Mud transfer

After yet another curious AHA moment on Sunday from the book I’ve been reading, I went for a run to let my brain assimilate the new input.

I stuck to the short and simple route that I’ve followed the last couple of weekends but after a day of heavy rain on Saturday, it was no surprise that it was a little more muddy… and just plain stream-like in places.

Splish splosh splash!

The last of the autumn colour had also been washed or blown away, allowing more blue than usual to smile through the now missing foliage.

After much sliding around I arrived home with a lot of mud on my legs..

… but, surprisingly, none on the soles of my runners, which had been caked in mud when I went out!

5.2 miles in just under 52 minutes again… 6mph is clearly a great speed for thinking!

More autumn colour

Sunday was another beautiful day so I followed the same route as last week… except that this time it took me 40 minutes longer.  Somewhat worrying for a run of only 51 minutes!

The countryside around here really is lovely and the last of the autumn colours were out on show.

Somewhere past the halfway mark I came across the inimitable Lew and stopped for a short conversation.  This clearly turned into a not so short conversation (we did put the world to rights), although it only seemed as if I had paused for ten minutes!

My modest run and large pause meant that I still had energy to spare to make the most of a sunny day by getting out to give the cars a long-overdue wash.  The downside of this was that I ended up with a painful shoulder, but this had an excellent silver lining.  My friend Evrim has been doing a sports massage course and she kindly worked some of her new-found magic on my shoulder, which now feels better than it has done in an age!

So 5.2 miles in (ahem, 91 minutes, but let’s call it) 51 minutes, followed by a similarly delayed post due to a busy few days.

A muddy reward

I’ve had a particularly enjoyable week, lecturing at either Birkbeck or Brighton Business School on all five working days.  My students were delightfully engaged post graduates looking to get ahead in some area of business or marketing and were suitably curious and cognitively challenging.

They were also flexible enough to allow me to experiment with both the material and the delivery and as a result I had FUN!  To top it off, I had an additional meeting after the Friday session which has left my head buzzing with ideas!

Having spent yesterday afternoon and this morning finishing off a set of condensed notes for the students, I rewarded myself with a run.

The sun was bright in a chilly blue sky and having not run last weekend I opted for a favoured short route through the local woods.  I first headed out to Wivelsfield, then followed the path through West Wood to Ditchling Common Industrial Estate.

It was beautiful, with autumn leaves covering the ground and sun filtering through the empty trees.

It was also muddy!

In the summer, or when the ground is largely dry, I tend to avoid any muddy puddles.  But at this time of year there is no point whatsoever and I revel in running straight through the mud, avoiding only those patches that might stop me in my tracks or swallow a trainer… which has happened a couple of times in the past!

Near the industrial estate there a subtle fork in the track which reminds me of Robert Frost’s poem about two roads converging in a yellow wood.  I call the one less travelled the Magical Path and it was on good form today, a narrow alley through the autumn trees.

At the other end I headed out across Ditchling Common and back towards home, my trainers sodden and legs suitably mud-splattered from the way.

5.2 miles was covered in 52 minutes, a steady 6mph average despite uncooperative lungs!