January 2010

[Sweder]

I signed up for another of Ladyrunner's mid-week liveners this morning. For the second week running I got more than I bargained for: 20.15 kilometres of unrelenting, blood-freezing hills in dead-on 2 hours. Just the three of us today, Jen, sporting two paits of gloves, completing our well-wrapped triumverate. Before the off I managed to startle one of Ladyrunner's cats. The disturbed feline looked me up and down before taking refuge on top of a wall cupboard. After a second examination of the intruder from this lofty perch the clearly unhappy creature began to convulse noisily before projecting a thin steam of vomit in my direction. When it comes to sartorial elegence it seems everyone's a critic.

We set off from Hollingbury, running down through the frosted fields of Stanmer Park and across the grounds of Sussex University before climbing the long haul up to Black Cap. We stumbled along the frozen, rutted path, eyes scanning the terrain in an attempt to navigate the ankle-twisting humps and hollows without mishap. Ahead and to our left, framed against the bright sky on the brow of a hill, stood a family of wild deer, ears twitching, heads turned to observe this huffing puffing human train. Jules got very excited, yanking out her camera to snap some shots. She carried on snapping as we jogged up the hill until, inevitably, Mother Nature stuck out a slippery leg to send her tumbling. With no damage incurred other than slightly-bruised pride we struck out for the summit.

It was an odd feeling, approaching this familiar spot from the south. I'd done so before on the Lewes Downland 10 when I'd found the going especially tough at this point. The climb was no less exhausting today and I was relieved to turn left onto the South Downs Way to run along the spiny ridge towards Ditchling Beacon. What little breeze there was - a mercy given winds' propensity to lower temperature - came at us out of the west. The forecast suggests the chill on our faces was a portent for heavy snow, even now falling steadily across the Midlands and heading south.

We scampered home, enjoying the gravitational advantage of the closing miles being predominantly downhill. Over coffee LR and I talked Almeria, in particular running goals. Much depends on my hamstring (which despite a few niggly twinges had the good grace to behave fairly well). We agreed that, all things being equal, I could do a lot worse than use Jules as a pacer in an attempt to edge closer to 1:40. We'll see.

Below: Satelite SportsTracks map with route; Elevation/ distance map