miles 13.1; Units 22

Another lean week on the miles front - just a treadmill session in the basement gym of the Holiday Inn in Bolton (which was as good as it sounds..) and a lovely, lovely 10 miler today in the morning sun. Up to Hilliers arboretum, hen through Ampfield wood, back via Green Lane. So many other runners out too - we are a happy crew, with the knowing glances of 'look at what we are doing to enjoy ourselves that others aren't!' Getting up early, heading out when the day is still crisp - oh, that is such a treat. I am really beginning to appreciate the natural world in the morning, from having a coffee on the patio with the gentle morning sun starting to warm the day, to the fact that it is just - well, quieter at that time of day. Makes you feel very philosophical about things.

It's been a strangely busy weekend, which started with a wedding reception on

Friday at Marwell Zoo. It is somewhat peculiar - in a really good and different way - to be met by a Zoo train at the gates, and driven through past the hippos and tigers on the way to the rather lovely Victorian Gothic pile in the centre, where Roger and Tess (for it was they) were wading in for round 2, the evening crowd. Just lovely - and met some great folk. The photo this week is indeed of Janet on said train!

Winewise, probably Saturday evening won with a further bottle of the Lanzaga Rioja 2004, all cherries and strawberries, nicely developed tannins, and a really warm, rich palate. This is new-wave Rioja production, so fruit and oak, not the old, oxidised style (which can also be lovely, a bit more mushroomy). I think I will keep the remaining bottles for a year or so - should be just great.

Definitely a week of not putting into action all the plans that we'd carefully made on holiday. Better next week..

Comments

miles 30.46; Bike miles 0; Units 27

A good running week. I planned for 4 runs, however only 3 resulted as the Saturday run fell to the combined demons of ice, cold and shopping (!). I thought I might be able to nip in a cheeky 3 or 4 miles after we had returned from the delights of the first batch of Christmas shopping (oh, and buying a new telly...so it was not all bad) but it was not to be. And a rather nice bottle of La Tour du Mons 2000 (Cru Bourgeois Margaux) called too.. This week, I managed a hill session in the cold on Wednesday, which did not tax me too much, a steady 7 on Friday, and then a challenging and hilly 18 on Sunday. This was a great run in the cold air - just splendid to be out there when it is so quiet and cold. Just really wonderful. The temperature hovered between -1 and +1, no snow in sight, and a bit of occasional ice. Just really good. I was reflecting as I ran on one significant change in my attitude since running - and that is my approach to artificial fibres. Before running, it had to be c

Miles 33.84; Units 27

Exercise-wise, a back end loaded week. I had to miss three training days through pressure of work. Sometimes that's not such a bad thing, as it gives you a chance to recover. All too often, we runners can run ourselves into the ground, if we are not careful. However, after two days you start to feel the lack of exercise, and imagine that you are ballooning up in weight. This of course is not true, though that is little comfort. This may also be a personal thing, however I usually find that when I take more than one day off, a number of niggles emerge - in this case a touch of plantar fasciitis (for you non-runners, a pain like a drawing pin being lodged in your heel - see the gloriously Heath-Robinson picture of the necessary stretching to help the recovery). Maybe the body is just seizing the day and bringing the bad stuff out that it has kept under check whilst you are exercising - clearly 3 days is enough for it to think "oh good, we seem to have stopped all this mad runn

miles 21.08; Bike Miles 1; Units 20 excluding Saturday which was far too many!

"a happy weekend is one with more miles on my shoes than my car tyres" Another week of just two runs - but both good quality, including some tough hills. So I am not unhappy with that - would have been good to crack 30 miles this week, though! The Sunday run was out with the running club, as before from St Catherine's in Winchester. It was crisp, dry, and everything that makes a wintry run truly great. You do just feel absolutely alive after that. It also included a rather random piece of pathway that was covered in cows, which needed shooing off the path..slightly worrying. It was along the water meadows at St. Cross - always feels very medieval at that spot, as if you could be seeing a scene that a monk would have encountered 500 years ago. There is something about these old towns that embody and then exude the years of history. I have included a photo of these meadows at St. Cross because I find it truly enigmatic, evocative...and frankly all a bit Cadfael, if you reme

I Drink, therefore I Run

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