A day so dismal that I went to the local cemetery to cheer up. Ocklynge is a remarkable location and handy for a walk or casual plod when I don’t have the time, the inclination, or the emotional buoyancy to head for the seafront. It was here, this afternoon, that I executed my Week 2 Day 1 C25K duty.
Week 2 means the running spells have rocketed by 50%, to 1.5 minutes, but there are just 6 of them rather than the previous 8. So the total scuttling element has eased upwards from 8 to 9 minutes. By way of compensation, the walking intervals have expanded to a leisurely 2 minutes. To add an aggravating edge, the looping path I followed featured several taxing inclines. An independent hill assessor would be unimpressed by my description of these bumps but at this stage of the game, I’m sticking with the taxing incline label. I guess the original worthy Victorian aldermen back in 1857 reasoned that the future inhabitants of the area wouldn’t be too bothered by the undulating terrain but failed to take into account the needs of those us still ticking. One wonders how they might have responded to the sight of plastic-clad fatties lumbering along their manicured paths in 2025. Presumably with as much visible alarm as some of today’s local residents I encountered while flapping and hyperventilating on my gallop round the graves.
Today’s takeaway was the opposite of that mentioned a couple of entries past. Then I sensed that I was underdressing for what is essentially a brisk walk, while today I decided I was overdressing for what is essentially a modest plod. So the changing permutation of layers will continue until it resolves itself. For the record, today I sported a long-sleeved technical top, a padded down jacket, a waterproof hiking jacket, woolly hat, buff, gloves, lycra undershorts and leggings. Fine for a midwinter hike on Beachy Head but a bit OTT for running — even my pale version of it.
