Night time is definitely my favoured time for running - the later the better, probably because of the solitude you talked about, EG. It's also cooler in this part of the world of course. That said, it has to be along well-lit roads. Off-road night time running is, as Sweder suggests, inevitably going to end in a nasty injury.
Well that report of yours has taken me an
hour and a half to read! With lengthy side trips to weight-loss resource centres, the as-you-said,
excellent Portico Quartet, and then something I'd never heard of, the very entertaining
Room 101, for which a quick YouTube visit turned into nearly an hour's solid viewing (the Stephen Fry episode is very much worth watching), bang went my morning. Fortunately it's a Monday morning and i could take delight in knowing I could spend this time indulging while everyone else was going to work. Ha! The delights of shift work.
One comment of yours however has got my brain in something of a conundrum. I sort of instinctively know what you mean when you say "...
there's irony in seeking solitude amongst large crowds, but you'll find a purer form of isolation within a multitude of strangers than you will on a remote mountainside", but I'm railing against it without fully knowing why. I'm also uncertain about your use of "amongst" when "among" would suffice, although that's merely a distraction from the fact that I disagree with you but can't articulate a proper argument. I'll mull it over some more and probably forget about it.
But well done on the two 5km races - I seriously think your sub-60 10km by year's end is totally feasible. In fact I'm ringing the bookmaker now and getting a punt on it. Certainly if we stretch the deadline
just slightly I have no doubt you could run sub-60 at the Hyde Park 10km on New Year's Day, and indeed, think this might be just the goal to entice you to do it.
And stop being negative about yourself, and stop apologising! If I was your coach I'd be slapping you across the face about now and getting promptly banned from the world of athletics coaching. Um, so just as well I'm not your coach I guess. On a couple of levels. Or several, really.
I'm not really a violent man. I'm not!
