All In A Good Cause

The park is locked several mornings this week. MD won’t be happy about that. He won’t want to share the same pavement as all the other dogs, who are also all being forced to pound the streets instead of romping across parkland. We try to tell MD that it’s all in a good cause, that they’re probably slaughtering the deer, which is what they usually do around this time of year. He doesn’t much like the deer; well none of us do actually.

After work I do my, sometimes regular but more often occasional, 18km run from Pride Park to Chilwell Retail Park. Scenic location to scenic location. Only today, for some reason, it only totals 17.5km on my GPS. All I did was run down the opposite side of the road for about half a mile. Technology!

It was also far quicker than I intended. Coming through Borrowash my scenic route down the footpath merged with the route taken by another runner coming along the main road. What I should have done is let them go ahead, slot in behind them and then overtake if necessary but I thought it’s only a girl... and thought she’d hold me up...

So, with the quick nod of mutual appreciation and recognition of a fellow runner, I went on ahead. Big mistake. The quick nod/glance gave me just enough time to ascertain that she looked in pretty good shape, had much much longer legs than me and was wearing some pretty serious kit. A crop top for starters, no one trains in a crop top...

So basically I now had Jess Ennis’s bigger and fitter sister behind me. OMG those next few miles were quick. I thought she was going to pursue me all the way to Long Eaton but thankfully at some point she pulled off and then when I eventually noticed she’d gone, I could have a bit of a breather.

It was a good speed training session though. I should have stopped and asked for her number, I could do with her behind me in a race. It would do wonders for my half marathon time.

(Tuesday 11th September)