May 2014

[Charliecat5]

I had been planning this run all week and was taking it quite seriously, watching what I was eating, carb loading last night and not drinking! I know! I haven’t had a drink (the alcoholic sort) since last Saturday night – although to be fair, I had enough grog last Saturday night to last most of the week.

So when I woke up this morning at 7:30 imagine my angst to look out the window to see the trees blown horizontal and torrential rain lashing against the window… it looked horrendous … FFS it’s May.

I stood and watch it for about 10 minutes and then checked the forecast only to find that this weather was set all day… but tomorrow morning looked better. So what to do? I could leave it today and go back to bed, but I am going out tonight for a fondue and running after a fondue cannot be a sensible plan (we’re back to cheese again). So after 20 minutes of deliberating and with the voices of Sweder, Askwith, Naylor and the borrowed memories of Moyleman in my head, I put on my running stuff and headed out the door.

It was fierce… the rain came in sideways and the wind swept the air away leaving my lungs gasping for oxygen. At one point I let a lump of snot fly, only to watch it go all the way round my back and hit me in the face, and at this point I hadn’t even made it to Kingston Ridge. The chalk track that takes you to the top of the Kingston Ridge and onto the SDW is actually sheltered from the wind so was relatively pleasant; well as pleasant as a soddin’ great hill can be (as an aside, I managed to run up this today for the first time without stopping). But OH BOY, when I got to the top it was as much as I could do to stay planted on the ground… it was brilliant!

I had a quick 30 second rest at the top, any more and exposure was a real threat, and then set off south along the SDW and down the yellow brick road. And then something amazing happened, the wind blew a tunnel through the cloud - suddenly it stopped raining and I could see along the Downs in all directions for miles… it was glorious. Never mind that the wind kept blowing my legs together, never mind every bit of me was completely soaked, never mind the aches, this was brilliant. And then it got even better.

I headed up Mill Hill and down Derek Bakers Hill and it was as I was running down the hill that I met the only other silly sods out this morning - four mountain bikers coming up the hill, and two of them were pushing their bikes! Ha! I’ve never pushed my bike up hill, ever… it’s cheating. I shouted a happy hello as I went past and all of them just gave me a look of complete despair… which did wonders for my mood.

Along the farm track took me to Southease and the Southease Bridge, at which point I left the Moyleman and turned north to head back along the river. It started to rain again, sideways, so it was one foot in front of the other, head down, focused on keeping a reasonable pace going for the 4 miles or so back along the river. The tide was high and even through the howling wind I could hear the birds singing and the river bubbling along which kept my spirits up and my feet moving.

As I went under the A27 Bridge I turned left past the dump to head back into Lewes. This was tough, back onto tarmac and a steady climb along Southover. It’s not steep you understand, but by this stage I was wiped, so it took a real last effort to keep the pace up to reach home again, 1 hour 47 minutes after I had left it.

I achieved a goal this morning that back at the beginning of April, when I really started to take this running lark seriously, I thought was completely beyond me. I ran 10.25 miles at an average moving pace of 9.36 min/mi, and to be honest I’m feeling pretty pleased with myself. And those who have supported and encouraged me over recent months should also feel pretty pleased with themselves as well – you know who you are.

I may have a drink tonight, and if I do, I will be raising a glass to Moyleman, the man I didn’t have the fortune to meet, but the man who is always there, in my head, encouraging me to keep going.

Track de jour: The Skylarks and the whistling wind.