Snake Bites and Tigers!

Hello blog lovers.

Its Wednesday, its raining, and me and the Old Boy are out running tonight! I am quite getting used to the whole rain thing, with me out in it with no umbrella! I look at it as I can't possible look any worse than I do after a good run.

Our start point today is Tent Peg lane! Yes, you guessed it, we are going to do that hill again! The Old Boy is an old Sergeant major P.T. instructor from a previous life. But I guess its doing me, at least, some good. But I already start to give my excuses, I am tired, my toes keep cramping, I lost my lungs yesterday! Well, the lungs I can find tonight as we are doing exactly more or less the same route.

"The first mile is going to be a 10 min mile pace" says the Old Boy. Do what?, who does he think I am, Speedy Gonzales on amphetamines! He will just have to be satisfied with 11.30 min mile pace, the pace that my running club go at. I was feeling tired, two small children and a toddler group session tends to do that to me, I am getting old you know!

We set off through the park, I heard the Old Boy complain about the tiny little hill, saying how he hates these little ones, but we have only just set off. Maybe his idea of a 10 min mile is a pipe dream now, but I soon realised he was joking about the small pimple that we just ran up.

I was keeping an eye on my Garmin, I looked at it and it said 11.25 min pace. I knew I just couldn't manage to do a 10 min pace. We were soon at Barfield road. I know this is about a mile into our run, I was waiting to hear the 'Bleep bleep' of my Garmin to tell me that we had done a mile. It came just as I went under the bridge, and the Old boy had turned left, out of sight. 10.18 mins! Well there you go Old Boy there is your 10 min mile. But I was trying desperately to keep all my 'offal' in my body, and trying to get my breathing under control.

Up the dreaded hill. The Old Boy was waiting for me at the little bridge. He wasn't going to let me run behind him on this hill. He was there every painful, lung busting, breathless step up the hill, "Keep going, on stopping! Come on push those legs, use those big engines!" Hard work, let me tell you that! At some point on this hill I just stopped dead cried out "urgggghhh" and bent over, trying to regain my breath. "Whats up, a snake bite ya, did a tiger jump out" Said the Old Boy sympathetically, "What you stopped for?" Obviously I couldn't answer him. But as soon as I regain my composure it was back to jogging.

At the top of the hill, I did manage to have a small breather, and I noticed that the other guy, that went before us up the hill, also had a breather here. I didn't feel that bad then

The other small, less steep hill I managed to stay behind the Old Boy, because I knew I would be walking just a bit of this. My legs just don't seem to be able to run up hills. I am sure they will, one day. I must remind myself that I have never run any distance before 2010, and I am old now. Things will take longer to get fitter.

The downhill sections I really do try to 'use' the hill to keep me going. My legs are starting to complain now, the whole mental thing happening in my head about stopping, and walking is really playing on my mind, and I know I have those three bridges to conquer as well. Oh well just get on with it, not far now.

The Old Boy was relentless in his nagging, I used to think Naggy Neighbour was bad! (By the way, just had tea with her and told her this, and now she has threaten to up the anti with her nagging too!) "You're running up every set of steps" Well let me tell you, he pushed me up the second set of steps!

From the last bridge steps I made sure I ran the whole way to the finish, but the Old Boy wanted everything I had left from the last 200 hundred yards to the car! I tried, I really did.

I looked at the Garmin, it said 43 mins, "that's quicker that last time" I was quite pleased with that, until I just checked the geeky stats. I was in fact a minute slower! The Old Boy is not pleased!

Geek stats