Taking It Easy Can Still Be Tough

I was ready in plenty of time for Joe, who had told me he'd be OK for 6:30, but I still got caught out as he turned up at 6:20! Joe is suffering again, this time with some unidentifiable muscle in his foot/shin, so he wanted to go easy on it, which was fine by me as I was still stiff from Tuesday's hilly 9-miler and planning a longish run for today, Thursday.

Joe has mentioned a few times lately how he's seen an increasing number of runners around, not just since the winter but compared to last year too. I think he may be right, and he certainly is if Wednesday's evidence is representative.

We bimbled around (usual course, anticlockwise) having a chat and doing our best to avoid traffic. Joe was clearly struggling after the first mile or so, and suggested that if I wanted to go on ahead he'd take a short cut and meet me back home. Of course I wouldn't leave a wounded comrade (well not unless it were a race or something!) so I stayed with him, and at the 'drop-out' point he decided he'd manage to soldier on and do the full 4.3... what a hero! (Does anyone else have Rolf Harris singing 'Two Little Boys' in their head?)

While we did our stretches at the end I certainly didn't feel any less worn out than I usually would after one of these sessions, so was quite happy to have taken the foot off the gas, and still felt we'd earned our beers.

Today I was quite looking forward to ten miles or so, but when I checked my schedule realised I'd put myself down for 13.1. Ah well, shouldn't be a problem...

I'm sure I used to have two or three local half-marathon-distance routes mapped out, but could find no evidence of this, and rather than spend half the day trying to work something out I just repeated Thursday's route. (That's 'route' - pronounced 'root', because I'm English and therefore speak English, not American 'English'. Sorry - I started watching a video clip earlier, of some American lady talking about running technique, but I had to turn it off because her accent combined with her murdering of the language drove me to distraction!)

Back to today's run. I headed off on what would have been a beautiful day but for the very strong wind. I very soon had to take my cap off to save it from being blown off, so was glad I'd also chosen to wear shades, in a 'belt and braces' approach. The wind was against me for pretty much all of the outward leg, and at times I felt it would literally stop me in my tracks, particularly where it was funneled through bridges or between the factories and warehouses in the Digbeth area.

Again there were lots of runners out and I think I managed to elicit a wave or some sort of greeting from all of them. As one group of three emerged from under a bridge I started to say 'Hi' when I recognised the third, so 'Hi' became 'Hi Rob!'. Rob (a Sparkhill Harrier) replied in kind, and I was past them and under the bridge before I thought 'was that Helen with him? And if it was, perhaps I knew the other one too!' Ah well, I hope if I do know them they didn't think me rude.

I'm not sure exactly at which bridge this took place, there being so many in quick succession here, but I think it must have been the Ludgate Hill road bridge, at about 6.1 miles. I turned around using the Farmers Bridge/Saturday Bridge loop, and wondered if I might catch them up. For once, when I'd turned, the wind hadn't turned at the same time, so it was behind me now. I realised I didn't really have much chance of catching them unless they were going incredibly slowly, as even at full sail I was already struggling. My pace was dropping from low 8-minute miles to mid-9's over the next five or six miles, though picked up a little toward the end.

All in all about five minutes slower than on Sunday, which isn't too bad. I notice that my Garmin measured it about five hundredths of a mile shorter than last time - illustrating how they really aren't as reliable as some think. In this case it's largely because of the tunnels and high buildings along the route. Check out 'Measuring Running Routes' on GRG for a pretty good article on the accuracy of various methods, including GPS devices.

I'm still undecided on whether to go to Leeds or Hull parkrun on Saturday, but am leaning slightly towards Hull, as although it's further to travel it is their birthday run (free cake!) and that seems like a good excuse to make my first visit there.

I discovered Malvern and Allerthorpe half marathons recently, both of which look like they might be nice additions to my race calendar, were they not a week apart. Hmmm. They're also about mid-way between Hinckley and Humber Bridge half marathons! Oh, and there's the small matter of a birthday in there too. Oh, there just aren't enough weekends in the year!