May we run well this month

[Charliecat5]

‘Tis the hay fever season and this year the pollen has arrived with a bang… well to be honest, with a sniff and achy joints.

I love this time of year when the trails dry out, the evenings get lighter and the weather warmer… but it is also the time year when the world of plants turn their attention to sex – throwing their seed into the wind and up the nostrils of us innocent humans.

The upshot of all of this… is that I’m moaning more than normal about the lack of umph in my legs and the buckets loads of snot dribbling from my nose.

Still, having said all that, it hasn’t been a bad week for running.  Since my last ‘proper’ post I have run 3 miles in Leicestershire which was a classic out and in affair through beautiful early morning sunshine.  I have spent an evening in a picturesque Yorkshire town with some great friends moshing to my favourite band – I still have a glorious parade of bruises up my legs, arms and torso a week later.

I then went running with the herd on Tuesday.  This was a really tough run and I very, very nearly pulled out at one point… but encouraged by Nick "the quick" Williams I knuckled down and followed the herd up to the race course and back to town via Chez Sweders. 

Thursday was hill rep night… any excuse not to go track running with the herd (I hate track running).  I decided that I would head over to Kingston and run up to the top four times in succession.  I cannot say it was particularly quick, but what a glorious evening.  On one descent I got stuck behind a flock of sheep and lambs being bought down of the Downs into a lowland field ready for shearing.  Not being able to get past (without scattering the sheep) I helped the farmer bring them down… something I’ve not done for years.   He offered me a lift back up the hill on his quad bike – I was bloody tempted, but chose my feet and ran back up it again.  I then I sat on the top after the final ascent and watched the sun go down.  A lovely evening.

This brings me to today’s run.  I have abandoned Sunday Twitten runs now for the Downs - with the intention to run a 10 mile plus on a Sunday morning.  I did run 10 miles plus this morning, but I felt every bloody step.  It was a real grind out there, with several recovery stops.  The route was up to Blackcap, back down to Offham, a bit of road work to Hamsey before running it in along the river.  Having made it back to town, I bolted on an extra 2.5 miles to ensure that the 10 was completed before home.  Heading down from the top of Blackcap I passed Mario, who is a very quick Moyleman runner – he was coming up the hill like Zebedee on speed.  Humph.   

All in all, and not counting the Leicestershire run, I’ve run 24 miles this week.  Not bad for a fat lad.