Almost enjoying my running training as much as cycling at the moment. Had 90 minutes while CET Junior 2 was at his trampolining training so headed for a 11.5 mile route to the east of Alton. I set off in balmy 5C and it started raining, the sort of rain that can find its way into any nook and cranny in cycling waterproofs. In running shorts I just got wet. The St Swithun's Way was muddy and the rain freshened up the mud so that anything uphill was distinctly slithery and downhill was interesting.
I passed Rawles Motorsport, where they restore Austin Healeys, and got a hello from a couple of the guys working there, as well as a glimpse of some cars well beyond my means, then it was into the hill sections, three short steep climbs, the last of which is on tarmac and I know from cycling where I require the granny ring unless I am going really well. The rain got heavier. Running into Well from the east a couple of guys on bikes passed me and we had a bit of a chat. I felt like I was going well and followed them into the top of Quarry Lane before turning off into Frog Lane. This followed the clay-with-flints layer on top of the chalk and had become a stream bed with a surface of flinty pebbles.
Further on there were various arrows which I guessed marked out different routes for Lord Wandsworth college cross-country routes. Trampled detours had been made around several deep waterholes. Then it was onto the main tarmac section from Sutton Common over the top of the downs towards Golden Pot. As I was running along I heard familiar voices. It was the two cyclists, who had dropped down Quarry Lane and presumably laboured up the hill from Lower Froyle. It spurred me along the last of the tarmac section. Unfortunately the next track had been four-wheel-driven and so would have been virtually impassable if I'd cared about getting my feet wet. My hamstrings were starting to tighten so I just ploughed through the mud and water. The next footpath was even worse, they'd set up a smart paddock which just drained onto the footpath, which had become a quagmire. After that it was just hard and gloopy, with a difficult descent down the scarp of the downs back to Alton. 92 minutes for 11.6 miles felt like good going in conditions that were enough to have called off the horse racing at Newbury even before the recent rain. Having said that it would have been miserable on the bike.
