Today I set out for a 5k run around a local reservoir.  The weather outside was gorgeous for this time of year, perfect for a midday run and a good opportunity to explore.  I decided to drive out to a local reservoir I have never previously visited before.  Today’s run was both an adventure and a lesson for the future.

5 lessons from today’s run

• If you can’t see a path for its entire length, there are no guarantees that it extends further than your view.  When running around water, there will be mud, you just can’t see it yet!

 

• Michael Rosen was right; mud is thick and oozy, especially when wet.  I came to the same conclusion as his intrepid adventurers ‘we can’t go over it, we can’t go under it, oh no we’ve got to go through it’.  Mud is really easy to run over when it’s frozen yet the mud at the back of the reservoir was not.  Thick and oozy mud is challenging and great fun to run through, even if it is messy.  My trainers are now caked in the stuff and I need to find an old toothbrush to clean them with!

 

• Garmin’s ‘Back to Start’ feature is great when you can’t find the path you started on although I’m still struggling to understand quite how I got lost on a perfectly circular route.

 

• Remembering gloves is a good idea in winter.  My hands were easily more comfortable today than on my run earlier this week.

 

• A spare pair of trainers always come in handy if you want your car to remain clean after a run!

 

• My average cadence is 174 when running on flat ground; 6 steps per minute slower than the widely accepted cadence of a professional road runner.  This is something that I will aim to improve upon throughout this year.