It never rains but what it pours!

The weather forecasters distinctly said it was going to dry up - I know we often don't believe them but on this occasion I hoped against all hope that it was true.  Just how much more rain is there up there waiting to come down?

It always seems to start raining an hour or so before run club. Monday's time trial session ended before the rains came but Wednesday's longer run night we were not so lucky, the heavens opened, the wind was blowing, enough to make the dog refuse to go outside never mind us runners. Numbers were not bad despite the fact that it was atrocious and felt really cold. I ran with Dawn and Sarah - we formed small groups and decided to ditch the waiting game this session, it was far too cold and wet to be hanging around.  We seemed to keep good pace and as we headed into Pudsey town centre before taking a left turn to loop back to base the wind seemed to increase, flinging the rain at us, it felt like icy globules! 9.7 miles later, back at the club house after taking a soggy photo to prove how wet we got, we dried ourselves off and made our way home.  There's extra satisfaction in knowing you've braved such weather conditions and still done the suggested route and can  go home and have a hot bath, bliss!

Friday's 5.5 miler meant another training week was over and the weekend appeared again, this time I decided to take my own advice and make a decision whether or not to race since pre entry is not required for the YVAA races and I already have a number.  Having spent all day Saturday hopping on and off buses and exploring Leeds College of Music with Marc I was physically and mentally worn out.  I decided a day of cheering was in order instead of the hills of West Vale.  I have to admit it was just the tonic.  After a cooked breakfast off we went to Cheer the runners in at the finish of the YVAA race at West Vale with quite a few family members which was uplifting and I didn't feel too guilty for not running since the trusty team had enough ladies to count. Much better I thought than turning up feeling tired and not really wanting to run and the sun shone making for a lovely Autumnal morning.  There was though, still plenty of mud around from the recent rain fall and the runners came back covered in it!

The beautiful surroundings at West Vale

A couple more weeks to go until the Bridlington half marathon and training is not feeling so easy, I am convinced the changing season has an undesirable effect.  It's not so much that I don't want to go out and train but that something just doesn't feel quite right. I'm suffering disturbed sleep and think maybe I'm suffering an 'inner' cold.  I don't have the outward signs of sniffles and cold sores any more but still don't feel that I have totally shaken it off. Hopefully that won't still be the case a week next Sunday. I'm going to keep a lid on the mileage for the next couple of weeks and hopefully I'll get round with pleasure and not pain!!