Because I wasn’t flying back home until the evening I knew I wouldn’t be back in time for my regular Monday night club session.
So, in order to stick as closely as possible to my Dublin training plan, I decided instead to do the equivalent time (30 minutes) in Chippenham at midday before getting packed and prepped for the journey back to Bristol Airport.
Yes, you read right, midday. What is it they say about mad dogs and Englishmen? Ok, I’m not English but I was in England so I’m allowing myself a little artistic licence 🙂 – it was warm, really warm … and then some. Thank goodness this was only going to be a short, easy run.
Leaving from Dawn’s house I decided to head towards the nearby Monkton Park, home of the Chippenham parkrun, before making my way to the second part of the course.
This is the trail section of the route but it was nice on this occasion to enjoy it without the pressure of trying to keep my footing whilst being aware of other runners around me.
A major ‘feature’ of this is the great big rabbit hole part of the way along. At parkrun they have this coned off to alert runners to it’s existence but, obviously, at other times it’s just there without warning.
Part of my reason for going this way was to take a proper look at it, to see just how deep and wide it was. As I ran I thought I’d missed it, it seemed so much further along the path than I remembered.
Then it appeared in all it’s glory. I can report that it is indeed deep and wide, certainly wide enough for a chap to fit both feet into and deep enough for it to come well above the ankle. Definitely a big old hole!
I ran around the rest of the trail, then onto the tightly packed gravel enjoying the peace and tranquility of my surroundings, and the glorious weather.
It was all downhill thus far but, of course, that meant I faced a steady climb on my return back upto Dawn’s. If you look at the run profile image below you’ll see it looks like a giant bite mark … I don’t know why, but that amuses me.
The real purpose of this run was to take it easy after the weekend but I still couldn’t resist pushing myself when it came to the numerous little rises on this return section.
I figured it’d be a good training exercise given the extreme heat. It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t uncomfortable and it took a lot out of me but I know it’ll have benefitted me.
All told, it was a really pleasant little run, only 3.5km or thereabouts but it was important to get out and get loosened up … it certainly would have been easier not to bother, but I’m glad I made the effort.
HUFF, PUFF AND SHUFFLE 