It gets harder to think of titles. I can't use Gullaneagain again.
Anyway on Saturday it was actually warm. We were so used to it being chilly that it was very hard to leave jumpers behind. However, they were not needed. It was actually warm.
Peter was in that frame of mind where he had decided he wanted butterflies and nothing else would do. This makes me cross. I know what he's going to do - hold reality up to his idea about how it should be and find it wanting. "You must love disappointment." I told him, hoping that he might let it go. But no.
We ran round the usual 6 mile circuit. I'm still injured but this just means making a few stops. I think I'm getting better. All the trouble has settled in one place which seems like a good thing. It's all at the side of my left knee. I'm pretty sure now it's an IT band thing.
There was the odd butterfly. Not many. Someone complained.
We happened upon a tiny newt which made up for it a bit. It was not keen on us, and it was very small, so we left it alone quite soon.
Then we both went in the sea. I just had a quick swim around while Peter went further. He has had quite a lot of qualms about his new wetsuit from Alpkit; it's super-easy to tear - but after this swim he was happier. It was good for swimming and kept him warm.
I'm trying to make up for the sudden drop in my running mileage by doing more cycling, so I wanted to come up with a cycling plan for Sunday. Peter had been mentioning Pressmennan Lake as a possible outdoor swim venue so I had a look on the map and it looked like it would be about 30 miles to get there. My shorty wetsuit is very small and light compared to a full-length one so it seemed doable to pack it, cycle there, have a swim and cycle home.
We had a stop at The Waterside in Haddington which has tables outside and was very busy. It was fairly pricey and aimed at people who want a big heavy lunch and lots to drink. We had soup and five slices of bread to share, which seemed a bit stingy. Our butter melted in the sun. We were sheltered from the wind there and realised just how hot it was.
And then on to the lake.
It seemed surprisingly busy at the side of the lake - although maybe we shouldn't have been surprised. It was a hot bank holiday Sunday. A lot of people came along with their dogs. We had to be quick in order not to show anyone the places where the sun don't shine.
A few people asked us what we were looking for, which struck me as odd until I realised they thought since we were wearing wetsuits we must be divers. I'm still finding this odd actually. And a bit suspicious.
The water was cold at first but became quite bearable after a few swims out from shore and then back. Unfortunately, on one of my returns to shore I discovered a leech attached to my right hand. This freaked the living bejesus out of me and it was hard to settle into swimming after that. I kept becoming convinced that I had attracted more passengers and that I'd come out of the water hanging with them. There weren't any more though. I think I was just unlucky.
I swam more than I did the day before, anyway, and Peter had a good swim again.
I had been looking forwards to the homeward journey as we'd started out cycling into a head-wind, - but when we got down to the coast it became clear that the wind had come around, so we cycled the last 20 or so miles with the now low sun in our eyes and the wind blowing in our faces. My Garmin beeped 60 miles just as we turned the corner into our street.
