I needed to get a 5K run in before the end of the month for a beautiful goldfinch medal to complete the full British Wildlife set from Virtual Racing for 2024. Got one of those bugs you forget you've got during the day and at death's door in the evening. and didn't want to risk leaving it to turn into a 'too sick to run' thing with so few days to go.
Put on my Christmas leggings that haven't had an outing this year... and very unusually, I left my dress/tunic on rather than stripping off in the car as usual. It was a bit nippy. Set off along a bit of trail which is generally reserved for that tedious business of having to do a bit extra to make the distance at the end. And whilst it is a bit exposed (so I was glad of my extra layer of knitted cotton), it was less disagreeable at the beginning. My route was tarmac and trail and those are not fun surfaces in my view. So to add some distance and get something softer in near the end I took a public footpath across a field. Walkers ahead of me squeezed through barbed wire to avoid bogginess around a little gate but I always have that sneaking feeling it's not a proper run until your ankles are wet, so through I went... main concern was not slipping (it was that kind of special agricultural mud 😉)
So my shoes got a good old scrub when I got back and I shall get my medal in due course 😀
I've signed up for next year's series... although that is a bit confused/aspirational. There may be a few melanistic foxes knocking about but they are not a species and what is described as a Scottish wildcat is very obviously a lynx. And as for the [expletive] pheasant...
Magic plan Wk2, long run
A good run! 
Reluctant recovery run
A different run
🇨🇦 My Canada D'eh Virtual Run 🇨🇦
