and lo, normal service resumes

An appropriately dull picture for a dull blog post. Unless you really have nothing better to do you can skip this one. Still there? prepare for one football score and a bit of whinging about the weather.

[this paragraph added after getting home - actually the run home was far better, so if you want to bear with me for a bit]

Yesterday morning felt like a long, long time ago when I hit the road this morning. There had been a little rain yesterday afternoon that had made the afternoon a bit sticky and it just didn't let up. This morning was...well...how shall I phrase this...fucking horrible.

I dropped the girls at daycare and set off for work. Straight away I was struggling. I was sweating profusely, which is the way posh folk say sweating me bollocks off. Almost straight away I was composing today's blog post; I was thinking along the lines of "14km of hell", which meant a couple of things. It meant I had every intention of completing the 14km to work, but also suggested I was preparing myself to struggle the whole way - a mindset that was unlikely to result in a pleasant experience. And so it turned out. Of all the dull runs I've done - which let's face it, is most of them - this was the worst. I am trying to think of something positive about it. In fact I am trying to think about anything to say that doesn't mention the weather...

For the record, what I am whining about is a dead calm start to the day. Overcast with not a breath of wind but 98% humidity. I felt as if I was being poached until I got to the top of Parriwi Road at which point I felt as if my head had been microwaved. By the time I got to the office I looked as if I'd been swimming and felt as if I'd been mugged.

...some time later I wrote...



I now care less about drying my sweat-soaked trainers. Just popped out to grab some lunch and it is pissing down. Any kit dryness will be temporary because, although it is three hours until home time, this rain is not going anywhere. In case you're interested - sushi, mixed bento box. Resisted the temptation to get another coffee and a caramel slice, but with three hours until home time...well, maybe later.

My day took a turn for the better when Andrew's evening took a turn for the worst. I thought AFC Wimbledon were playing "tonight" but was mistaken. I must have got the time difference thing wrong. They played this morning. A random tweet from my brother had me type 'AFC Wimbledon result' into google to discover that the real Wimbledon had recorded a third straight win...this time it was 2-1 at the expense of Macclesfield. Sorry Andrew. If it makes you feel any better I think my run home will be another horror show and I'll go out of my way to not enjoy it. Just for you.

Starting to think about going home. Rain looks more drizzel like at the moment. Really should not have checked the weather. Humidity is still sitting at 92%. Oh well, in for a penny...

OK, home now and that was fun. What I didn't mention before was that I also checked the rain radar and saw that it was raining pretty much everywhere in a 128km radius. I got changed and did the short walk to a gap in the office blocks where I waited for the GPS to lock on. The rain wasn't too bad...

Then I got to the bridge and the heavens opened. Proper downpour. I passed a few other runners and two of them seemed to be having as much fun as me. Hey, it was warm enough and once you're soaked through you can't get any wetter. I stopped to take a couple of pictures of the conditions and then got on with plodding home. The rain dented my pace a bit because I wanted to make sure I'd not turn an ankle.

I got splashed by one car. A couple of roads were underwater and the deepest puddle I went through was well over ankle deep. As I trotted down Parriwi I looked out over the harbour and was rewarded by seeing two pelicans fly by about 20ft below me.

It wasn't a spectacular run, but thanks to some pretty hostile conditions it was thoroughly enjoyable and made up for this morning's horror.

So, the scores on the doors are, as usual, a little over 25km.