February frolics

[Bierzo Baggie]

I’m still not entirely convinced that the pre-dawn run is a near-spiritual experience.

Wednesday. 7 laps of the nearest half-lit park. It wasn’t as cold as I’d expected. Ran around in circles aimlessly whilst playing mind games with myself but ultimately couldn’t avoid the sensation that I’d somehow been here before. A bit like watching West Brom really.
37 minutes and then...STAGS ( Sod This for A Game of Soldiers).

Thursday. Did the habitual Toral de Merayo circuit but with the road bit first. This was to avoid running on Monte Pajariel in total darkness where I could easily trip over a rock, or worse. By the time I’d reached Toral it was getting light and I could see a thin layer of snow had covered Monte Pajariel overnight. One of the best things about coming out so early is that you have the privilege of being the first to leave your footprints in the virgin snow. Actually, this isn’t true. The trail had already been criss-crossed by small animals and I suspect that the some of the larger tracks had been left by the boars that come down the hillside to drink at the river below. This gives me another good reason for not running along here in the dark. Supposedly the boars are pacific, joint-smoking vegetarians but I’d prefer to see them from afar by daylight than trip over one at night.....am I boaring you? Ha ha ha ...
Crossed the river via rocks and makeshift bridge. I normally try and run this bit and the rock-hopping is a great test of balance, but on an icy February morning walking is the most sensible approach so I walked.

Toral de Merayo-Monte pajariel route.
TRT 46 minutes.