Mine, not anyone else's. I went plodding off on a new route today, a route that included a hill I hadn't tried before. We keep a couple of big hills lying around the town here, and I've run them both - slowly, I have to admit, but I can get to the top of both of them without having to stop.
This new route involved getting up to the top of town and then running out to a little village, round the village and back down the hill into town. I didn't actually know the distance - could have been 4k, could have been 8k, but that was all right, it was a new route and I wasn't bothered about speed - but I had a choice of hill. I could go up and down the one I know, or I could tackle the new hill, either up or down. I have run down it before, and didn't like it because it is very steep.
Note those words: 'it is very steep'. I knew this, therefore. But it's one of those things that you know intellectually but don't make the connection in your head, if you know what I mean. I told my daughter where I was going (so that she knew where to look for the body if I was gone too long) and she looked at me dubiously.
'Old Derby Hill?' she said. 'You're going to run up Old Derby Hill?'
'Yes,' I said confidently.
'It's very steep,' she said. (And there it was. Confirmed. Out loud by a third party.)
'I know,' I said, 'but I can always walk if it gets too much.'
'Riiiiiight...'
Anyway, I went, and sure enough, it is very steep. I had to stop twice. However, this doesn't matter because it just gives me a couple of markers for next time. Perhaps next time I will only have to stop once. And some day I will run the whole thing and I will come back here and tell you about it 
But back to the point of this post. Finally, I hear you cry! After I had slogged up this evil outcropping from the dawn of time, and then got lost, and asked a postman who said, 'I don't really know, I'm not from round here' (HUH? How does that work then?), I eventually got back to the main road and was running along at what is euphemistically called 'a steady pace' (i.e. slowly) when I passed a chap standing at a bus stop.
'You make it look easy,' he said.
I muttered something about 'I wish I did' or something equally ungracious and carried on. About 20 yards further on my brain caught up with me and I realised just how miserable I'd been, so I turned and went back, and said, 'I'm sorry, the proper response to what you said is Thank you very much.' He laughed and said, 'Well, you're looking very well on it.' Nice man. It made me think about how we feel isn't always what other people see.
The rest of the run was okay, and I went down the easier hill instead of the evil outcropping etc. and it all ended up at just over 7km. A slow run, but a new route with some interesting features. I'll run it again, including the EOFTDOT to see if I can improve, and somewhere in that village I think I can get into a large park, so that should give me even more scope.
But in future, I shall remember to take my manners with me when I go running as well.
New 5k route! In the wind and rain! Not my fastest...!😁😁🐌🐌🐌🌧🌧🌧
New Route with Hilly Bits 
New route
