Yet again other commitments pushed today's run into the hours of darkness. Only a 5k, but this was my 143m gain hill run along a forest trail. On my warm up walk down from the housing estate onto the trail I encountered a man with a small dog sporting a glowing green collar (yes the dog, not the man).We exchanged a few words and then I got ready to run. Watch set, switch headlight on..............no light!! Battery was flat as a pancake. ๐ก So I berated myself, politely, and prepared for the homeward walk of shame!! However, to my surprise, the man with the dog reached into his pocket and produced a head torch. He explained that he used to run until at age 65 his knees failed him. He handed me the torch, gave me his address and said "just push it through the letter box on the way home". What a guy! He is still a runner at heart that is for sure. So off I went!
It was really dark. Early on I encountered three people on horses coming towards me, all sporting headlights. I shielded mine to avoid spooking the animals. Then a spaniel appeared out of nowhere, carrying a yard long stick in its mouth...almost tripped but not quite! Finally I was on my own, running with eyes glued to the illuminated spot in front of me. It was tricky; it is hard to pick up changes in level in the dark, so you get a shock when the ground under your feet is either closer to the bottom of your foot or further away than you thought. I stumbled once but no harm done. For the most part it was just me, a hooting owl and the dark. Near to the end I heard a dog yapping, and saw a couple of men approaching. I never saw the dog, but felt a cold wet nose on my leg when I stopped to let the men pass through a gate. Think it was the dog ..,,,,,,
Run time was 3.5 minutes behind hill PB pace, but who cares! VO2 max didn't penalise me so all good. And yes, I did remember to return the torch.
Thanks for rescuing my run fellow runner; you are a true gent and definitely still a runner at heart ! ๐
I'm a runner ๐
