13.1 wk3 Party Time!

Travelling 250 miles for a party weekend isn't a standard feature of most running plans but I think disruption was quite successfully minimised.

The first mitigation technique was swapping the 60 minute run to a nursery day to ensure that fitted in. That was a satisfying run,  extending my previous long run route slightly, and maximising the slopes through the area. I even recieved a patronising applause from a wierd passer by! Unlike my training for the fun run, I managed without walking sections, a sign of progress.  I must admit to a lack  of disappointment at how long it takes the pedestrian lights to crank into action at the top of the really hilly section.

The part that was sacrificed was a 40 min easy run. In my defence that was mitigated hy carrying the one year old up the nearest tor, so that scores an amber code on my plan. Not too bad for being away from home for 3 days.

Now in days gone by, a good party would have included homemade Baileys cheesecake (not suitable for drivers), lots of Twister (clothing voluntary) and lots of medicinal alcohol for the relief of aching, hiked out muscles. We've gone a bit more genteel with age and politely retired to bed at 12.05 just before anyone turned into a pumpkin. There was a mission to clear excess stocks of alcohol from a wedding last year, but I find that 4 years of pregnancy/ feeding babies and nocturnal demands from small children mean that I forget to drink alcohol out of habit. In fact I party better without its soporific effects. A great time was still had by all, grateful for the chance to meet up and relax together,  and a great game of knocking the balloon around the room over the assortment of small children. What this all added up to was the physical and mental ability to be in my running gear and out of the house at 8 am on a Sunday morning.

It was wet. It was cold. It was awesome. I repeated the walk we previously did up to the tor, fortunately a mostly straight line to the summit and back. I may not have been hungover, but Dartmoor was in one of those moods, and visibility was poor. My only companions were sheep, cows and ponies. A shame the cows weren't as keen to scarper off the path as the sheep, they required a bit of delicate maneuvering off the path to gently avoid. The steep section was walked at a brisk pace, but once off the rocks,  I managed to run all the way down. I was always suspicious of those who rose early enough to descend the hills long before we started ascending,  but I found myself at 8.41, exchanging a jaunty "good morning!"with a cyclist with lots of panniers,  glowing with the satisfaction of having completed my activity. Ok, I was also glowing with wind burn, and cold soggy skin. It was certainly invigorating,  and more than a tad bracing, and I loved it!