Having finally reached our destination after much faffing about, today was my long anticipated run in the forest. I looked out of the window and the sun was blazing, not my ideal. Objectively it was probably around the low 20s C but it seemed quite fierce. Mr Y said we should go as once we were in the shade it would be fine if we took it easy. So off we set.
The first 1.5km was over open land that used to be semi-industrial but is now just wildflowers and weeds. Finally reached the forest and the temperature got more comfortable. When I was here in February the ground was damp and firm underfoot, but now it's dried out a bit so feels much more sandy and sort of saps your energy a little with each footfall.
We both took it very easy, covering 5km in just under 45 minutes. My husband set the pace and I jogged along behind, grateful that he didn't want to go any faster. It was slow for me, very slow for him, but sometimes that's what you need. At the end we were both breathing normally and not even very sweaty. Garmin tells me that I only spent 37 seconds in Zone 5, with 74% being Zone 4 (which if I go by perceived effort rather than the numbers always feels like I'm working but not very hard, definitely not what I'd call strenuous).
As we approached where we're staying we noticed that the sun had gone in. Careful what you wish for!