Wet Sunrise

17.25k
Start 5.20

Luckily it was dry when I set off but there were a couple of drizzly to middling showers on the way.  Took a new route which started off heading east where there was a light stripe with a dull red glow which was swallowed up by the low hanging clouds before the sun could get itself over the horizon. 

Battery Low

8.12k
Start 19.00

Not my batteries, the Garmin was announcing that its batteries were low.  So I cut short my run a bit, not wanting to have run miles that might not get logged now that I'm trying to reach my target for the month for the first time this year.  I did try to up the speed a bit to make it worth going out for less than an hour. 

Dead Fish + Magnolia Blossom

10.03k
Start 5.45
Grey skies with the faintest of drizzly rain, so not the idyllic sunrise run I always hope for when I manage to get out so early but nevertheless glad I got my 10k in.  Rather surreally there was a dead fish (carp?) lying on the path being pecked at by 2 crows at one point.  Made me think of the nature programme I caught a bit of last night about bears catching salmon.  Narrated by Billy Connolly.  As well as salmon one of them caught a young seal that had been stranded when the high tide retreated.

To provide a bit of light relief from all the drizzle and dead stuff, here's one of the best trees-full-of-blossom I passed. 

 

Reewijkse Sunrise

13.50k
Start 5.40

Great run with an average speed a good half a minute per k faster than my usual plodding pace of late.  Perfect temperature, no wind, rising sun.

Hollandse IJssel

12.06k
Start 19.00

First tip of the waterlilies is just above the water across from the ark.

Found some stairs and a slope in the park behind the windmill at the old harbour where I can do a circuit 'hill-training'.  And a candle dispenser at the entrance to the cemetery I went into on the way home. 

Good run, no photos

12.31k
Start 19.00

Remembered my Ventolin, forgot my camera.  Good combination for a much faster run than yesterday. Shame about the camera really as I met a lovely Great Dane and came close to a pair of pheasants and a swan sitting on her nest as I wandered the paths of the Goudse Hout, the recreation area just before the Reewijkse plassen. Listening to various Runner Academy podcasts, one of them was about nutrition and how it's not really 'natural' to eat during exercise so if we're going to do it in order to perform better we're as well to use 'unnatural' specifically tailored products. Hmm, not sure what I think about this.  Other thing was it reminded me that female runners run a higher risk of iron deficiency and as I've had this a few times in recent years I should get my levels checked at least once a year and remember to include more iron in my diet. 

Reewijkse plassen

10.68k
Start 19.00

Running wasn't brilliant as I forgot my Ventolin and of course thought I'd be fine without it, but found that that didn't really work too well.  However with regular walk'n'wheeze breaks I got round and even managed to enjoy some of it.  Listened to Chris' podcast about his Boston experience.  I'd assumed that he'd have been in before the bombs went off as his usual marathon time is well under the 4 hours but because he hadn't qualified this year and was running on a charity draw entry he started back with the masses.  That combined with back pain meant that he had a pretty terrible time of it all round and was still 2k behind the finish line when the chaos broke loose.  Maybe the back pain was a blessing in disguise...

Early 10 miler

16.07k
Start 5.45

Gouda

10.59k
Start 19.00
Circling and wandering round the centre of Gouda.

Boston

 

 

 

Of course when I heard the news my first thoughts were of Chris, who was running once again at Boston after having to miss it last year due to a long term foot injury.  It's the first time I've ever wished I was on Twitter or Facebook so that I could quickly get direct reports from him.  Luckily by scrabbling online I soon found that he was ok.  

 

Why would anyone bomb a running event?  (Why would anyone ever bomb any event...?)  

Sluipwijk

12.23k
Start 19.00
Was warm enough to make the 2 layers I had on top too much so took the top t-shirt off after the first couple of k.  This transition period is always difficult to judge, after being so used to needing layers all winter it seems strange to be able to run in just the one. 

Sproet & TomTom

6.17k
Start 7.00

Ran across town to pick up a TomTom I'd bought on Marktplaats to replace the one that seems to have been stolen recently. (Though when and where is a bit of a mystery.)

Crotch-deep ditch...

9.82k
Start 17.00



 

 

 

Spent some time wandering the paths of the allotments complex.  When I got to the gate to go home I found it was locked.  Did another circuit of the outskirts looking for an alternative way out but all possible exits were well-barricaded with barbed wire and brambles.  (I did try them, and have the scratches on my arms to prove it...) Eventually had to wade through a wide and chilly ditch with ankle deep mud underfoot.   This operation wasn't helped any by my carrying a struggling collie having a full scale panic meltdown - he's 12 and I didn't want to risk him getting sick from swimming in these temperatures.  Squelched home covered in dog hair and muddy footprints from the waist up and soaking wet from the bum down. 

Great run ; - )