I stayed up way late watching a movie last night which meant that it was 8am before I dragged myself out of bed and 9.30am before I got out to run. By which time it was already quite hot & muggy. There are mornings when I run off down the road and instantly feel at one with the world and mornings where I struggle for ten or fifteen minutes, after which I start to flow, but this was neither. This was hard work, pretty much from start to finish. Every step an effort.
In a funny way, I have a feeling that these are the days that you really strengthen your mind and that was pretty much all that drove me forward today. I ran out past Oldlands Mill, down towards Ditchling but cutting across round the back of Keymer and through Hassocks to the station. If I’d had any money I might have considered catching the train home!
Then south along the side of the track to Clayton and up the killer path to Jack & Jill… the two or three people that walked past me as they huffed down the hill must have thought I was barmy! The windmills don’t sit at the top of the hill, by a long way, and I really had to dig deep to keep on going. And then I had the one and only bit of respite of the day… I caught up with a girl also running up the hill. She also must have thought I was barmy as I wittered on about nothing at all and she tried politely to drop back & disengage. But talking was a perfect task to take my mind off the running and though I only ran with her for 500 metres or so, it gave me the mental energy to punch on up the rest of the hill. Thank you Zoe!
Kim and I used to train along this path, slowly pushing our boundaries until we could run to Lewes and back. It’s a really uplifting place, even if I had staggered more than six miles by this point. I made it to Ditchling Beacon in one hour 22 minutes and then turned for home, pausing for a few moments to admire the skill of a parascender playing on the thermals.
As I ran through Ditchling, I stopped momentarily to chat to an Open House gallery owner… last day today so we’re just off back there to have a look. The it was back over Lodge Hill, past Oldlands Mill and nearly home. I had two ’empty’ moments, one at 2 hours when I reached Ockley Lane and had to stand, panting for a few moments and one ten minutes later as I paused to walk. Just at that moment there was a lady digging her garden who said ‘it’s a bit warm for running… I should walk from here!’ which funnily enough gave me just enough impetus to run the rest of the way back.
Two hours fifteen minutes for 12.9 miles gives 5.74mph… which is actually nowhere near as slow as I thought it would be, bearing in mind how I felt!