Time to get back in the saddle after Wednesday's truly awful run. We want to go and do the new hill race in Selkirk tomorrow so we went out for a leg loosener and stretcher at Arthur's Seat. Legs were like poured concrete initially with the tendons that keep my feet on twanging away in a discouraging kind of a way. We went for a perimeter run to start with but all the rain has turned some of the nice dirt paths into nasty rivers so we made a few diversions along the way on and off the main track. I was enjoying running off road on the softer ground ( oh my old bones), so we ran up towards the summit - a rocky candelabra with tourists for candles. At the top of the grassy bit we veered round and down the shoulder to avoid said tourists, and set off for what we call the middle way which runs halfway between the path that goes round the top of the crags and the lower path in Hunter's Bog.
As we set off up the middle way I saw a runner behind catching up to us so I urged Peter to hoof it a bit as he was right behind us. "Are you guys local?" came an NZ twang from behind. "Grmmphh" we replied. "I'll follow you then, you'll know where the paths are." There followed a noticable increase in pace as we tested this fellow's metal while pretending to be friendly (smiling assassins). At first he got pretty out of breath but once he settled into it he was going well. He was quite nice. The middle way has a very easy, nice, long sweep down which even a chicken like me can appreciate and enjoy. At the bottom we were still wanting to do more, so we took him another of our routes and I settled in behind to huff and puff while he and Peter compared hill-running and trail running in NZ and Scotland. He was a running fool. Could talk running indefinitely as could we and by the time we parted at the top of the park there were handshakes and smiles all round.
Good game. A nice splosh home after that through the absolutely sodden water-logged ground down below the crags and then past a tented area which was apparently a "Foodies Festival". We never got a glimpse inside so don't know what was taking place within....
Still very stiff but that was better than plodding for 19+ miles at snail's pace.
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