Good old British understatement

I was glad to be out running this weekend. Yesterday I thought about joining together a 6 mile route out and back along the Grand Union Canal (GUC) towards Leighton Buzzard from my house with part of a nice trail run route in Stockbridge Country Park. Not knowing exactly how long it would be it turned to be a nice 12.3 miles with around 600' of ascent and descent plus a lot of flat running along the towpath. I kept a steady 8:30 mins / mile pace and didn't push it throughout the run. I just let my legs work and my mind ease out of the strains of last week. It worked a treat.

I then went out for a just shy of 8 mile run today from my house, along the GUC to Caldecotte Lake then around the Lake and back to my house via Fenny Stratford High Street. As I ran towards the underpass which goes under the A5 between the GUC and Caldecotte I passed an old fella with his dog. 'A bit muddy along there, a bit flooded' he said in a reasonably understated way. I responded in a jolly manner 'that's half the fun' and ran on until I got to the underpass, or part of the River Ouzel as it had now become. A bit muddy? Try a path with water up to your waist and a soft, thick covering of sediment for about 80'. Anyway I hummed and hawed for a minute about the chilly water and my no longer visible feet before plunging forward, enjoying the almost mountain marathon feel of what is a fairly pedestrian running route under normal conditions. :-)