ever seeing him and jumped in the car and got the heater on. Not long after he flew by on the road shouting "just one more to go" and about 9 minutes later we were done.

I read a bit of an e-book earlier this year by some guy who was claiming that we're all short of vitamin D3, the lack of which makes us go into hibernation mode, over-eat and our bodies don't repair properly. You get a lack of vitamin D3 through lack of sunlight. He reckoned that this was exacerbated in recent years by the much increased use of sunscreen. Well whether its that or whatever, I've had  a real feeling of JUST HOW BAD Christmas is this last week. I hope the weather is just getting all this out the way so it will be nice next weekend for the WHW race

Rainy Night in Musselburgh

The team will never be awesome if we don't run. So despite it chucking it down we thought we needed to do a Friday night drive to the Musselburgh Quayside and bang out some quick, flat miles round the lagoons etc. Peter's PF foot seems to do better on the flat so that's what we're testing out.

We cowered in the car for a while as the rain blasted down but it wasn't getting any lighter so we got ourselves out in it. The first mile was the worst - running NE into the North-Easterly wind with the rain numbing our faces and hands and no cover whatsoever. I had hoped for a warm up mile but I was frozen after this one. Then things relented a bit and it was great to get inland and turn around and suddenly we were trucking along with the wind behind us. By the time we were finished the rain had stopped and the sky was brightening.

Next races - Black Rock 5 and then maybe a wee cheeky E2NB the next day, but only if the wind's right. In the last couple of weeks  the wind has turned Easterly and I'm not running 20 miles into a cold headwind.

Wet

The Meadows at Lunchtime

...didn't look exactly like this, but nearly. Day off today and as I ached so much yesterday I went out on my bike instead of a run I thought that today I should try to have a bit of a speed session and get my act together. You know the type of thoughts...

Nothing was getting Buchanan out in the rain. I think he's afraid his glue will melt or something. So I went solo to the meadows via Arthur's seat with a view to doing something like 5 mile repeats at joke marathon pace with half mile recovery jogs.

At the foot of the radical road some of the big boys of hill racing were starting to gather for the Monday "7 hills of Arthur's Seat" run I have never yet had the courage to sign up for. It was teeming down. There was water standing on the grass despite it being on a good slope. Undeterred I made my way up the hill aux meadows.

Since there wasn't really any wind (despite the picture above) I decided to do it in reverse and run up the car side of the meadows - up and round the corner until Mr. Garmin beeped and then jog from wherever that was. It all started off well enough and I marvelled at how I could somehow manage to squeeze out a bit more speed when I set my mind to it. Rounding the corner the Garmin lost the plot (it always does at this bit) and was telling me I was going insultingly slowly. I was squeezed into the narrow and puddly cycle lane but looking nervously around for bikes as the path was choc-a-block with blind people with umbrellas. A ned did a fake move in front of me which made me have to dodge, hurt my dodgy hip and step in a puddle. I could have floored him. I realised that maybe my patience was stretched a bit thin as I thought "Honestly can the government not just eradicate these f*ck*rs." A rather final solution. I think neds are neds because they're angry inside, and they can sense it in you. I don't even see them when I'm in a better frame of mind.

It all kind of lost its charm after that. The people side of the meadows was annoying and the car side of the Meadows was - well - I might as well have been running up the motorway - and increasingly I wasn't generating any speed at all. Plus my legs didn't want to move anymore. The 2nd mile was slower than the 1st and the 3rd was the slowest yet so I decided to call it a day and run home.

Back at Arthur's Seat it was pleasantly empty. There was one of the good HBTs - I think it was Ray Ward, bounding along running at some crazy pace. Otherwise no-one. Why did I even go near the Meadows?
It was time to get home anyway. I was freezing.

I stopped off at the Scotmid to buy a can of soup to heat me up and could hardly handle my money or speak.

So anyway, its only a week after the marathon and I guess I'm still recovering. I thought I would go faster than that today. Boo.