March Madness

[Sweder]

Some people look pretty good in a cap; sporty, or at the very least, comfortable. I’m not one of those, my Linakeresque aural protuberances at odds with the streamlining effect of the hat. Yet I felt to refuse the offer of a free running cap from the good people at Luke’s Locker would have been rude. Under skies laden with pregnant clouds I donned the headwear, accepting that whilst I might look like a knob I was unlikely to encounter more than a few sheep and the occasional horse or hound, and they would hardly mind.

I also deployed SP’s Garmin one last time, simply to see if today’s’ run would yield similar data to my previous excursion. A rugged breeze out of the south west offered a little resistance on the early slopes. Overnight rain had left the track sticky but not dangerous, and I covered the first mile in a shade over 10 minutes. The Law of Sod dictated that we should meet far more people than usual, any number of groups walking dogs, a couple of cross-country cyclists, two pairs of runners (far too busy trying to suck in air to worry about my sartorial inelegance) and a collection of horse-folk in the first 2 miles alone.

The second mile, one I consider to be the toughest, passed in 9:59, the SatNav bleeping the news over the wonderful strains of the climax to Freebird (courtesy of you-know-who).

On the return leg, the cool draft now helping me off the Cap and into the easy rise and fall of the homeward hills, I picked up speed, wavering between 7:15 and 8:30 pace without any discernable change in effort. I belted up my usual Fartlek climb, 300 metres at 7:20 pace on the slope to the stables. Once again the last mile felt comfortable, breathing easy, and I wondered if I should perhaps have pushed past the Cap and turned this into a Ditchling 10. No, this was the right move. I’ll up one of the midweek sessions next week, so long as Sundays’ thrash doesn’t spring any unpleasant surprises.

Back home I noticed the Garmin readout offered 5.23 miles in 49:43.
Where’d the extra .23 come from? The same run was 5 miles dead last time I wore the watch. Who knows? Happily I’m not worried about it. I feel good, so far injury free and I’m starting to look forward to a run in the City of Love.