Joys of spring

I went for a very pleasant run on Sunday. Not a race (thank goodness - still heavy-legged from the MWL race on Wednesday and the 4 x 7-and-a-half minute Balke test session the day before), just a long run. It was rather less relaxing than my usual Sunday runs, since I went with Lindsay's brother Simon, who is rather fast . Luckily he'd done a race the night before, so I could at least breathe while keeping up with him.

It was a mainly off-road route, from Hitchin to Pirton, Offley, Preston (nearly) and Charlton - I hadn't run over towards Pirton for at least a year, which seems a shame because there are some nice paths over there.

The sun was shining, there was a nice cool breeze, and the fields were all bright green (or yellow) due to recent rain. Sometimes it's worth remembering that we have some beautiful countryside around here! I did struggle on a few hills, though - if I'm out running with people slower than I, then I have an excuse to catch my breath at the top of the hills. Not this time.

Towards the end we were caught up by someone else out for a run, going even faster than us. By a strange coincidence, it was someone Simon knew from competing against him, and whose blog he'd been talking about earlier in the morning (although we couldn't find it!), Dave Wardle of Woodford Green athletics club. Not to be outdone on the social front, we turned the next corner and bumped into someone I knew, Astrid, also out for a longer run, who had seen Jon Hunt, who had seen Chris Sharp and Sally Harkins, who had seen Lindsay... we were all out there somewhere!