Mooooo-ve over!

Afternoon off, so I unenthusiastically took my cold-raddled body out to Silsden because The Plan says 16m this week.  After Monday's soggy heroics I was hoping for a nicer day, but Herb and I seemed to have used this week's dry weather up on our pain-fest of a commute to work yesterday - no idea how long it took but I'm sure it was hideously slow due to unfit legs and heavy winter bikes.  Still, cycling along high above the Aire valley in the dark has its own pleasures...

Anyway - back to today.  It was wet, it was windy, and I really couldn't be arsed, but run I did.  To be honest it started to feel easier once I'd hit the canal, partly because there was a bloody gale blowing me along and partly because I've been running less recently and I just felt a bit sprightly.

I hit 8 miles (after some Terryesque puddle jumping) in 61 minutes, with several miles of under 7:30 despite not trying too hard.  I turned and the wind slowed things down a little, but by the time I hit the Micklethwaite road, which is where I usually do my MP bit, I was still miling at below 7:40.

I hadn't really decided whether to do a 4m effort as 16m at the sort of pace I was running is a new one this campaign, and I still felt pretty ropey - but I set off to see how it felt.  Two words - Awe Full.  I decided there was no way I was going to knacker myself with a 4m effort so after a 6:55 I slowed back down again, fully intending to run all the way back at 7:40 pace.

However just past Riddlesden I was warned by a dog walker of "cows ahead" - and sure enough there was a heifer and 4 calves, moooo-ching along the towpath.  Now towpaths are by their very nature next to canals on one side, and tend to have a steep embankment on the other - so me and a fellow runner who reached them just before me had the weird experience of running along for about half a mile behind 5 bovines.  I can tell you that they didn't look to be working to hard at my LR pace, but after a quick sprint I passed all but one of them.

The final one carried on for about another mile, and despite several attempts to pass, kept accelerating whenever I did - eventually finding a way down the embankment it fancied.  Erm...sorry, Keighley Golf Club...

Anyway - cows passed, I eased back to finish my 16m in 2:01, so a slight negative split due to my mile effort and cow passing antics.

Back home and one of those domestic disasters you can't believe has actually happened - our kitchen patio door (which Izzy uses to get in and out for toilet activities) blew open and split by the hinges.  Fortunately (and no thanks to Halifax Home Insurance who we apparently pay £500 a year towards their Christmas party and not for insurance) Graham, the joiner who did the house a couple of years ago was able to pop up with a crowbar and get us secure - but I suspect that it'll be a few hundred quid to fix - hopefully the met office's weather warning of "60-70mph winds" will be right - cos for Halifax to pay up it has to be 55mph or more.

Finally - mo-news - all coming on swimingly.  Working on the down-sides now as the horizontal's looking good.  Unlike Rob T who agreed to do this with me, and was asked the other day whether he was still growing one...