Last night was a beautiful calm evening, no wind and a pleasant temperature. I headed out at 10:20 p.m. after putting the kids to bed (these bright evenings make it very difficult to get them to bed at anything approaching a reasonable hour..).
I got down to the seafront quickly and thought the view of the moon over the city was beautiful. I stopped to take a couple of snaps (shaky hand evidence below!).
When I started running again i felt weirdly dizzy. I made it to 4k and turned for home, but had hardly the energy to walk. I had an emergency gel in my belt (I carry same if i haven't eaten for a few hours) and shame oh shame on a 5 miler, I swallowed it.
After a couple of hundred yards I forced myself to trot slowly (I thought of how ultra runners discuss ignoring the pain, running thru walls etc, and here's me only a couple of miles from home and walking...what a wuss!!!).
A very slow jog home, all the while thinking of fooooood,
Tonight tho' was very different. I had a toasted bagel smeared with peanut butter about an hour before leaving the house (10:40p.m., if my runs get any later i'll be back to morning runs before long).
I was about .75k into my run when i felt the first light pinpricks of rain on my arms and face. This didn't worry me too much as the weather forecast this morning had given rain in the west breaking up into light showers by the time the clouds reached the east of the country.
Well the spirit of Michael Fish is alive and well and living in Met Eireann..... Within another half k I was in a torrential downpour, but, weirdly, loving every minute of it.
When you're having a good run nothing can stop the pleasure. The rain was lashing down, running in rivulets off the end of my nose, and i cared not a jot! In fact, in a perverse way it almost added to my enjoyment (well the temperature was still pleasant).
The only slight downside was that, after a couple more k the rain stopped - and what is worse than running in the rain? running in the dry with only the cold suction of a sodden tee shirt to remember the rain by...but still i enjoyed it! All i could think of was that at one time had i been driving by a lunatic runnng thru a downpour i would have felt at best pity, at worst contempt - never would i have imagined he was enjoying himself...
Thats the weird thing about running, same route it, same time of night, different conditions, and you can never tell which one is going to be more enjoyable.....
And btw shaky hand evidence from yesterday (and another shot from Monday, just cause i like it)
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