No. 2 time

Day 336 Saturday 1st December 21.5 miles : miles to date 2236.2

I had a glorious cold x-c run with SMC light this morning, back in the old hood. The temperatures dropped to -1, which compared with an earlier run this year at -13 run, felt almost tropical.

 Even on the way over the wildlife was out, I pulled up in the death trap six feet away from a muncjack on a quiet lane and stared at each other for a few seconds. Our eyes locked and it was magical. I could have been back in the Top Rank in Merthyr Tydfil in 1983. The forgotten year.

 It was great to have the long term injured  Niki Rouse back in the fold for her longest run in a very long time. She has been much missed, along with Jerry Day continuing with his own recuperation. 

 We headed straight for the trails, which were mostly hard and no longer muddy, due to the frost. Satnav took us on a  newish route and promised a new bridge to cross the M1, which kept me excited for the first three miles. I'm easily pleased. Sure enough, he delivered on his promise and I did my usual trick of bobbing up and down as I crossed partly hidden by a shoulder height wall, to confuse the motorists. Childish I know, but it makes me laugh and has done for the last 274 times.

 We headed along the Greensand's trail, into Ridgemont and then through surrounding grounds of Woburn Safari park, where there were as always large herds of deer and stags wandering around within putting distance.

 Now I don't do this on purpose, but it was another No. 2 in the woods time, not far from the spot I did one the last time we came through. Frozen, matted leaves cause numbness in areas that shouldn't be numb and it was a while before I stopped running like John Wayne. It's come to something that when I was out last night with the lads, I almost got a round of applause for using the inside WC.

 Running like there was a barrel between my legs meant that it took me a while to catch the crew as well.  The icy, frozen grounds were truly beautiful and were worth the run on their own.

 Satnav and I eventually parted from the crew of Niki Nicola Bowerman, the Silver Surfer Phil Clarke (beyond elite double club V60 record holder, eh matey!), Dave Coaker and the above.

 Satnav had mentioned that as we are planning to run 82 miles along Hadrian's Wall in just under four weeks and I haven't run more than 15 miles since early October, it might be an idea to go longer today. I put my trust in him and off we set for the second half, wandering across quite a number of new trails and routes, which was amazing for me as I thought I had covered everyone in the county. I was back with just me and him, talking nonsense, planning mad stuff and doing what we do best. Meandering everywhere and munching the miles. And we did, dodging ice on the limited roads we took, frozen ruts and just running all over the place for fun.

 I like to think of Satnav as Watson to my Sherlock, Sundance to my Butch, Earnie to my Eric, Goose to my Maverick and best of all, Ginger to my Astaire. He may disagree.