The last time I did this run, I got lost, badly. And embarrassingly. Actually, that's not true either, as the last time was the actual race we were preparing for, I got lost during a recce a few days before. In the race, I simply followed, though as I found out at Bramhall Parkrun the other day, that doesn't always work either.
So am I a poor navigator? It would seem yes. I do struggle with left and right. I go the right way, but describe it back to front. I don't often carry a map, relying instead on a last minute gulp of information before committing and hoping the route sticks in my memory. I'd like to think I have a good sense of direction. I'm not one of those people who thinks the earth revolves around them, my sat nav map points north and it is us who navigates around the earth, not the other way round. North is north, and that's how it is.
But this time I did have a map. A large map, though this was due to a printer related misunderstanding, but it did prove rather handy and easy to read. The route starts by the Station in Mobberley, near the pub, and winds its way down the back of Runway 2, under the tunnel and back along the other side. 6 steady miles, though pleasingly speedy in the second half once the legs had warmed through. It seems there's something about a short sharp hill that gets the legs going. Good work. There'll be more of that in the future!
One very significant point of this run was that it's the seasons first evening run that has both started and finished in daylight...just. The sun was bright, but low, and warm also. No hat (but gloves) and perhaps for the first time in ages actual sweat in the eyes. Could Spring really be here? However, there was a particularly unpleasant and literal aftertaste to the run. It's clearly the season for muck spreading, and what a stink. A thick dry acrid almost suffocating smell that really made you gag. I lke the smell of the country, but this was uber concentrate.
I like it round here, but you have to get out and find it. There's an almost unique view of the airport as you join along the side of the runway, elevated, looking down on the planes as they lift off...or whatever it is that planes do. When you're in the airport, it's an urban jungle on the brink of chaos, yet just the other side of the fence, it's almost tranquil. The tunnel underneath R2 is cavernous, like a cathedral, but bigger. You wouldn't know the countryside around a busy airport could be so beautiful...but it is.
So that's it for pre half marathon training. No more running until the big day. More importantly, it's time to start carbo loading. I'm not sure where, or if to start discussing this. All I can say, never before have I been so looking forward to an otherwise ordinary Thursday as I am now. I'm starving! A very substantial bowl of homemade pasta awaits...enough to feed a small, but determined army. Other carby delights that await, rice pudding, chocolate in various forms, and the promise of cake.
PS: What would you do with an old Routemaster London Bus?
