Phew! What a scorcher!
No, you’re not reading some red top tabloid. That was just how tonight’s run felt.
Despite not starting off until 6pm it was still stifling hot and, at the beginning, I wondered how I’d get round without ending up as puddle at the finish.
As with Tuesday, I ran with a friend from club. We decided to follow the same route only to do it in reverse this time. I had done it this way on Sunday and struggled but tonight felt a lot more comfortable.
Maybe it was the company. It was great to chat and put the world to rights. But my legs also felt a lot looser than they have been, so possibly that stodgy period I had been going through has also passed. There was no intention to go flat out. It was very much a social run.
The only bit that concerned me as we went was the short but extremely steep climb with around a km to go. At a rough estimate, looking at the stats, it’s a 55ft rise over 500m so presents a bit of a challenge when, mentally, you’re preparing for the end of the run.
As I said, I was slightly apprehensive about it. It could make or break how I felt about the run. Usually, when running with company, one of us stops when the other stops and so on, but we decided in advance to run our own hill this time. So I gathered up as much focus as I could, straightened my back to open my airways, dropped my arms to the side rather than pump – I find this works for me on hills better – and went for it.
It’s a deceptive bugger of a hill. Just when you’ve reached the top there’s a little flat before it rises again but it wasn’t going to beat me. I was determined to get to the top of the second rise.
Granted, I was knackered when I reached it but I knew from there it would be all downhill on the way home, and the promise of another ice lolly at the finish! It’s the simple things.
HUFF, PUFF AND SHUFFLE 