Season 2016

[Bierzo Baggie]

February drags to a close and the routine has stuck, 3 runs a week plus a swim. This week was no different except that improvisation finally took over on Sunday morning and that wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

 
Running gets a bit lonely sometimes. And I am easily distracted.
 
If I see somebody I know near the beginning of a run I will often tag along and modify the original route or even scrap it altogether. This Sunday Monte Pajariel was teeming with people.
 
First I met Zamora the carpenter who was on his way back from San Esteban where there had been a dog race going on. A dog race? The dogs and their owners cover a 7km off-road circuit but you must have a dog to take part. Neither I nor Zamora the carpenter have dogs. Would have been nice to watch though. We stopped and chatted as you do.
 
Then I saw a couple of runners crossing the wooden bridge. Both wore identical yellow jackets. I tried to chase them down, which meant me running a bit faster than I should have done. Just as I was drawing up level after 5 minutes of hot pursuit along one of the undulating Pajariel trails I saw Terry McDermott. Distraction number 3.
 
Terry has got a superb perm and to be honest I’m just jealous because he must be about 15 years older than me. Anyway we’d arranged to meet on the wooden bridge the day before and I’d frozen my bollocks off waiting for him and he didn’t show up so I wanted to at least have a word. By the time I’d had word with Terry I was so far off my original long route I decided I might as well chase down the bright yellow twosome again and what do you know? One of them was Pepe Reina. A lot of ex-footballers on Monte Pajariel this morning!  We chatted for a while about local events and I discovered that it was Pepe who had encouraged Pedro the lumberjack to run the Aquilianos. Pedro lumberjack broke the course record on his first attempt and the rest is history. So engrossed was I in the conversation that by the time we parted ways I hadn’t got a clue where I was going.
 
Eventually decided to do the reverse of the original route but noticed a familiar tug deep in my left calf as I approached the first big hill. It was cold, all the stopping and starting, speeding up and slowing down hadn’t helped and as the ache intensified into mild pain it became obvious I wasn’t going to complete this run. So I started walking home.
 
 Just then, Pepe Reina and his mate appeared once more. Their route had been blocked off by a burst river bank and they were heading back via Monte Pajariel again. Weak willed and easily convinced, I was pulled along and unwisely I started running again.
As I said distance running can get a bit lonely and one can make some poor decisions as a result. If I had stuck to the original long, slow route as planned I probably wouldn’t have got injured.
 
Saturday 38 minutes
Sunday 40 minutes running. 
              40 minutes walking.
              At least 40 minutes jabbering away like an old ‘n in the fish market.
      One very sore left calf.  
 
Might have to rest a while.