We had near perfect conditions for our run this evening, nice temperature, dry underfoot, no rain and very little wind. Katnap and TailChaser lead me out of town down the greenway (which was surprisingly free of bicycles, small children, pushchairs and dogs). I have run down there before but tonight I had to override the memory muscles or I would stop at crossing cottage and again just after Pegasus bridge (5k running habits) . We were going nicely but just before the turning point I felt my hip start to niggle. I had a bit of trouble last week and had hoped that by taking a couple of pain killers I would avoid it tonight. With little choice (as we were at the furthest point from home) I decided to ignore it and carry on. Apart from the pain I was running well, a nice rhythm, a steady pace, breathing was good (we were chatting away) and it felt good.
With about three quarters of a km to go we were coming back up the riverside, I called out hello to Mr Shakespeare as we ran through the churchyard and we negotiated the group of swans who were looking menacing as they occupied the footpath by the ferry. As my watch vibrated for 10k we were on the riverside of the theatre so (just to be sure) I kept going to the main front door. The niggly hip was glad I had stopped, but I was just pleased to get it done and so very grateful to my two lovely wingmen who kept me distracted and helped me achieve my target.
I now need to consolidate the distance (as I might have entered a couple of 10k events in May and June) but first I must give that hip a bit of time to settle down. Katnap and Tailchaser want to keep running with me too, so it looks like the Thursday night ‘long one’ might become a bit of a feature.