Hay Fever, Heat and Pavements

Well I've got my excuses over already and placed them in full view in the title for all to see. I'm sure it would have been a snappier and more alliterative blog title if I could have found a synonym for Pavements that begins with H but never mind ...

My second midweek run has ended up being on Saturday morning, and this time it occurred to me that recently my long runs have been on roads and my shorter ones on the treadmill, so I have not been on the pavements of Bicester for a while. I set off on my standard 3.5 mile loop, with the intention of running anything from 3.5 to 7 miles, depending on if I wanted to stop, add some fiddly bits or do a second full loop.

As it happens, this was a tough run. The lovely spring weather meant there was not a cloud in the sky, and the council had mown all the grass verges. I felt quite sniffly all round and it looks like hay fever will be something I may have to contend with. Hopefully less so in London next month, but the immediate concern is Oxfordshire now. In addition to this, the hot weather meant it genuinely was hard work.

And in the end, I put in a small extra bit round the estate, checked my distance when I got back, and it seems I've done about 4.2 miles in 42 minutes. Good even pace and easy maths! But it pales into insignificance compared to the distances I have to do now. Already have a 16.5 mile route planned for tomorrow, it's just madness considering those distances let alone running them, but I have worked out a 2 mile shortcut if it's all too much ...