Thursdays are back on, now that all the little people are back at schools, and the parents can get to grips with the continuation of getting rid of some over doing the Christmas Cheer!
The weather wasn't like yesterday morning at all! Today it was windy, cold and the sky was threatening to unleash what its trying to hold up there. Why couldn't we have had yesterdays weather instead! But there were quite a few willing victims.......erm.....runners that had turned up today. DiscoRich had his bevy of beauties....and our race director, David, and in my group there were a couple of new members that had joined us.
Considering the rain has been totally relentless over these past few weeks, and some days it has been pretty heavy! I gave the group an alternative non splashingsquishysquelchy route to do. A bit of pavement pounding, to the Cinder Path. It will still keep us in some wooded area, but only for those few moments while we run on the path!
Illustrious Leader came fully prepared to paddle her way around the woods, and PinkLadyJo had her old shoes (unless that is what I have helped create by getting her to run through the woods last year?) But then when one of the new ladies said that she had new shoes........an evil grin appeared on my face......ha ha ha ha (read that with little finger raised to lips in 'Dr Evil Style'!) A baptism of fire (of mud should I say) for her new shoes, so to the woods it is.
I love going through the woods, and knowing that DiscoRich and his crew were going through some other nearby woods, I didn't want to 'whimp' out and act all 'squeamish' by not hitting the mud, the change of route had been decided and all agreed, but I still had some trepidations about how muddy it was going to be. I had no need to worry though Of course it was muddy, we had been ploughing our way through it for most of December, yes maybe the puddles were slightly deeper, and maybe the mud holes slightly wider but on the whole, still quite accessible.
Now, the two new ladies look rather 'runner like' and I half expected them to be, maybe a tad disappointed with the pace of todays run, so I had to make sure that I tried at least to keep myself mostly in front of them, but I didn't want to wear myself out before I get even a quarter of the way round. So the only one thing to do, as Illustrious Leader had said on todays route, "I am just embracing the mud" I embraced the mud with love and with gusto!
I made my way around some of the big puddles and particularly the squishiest areas, but only if there was enough space to put your foot on the little 'trodden in' part around it, otherwise.....it was straight down the middle! On the big wide path I found it easy to run on the gravel that seems to have appeared there, where the water was running down it, like a little stream. If we stayed running on that there was no squelchy mud to run in! And no slipping and sliding anxieties!
We soon got to the top of the woods and turned left to go passed the schools fields, with yet more mud. I kept to the bigger path, going down the skinnier one could have made us slower, as it is more 'flight of stairs like' rather than hill like. And I do need to keep the pace up, and keep us all safe of course.
Going through the middle of puddles was quite a liberating feeling. I can imagine the crosscountry runners just having a field day (pardon then pun!) every time they run. Just squishy through mud and puddles, just like you used to do when you were kids, no cares, no worries, no problems!...... after all, the was no need to worry about shoes, socks etc, every time you went to your cupboards and draws there was always clean clothes there, just like magic! It's only when you get older, and have to do your own washing that you tend to worry about how dirty you get, (apart from chaps that is!)
It was going along this particular path that I managed to tread ankle high, into the deepest puddle so far of the run. But for some silly reason or other, I just smiled! I was really enjoying this mud fest! I also realised that it was actually easier to just go straight through the middle of even the squishiest puddles, rather than try and pick your way around this them. I am deffo going to get some trail shoes! I may even try and get to the occasional KFL run, if the team don't mind!
The next path is one that I don't particularly like. Just down the lane a tad, and then turn right. It's quite narrow and has these little undulations, like a mini rollercoast type of ground. On the right is a field with cows or sheep or what ever the farmer leads in there at moment, but it is fenced with a barbed wire top. I always have visions of me falling on to this and cutting my hands or face. So I went very carefully. I ushered the others by in case they wanted to go a bit quicker than I was doing. By the time I got to the other end of here they all had found their 'mud zone' mojo and was just heading down Goss Hill
Goss hill was a bit tricky for me, there they were, all in their stride and concentrating on the path, me? I was trying to play catchup as well as watch the path. The Hill was teasing me, wanting me to run faster and faster, but I had to watch my step, I don't want any falls at this stage! I expect the group will wait for me at the bottom. I was still smiling though. I must have looked like some inane escapee from planet Smiley. I was thinking about my soaking wet feet, and how at this minute, they were quite warm and not uncomfortable. I was thinking that my socks, my rather old pink socks will probably have turned brown by now, and I was thinking, "I hope the others are having as much fun as I am" That would just be the muddy cherry on top of the cake! Or should I say mud pie!
From here to the end we were back on to the tarmac. And also found, I was quite comfortable at the back, or it could be that the others had just found a little bit extra and started to push a little harder and faster. Illustrious Leader did what all good leaders do though as she took the lead, she had them do a loop back to the corner, and then run back to catch me up as I continued to run to Jubilee Park.
With he mud drying on our clothes and legs, and trainers looking suitable brown, we really did look like XC runners! The little bit of pavement pounding gave chance for us to bash most of the mud from our shoes, and just as well, as I had forgotten to bring clean shoes and socks again!
A great run, I thouroughly enjoyed it today! A lovely run, ok its the same route, but it's always a different experience! Geeky stats for you. Oh and a couple of pictures of my shoes and socks! I still had plenty of mud to photograph!
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