Fill Your Boots (with peat-laden water)

Once again Sheffield is in COVID-19 Tier 3 and we're not supposed to leave the city. Luckily I'd been sent a route to revisit the summer run destinations, 9 of which are within the city boundary. It looked as though a 17km loop would encompass these so long as I started at The Norfolk Arms. The day was picked wisely and I was on Houndkirk Road for sunrise. Within 20 minutes I'd got wet feet and legs from knee-height heather but this would prove to be a relatively dry part of the run. 

I have to confess that after 90 minutes was getting disillusioned with skipping through boggy bits and trying not to trip over stone islands that (falsely) promised dry feet. Progress was slow and I decided to complete the run with 7 destinations passed. It's often said to set trail runs by duration rather than distance so 2 and a half hours seemed enough. For just under 15km this shows how 'steady' I'd been.

It was great to be out mid-week and by accepting I'd had enough, and replanning my route as I ran, Type 2 fun was avoided.

Into December

 It's been hard into this winter. We've been in and out of rather lax 'lockdowns' and 'tiers' that restrict opening of gyms. The perpetual change has disincentivized getting back into swimming. Now it's a good 9 months since I was in the water. My early successes in regular morning runs have dissipated now I'm going into work a few days a week and need to be ready at my desk the other days.

Even so we've done a walk or two every day and I've maintained the circuits habit on a Wednesday evening. Sunday morning to Oxstones is a good habit too. This (saturday) morning I managed 5km in the mud. This week I've had an aching right knee which has no apparent cause although I'm thinking it's due to uneven heel wear on my current daily boots. The absence of issues this morning whilst running with my mid/fore foot gait supports that hypothesis. Hopefully OK for a longer run tomorrow then.