December

[marathondan]

I lost one short run this week due to the snow, but ventured out last night to test the conditions, and bag a long one if it was safe to do so. I eschewed both the mp3 player and the silly clothes, allowing me to concentrate better on staying upright. The pavements looked treacherous, but the lightly compacted powder offered plenty of bite to my road shoes, and, concentrating on square, flat footfalls, there was little problem. It was a nice night to be out, probably only a shade below zero, with a clear starry sky and street-lit snowscapes opening out like floodlit pistes. Well, pistes with houses and cars on them, anyway.

I felt I was slowed a little by the necessary careful progress, but the watch showed 2 minutes faster than the last time I ran this 8.15 mile route - my final pre-London LSD back in April. But the records also show that by early March I was running it as a tempo route, 5 minutes faster still.

It's all grist to the mill and miles in the bank. I'm pleased to have achieved something in spite of the weather. December has so far been good groundwork for the relentless spreadsheet-ticking of the next 3.5 months to come.