Darn fool hobby

It has been "windy and raining all getout" pretty much all day. (It took me a while to pin down where that phrase came from, but eventually the mental filing cabinet turned up that it's a quote from The Tin Drum by Günter Grass.) When it was pouring around 5pm, I sent Kim a text: "Can we go to the gym instead of for a run? It's HORRIBLE out there!" she came back and insisted we run anyway. "I don't want you being put off if New Year's Day is wet and cold!" (This was the line she used on my first ever run, by the way. Actually, I'm glad she's a bully.)

In the event, it wasn't actually raining all that much by the time we went out around 6:30 pm, and wasn't yet too dark. However, having found on yesterday's run that the track under the trees to Morton Hall is just a bit too pot-holed for comfort (the last thing we want is a sprained ankle right now), we decided to do our usual run but stopping at the cottage halfway down the track before the trees, back to the top of the drive, then repeat the drive down and back before going home. This turned out to be just slightly short of two miles, instead of our usual 1.75; we did it in 20:15 of running time (with two lots of two-minute breaks).

We skipped puddles, splashed, got muddy, jumped from road to grass and back again... and it was great fun!

Better still, even given the daft conditions, the time and distance gives a pace of 10:23, which was very encouraging; I felt able to put on a bit more speed in a few bits (although the breaks, which I don't usually take on my own, probably helped!).

Seeing the ridiculous sight we made as we went to go out of the door, my husband took before-and-after photos. In neither case was this glamour (well, I think Kim still looks pretty cool, but I look like a demented frog with a tomato on top**). Photo #2 - see muddy trousers. My laundry quantities have increased no end since I took up running!

** or possibly a traffic light with the middle bit missing