Happily Ever After
Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, three cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running
Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.
Snoozing In The Sun
by Russell Turner - 15:15 on 02 July 2018
Life continues quietly at the sun-baked Rural Retreat, with the bonus that over-heated cats are less inclined to hunt. The occasional ex-siskin and ex-vole have been very unlucky.
Felines, as always, are unpredictable. Sometimes they’ll doze indoors (which is always at least 10ºC cooler than outdoors), sometimes they’ll nap in the shade on the warm bricks outside the front of the cottage, sometimes they’ll disappear to their own private places.
One became apparent at lunchtime today when I stepped outside to call in Pandora for her midday snack. There seemed to be no response, but Willow, who was beside my feet, went into meerkat mode, standing tall to see into the far reaches of the garden, much of which has this year been left to nature. Ten seconds later a tabby tail could be glimpsed as its owner bounded gazelle-like through the long grass to reach her meal. Clearly she has a snoozing spot somewhere amongst the wild tangle.
Heat is less good for athletes, although keeping going when the mercury is high does help build stamina and mental toughness and other things the dedicated endurance runner is supposed to need. I’d rather build them in the sun than the wind and rain.
I’ve been lucky in the past few weeks that long runs and blazing sun have not fully coincided. My next one is on Friday (or Saturday) when I’ll make my first attempt at a nine-mile no-walk run, 100 days before t’ Yorkshire Marathon. Time is ticking by.
This morning’s effort, a four-mile easy run, saw the debut of my third pair of running shoes – Asics GT-2000 6’s – bought because my first Asics will soon be nearing their end and it’s better to get new ones broken in when there’s no rush. Three pairs will be enough; I’ve no ambition to match Matchgirl’s running shoe mountain.
No-one could.
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