It Pays Not To Be Complacent

Before talking about tonight’s run, I thought I’d share a story with you first about my commute home.

I left work at the usual time and went to Piccadilly station. Once there, I chatted to my train friends, Bev and Jeff, as usual. In came the Liverpool Lime Street train… as usual. Next came the Oxford Road train… as usual. Once that left, in came the Transpennine Express train, right on time. We were chatting away and the train pulled into the station. I commented to Bev that it was very quiet getting on the train as, usually, there is a massive crowd of people around the doors who are so rude they don’t let the passengers who want to get off the train, off! We got on and sat down and the train was still very quiet. I was next to the window and Bev was next to me and I said that I wasn’t sure this was the right train. She assured me it was and that there had been an announcement when it was coming into the station. The train left the station bang on time. We got to Oxford Road and it was still really quiet. I was trying to read the boards on the platform but couldn’t see them and Bev and Jeff were laughing at me for being so paranoid. However, on leaving Oxford Road, it became apparent that my paranoia was not misplaced. As the train pulled out of the station, I finally got to see the boards on the platform which read WARRINGTON!!! Bev asked somebody on the train where the train was going and he said it was the 45 minutes late Liverpool train which was now terminating at Warrington due to it being so late. Nice one! It was an express train too so we got all the way to Birchwood before we were able to get off and get a train back into Manchester. Ah well, at least it was a change of scenery.

Turning to tonight’s run, there are days when I really love running with Ruby… unfortunately, this wasn’t one of them.

I myself was feeling great, which is surprising seeing as my muscles were so tight and painful on Monday’s run. Perhaps it was the two day break I gave myself which has enabled my body to repair itself. I was motoring along and feeling great but Ruby was driving me mad. She really had it on her tonight and was either dragging me along after rabbits and sheep, or just running across my path or stopping dead right in front of me. She just wouldn’t run in a straight line. She’s not always like this but when she is, it’s really annoying. I got to the point where I felt like letting her off the lead and telling her to make her own way home (of course I would never actually do this).

Due to my earlier train mishap, I was a bit stuck for time with tonight’s run so didn’t go as far as I would have liked. I was feeling guilty for not having run for two days so wanted to get at least 7 miles in but only managed just over 5. We just went to the top barn, up the steep hill which takes you onto the path up to the pigeon tower (I have no idea what this is called), then back down to pigeon tower car park, along the side of Sheephouse Lane, back to top barn and then back home.

Total distance – 5.2 miles