It's Thursday which means it's mudfest day through the woods, with me leading! I do enjoy these sessions as I get to run through my favourite place, the woods. I have ran through here alone, by myself, but those times have been when its dry and warm and sunny, not as sticky and wet and slippery as it has been of late.
I decided to leave my running jacket at home, try not be too wrapped up, usually I am wrapped up like an onion, but today......well today I felt more like a right plum! Because as I was walking through the gates of the rec I felt the rain just starting to come down. "Darn it, the only day I don't bring a jacket and it rains" I said out loud!
At the rec was DiscoRich with his lovely ladies and David waiting eagely to be told where their route is, but Illustrious Leader and PinkLadyJo from my group was no where to be seen! I could either trot along trying desperately to keep up with DiscoRich's group or.......go home.....oh and do my own route around the pavements near my home..... of course! But there was one other person that showed up today, someone who hasn't been running for a while and wanted to have a nice gentle run with his fellow PWR's "No, you don't have to go home" Says DiscoRich "Arvinder here can run with you, as he hasn't been running for a while"
Now, Arvinder ,when he was running before, he was running in group 3 or 4! But he did say that he didn't want to do the 5 miles that DiscoRich and his gang do each week, and was quite happy to accompany me on my route. So there is no 'get out' for this Old Girl, just because it's raining, just because I don't have a jacket, doesn't mean I can be slack and go home, to a nice warm house, making a cup of lovely hot tea, have some breakfast, curl up under my blanket on my chair........and be totally cheesed off that I didn't go running!
DiscoRich is the first one to bail out of going through the woods, (sorry, it's not a competition of who is chicken, it is not a competition of who is chicken, it is not a competition of who is chicken!) Ok, sorry, I mustn't gloat that I/we are still going to brave the woods! DiscoRich was planning on a road and paths route, even though one of his runners had come prepared, with a pair of spanking brand new, beautiful purple colour trail shoes! "I've had enough of slipping about in the mud, I've got these" she said as we all admired her lovely clean trail shoes. But alas, that still didn't deter DiscoRich from heading out to the paths and roads!
I, however, was planning on doing one our usual routes, through 'Dog Poo' ally and turn left to run along beside the rail way line. But a lady walking, or should I say paddling along the very, very wet muddy path advised against that way, as a bit further on it was even worse that what we was looking at already! And let me tell you, what we was looking at was a quagmire! So a change of plan, but still sticking to the woods, I headed on up through the middle so that we could run along the top of the woods down Goss hill. The mileage is the same, more or less, so really its not an issue. You would think that being as its the top of the woods, with the water running down, it just has to be better!
You would have thought so, wouldn't you. But it wasn't. We had to pick our way carefully along the route, finding the less muddy bits to place our feet, running on the little gravel streams that look as if its the veins of the woods cascading down hill. feeding the stream at the bottom. Avinder is doing a great job of finding the less muddy puddles. and managing to go splashing through the puddles. But there is still......dun dun duuuun.......The Path At The Back of The School! (pause for dramatic affect)
This path has been split in two, one side for walkers/joggers and the other side for all other woods traffic, i.e. horses and bicycles. It's hard to decided which side is the most 'runnable' as both are really well used, so they are well churned up! I opted for the walking side first, and was running side to side with the muddiest bit in the middle, straddling along the path until this became to muddy, so I had to limbo under the wire fence and run on the bridle path. I look behind me and noticed that Arvinder had decided to opt for the bridle path a little further back than I did. We had to limbo under the wire fence again further along here before we eventually got to Botoney Bay Lane.
As we just walked down a bit chatting I had noticed that Avinders shoes looked remarkable clean! How on earth has he managed to do that! Was he hovering, could it be, and dare I say this, could it be that he is lighter than me, and just don't sink into the mud, could it be that my Christmas indulgences are still with me, pushing me deeper in the mud? There is not much muddy bits to go now, I shall have to work on getting Avinders shoes the mud that they deserve!
Going down Goss hill was a bit scary. The path was very wet and slippery, and there is that stupid barbed wire fence on our right! Again, my nightmare scenario comes to mind as I look at those sharp little points as I'm slipping through the mud. Of course we made it, safe and sound. With his shoes still looking as if they just came out of the box! There is no chance now of getting any sort of mud on those today. There is only the road and through Jubilee Park to go now.
Next time Avinder, we shall christen those shoes! Or maybe by then he could even buy some trail shoes. Which reminds me, I must start looking for some for myself!
Here is a picture of mine and Avinder's shoes, seriously, do you think he could have hovered!!
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| Even with the 'soft focus' there is no disguising the mud! |
Geeky stats.
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