18th November The wobble free, almost cold one

So after the wobble in the woods on Wednesday night it was time to get back in the saddle so to speak with my final run before Benidorm on Saturday. Hopefully an incident free one. 

Last night, on what was the first decidely chilly evening of autumn (my legs were covered up for one thing) it was our regular Thieves Wood gallop with an extra sting in the tail thrown in right at the end. 

You know its starting to get cold when your breathe is visible in front of you, caught in the beam of your head torch. Indeed there was so much breathe being caught from 8 adults and three canine companions, at times it looked as if it was a vaping convention moving through  the woods rather than a group of almost fit runners.

And although I am familiar with the run, despite a fallen tree across the path causing an almost immediate detour, the darkness does play tricks but often in a most welcome way. In the dark it often doesn't seem as far between known landmarks and the hills actually feel shorter and less steep, primarily I think because I can't see how far they go on for and so just keep plodding.

Not that I was attempting to set any records, I just wanted to keep my legs turning over having not run since last Wednesday's 'episode' and am not planning to run again until the big one.  

So I ran at the back of the pack with Sharon and 'Ernie' chatting as we went and pausing for 'Ernie to take a tinkle at almost every bush, tree root and other location that took his fancy. At the end of the night, with us all now suitably warmed and glowing, we had covered 5.6 miles of partially illuminated trails in just over an hour. 

I am not sure what I am expecting on Saturday. I know that there are pacers in the race but whether those paces will be beyond me is another matter altogether. I have an idea of the time I would like to run based on other half marathon attempts but am 'keeping mum' until after the event when it will be revealed just how close to my target time I actually came.