It was wet. And then more wet. The only other people braving Bedgebury were two dog walkers dressed in head to toe Advanced Waterproofing. A solitary deer looked forlorn and wet before it took fright of the Insane Yellow Puffing Thing shambling towards it.
Running in the rain is no fun. Especially with some waterproof top that keeps the wet out but seals me in like Cling Film. Form? Forget it. A plod. With added plodding.
A weird assortment of stuff to run along to today as well. Stravinsky meets Handel meets de Grigny and Lord knows what else. (Doesn't everyone have a selection of French 17th-century Organ Music on their running playlist? Nah. Thought not. There's a reason for that clearly.)
The last time I did W9R3 I took along an astonishingly lovely and assured piece of singing by a fantastically good American Tenor called Zachary Wilder. And my post appeared on his Google alerts. And he posted a lovely "Hello" message on here. So if you're still out there Zachary, a big "Hello" back at you. You were on fine form again today.
"Vieni vieni vieni leggiadra e vaga
Primavera d'amor presaga
Odi Zefiro che t'invita
e la terra che il ciel marita
al suo raggio venga Maggio
vieni con il grembo di bei fioretti,
Vien su l'ale dei zefiretti."
Doesn't feel terribly spring-like today and not too many flowers around either, and definitely not May, but that's not going to stop either Zachary or me. Music 1: Rain 0. We can beat this.
Dig in with the final Gloria from Handel's "Dixit Dominus". From Handel's early stay in Rome. A cracking piece, but an absolute horror to sing. Handel had no clue how to write for voices (yet) and it's a terrifying white-knuckle ride to keep under control. But all those suspensions over the G pedal at the end are just brilliant. Times like this you want to be a tenor. And not one of the poor sopranos who need to pop out a high Bb from nowhere. I grumble the bass lines a bit.
27 minutes get me to more Stravinsky. The end of The Firebird. Kastchei's Palace disappears, the Petrified Knights are restored to life, cue General Rejoicing. Anyone who isn't fired up by this is frankly either dead or beyond hope. (Though I'm not convinced by the fact that Yes used it as "walk on" music in the 70s.) Even in the rain all the hairs on the back of my neck are standing to attention.
Music 2; Rain 0.
But 30 minutes in the bag. Tho my legs grumbled a bit. And then some more. Even the flat bits felt hilly today. All a bit tight. So lots and lots of stretching to do later.
But LedZep and "Celebration Day" cues up and despite everything, the rain, the wetness, the rain, the plodding and the rain, it all feels pretty good.
Further would have been nicer. Faster would have been nicer. But sometime's just going out and running is its own reward. A couple of weeks consolidation and some C25K+ podcasting and the last month or so of niggles will be a distant memory I hope.
"My my my, I'm so happy
I'm gonna join the band
We gonna dance and sing in celebration
We're in the promised land.
"
Done. Back to the Big School Herding Pens. New stationery all bought and in the satchel.
Doing this whistle-stop tour has been far more fun than I thought it would be. 8 runs. 16 days. I remembered (mostly) how to do it. Have been happy to be part of the team again.
Keep the faith. Keep on running. Slow and steady wins medals just the same. Be kind to yourselves. But mostly, just go out and have some fun.
Right. Time for cake. Cake for all. Lots and lots of cake!!
Phew... the rain held off and 15km done and dusted. 
You couldn’t write it....
W6R3 done! In the rain!
