I did it!!!!

Yay! I've done it! Completed the eight-week program of running once a week! 

As there is a cold wind - blowing down from the Arctic I'm told and, indeed, Elder Son in Surrey had a snow flurry today - I avoided the beach and ran over the tip. 

A couple of months ago notices went up saying the council was about to start work changing the path  from a well-worn and muddy narrow track into a wide paved path for cyclists and walkers. 

Ooh, we were up in arms. Cyclists and dogs do not go together especially some of the grumpy and downright unpleasant cyclists we have around here. Like many others I wrote to my councillor, and signed a petition: it was middle class protest at its most vehement. But to no avail. 

Work has started and most of the main path has been widened, flattened and stoned - I think they plan to put tarmac or something else on top - but it comes to an abrupt end about three-quarters of the way along. So at that point I headed off onto a familiar path, as seen above, and through a patch of woodland where I spotted a few lonely bluebells.

In a week or so the place will be awash with blue.

Anyway, back to my run. It was mostly flat but I kept to a steady pace. I told a young doctor friend that my heart rate was always way above the red bit and she wasn't impressed, so I thought I'd better take care, especially as I was on my own and the path was quite quiet at that time of day. Particularly the off-piste bit of the path.

Even so according to the app I improved my sprint speed - which must be a very generous understanding of the word 'sprint'.

It's amazing to think that when we first moved here in 1988 the tip, where the town's rubbish had been dumped for years, hadn't long been closed and was almost bare except for the odd boot or bottle protruding from the earth. Now it's covered with trees and bushes, and wildlife flourishes. Which of course has made it more and more popular for walking, which for us anti-social types is a bad thing. 

But I did it! I ran once a week for eight weeks! And I still hate it and am giving it up. Sorry, Pipetobacco.