After 5 on the road yesterday, ideally a flat run on a more forgiving surface would have been just the ticket but the way the morning went it was 1 p.m. before I could slot the run in and that meant a canal run from Foulridge towards Barnoldswick and that part of the towpath is now "tarmaced".
A quick squeeze around the calves confirmed as expected some soreness so the first couple of miles were
a cautious shuffle coping with a fairly strong headwind, going out in 33.22 for 3.5 miles. But with the sun emerging through the early afternoon clouds and the breeze now pushing from behind the last 3 miles were quite satisfactory. The last mile a minute and twenty secs faster than the first. 29.00 for 3.5 coming back!
Yes, a run of two halves. 9.43 9.21 9.11 8.50 8.29 8.22 8.23
Calves? Just let's say that they were wrapped in the ice pads as soon as I could after!
As we all do I was looking at the results of the race I opted against running last Sunday. Particularly of course the times recorded in my M60 age group. The category was won by ALAN HUDSON of Wesham in an excellent time of 30.00. Alan has been racing probably as long as I have. Certainly since 1968 when he ran for Blackpool in the Northern Cross Country champs finishing 39th to my 9th. Sadly I can't match his times nowadays. Possibly because he seems to be rejuvenated by periods of injury! Perhaps that's what I need...an injury to force me to take a rest. I 've known quite a few runners over the years who disappear from the scene for quite regular periods only to re-emerge and start running good times again. They do say that female runners seem to race better than ever after pregnancy and giving birth has forced a break in much the same way.
4th in the category at the Green Drive 5 miler at Lytham was Steve Pierce of Kendal who I nudged ahead of in the Illuminations 10K in September. He ran 32.29 on Sunday so it looks on paper that I missed out on a good chance to improve on this year's 5 mile best of 34.04. C'est la vie!
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