Wednesdays off work are a mixed blessing. While I wouldn't complain about not working it means I have the dilemma of whether to put off running all day so I can do the club session or whether to get out during the day and run solo. Both scenarios have pros and cons. Today I shilly-shallied, leaning this way and that. At first the forecast said it was going to rain all day and dry up at night so club looked like a cert. But then the sun came out and the forecast had changed itself without a backward glance saying it was going to be dry in the afternoon, with more rain in the evening. I was bored and tired and after a half-hearted attempt at doing some housework I went back to bed and had a sleep. I dreamed about having an argument with someone on the back of a trailer and woke up sure in the knowledge I wanted a coffee and then a hot chocolate and then to run 15 miles. Its ages since I've run on my own and it seemed like an opportunity to see where I was at.
Seconds after I left the house the sky darkened and maybe 3 minutes into the run the sky had burst and it was chucking it down. I had emergency bus fares just in case this happened and it all got a bit much but for now it was quite intense and very enjoyable. One of these low slung nugget cars deliberately went through a deep puddle at full tilt and soaked me which was also exhilarating though not as exhilarating as dragging the driver out his car by the hair and punching him in the face would have been. Still, as I can't run at 30 mph this wasn't an option.
As I was running along Portobello Prom there was a thunder storm behind me - which was a bit of a shame because I couldn't see it. So I don't know if there was lightning. But there might have been...There were very black clouds anyway and very grey sea which was tight up to the shore.
I'd like to say I flew along - I was working hard - but the Garmin said NO. Not flying along. I kept pushing along anyhow.
It wasn't a very well thought through plan - in fact not thought through at all - except in that I thought I didn't want to carry anything and I thought it was pushing it but I could get away with no drink for 15 miles. My legs really tightened up at about 12 miles but by then there wasn't far to go. So - 15 miles. Average pace a bit slow but not for the lack of trying.
In a fit of madness last weekend we signed up for the Speyside Way race. 36.5 miles of joy at the end of August. Because...because...well an over-distance run might turn out to be good training for Steve Cram's Kielder Forest Marathon that we're going to do in October... This weekend however, its the Crieff 10K because its a Porty championship race. Another opportunity for the fast club women to pull me apart. I find I'm LONGING to be 45. Not because there are no fast women in the over 45s at Portobello - just fewer of them...
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