A good running week, even though I just missed the 30+ miles planned. I had to forego my Saturday session in favour of the demands of Christmas shopping! As it happened I think a bit of a rest was a good thing anyway, so I'm not especially worried about that. On Tuesday I ran my first track training session with the Southampton Athletic Club down at the Southampton sports ground. This was a bit of a shock to the system in -2C temperatures, a covering of snow on the track and biting winds. This is, however, the kind of tough session that you feel just great about having completed, and radiate at the end with the thought that 'if I can do this I can do anything'. You would be amazed that there were loads of runners there, from sprinters doing 50m accelerations to youngsters running hills in shorts and a t-shirt! As I was kitted out fully in long sleeves and leggings, a little bit of wind was taken out of my sails by these kids running in what I would barely see as summer gear!. Track sessions are great for pulling you along with the group - and I was pleased to hang in there, albeit with the slowest pace group (slow in this case being defined as about 5m40s-per-mile!) and not to be at the very back at the end. I will return in a couple of weeks.
It felt a very peculiar week, to be honest. I had Tuesday and Wednesday away from the office, and had always planned to spend Thursday working from home, catching up on the detail from those tow days. So, I woke up on Thursday morning to a blanket of snow, our first of this winter 'campaign'. The house was warm, and though I had not in fact planned to go out, suddenly I felt 'snowed in' and isolated. This of course was not true, especially as the delivery drivers with our new bathroom managed to make it through. Strange how your external world reflects on your internal one, though. The one upside was that I decided to take a mid-day run in the snow and light, rather than in the evening - what fun, the crispy whiteness through Ampfield wood, everything silent, traffic free and softened by the snowfall. I was also delighted to find that my trail shoes, as well as providing good grip, were indeed watertight as promised, so I arrived home still with toasty toes! All in all an odd feeling.
I haven't got a video recorded as yet - so I am going to post this up now, and I will add one over the next few days as time allows. Plenty of good wines, though!
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