The darkness prevails...

Day 325 Tuesday 20th November 15.9 miles : miles to date 2160.2 Less than 24 hours after last nights trudge, I found myself at training ninety minutes early. What's a lad going to do to get his running mojo back? Do a 10 mile cross country run in the dark, mud and rain listening to the Foo Fighters at full volume with my head torch of course. I ran into Ampthill Park and joined leg four of the Greensands race, heading back to Millbrook testing ground and the handover from leg three. I have run these trails many, many times and yet tonight they felt totally different. The leaves covered the ground and it was difficult to run in the dark with so many tree roots, so I slowed and just enjoyed my surroundings, dancing around the trails like a little Welsh Fred Astaire. Despite being so close to a town, I had the feeling at times that I was in the middle of no where, which allowed me to escape with my Foo buddies. The trail took me through a number of woods, which cloaked me even further in darkness. The lack of natural light and the shadows thrown up by the torch made it a little spooky at times and when a rabbit ran across my path three feet in front of me, I did jump a bit. At one point the trail emerged to cross a very busy A road with commuters going home. I did pause for a moment in the rain, on the side of the road watching the cars whizz by feet away, wondering who thought they had the better mode of transport. I decided it was me, felt quite chuffed I was out there and dived back into the darkness on the other side. The second part of the run then began as I was helping to coach the club on a number of hill reps. I did my duty and cut back on the effort, concentrating instead on encouragement. The fact that I was starting to tire helped with that decision. No apathy tonight. Yippeeee.