Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud

Today is the day of my long run.  Today is also the day that it decided to pour down for the whole morning which I knew would have rendered my planned run into basically one step down from a mud bath.  Today also did not have a promising start - the plan was to set out nice and early; I would go work-clothes shopping whilst Other Half took the boys to the railway museum (handily located right next to the shopping centre).  Unfortunately Son Two decided the plan was not to his liking and proceeded to throw up over himself and his car seat when we were approximately half way to Swindon.  Foolishly we had not planned for such an event and therefore had no change of clothes with us which only left us the option of coming back home again; regurgitated half-digested milk has a somewhat pungent smell that cannot be removed with wetwipes alone unfortunately.  So Son Two and I spent the morning at home whilst Other Half and Son One carried on with the plan and went to visit the museum; apparently a lovely time was had by all and Son One also appreciated the McDonald's Happy Meal that he had as an added treat.

So I finally got to go on my run around 3pm.  Luckily by this time the rain had eased off but I knew that the going was not going to be good.  I did think about changing my planned route but I really wanted to take dog with me and therefore I had to do an off-road run.  He's actually very good at running on-lead but at only 8 months old I don't want to have to do too much pavement pounding with him as I don't want to risk any muscular or skeletal injuries.  However, I am debating having a go at Cani-cross with him when he's old enough.  Anyway, off we set down the trusty Calne to Chippenham cycle route; in fairness, I am getting somewhat sick of this route by now as I also use it a lot for walking but it's the nearest off-road route I've found.  Started off nice and steady as the going really was very grim, huge puddles that had to be skirted and thick, gloopy mud that sucked the very life-force from me.  But, today showed the following results: 

Distance = 5.75 miles

1st Checkpoint = 36:29 (-1:17)

2nd Checkpoint = 45:14 (-2:07)  

Total Time = 56:12

Two things are very pleasing about today's run; firstly, I was quicker at both checkpoints and I am especially pleased that I clearly upped my speed between points as I was a whole two minutes faster today despite the rather poor going underfoot and secondly, I got into my stride a lot quicker than I have before.  It normally takes me a least 10 minutes to settle into a good breathing / running pattern but today I was there pretty much from the word go.  Maybe it's all starting to come good? 

Next run Tuesday where once more I shall be attempting a PB.