July - hmmm

[Moyleman]

A brisk 9am start, on a lovely summer’s morn. 6 intrepid souls out today, 4 training for Berlin, 1 Amsterdam and myself Beachy Head – great warm weather easing our limbs into steady rhythmic action. Out to the back of Patcham, duplicating our previous 2 runs this way. I felt in good spirits and surged along – catching my breath at the gates, stiles and allowing the guys to catch me up. A long fartlek interval type session – allowing me to really enjoy the scenery. Around the back of Stanmer Park and back over the South Downs Way to the Beacon.

Rehydration and plenty of it was the order of the day – gels were also numerous on this hot one. The drop down towards Pyecombe golf course soon greeted us, one opted for the shorter route back, we pushed on. At this point I felt relaxed and kicked on, promptly going the wrong way and found myself crossing the A23 for Newtimber Hill. This is one bastard of a climb, I dug in and ran/walked the quarter mile to the summit – I was now on my own the others having cut back on a shorter route.

I ploughed a lonely furrow on hill and meadow, espying the protruding landmark I was scanning for, namely an enormous stack of bound crops in black plastic. I was back on track and upped the pace, despite the heat felt comfortable and sped back down to Waterhall playing fields.

Elected for the tough climb to the Westdene windmill and had to drop the pace to a crawl up this vicious slope – rounded the windmill and picked it up for the home straight, namely Soft Al’s abode. Eased down to find they had been back five minutes, I had probably covered another mile extra, consoled myself with fluid and one of Alan’s partner, Suzie’s delicious chocolate brownies.

Another great Sunday training morning under the belt, which is shrinking at a rate of knots. 14 miles ish covered