Oktober

[Sweder]

Oh, what a beautiful morning!
Thick cannon smoke wafting across the hills, a thousand spider's webs frosted against the hedgerows. Blue skies and an ascendant sun warming the scene - breathtaking.

I ventured out for a five mile scuttle, once again taking the chalk/ flint track to the Stables. I carried on along my 'old' route - the one that hugs the gallops - to see if the climb
to Blackcap was really any easier than my usual hillfest. If time is a fair unit of measure it's certainly a far easier route. 23 minutes to the summit - it's been 27 on the Wicker Man Hill route since I can remember. I sucked air hunched against the Milestone overlooking the Jog Shop escarpment as banks of mist rose and vanished like steam off a great beast's back. I hurled myself homeward on the usual trail, reaching the house in 44.21 to maintain the four minute advantage over the full distance. This route measures around 200 metres short of my regular run so WMH costs me around three and a half minutes through rate of climb alone.

Not sure what that really proves, other than I'm working hard on my midweek runs which is good to know. I've attempted to upload elevation images from Friday's run and this mornings' diversion to see how they compare. Being a card-carrying luddite I'll cease and dissist from further attempts at analysis and get back to good old-fashioned plodding.

[SIZE="1"]Images: First normal WMH route - Second chalk track up, normal down [/SIZE]