Janathon Day 27: In Which I Dodge The Wall Of Water

Posted: January 27, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | 4 Comments

Met Office said heavy rain this morning at 6am: I looked outside speculatively at 6.30am and it seemed OK to me. So I decided to risk it, I am v bored of the treadmill and the opportunity to run outside in the morning doesn’t happen every day.

Waited for Garmin to acquire satellites. It took forever. But I didn’t mind, because up in the tree above me a bird was singing its little heart out. It’s not often I stand in a quiet world in absolute stillness listening to a bird sing, so thank you Mr Garmin for building this functionality into your device.

Then, finally, off up through the village, past the church and the insanely large puddle/lake on the road. In busy times it forms a contraflow, most cars waiting for a clear road to go round rather than through it, but the occasional Landy or 4WD ploughs through it with abandon. On the way out I climbed the brambly verge to avoid the worst of the water, balancing along the kerb at the end to try to stay dry. Pointless. I fell off the kerb, got soaked in icy water, swore, splashed on. By this time the rain was coming down too.

Once you’re properly drenched however you’re liberated: from then on I simply ploughed through the puddles with abandon, à la Grim. On the way back I was actually looking forward to the Puddle of Insanity but just before I reached it a 4WD-type car overtook me and ploughed through it ahead of me. It was spectacular: a vertical wall of water arcing through the air just ahead of me. I ran briskly through the wake, desperately hoping he didn’t have a mate following just behind.

photo 2No dawn as such but a gradually softening sky. No pics as such so I took a quick headtorch selfie when I got back. Colder and wetter than the treadmill, SO much more fun.

Janathon Day 20: In which I am carried away by a moonlight shadow

Posted: January 20, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | 10 Comments

When the alarm went off this morning I was convinced I’d somehow set it wrong: it seemed I’d been asleep for maybe half an hour. But no, it was morning, or what passes for morning in January. It was dark and icy, I could see as I peered out, but dry – hooray! I pulled on kit and then faffed around trying to find gloves and hat.

This is the problem with running every day in winter: essential kit is continually being washed and dried, it never makes it back to the drawer, so you have to track it down between linen basket, radiators and clean clothes basket. The hat and gloves appeared to be in none of those places. Eventually I gave up, grabbed a pair of regular woolly gloves and resigned myself to cold ears. By this stage my internal dialogue was something like this:

‘FFS come on, you’ve spent nearly as long faffing around as you’re going to be running.’

‘Yes, but hang on a minute, let me just… ‘

‘No, come on, this is ridiculous, just get out the door, it’s not Antarctica out there.’

‘But I’m sure I’ve forgotten something…’

‘Just get out the damn door! Now!!!’

‘I know, I forgot my….’ [door shuts behind me] ‘….headtorch.’

‘Oh.’

moon

Terrible picture of a beautiful moon. Sorry.

I didn’t think it would go down well if I woke up Mr IM to retrieve it, so I simply avoided the country lanes and stuck to housing estates with pavements and even the occasional streetlamp. It was unexpectedly lovely – the moon and each street light creating a milky halo in the freezing fog, the pavement sparkling as if a lorryload of glitter had been tipped over it. The occasional dog walker loomed darkly past, but otherwise once I was off the main road the dawn chorus was the only sound in a muffled world. My iphone camera wasn’t really up to the job of taking a photo of a haloed moon through freezing fog: you just had to be there really.

Back home to warm, sleepy children, my cheeks and fingers tingling. Get me, I’m a 20-day streaker.