Drizzle

This image pinched from here

Some small quantities of unheroic running have taken place in the last week. I had a nice run on Saturday with Amanda. We ran 10 miles round Aberlady at an easy(ish) chatting pace. It was the warmest day we have had for a good while and Amanda kept mentioning how she wants to go swimming in the sea and by the end of the summer she wants to be swimming right across Gullane Bay. One of my first reactions is to sign up for this as a challenge, but I felt I should tell her about my distressing encounter with a jelly-fish there.
It gave us both pause for thought. I think the take home lesson from that experience was that if you get stung you should stay in the sea to wash off the stings and to rinse off your skin. I got stung just before I got out the water and I think that made it a lot worse. Also, I wish I'd taken a photo of my hands at the time as they swelled right up and I had big red weals across them, but now  I have no evidence.

Monday Peter and I forced ourselves out the door late on. We were both tired and the grey skies and cutting winds were just so uninviting. It was really just a nod to running so we could eat our dinner guilt free.

This morning there was (and still is) an uninspiring drizzle. I usually look forwards to my Wednesday morning run but it was an effort to get out the door. I ran 8 miles round Granton. It was just a smidge milder than it has been and by the time I was beyond the climbing wall (3 - 4 miles into it) I was quite enjoying myself. I was actually quite pleased to see I was ducking under 9 min/mile pace from time to time and my over all average pace was 9.20. Things have been so bad that this seems alright. It did remind me though that when I ran the Draycote Water 35 mile race in 2009 I averaged a pace of 9.19 and I felt quite underwhelmed with that. I should have been nicer to myself. I wish I'd appreciated what I could do when I could do it!

I am trying to appreciate where I am at now, but it's not easy. An innocent at my new work, who knew me from back when I worked on the wards, asked me yesterday how my running was going these days. I had to rein myself in. I didn't give the full  or dramatic response. It's f*^cked. But at least I can still run.