Stability Through Motion

Saturday – 5 hour walk up the Black Hill to Hay Bluff and down via the silent Olchon Valley. The last time I was here I was running in the sunshine. I’d had thoughts about running it this time, but it would have been very slow going as there was ice covering deep bogs. I’m not sure I’m up to that yet!

Sunday – too lazy to map out a new route for myself, I decided to loop Port Meadow 4 times to make up 18 miles. It meant I could listen to music for the first time on a run in ages, which was a great change. There’s nothing like Laura Veirs when running along riverbanks. The little bridge near Burgess Field was completely flooded, so I had to wade up to my knees in floodwater each time round, filling my shoes with muddy grit. The wind was also howling a gale and a collie dog mistook me for a sheep and started nipping at my ankles to herd me to some unknown location. A typical Sunday long run then!

A quick and dirty tempo run in Shotover woods this morning. That’s the one where you run faster for a bit. I’m still discovering new and muddier tracks there, it’s such a great place. However, I’d forgotten that mornings are when the hounds own the woods, and an unnaturally huge pit-bull-terrier creature charged straight into my car as I was putting my shorts on and jumped over all the seats before I could adjust my clothing. Now the Citroen isn’t the cleanest of vehicles at the moment, but this dog debris is just too much. Did I moan to the human pet who eventually caught up with its owner-dog, no, of course not, just mumbling “don’t worry, it’s fine“. Only afterwards did I notice the stream of blood pouring down my leg where the dog had climbed up my leg to get in the car. Okay I’m exaggerating just a bit there. Grrrrrrowl.