Running into the night

I thought it best to at least try running with a head torch prior to tackling Grim: Night Terror so I had a choice of getting up at 6am or waiting until later in the afternoon to go for a run. Not really a choice. 6am wasn't going to happen on a weekend!

At 5:15pm I found myself putting on my gear for what would be a very strange time for a run for me. I mean it's nearly beer o'clock not run o'clock! Head torch on and cap over the top to keep it in place I headed out on a route involving 2 pitch black sections. The first one is pretty close and through Ashtead Park. Pretty straight forward and managed to avoid the pot holes on a semi gravel road but job done. A road section followed around the roads before heading into Ashtead Common.

I won't lie. I freaked myself out a little. You literally can't see anything more than 10m in front of you and there's a lot on nocturnal animals out there making strange noises. I was a little apprehensive but then I turned into the wooded section. Oh Dear! The imagination went into overdrive. That mixed with the torch suddenly pick up a pair of glowing eyes that would suddenly dart off in a little unnerving when you've recently watched Sherlock's 'Hound of the Baskervilles'.

5 minutes later, I was back onto the relative safety of the roads and street lights! Torch seemed to do a good enough job but I do suspect Grim is going to be a bit of a nightmare with people turning round and blinding you but not a lot we can do about it really. 7.4km done! Bring on the bog, puddles, blackness and 8 mile dark miles.

A run of shame!

Today's run is sponsored by 'guilt'. That feeling when you finally accept you've been lazy throughout December and January and eatingtrees post yesterday reminded you that you only have 3 weeks until Grim Night Terror. Now had I been cycling at all, that wouldn't have bothered me as much but since a variety of things have stopped me cycling recently, it really was time.

I hadn't planned to run today. My experience of 'running's a damn sight easier when I've cycled a bit' meant I'd cycle a few times this week and then head out next weekend and all would be good. Then I saw the weather....

-2 C tomorrow morning when I'm due to be on a bike. No thanks, I already deal with enough tossers in BMW's* on a normal cycle commute so adding ice to that mix is quite frankly stupid!!

The final nail in the coffin was Lovely Wife has run 4 times in the last 8 days. Me? ZERO! OK, time to hit the streets. I'm extremely proud of LW but I can't let that go without a run! 9.4km were completed in a time slightly longer than planned but completed none the less and the guilt has subsided enough to have a glass of wine in preparation for dealing with (almost) anything tomorrow can throw at me.

I've also invested in 2 new pairs of running shoes that should get me through 2012. A white pair to lead me up to the marathon training and then these beauty's to get me through the training miles and the Berlin Marathon itself.

Now my sister reckons red trainers belong only to 'Stars of the HipHop scene' and as I'm neither hip nor do I hop, I can only assume she believes it to be a bad idea but as there's going to be 40,000 runners in Berlin, I've got to do all I can to stand out and I'm worried a long ginger beard just won't cut the mustard!

*tossers are available in other cars. Type 'German saloon car' into google for a starting point.