East Linton to Dunbar (and back)

I think it's fair to say we weren't really in tune about how our Saturday run should be. Peter is running every day. I'm managing 3 days a week. He doesn't like getting up in the morning - I've lost the ability to sleep beyond 6.30am. He looked at the weather forecast and saw some big fat suns forecast for the afternoon. Apparently that's good for photography! By the afternoon I've lost the will to live - and the last thing I need to help me run is a big fat sun. I put my foot down. We'd be leaving at 9am.

Both of us wanted a longer run. First of all I suggested a repeat of the loop from North Berwick that we did a couple of weeks ago - but then remembered about the Open. Best to stay as far away from all that as possible. We settled on the stretch of the John Muir Way that goes from East Linton to Dunbar and back. From East Linton it's pretty much 8 miles to Dunbar harbour, so a round trip of 16 miles.

I say settled on, but what I mean is Peter wanted to do some cock-a-mamy route that he's run with Ben which means fording a river, dodging farmers, climbing cliffs, out-running farm dogs and bulls and getting lost in  some woods. NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!

"So you're just going to be a bloody dictator then?"
"Yes"
Sometimes it is hard to be a bloody dictator.

So by 9.30 (the troops lack discipline) we were leaving the house. It was nice to have a bit of cloud cover and feel a bit of a breeze.

To my surprise and pleasure I felt pretty good right from the get-go. All this sun has made the crops flourish and we were running through the most amazing landscape of bountiful growth. There were flowers and grasses and butterflies everywhere. Peter was going daft with his camera. Which gave me the freedom to run on.

By Dunbar we were pretty warm and starting to get hungry. We were  tempted by some catering wagons at the harbour advertising coffee and fresh do-nuts. Lucky for us the donuts were not ready yet. We both had a cup of coffee - a horrible thin, grey tepid coffee.

On the way back to East Linton we had the wind behind us which made it warmer but was also helpful. 16 miles was surprisingly manageable. I tried to push the pace for the last 3 miles which made me very hot although there wasn't much discernible increase in speed. I think it's a leg strength thing and will surely come.

At East Linton we bought some frozen fruit out the freezer in the coop and ate it with yoghurt and honey. This is a great way of re-fuelling and cooling down simultaneously. I think I overdid it a wee bit as 450g of Frozen Summer Fruits disappeared inside me. I felt a bit strange afterwards for a while.

So another week of 3 runs in a week, but managing 36 miles. I feel I would be better to run 4 times and do a couple of shorter runs but I've been struggling to find the time.

Today I'm going to do some kind of easy, easy recovery run - Peter is going off to run with Graham H and Melanie H which takes the pressure off me!