Forest run (and more on cars...)

Alarm rang at 7:00 am this morning, calling me to fulfill my duty by putting on my running clothes neatly laid out beside the bed. I turned it off and curled up back in bed next to Laurence, telling myself that I was too tired to be bothered this morning.

So much for duty then. However, being the well-disciplined chap that I am, I came back from work at a reasonable hour and put on my running kit and left for an evening run in the forest. It was hot; too hot for me at 30°C but I had no choice as the cool morning air had disappeared at least 12 hours ago. I put on the Garmin 405 and set out slowly along the road in the general direction of the old centre of Le Mesnil le Roi.

As I turned the first corner to head up the hill towards the forest, a quick glance at my watch confirmed that, not only was I running slowly, but at the mere pace of 5:15 per kilometre. This was clearly unacceptable and I immediately pushed on up the hill to increase my speed so as to attain at least a speed faster than 12km/h. I was pondering on my pace, my stride and the heat when I arrived close to the church in the town centre to cross the road. I didn't want to slow down, having sped up for my watch and so it was with some satisfaction that I saw a car pass in front of me, having arrived at the T junction. I ran across the road, only to see a second dark grey car following the first and bearing down on me rapidly.

It's not true that your whole life passes before your eyes before an accident, but a number of things happened very quickly:

i) I put out my hand to cushion the blow against the car. What good this was supposed to do, I really don't know but this is what a million years of evolution has left as a reflex instinct in a human.

ii) I realised that I couldn't avoid being hit by the car and moved to the left in order to avoid being hit full on.

iii) The female driver hit the brakes very hard and managed to reduce her speed before the impact.

The final result was a brush against her offside wing mirror and a very startled driver asking if I was alright. In the shock, I carried on running and shouted back that I was fine. The adrenaline levels now reached an extreme and the next few kilometres of the run went very quickly as I reached the half-way point in 25:15 for just over 6 kilometres despite the heat.

The run back was more sedate with a consistent pace until the end, when I sped up down the hill to finish.

12.4 km in 54:08 so every kilometre in 4:21. Not bad for an evening run in the heat.