Well, I am back from my third run, and finally dry. When I left the house it was only spitting slightly, and I thought that I had missed the worse of the rain. I set off at slow and stead pace, as I was feeling a little tired. My legs were no longer aching from my Friday and Saturday runs, but the two hour martial arts session last night had taken its toll. Fortunately it was only my upper body that was damaged – bruised arms, aching shoulders, ribs and stomach, and sore hands – my legs were relatively fresh. I was planning a short run, but as I jogged onwards, I decided to go for a longer run than usual.

The rain soon started to come down harder, but I continued plodding on and the same slow but steady pace. I was not getting out of breath as I normally do, so the slower pace was helping, but my legs were started to feel heavy about half way through my run. Soon after this, it really started to rain. Before I left the house I was very apprehensive about running in the rain, thinking that it would be an utterly awful experience. However, I started to actually enjoy it. It was refreshing, I was not sweating, I was cooler than normal. As i was enjoying myself so much, I decided to take the long route back home. I soon remembered why I was not going to take this route originally – it was getting dark, and ht apth was very overgrown. The water on the plants was dragging them down further onto the path, and puddles had sprung up all along the unkempt track. The rain had become torrential, I even heard some thunder off in the distance. But this seemed to give me the energy to drive me on. I started to pick up my pace a little, ignoring the puddles I was splashing through, and just focussing on the actual run. Then something strange happened – I suddenly had a feeling that was new – for a brief moment, I actually felt like I was running. Not jogging, but actually running, ignoring that lashing rain, the puddles, the stinging nettles and overhanding branches – just running along the country path, in the rain, soaked to the skin, and enjoying it!

This was also my longest run so far, at 35:18 minutes.

I have kung-fu tomorrow night, so my trainers have two days in which to dry out before my next run.

I have just added this route to the WalkJogRun site: Jon’s 2.36 mile Baddow Circle Route